Notes & Personnel Info |  | 5th Ward Boyz: E-Rock, 007, Lo Life (vocals). | | Additional personnel: Spice 1, Mr. Slimm, Red Dog, Tasha, Scarface, EightBall & MJG, Do Or Die, Johnny P., Gotti, Willie D, Devin (vocals); Mike Dean (bass, drums). | | Producers include: 5th Ward Boyz, Freddy Young, Mike Dean, Scarface, J. Bido. | | Engineers: Mike Dean, Philip Osman, James Hoover, 5th Ward Boyz. | | Recorded at Hippie House and Digital Services, Houston, Texas and at The Enterprise, Burbank, California. | | Audio Mixers: 5th Ward Boyz; Leroy Williams ; James Hoover; Mike Dean . | | Recording information: Enterprise Studio, Burbank, CA; Hippie House & Digital Services, Houston, TX. | | Photographer: Mario Castellanos. | | The 5th Ward Boyz took their name from the same infamous Houston ghetto that gave the world the Geto Boys, one of the first groups to embrace gangsta rap in the 1980s. Like the Geto Boys, the 5th Ward Boyz specialized in gangsta rap and offered violent, profane depictions of life in the Fifth Ward. But while the early gangsta rap of the Geto Boys, Ice-T, N.W.A, and Schoolly D had a definite freshness and was quite cutting-edge, there's nothing fresh about Usual Suspects. "Got II Be Down II Die," "Heat," "Pussy, Weed and Alcohol," and other tunes on this routine, unoriginal effort don't say anything that older gangsta rappers weren't saying eight years earlier. A few of the songs are memorable -- most notably "Live Your Life" and "Mama's Praying," which describes a mother's prayer that her son won't get caught up in the criminality that surrounds her in the ghetto. But on the whole, Usual Suspects demonstrated that in 1997 there were still many rappers who were content to offer one tired, worn-out gangsta rap clich? after another. ~ Alex Henderson | | Usual Suspects, the 5th Ward Boyz's third album, isn't dramatically different than Rated G or Ghetto Dope -- it's a collection of straightahead gangsta-funk, with rolling beats, deep bass grooves and cliched lyrics. The 5th Ward Boyz do have charisma, which compensates for the lack of imagination in the music, and a few moments -- like "I Know," a duet with Scarface -- are dynamic, exciting hip-hop, yet Usual Suspects is the kind of rap record that will primarily appeal to devoted followers of gangsta rap. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
Musical Guests | | 8Ball & MJG | | Devin | | Willie D. | | Johnny P. | | Tasha | | Scarface | | Mr. Slimm | | Spice 1 | | Red Dog | | Do Or Die | | Gotti |
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