Chamillionaire's decision to keep experimenting pays off

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Chamillionaire's career so far reminds me of Eminem's early career. Eminem started his career spitting punchlines on underground records--so did Chamillionaire. Eminem had an infectious hit single that made him a star. Chamillionaire's Grammy winner, "Ridin'," was even harder to get out of your head than "My Name Is" was. Eminem followed up his thrown-together debut with an opinionated, personal, reflective, and ultimately great album. And despite the fact that Chamillionaire lacks the impeccable rhyming ability of Slim Shady, his sophomore effort Ultimate Victory is the same breath of fresh air to this artistically-stagnant era of popular music that The Marshall Mathers LP was in 2000.

The thing about "Ridin'" that was so interesting was that it wasn't just a bouncy song brilliantly recorded to be catchy; it was actually about something. Before I heard the track, if you would have told me that a Southern rapper made a song whose chorus repeats the phrase 'ridin' dirty', I certainly would not have expected it to be such a socially aware track. This time, however, Chamillionaire doesn't hide his message behind a catchy buzz-phrase--he just comes out and says it.

This is evident from when you first press play and hear the opening track "The Morning News" in which a surprisingly socially-adept Chamillionaire criticizes everything from the retarded "beef" between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell, to Bill O'Reilly to his shitty rap contemporaries ("hip hop crunk music, hyphy music, snap music/sounds like a nursery rhyme, get a beat and rap to it"). "The Morning News" is good, but later on in the album you hear its follow up, "The Evening News", which is far and away the best lyrically executed song on the album. In "The Evening News," Chamillionaire plays the role of a newscaster dumping just a gigantic bucket-load of truth. After hearing this track you realize just how truth-deprived America has been lately. Cham' even calls the news out on it as it relates to fluctuating gas prices: "well now my cue card says the price of gas isn't really high/but I'm not gonna read that, 'cause we all know that that's a lie."

On the album "The Evening News" is a follow up to "The Morning News". A video for it, however, was released in conjunction with the charmingly upbeat lead single "Hip Hop Police" in which Chamillionaire and surprise (yet perfectly fitting) guest Slick Rick's role play satirize the stigma of being involved with hip hop.

Slick Rick is one of several guest appearances on the album, and he's one of the only one that works out. Bun B and Pimp C both needlessly appear, for some reason, on different tracks (the out-of-place "Pimp Mode" and the decent, yet expendable "Welcome to the South", respectively). Devin the Dude provides a yawner on "Rocky Road", and while Krayzie Bone doesn't do any less than expected on "The Bill Collecta" (an obvious nod to the Bone Thugs N Harmony classic "Mr. Bill Collecta"), the track is an clear attempt to recreate the magic of "Ridin'", with an almost identical (albeit more mellow) beat and of course the presence of Krayzie Bone. It's a failed attempt, as the sung hook is not nearly as entrancing, and where "Ridin'" had a real and socially aware message to it, this song is a shallow one about people paying money back when they borrow it. Not to mention, it's weird that Chamillionaire insists on doing tracks with the guy who basically invented the double-timed harmonic rap technique that he uses (and does it better, with the possible exception that Cham's lyrics are better).

Some guest appearances score, however, such as Lil Wayne, whose verse on not-as-hard-as-you'd-think "Rock Star" (yes it's a ripoff of "Party Like a Rock Star"--it's got much better verses, but not as good a hook) continues this recent trend Lil Wayne has had of murdering people on they own shit. Similarly good verses are heard from Chamillitary labelmate, Famous, whose name is ironic considering that he's virtually unknown outside of the South in both mainstream and underground. All that aside, he spits fairly polished battle-oriented verses on"You Must Be Crazy," which is a simple braggadocios track backed by a surprisingly good East-Coast oriented beat.

Surprising, because the production is generally the worst part of the album. Kane Beatz takes most of the tracks on his shoulders, and rehashes the same synth-heavy rapid-tempo formula over and over again. The Beat Bullies slightly redeem him on "Rock Star" and "Ultimate Vaction" and Happy Perez ends the album on a strong note with the title track "Ultimate Victory" but by then you've heard all of the rest of the boring production.

Fortunately for Chamillionaire, bad production allows for his verses and his hit-or-miss off key sung choruses to shine, and on Ultimate Victory, Chamillionaire is interesting and charismatic enough as a rapper and lyricist (despite his unpolished flow) to keep the album entertaining.

The Report Card

Production: C
A few of the tracks are solid. None of them are straight up bangers, and many of them are yawners. Most of the entertainment from this album comes straight from the rapper himself.

Flow/Lyrics: A-
Chamillionaire has a really underdeveloped and shaky flow, but beyond that he had a lot of cool things to say on this album and he presented it in a unique way.

Originality: B
The originality is solid, with concepts ranging from comparing the love of money to romantic love to role playing as a cop interviewing a suspect to personifying the concept of a groupie and pretending that it's your girlfriend. I just wish Cham' would try more things with his flow and beats than the same rapid delivery and sung chorus.

Overall: B+
Chamillionaire hit it big on his last album, and he deserves respect for continuing to try new things instead of sticking with a boring formula to repeat his cash intake. The result is slightly flawed but still one of the best albums of this year.