What do you get when you take the two illest MCs from an Albany, Ga., high school and give them a contract? Field Mob. But of course you knew that. Boondox Blax and Kalage would battle each other every day in high school until they got tired of switching victories like Rickey Henderson switches teams. As a result, Field Mob was born.
Y2K brought us "613: Ashy to Classy," the debut album that put the duo on the hip hop map. The album did all right, but it was nowhere near a perfect debut album like Nas' "Illmatic" or even Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt." Songs such as "Project Dreamz" and "Hey Shawty" proved they had skill, but skill isn't enough in an industry where production and marketing decide what goes platinum.
The main challenge for Field Mob's sophomore LP is simple: step up the game to another level. Sounds easy enough, right?
Boondox Blax and Kalage seem up to the task, stepping up the production and guest appearances on "From tha Roota to tha Toota." ("Toota," by the way, is slang for the edible parts of a pig.)
Jazze Pha, one of hip hop's most underrated producers, lays down a hot track for the lead single, "Sick of Being Lonely." It's a song about how a guy's girl is lonely because her man is always going out. They get about as romantic as they'll get on the album with "I'd never put nothin' before you / That's like eating cereal picking a fork over a spoon." The Diamond Princess, a.k.a. Trina, comes through on the remix, which makes it worth playing as well.
The Dungeon Family makes their presence known on this release, first with Slimm "Cutta" Calhoun and Sleepy Brown tearing up "Nothing 2 Lose," a song about slavery.
Things get hot when Mr. Cee-Lo Green and his perfect imperfections rip up "All I Know," by far the best track on the album. Over another Jazze Pha track, Cee-Lo spits the nicest verse on the album, backing up his lines, "I'm one of a kind / They gotta find a satellite to contact me."
Joi, the wife of Goodie Mob's Big Gipp (also in the Dungeon Family) is on "Where R U Going?" Another appearance on the album comes from Dade County's Trick Daddy on "Haters," where they talk about how they get hated on because they "ride on rims old enough to buy beers."
The diversity of Field Mob is shown throughout the album. They can write sensitive songs ("It's Hell"), party tracks ("Haters"), awareness songs ("Nothing 2 Lose") and funny songs ("Hit it for Free," "Betty Rocker"). Not many artists have the diversity to offer such a wide array of songs.
The guest appearances on the album are above average. While Cee-Lo is always tough to beat, he shouldn't be the highlight on your own album -- when your guests are hotter than you, you've messed up.
The three things realtors and rappers have in common are: location, location, location. That characteristic seems to define rappers better than anything else. Although this is definitely an important characteristic, it can't be the most important. It doesn't matter where you're from if you can't flow. Some of the South's best rappers became the best by not getting stuck in the mentality that they have to live up to all the Dirty South stereotypes. If you don't fit them, then don't pretend to, just because you think that's what the public wants.
Outkast and Scarface have been able to put out hot songs with Southern flavor, while making other songs that are just plain hot, not classifiable under the "Southern Rap" genre. That's what made artists like 2Pac; he put out songs that were West Coast joints, including "California Love," but then there were song that would be hits no matter what coast you're on, notably "Me Against the World."
"From tha Roota to tha Toota" is by no means a classic album, but it's not completely wack either. A lot of groups have the feared "sophomore slump" which can kill a group, but Field Mob doesn't necessarily fall into this pit. The beats are fresh, the guest appearances are hot, the concept variety is pretty good, the lyrics of Boondox Blax and Kolage are average and the skits do nothing more than slow the album down.
Although this may not go down in history as one of the hottest albums ever dropped, it's also not one you'd be completely kicking yourself for buying. If you do regret it, just play "All I Know," and you'll know it was worth it.
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