Landing Gear [PA] - Devin The Dude

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	A few bangers
Disadvantages:	Little variation

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

"Landing Gear is the 2008 album from the Houston stoner rapper, Devin The Dude. It is his fifth album, and gets him switching the themes of his music from weed smoking (as a genreal theme) to more specific things such as love being the focus of his work.

1. "In My Draws"

The opening track to the album is un undoubted banger of a cut from them as it gets him simply killing it with hardcore beats (which gives off the vibes which you would predictably associate with the Houston style of rap). The heavy beats leads you into aome funny material from him to show what he is about, before getting deeper with later cuts.

**Five Stars**

2. "I Can't Make It Home"

This is another one to simply introduce you to the rapper as it gets him doing a tune where he speaks on a troublesome situation which he is in as he is driving down the highway with the police following him, and him high in the car. he then phones his girl to explain the situation and ask for help in bailing him out of it all.

**Four Stars***

3. "Thinkin' Boutchu"

This one displays the fact that Devin is in a very different mood for this album as it has him doing one where he raps about his life is no longer revovling around smoking cannabis as it once was, but insteead that has become a secondary focus in his mind, with his girl taking priority now. The beats reflect a presence of this substance, but with a light-hearted nature generally being the main focus.

**Four Stars**

4. "Let Me Know It's Real"

The synth in this recording is empowering, and it really engages the listener to the thing. I felt that this was important for this particular track as out have the rapper doing a track whihc displays how strong his lyrics are. His style is very similar to that of OutKast's Andre 3000, and the humerous wordplay comes through here.

**Four Stars**

5. "El Grande Nalgas"

This one shows exactly why so many enjoy his humour as it gets him doing a track which focus around him singing towards a girl in Spanish, however he says that whenever he says it, he hasn't got a clue what he's saying, and he only says these things because nothing else will express it, and so resorting to alternative languages is the only direction which he can go in.

**Three Stars**

6. "Me, You"

Devin comes with some surprising thigns in this one as he bursts with his lines as it begins and sings melodies whihc are running away from him. From this humerous little chorus, he folows it up by doing a track which seems to maintain this humour levels as he attempts to seduce a woman in such a relaxed manner.

**Four Stars**

7. "Highway"

Tis is a stand-out track in the album, and probably the best that you get from it all as you have the artist comign with even more killer beats, nd with these funy harmonies being put into the production, you can't really complain about things. I felt that he managed to use them to welll-written lines too as he continues to find inspiration from random places.

**Five Stars**

8. "I Don't Chase 'Em"

Following the success of a colaboration on his last album with "What A Job", this one has Devin rappign alongsid Snoop Dogg in a tune which centres aroudn their position in the world, and how girls chase after them instead of this process being the other way around. I thought that they Funk-based backing was perfect to reflect the influences of both artists.

**Four Stars**

9. "Yo Mind"

This is one of a pair of weaker tunes on the album. As the artist has such great lyricism in his material, its never that bad, but it just didn't have enough energy to really make me want to listen to it at all. The raps get him doing some more well-developed raps, which have clearly been revised. The tune makes him adress the listeners and make them look at their own lives with thought-provoking lines.

**Three Stars**

10. "Your Kinda Love"

In this one, with a long introduction, it seems as though it is going to be a tune which has it all sung, however luckily, you have The Dude getting a chance to rap on the big Hip Hop production. It is a banger, which has him work well with the beats avaliable to him, and make sure that they were used correctly for this track.

**Four Stars**

11. "I Need A Song"

I felt as though this was one of the weaker ones on the album as it seemed rather typical, Iand it didn't really have that much going for it as he does another down-tempo cut, with very little goging on. it is a nice chilling one, but the guests aren't particularlyl excitign to it in any way.

**Three Stars**

12. "Stray"

I was extremely impressed by this track on the album as it initially appear to be so very simplistic and not possess oo much in the way of variation. It is made up of him repeating the same lines over again, however once you get into the flow of it all, you can't help but feel the content with him coming in for very short appearacnes on a track which is mainly instrumental.

**Four Stars**

"Lading Gear" was a supsngly strong album from Devin The Dude, especially since I didn't except to hear that most of the tunes revolved around contrasting themes to what he is most known for. Those who liked previous material from him will enjoy this, however you should be warned that fans of typical Houston rap from the likes of Mike Jones, Paul Wall and Slim Thug shouldn't expect to fnd anything like that as he moves away from the street music and more towards the more lyrical stuff.