The Lox: We Are The Streets : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

When MC Hammer went gangster in 1994 with The Funky Headhunter, his contrived conversion to the thug life didn't fool anyone, and his sales were never the same. Whether you're mainstream pop or abrasive hardcore, switch-hitting in hip-hop can land your credibility in some serious shit.

With We Are the Streets, the Lox abandon the shiny suits of their former Bad Boy Entertainment home for the butch ghetto grime of the Ruff Ryders. Where money, power and respect were once their prime concerns, Sheek, Styles and Jadakiss are now obsessed with even baser issues. On Streets, the Lox aim to deal ("I put drugs in my girl's coochie, yo/A bad bitch that kill/So when you put the dogs on her/ You smell Massengill"), kill ("Bullets in the faces of the jokers/We laugh at fire, nigga - we smokers") and steal ("We don't talk on the phone/We give a way-better message when we come in your home"). Lyrically, We Are the Streets will offer few surprises for hardcore rap fans. Jadakiss is the star; his well-drawn, often funny portraits and situations separate him from his more generic partners.

Productionwise, though, We Are the Streets shows a diversity that the other, Swizz Beatz-dominated Ruff Ryders albums lack."Ryde or Die, Bitch" sports a nice guitar-strum loop from Timbaland; "Recognize" features collage work from DJ Premier that's worthy of artist Romare Bearden. "U Told Me" is a Swizz-produced highlight, powered by an out-of-tune synth. So say what you will about the Lox changing their tune - even if you thought they were jiggy before - but they have chosen the right team to smooth their transition to the streets. (RS 834)

MILES MARSHALL LEWIS