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Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey
07/25/2001 8:31 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
As "oddesseys" go, this blunt-heavy epic from Kurupt falls a little short of Homer. However, the Dogg Pound member's third solo album does boast some of the richest, fattest G-Funk to hit the streets in some time.
Fleshed out with live musicians and appearances by the usual Death Row diaspora (Snoop, Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger, et al), it offers choice cuts like the DJ Quik-produced "Can't Go Wrong" and "Sunshine," Jon B's effective commercial tweak of the classic West Coast sound. And "It's Over," featuring Kurupt's fiancee, Natina Reed of Blaque, on the singsong hook, is a single with the potential for a bicoastal blow-up. Kurupt's smooth but commanding delivery is the perfect complement to the mellow tunes, but there are way too many standard-issue, hoes-n-hustlas tales to call this any great leap forward--although the standard-issue, world-ain't-fair rant, "Kuruption," featuring a
whining Everlast strumming along, is much worse. So forget about insight; instead, switch to party anthems like "At It Again" ( a reworked version of Johnny Kemp's '80s hit "Just Got Paid") and groove.
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