DJ Kay Slay & Greg Street: The Champions: North Meets South
Words by Francesca Djerejian Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0
When DJ Kay Slay and DJ Green Lantern teamed up several months back for the On My New York Sh-- mixtape, they enlisted an army of New York rap talent in what appeared to be an attempt for New York to reclaim its crown in the era of Trap, Snap and Crunk. Kay Slay must have had a change of heart about that ambition, because halfway through working on his latest official mixtape release, he decided to reach out to Atlanta radio personality DJ Greg Street to co-host The Champions: North Meets South.
Busta Rhymes sets it off on the dramatic "Go Off," owning the beat with his tireless flow as he claims rap supremacy. The extra-animated Bus-A-Bus even gives a nod to the Bay Area: "When I pop, I make 'em wild like the Hyphy movement / Type environment inappropriate, shouldn't bring you wifey to it / That hold on the title always growing / You know its me, you know its posed to be / Highest official, bitch -- Diplomacy / You know its us, sh-- is so glorious / And while you're caught in the matrix, just call me, Morpheus aka long victorious / The streets applauding us, Feds is recording our conversation / while I'm celebrating this new release enjoy this good occasion."
Another stand-out track is the aptly-titled "Five Deadly Venoms," featuring the dream team of Ghostface, Big Daddy Kane, Raekwon, Kool G Rap and Lord Tariq. Ghost gives us a sense of scale: "We serve glaciers that's why the fiends is friendly," G Rap swerves lanes across the game and leaves 'em in the dust, Chef seasons sh-- up and whets appetites for Cuban Linx 2, Lord Tariq shines in comeback fashion as the BX boroughs main frame, and Kane hungrily seizes the crown of rawness. The only problem is that this track already appeared on Kay Slay and Green Lantern's months-old On my New York Shit mixtape. The same flaw is evident on the otherwise-solid "In the Ghetto," where Fat Joe spits "Lean Back was the hottest sh-- poppin' in '04 / Now it's '05 and the King's been crowned." Hmm... Joey Crack is joined by Jim Jones, Cassidy, Sheek Louch and none other than Shaquille O'Neal, credited as Shaq Diesel. As the owner of the Deja 32 label and financier of the mixtape, Shaq makes a total of three appearances on the album, which to put it lightly, don't do much to enhance its overall value.
Another repeat performer on The Champions is Kay Slay's prized protégé Papoose, who has gotten away with his monotonous delivery long enough to call himself the 1.5 million dollar man. And with punchlines like, "I get more butt than an excuse," his lyrical skill isn't always on point either.
Another disappointment is the Dipset cut, "Drama Gang," with an uninspired beat by Stay Gettin', played out Jimmy hook and mediocre Cam and Juelz verses. Thankfully for the Harlem crew, Hell Rell delivers a spirited hook and verse on "The Hardest Out," outshining trackmates Remy Ma and Papoose over Amadeus' symphonic banger.
Kay Slay is clearly the dominant DJ. Even on the Southern posse cut "Big Problems" -- featuring Lil' Jon, Lil' Flip, Lil' Scrappy and Lil' Wyte (notice a trend?) -- the Drama King gets all the shout-outs. Not to mention that there are more up North artists and posse cuts featured than down South ones. Attempts for bi-regional collabos seem totally arbitrary, case in point: Papoose joins Yung Joc and Chamillionaire on the Kickdrums-produced banger "Pop the Trunk." DJ Paul and Juicy J bless the album with a sick beat on "Hood Drug Wars," where the Three 6 heavyweight team trade ruthless verses with B. Gizzle. Others repping from the South are Mike Jones and Paul Wall (who are joined by, you guessed it, Papoose), and female VA newcomer Vein.
While the best of both worlds concept makes sense, the lack of any kind of conceptual unity on The Champions seriously weakens the effort, which goes to show you why New York and Southern DJs are better off staying in their own lanes.
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