Unless you been under a rock for the last couple of years, you know that in 2006 Three 6 Mafia won an Academy Award for writing/producing “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from the film Hustle & Flow. What a lot of people don’t know is that a guy by the name of Cedric Coleman also shared the honor that night (And probably wrote most of the lyrics). Well Cedric, or as you may better know him, Frayser Boy, has just released his third album titled Da Key. Being signed to Three 6’s Hypnotize Minds label, this is his third album is five years. With production from DJ Paul and Juicy J, can Frayser boy finally get notoriety outside of Memphis? Let’s find out…
1. Intro
Like most Hypnotize Minds releases, the album starts with words from one of the CEO’s. After some tough talk from DJ Paul, Frayser Boy performs a quick verse that serves up some heavy M-Town gangster; “Let me talk to ‘em nigga with this voice of mine/Frayser Boy stick a nigga like a porcupine”. I can’t lie though the beat is tough and better quality then I suspected.
2. Big Money
The track starts with horns and more shit talking from Paul (he also provides half of the hook). Of course you know the subject matter of this song: money! Even though Frayser Boy won’t have Nas’ pushing his album back when it comes to lyrics, he has basic song writing ability and stays on the subject (no matter how redundant the subject matter); “You could lose a lotta money chasing women/But you can’t lose women chasing money/Now ain’t that funny?” The beat sounds a little generic, but still does the job.
3. Hood Thang
Here Frayser shouts out The Bay (It’s the one in Memphis; not to be confused with San Francisco, Oakland, & San Jose). It still surprising me that Paul & Juicy actually gave him some good production. Most of the time they really don’t pay much attention to their in-house artist. On this song, Frayser let’s us know what’s good in the hood: Four 15’s in the trunk, taking Ecstasy, smoking blunts, etc. Wow, the hood is really fucked up.
4. Hoe Nigga
The hook on this one is lazy as hell; “Hoe nigga, Hoe nigga, Hoe nigga, Hoe” I guess it’s talking about…Hoe niggas. Yea, 4 tracks in and I see what kind of a ride this’ll be. What’s sad is Frayser rides the track that’s actually not that bad complete with hand claps and organs.
5. What We Smoke, What We Pop
Whoa, Frayser Boy must pop a lotta pills. I swear every song on this album so far has some sort of ecstasy reference. This is basically another song about smoking weed and popping pills. Actually, the hooks say that…over and over again. Boring!
6. How I Came Up
Does anybody in the class know how Frayser Boy came up? Okay, you in the back. Huh? By selling drugs you say? How do you know that? Oh, because 90% of rappers say that. Even thought the pianos on the track are okay, the story of having “the block on lock” has been told millions of times before. So many in fact, I really can’t listen to this track without any prejudice.
7. Twerk Dat Thang
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the strip club song. I’ll tell you when I pressed skip though. The first line: “Get jiggy with it/Let a nigga hit it/She gotta nice ass/She also got some nice titties” That’s when. SKIP!
8. 100 Or Nothing
I guess I don’t mind this song. It’s basically saying that no matter what he does, he does it 100%. It’s get redundant after he repeats “100 or nothing” for the fifth time though.
9. DXS Talk
DJ Paul drops an ad in the middle of Frayser Boy’s album. And I mean a real ad too. He talks about the new clothing line by Three 6 Mafia, websites, and even the MySpace page.
10. Money Gettin’ Mission
This is probably the best song off the album. Even though he already covered the “money” issue in a previous track, the sample on this one is hot. It puts you in the mind of Three 6’s “Poppin’ My Collar”. The lyrics from Frayser Boy aren’t the best but the beat saves him.
11. Hatin’ On Me
I swear almost every rapper is schizophrenic; they seem to have a millions haters. The track sounds simple at first until the heavy electric guitar comes in. For a second, it sounded like Barry White’s “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up”. It’s hard to explain.
12. Blame It On Patron
Featuring Juicy J
Juicy drops by to contribute the lone guest verse of the album. It’s basically your average song about acting out and blaming it on the alcohol. Nothing really noteworthy here; beat or lyrics.
13. Come On Then
The sampling here is welcomed, but not as successful as on “Money Getting’ Mission”. It’s Frayser trying to holler at a chick by saying, uh, “Come on in”. The hook pattern gets redundant after hearing it all over the album previously.
14. Wanna See Me Fall
Damn Frayser, you got a lot of haters. See “Hatin’ On Me”
15. Another Level
I wonder do rappers like Frayser Boy get tired of talking about haters and how people need to “get on their level”? Well this is another dose of that kind of song. The beat is functional, and even though it’s been done, I do like this line: “You gon make love/I’m a fuck her good/You a straight scrub/Me, I’m from the fucking hood”. I feel ashamed.
16. Anyday, Anytime
“I’ll pay one of you boys to fuck with me!” Yep, Frayser ends the album with a bouncy track about roughness of his hood and how he’ll fuck you up anyplace, anytime, and anywhere. Not a bad song, but he just reiterates what he already stated on the whole album.
17. Outro
DJ Paul (with Juicy yelling crazily in the background) does more ads and promotion for the rest of the Hypnotize Minds artists.
Bottom Line:
This wasn’t as low budget as I thought. This album had almost no promotion, almost no airplay, and almost no big label support and yet still had some quality that I wasn’t expecting. But the main problem here is the subject matter and originality. While Frayser does possess some minuet song making ability, how many times do we have to hear about thugs, sex, haters, and drugs. If you are a fan of Three 6 Mafia, Hypnotize Minds, or Frayser Boy, you might want to pick this up. But personally, until Frayser Boy expands his themes, he’ll have a hard time getting to that next level.
nappyPicks: “Intro” & “Money Gettin’ Mission”
Download: Frayser Boy – “Money Gettin’ Mission”
