8 Ball and MJG haven't fallen off yet

Buy this album from Amazon.com---93 used & new available from $6.00
With so many re-hash southern albums coming out nowadays, it hard not to form a prejudice against them. So when I heard about Ridin High, I was expecting it to be another "do what's popular at the time" type albums. But it isn't. In fact, its the same 8 Ball and MJG experimental southern funk and crunk that we all fell in love with in the 'Mr. Big' days. Southern artists get offended when East Coast artist blame them for "killing hip hop"; their defense is usually that they make the "party music" that people want to just jump around and get crunk to. It's actually a compelling argument when you listen to most of the high-energy southern tracks that have been coming out recently; but when you compare those records to 8 Ball and MJG's, you really start to notice just how amateur these other artists are by comparison. Ridin High has a sophistication that is just simply missing from a Young Joc album or even a Lil Wayne album. 8 Ball and MJG have certainly found their element in this mixture of mellow southern funk and energetic crunk music, and while I'm not sure that the duo can be called the 'kings of the south', they definitely should put their application in for 'kings of party rap.
Ridin High is not perfect, by any means; no 8 Ball and MJG album will be perfect in my eyes until the group explores different subjects beyond violence, pussy, and drugs. Neither 8 Ball or MJG is a very good rapper either. The main strength of this album is in the experimentation in the composition of the songs and the myriad of sounds it has. The actual subject matter of the songs is somewhat expendable, although I think if they weren't the songs would be a lot better.
When I first heard about the first track and first single, "Relax and Take Notes" featuring Project Pat and The Notorious B.I.G., I thought to myself 'oh lord, its another song exploiting Biggie, they're probably going to sample his verse from "Dead Wrong" in the hook and it's going to suck.' Well, they did sample "Dead Wrong", but the song doesn't actually suck. The sample was mixed just about as tight as it possibly could have been, and the production is great. 8 Ball and MJG, unlike nearly every other contemporary southern artist, aren't afraid to take a energetic beat and combine it more mellow flows. It provides for a unique sound that set them apart. Project Pat isn't as interesting as he usually is, and the song isn't as effective as "You Don't Want Drama", but overall it is a sucess.
Some songs miss, like the DJ Paul and Juicy J production "Cruzin'" featuring 112 and Three 6 Mafia. I wish 112 would go away. The beat for this track is a complete rehash and 112's chorus bites the melody from Usher's "Nice and Slow" for some reason. Some songs are missing the creativity in either concept or production that make this album great, like "Alcohol Pussy Weed", which combines a standard subject with a fairly standard beat.
There is an interesting degree of experimentation with different sounds on this album with strange productions like "30 Rocks" which sounds like a combination of Houston rap and East Coast dance music; "Memphis", which uses an eerie off-key vocal sample on a "inspirational" sounding beat for a M-Town reppin' track; and "Stand Up", which may quite possibly be the first ever mainstream rap WALTZ. It's experimentation like this that puts 8 Ball and MJG over all their peers who also rap about violence, pussy, and drugs.
Ridin High is a great album in terms of exploring new ways to make party music and music to bump in your car. In case you forgot why 8 Ball and MJG are southern hip hop legends, this album might remind you. I've seen some bad review for this album, and I think that it's because we've gotten to a point where we don't tolerate experimentation anymore in hip hop (unless, of course, it's Outkast). We want to be spoon-fed formulaic productions over and over on and album, but the thing is Eightball and MJG started this whole southern funk thing. They don't do the same music as Three 6 or T.I., so why expect them to make albums like those? Three 6 and T.I. wouldn't be where they are if it weren't for 8 Ball and MJG. The fact is, a long time ago, two dudes from Tennessee made a funky experimental album that was the south's answer to West Coast G-funk artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and grimey east coast acts like the newly formed Wu-Tang Clan and Nas. While Comin out Hard wasn't nearly as successful as the albums of Dr. Dre or The Wu-Tang Clan, it showed that legitimate rap music existed in the south. And fourteen years later, with Ridin High, 8 Ball and MJG haven't missed a beat.


The Report Card

Production: B
The beats are nothing like the beats of any other southern album that's out now. The experimentation with the production is also appreciated.

Flow/Lyrics: C
8 ball and MJG are neither very good at rapping or writing. Every once in while they may spit a tight or funny line, but all in all they use the same sing song flow on every track. MJG has a better flow than 8 Ball, but 8 Ball has a more appealing delivery and persona, but neither can compare to the best flowers in the game.

Originality:B+
If they could find something to rap about besides killing people and pimpin', they might have gotten the A, but other than that, the sound of this album is completely unique. There's a fucking waltz on it for christ's sake.

Overall: B
If you buy albums based on the subject matter, I wouldn't suggest you buy this album (unless, of course, you like 19 tracks of guns, weed, and bitches [which I guess isn't far-fetched]. However, if you're looking for a unique southern record, Ridin High is probably your best bet.