“Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz” came out in 2002, and was the debut album from the six-piece rap group, Nappy Roots. Composed of members R. Prophet, Fish Scales, Big V, B. Stille, Skinny DeVille and Ron Clutch, the Kentucky men are one-of-a-kind in the fact that they show how even a southern state such as Kentucky can produce a rap group which is able to show the diversity in the ‘Dirty South’.
1. “Intro”
2. “Hustla”
In order o get things going, you find that the producer Grove Chambers comes with some exciting beats for them to work with, and it seems that from this you have them showing that they are able to pull out the best flows that they are capable through this, and it means that the start of it is a strong one, and acts as a great way to explain their position as life is nothing more than a hustle.
**Four Stars**
3. “Set It Out”
I have to say that this one does very little in terms of impact as the beats in it are pretty average, and they are just the thing which you get at every other stage in the album. Aside from this, you have some strong raps from them all (not that I can name who is on the beat at which stage) and it shows that they have skills at this.
This track has them perform a track which any Dirty South Hip Hop crew is bound to enjoy as it finds them doing a joint which has them able to the Crunk listener with a tune which breaks
it down with heavy bass and a slowed tempo. It shows that they are not only able to do the politically-charged stuff, but also work which just has them doing things for fun.
**Four Stars**
5. “Ballin’ On A Budget”
For this track you see ho although they clearly exist in a rural setting, but strive for much more than this as they attempt to imitate what is going on in urban areas with resources which they have where they are from, and on a much lower cost. It is thought-provoking and original as most of their music is.
**Three Stars**
6. “Awnaw”
This was the big debut single from the, and it finds them doing a track which gets right into the country rap as you see them joined with beats from Jazze Pha, the man behind the work of another country rap group, Field Mob. It seems that he is able to give them just what they want in this one, and them make the most out of what they are given to work with.
**Four Stars**
7. “Headz Up”
This is another of the big single to come off this album, and although none of them made much of an impact on the mainstream Hip hop fans, it certainly got their name out there, and I feel that this more than the other two was able to let them do more of the typical rap and so were able to lay off the much more complex rhymes which deal with bigger issues than the various food references here.
**Four Stars**
8. “Slums”
This one has them show that Grove Chambers, who produces, has lots of talent as he comes with something which shows his sampling and DJing skills, and how he can adapt them to fit in with the type of thing which he wished for this one. From this decent backing, you have them speak on how their settings are essentially “slums”, and offer no potential for the future.
**Three Stars**
9. “Po’ Folks”
This was the second single from them, and it has them follow-on from their first one well as they push forward the same sort of things as before in a tune which has them speak about how their lifestyle is dictated by their surroundings, and they just cope because there is no use in trying to fight against something which they have no control over. It is done well by them, but it sits as a pretty average one due to the basic production it is given.
**Three Stars**
10. “Start It Over”
The beats on this track are freaky, and just the type of thing that you would want to hear from them as it has a distinctive Dirty South sound to it to appeal to those who are into this general sound, as well as the music which they do which goes much deeper than this. It is seems to be a track which has them lift the mood with beats from The Trackboyz, and it really boosts the record.
**Four Stars**
11. “Blowin’ Trees”
This one has them speak on the lifestyle which is commonly carried out by the people in Kentucky as there is so little to do there. It is a laid-back tune by them and it really gets you into the feel of their region as it is just so care-free and they don’t appear to have much to do apart from grow their own weed and smoke it, and so this is what they do here.
**Three Stars**
12. “Sholiz”
This one appears to be very different to a lot of the others which you get on here due to the fact that it is Mike City who makes the beats to it, and it appears that he is able to bring even more out of them. I have to say that I haven’t got a clue what they are on about here, and I’m sure it’s personal to them, or at least the region.
**Four Stars**
13. “Life’s A B***h”
On this track you have them getting right into the conscious rap, and I felt that here they went a little too deep for me, and i couldn’t say that I could really engage with the ay they went about doing this one as they seemingly are losing due to the fact that can’t work out why life is how it is.
**Three Stars**
14. “My Ride” (Lude)
15. “One Forty”
This is a fast-paced track from them, and so it clearly stands out here as it is completely unlike the rest that you find on it, and so I had to find similarities between this and something like OutKast’s “B.O.B.” in terms of how they are able to ride the rapid beat effectively and not get knocked back by the speed of things.
**Four Stars**
16. “Dime, Quarter, Nickel, Penny”
On this track you find them doing a track which seemingly has them advancing things from impoverish conditions to a state where they are striving for nothing more than ‘benjies’ (Benjamins – 100-dollar bills) and so these messily amounts simply won’t do for hem with much higher quantities of money available to them. The beats suit the frantic chase after money, and it goes down well as we edge towards the end of the record.
**Four Stars**
17. “Kentucky Mud”
It seesm that the group are proud of the mud they have in Kentucky, and so choose to a track which puts this as the focus of the thing, as they speak on how it effects them as they drive their favourite cars. It seems to contrast so much from others which you get on it with them at a stage where they seem to neglect their setting to a degree, and only the title shows that they see this as part of their makings.
**Four Stars**
18. “The Lounge” (Outro)
This is an original album, and it has a lot going for it in the fact that it shows a very different side to what Hip Hop can achieve, by shedding light on people who really never get seen in the world, so you have to like it for this. Aside from this, it isn’t quite the best Rap that you will have heard so I wouldn’t really recommend it, but it acts as a nice alternative to other things you can find out there. The production isn’t all that good here, and I felt that this held it back, especially when they went deep into the political work, but as this wasn’t in place, it seemed average at these times.
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At a time when digitised beats and crudely consumerist attitudes rule the airwaves, the ... more
distinctively organic aesthetic of Kentucky-bred hip-hop sextet Nappy Roots' debut is refreshing. Rotating MCs flip profound rhymes about growing up in the South an...
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