By Odeisel

It’s been three years since we lost Chad Butler, and his presence is sorely missed. It turns out however that Pimp C may be gone, but he is certainly not silent. His album, The Naked Soul of Sweet Jones, stands as his legacy as a soloist.

“Down 4 Mine” finds Pimp C in  monologue mode. A dancing double snare undercurrent supports hand claps and a purposeful bass, as he puts TV Johnny on blast for cheap diamonds, shits on Bentley for poor customer service (following his accident) and chicks that act funny towards him.

UGK partner Bun B brings Drake along on “What Up.” As we’ve discussed before on the Planet, Drake is out of sorts stylistically while Pimp C steals the show. “Love 2 Ball” features Chamillionaire and some muted, subtle 808’s and double snares. Cham gets busy on this with tight lines “ain’t no stopping the balling cause ran out of time-outs.” Pimp C hammers the breaks on the beats and really owns the anchor leg with his presence on tracks.

Jazzy Pha croons the hook of “Fly Lady,” which refers to the silver lady on the hood of the car and not an actual woman. The bottoms bang and Pimp C’s measured flow slows and speeds with the beat. Big E steps in on the production side to power the E-40 and Gator Man aided “Since The 90’s.” This track is a decidedly straight gangster/hustler talk and none of that player aesthetic elsewhere on the album.

UGK reunites again on “Dickies” with Young Jeezy riding shotgun. This ode to chinos is driven by a mean guitar and an organ backed by a bit of distortion. Bun’s deep-voiced performance is dominant in the DMC mode with reverb/ quadraverb echo and vocal boom. Too $hort tells you what pussies are made for on the simplistic “Made 4 Me.” Pimp C devolves into $hort’s rudimentary lane to a slow simmering, dithering organ-powered melody.

Elegant strings permeate “Midnight,” with Pimp C flaunting his sexual prowess along with Rozay Ross and Slim Thug. Ross drops a simple, but effective rhyme scheme while Thugga does his thing. “Believe In Me” borrows from the movie Carwash’s Williams Sisters with the line, You gotta believe in something, why not believe in me?” The posse cut features Ivory P, Cory Mo, Hezeleo, Bankroll Jones, and Bub kicking that pimp shit over a mean bass line accented by light strings.

“Hit The Parking Lot” features Webbie and Lil Boosie. Snare drums over menacing distortion power Webbie’s opening flow amid raging synths and Boosie’s sing-songy flow works very well. Pimp C closes out in full arrogance screaming “fuck where you from, and fuck who you with, if it ain’t about no paper bitch it ain’t about shit!”

“Colors” features Da Under Dawgz copping it up about the colors of the diamonds in the chains, the candy paint on the cars and the colors of the many women (“JapaRican”) that are on their tips.  J Dawg and Bun B “Go 2 War” with Pimp C amid brass, snare drums and a kick drum. Don’t move on their corner, don’t run up on them, don’t do anything that can perceived as the wrong move or that’s your ass. The album closes with “Massacre,” made dramatic by a slasher movie-style piano, stabbing, haunting strings and deep, bruising keys.  Pimp closes solo, riding on the new millennium video internet gangsters whom he calls “transcript writers.”

The Naked Soul of Sweet Jones a suitable testament to the skill of Pimp C. He delivers with more lyrical skill than he regularly displayed with UGK and was able to give his vision outside of the UGK construct. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see how he would have evolved once he went back to the group or how his solo career would have progressed. His music lives on this album. His voice is certainly missed.

out of 5

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Follow Odeisel on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/odeisel

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Follow us on Networked Blogs