Reef - Record Report Albums: Sylk Smoov - Sylk Smoov lyrics

PWL America/Mercury Production: Courtney Branch & Tracy Kendrick Rating: 3 Sylk Smoov comes out hard and puts St. Louis on the hip-hop map. Living up to his name, Sylk Smoov is a mack-daddy/gangsta/player/pimp/hustler all rolled up in one. He delivers hardcore lyrics in a smooth, mellow style that sounds like a cross between Too Short or MC Breed and Barry White. What makes Sylk Smoov come off is the music. Producers Courtney Branch and Tracy Kendrick (who work with DJ Quik and AMG), provide a fat backdrop of deeply funky gangsta grooves that sound like they were lifted straight from a 70's blaxpoitation film soundtrack. Songs like "What That Sylk Like," "Luv Letter," "b**h With A Good Rap," and "Keepin It Dope" are purposely kept slow and simple so Sylk can ride the track with his laid back rhyme delivery while heavy, heavy ba** backs everything up. The gangsta/player style isn't new, but Sylk adequately fits into the mode of dissing the s**ers, finessing the b**hes, showing he takes no shorts and so forth. The album's subject matter gets a little played, but the fat lowrider funk of Branch & Kendrick's beats make this an album that will be playing jeeps near you.