3OH!3 - Want
Rating
RIYL
Lil Jon & Tha East Side BoysJustin Timberlake
Kottonmouth Kings
Hellogoodbye
Tracklist
1. Tapp2. Punkbitch
3. Don’t Trust Me
4. Chokechain
5. I’m Not Your Boyfriend Baby
6. I Can’t Do It Alone
7. Starrstrukk
8. Richman
9. Photofinnish
10. Still Around
11. Holler ‘Til You Pass Out
12. Colorado Sunrise
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Boulder, Colorado. Aficionados of Discovery Channel documentaries on space may know the city is home to an alarming number of experts on an array of dull subjects and also the National Center for Atmospheric Research. It is these mean streets that act as the catalyst for the biggest thing to happen to hip hop since the genius who said, “These rims can be bigger!”
Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte will probably not strike fear into the hearts of Compton’s finest with their skinny frames, denim shorts, and love of moustaches. However, to paraphrase Nas, all they need is one mic. Well, two. The pair make up 3OH!3, a hip hop act that reportedly started as a joke, but ended up producing material that bizarrely trumps the artists they are emulating.
On their debut album, Want, 3OH!3 not only prove their vast knowledge of hip hop, crunk, electro, pop and many more genres, but also their ability to take aspects of all these sounds and like the great hip hop producers of our time, Timbaland, Scott Storch, Just Blaze, and others, make tracks that are as commercially viable as they are insanely fun and memorable. Whilst it certainly makes sense that Foreman and Motte started this outfit as a bit of lighthearted fun, they have in fact created a partnership that could quite genuinely take them all the way to the top.
Regardless of your feelings for mainstream hip hop, one listen to “Chokechain” keeping in mind how much money one can make by essentially reeling off step by step instructions to a dance over some steel drums, and 3OH!3's chances of hitting the big-time seem almost inevitable. The pair take all the elements that make hip hop fun, but deliver it in a way that is as tongue in cheek as it is involving and engaging. Not to over analyze a product that is wholly intended to be experienced while largely intoxicated and dancing up a sweat, but the beats, the lyrics (“Tell your boyfriend if he says he’s got beef / that I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fuckin’ scared of him”) show not only a studious love for this brand of music, but a raw talent that really could make for bigger things. Be it the hyphy horns on “Richman”, the bass heavy, macho posturing on “Photofinnish” or the simple brilliance of “Holler ‘Til You Pass Out”, this band have not so much delivered a reputable hip hop album, but created what just might be the most fun and enjoyable record of this year.
Want does have its drawbacks, mostly in the form of the slow tempo tracks that really have no place amongst the club bangers galore that are offered across the rest of the disc. Also, even though the band are receiving a lot of hype over the lead single, “Don’t Trust Me” (understandably, based on its irresistible chorus), it isn’t as true a representation of the bitches, bling and bass crammed into the major tracks on the disc. Time will tell whether they can follow up the Hellogoodbye style that will win them fans with the more intense crunk sound and maintain people’s affection. That being said, the production by Matt Squire (is everything this man touches pop gold?) and Benny Blanco is simply, for this type of music, flawless. “Chokechain”, “I’m Not Your Boyfriend” and more really do put the majority of Billboard bothering rappers to shame.
This album is probably not going to be the new The Slim Shady LP, and a couple of skinny white dudes drinking in Crunk Juice and breathing out fire is probably not going to sound like a revelation to the Pitchfork wielding masses, but as this disc is released in time for summer, I for one will be sipping on a 40’ and repping Boulderado. Hats off to your, sirs.
--Alex Davies
Comments
Markham, ON
Awesome review, but honestly?
P.S. This is what the alphabet would look like if you removed Q and R.
New York
Cold Showers for Stereology
http://coldshowersforstereology.blogspot.com/
Manchester, England
yep. it quite simply is simply brilliant.
Berlin, Germany
Waterloo, Ontario
Top Ten of 2009 http://www.decoymusic.com/users/3747/top_tens/2009
Los Angeles
This is mindless drivel that lacks art, insight, feeling and intelligence. Garbage I say, garbage.
East Lansing, MI
Queens, NYC
New York
Cold Showers for Stereology
http://coldshowersforstereology.blogspot.com/
Manchester, England
because this album is amazing.