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West Koasta Nostra
10/09/2003 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
Before G-funk even had a name, six Samoan brothers from Los Angeles made an early attempt at giving George Clinton's signature thump and slap a sinister, low-riding makeover. Trends changed, but the music never disappeared, and neither did the Boo Yaa Tribe. Both lay mostly dormant during the East Coast's late-'90s glory years, but G-funk successfully mutated into Eminem's midwest swing, and Shady himself gives the Tribe his blessing (via the distress call for hip-hop, "911," which he produced) on this comeback album, bringing things more or less full circle. Never award-winners on the mic, the former gang members have always compensated with been-there-done-that edge, and recruited an impressive roster of Cali talent from both sides of the Bloods/Crips divide to flesh out new gangsta classics like "On Me" and "Zodiac Kreep." If West Koasta Nostra generates new appreciation for the durability of the Tribe and their genre, though, it should do the same for veteran producer Battlecat, who packs every ounce of this bounce with propulsive Moogs, Zapp-style talkboxes and spacey soul singing in his finest hour yet.
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