Title:Crash the Party By: Smilez and Southstar Released by: ARTISTdirect Records Released on: 07/09/2002 Rating (out of 10): 6 Date: 06/18/2002
Forced Entry Into Commercial Rap
Welcome to the wonderful world of commercial rap. It’s a carefree, glittery world, filled with 20-inch rims on glossy new Benzes, diamond encrusted platinum jewelry, and ravishing young women who’ll give you “brains” so much you’ll become an honor student. Despite the fact that a great many rappers have written innumerable songs about this elusive existence, very few have actually experienced this surreal Hip-Hop domain.
Florida teenagers Smilez and Southstar are set to attempt to force their way into this lustrous world with their debut album, appropriately titled Crash the Party. The album is perfectly and intricately crafted to appeal to the pop-rap crowd, from the light-hearted flossing, paper-chasing, and womanizing brag raps of the pair, to the addictive, throbbing party tracks that will make you want to do the Harlem Shake ‘till you rattle a filling loose. If this bling-blingy world of commercial rap truly does exist, then count on Smilez and South to be making themselves feel right at home there right about now.
“Who Wants This” is the big radio single for Smilez and Southstar. The two rap typical bragging lines describing their luxury vehicles, quality and willingness of female fans, proficiency on the mic, and other commonplace themes. The real high point of this song is not the vocals, but the vibrant track put together by producer Dakari. He layers a thick, slightly Latin bass line over simple keyboard chords and a catchy falsetto chorus, ensuring that “this song’s so hot, you’ll have it on your two way.”
Smilez and Southstar show a little bit of versatility on Crash the Party as well. The uptempo, subdividing beat of “It’s On” lets the two try their hand at the Dirty South syncopated style of rhyming. Though they do an inadequate job of truly capturing the technique in their delivery and the beat doesn’t come remotely close to rivaling the best thumps of the Dungeon Fam, the forceful track is guaranteed to get the dance floor rushed in any club. Later, Smilez and South show their metal on “Gully,” rapping over a “power rock” inspired song. The grinding guitars and gothic organ chords are a welcome change from the cellophane rap found on the rest on Crash the Party, but unfortunately the group doesn’t alter their vocals at all to make creative use of the production.
On the whole, Smilez and Southstar rarely deviate from the “money/jewels/cars/sex” aesthetic that mainstream rap fans so desperately crave. In fact, “Tell Me” and “Now That You’re Gone” are the only real attempts at depth on this album, and even these aren’t all that profound. “Tell Me” has the duo showing sorrow over failed relationships a la Jay-Z’s “Song Cry,” and “Now That You’re Gone” is the obligatory “dead homiez” track that all rappers craft when they’re struggling for relevant material. Southstar does include a few touching lyrics about his late mother, but for the most part the song is ravaged by run-of-the-mill, ‘pour out some liquor, in heaven I’ll ride wit cha’ lyrics. Amazingly, Dakari still manages to put these "serious" songs to extremely radio-friendly music. With “Now That You’re Gone,” the producer uses catchy percussion to offset the somber mood created by gentle guitar and piano melodies, and “Tell Me” features synthesized horns and orchestra hits over old-school R&B accompaniment to provide a classic soul feel.
But for the most part, the dynamic duo’s talent lies in creating bouncy party tracks, and they definitely supply fans with an abundance of these on Crash the Party. Materialistic braggadocio fills up the bubbly “Let’s Roll,” and spills over onto the jiggy, guitar-driven “What Can You Do?” “Let’s Get Naked” is Smilez and South’s answer to the “take your shirt off and spin it over your head like a helicopter” type party tracks, with Southstar appropriately proclaiming, “this ain’t for y’all chicks that’s modeling/ this is for of all of y’all chicks that’s swallowing.”
Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to just write off Smilez and Southstar as another commercial rap one hit wonder. While other mainstream fly-by-nights usually release albums that contain two or three radio singles and ten to twenty tracks of filler, this rap twosome has created an album comprised entirely of rap songs that TRL would be proud to add to its exceedingly shallow playlist. Quite simply, each and every track on Crash the Party was designed for radio play. Plus, all possible regional demographics are covered as well; East Coast jiggy, Dirty South bounce, and West Coast funk are all represented. Though lyrically they obviously borrow from some of the more popular mainstream artists like Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, DMX, and others, they manage to meld each of the different rhyme styles and deliveries into their own slightly above average style.
In spite of attempts to classify the youngish Smilez and Southstar as a “Kris Kross Version 2.0,” the two rookies know the formula for commercial success and set out to achieve it with Crash the Party. No invitation was necessary; they’ve powered their way into the party and it looks like they may be hanging around for a while.
