Jeremy "2 Pistols" Saunders gets an "E" for effort for his debut album Death Before Dishonor. Though he is new to the industry, it's obvious this young Floridian boss has been doing this rap thing for a while. At times he sounds like another Florida native, Plies, on the album, but this dude is in a category of his own.
Death Before Dishonor starts off with 2 Pistols appearing in court to receive his sentence for distributing cocaine. Though originally he was slated to serve fifteen years in prison, the judge was gracious and instead granted him five years probation and one year of house arrest. The first single off the album, "She Got It" featuring T-Pain, has garnered an impressive radio buzz and is in heavy rotation on several video countdowns. In the song, 2 Pistols describes his ideal woman. "Damn she bad, damn she thick / five foot five, hazel eyes, red bone you the sh**," he raps. Recently, a discussion about whether 2 Pistols wrote the lyrics to his hit single caused a minor riff between him and Konvict Music artist Dolla, at this year's BET Awards. In a YouTube video, 2 Pistols retorts by saying that regardless of what Dolla believes, or anyone else for that matter, he wrote the lyrics to the song, and he emphasizes that he asked T-Pain to appear on the hook.
"Get Money Mane" shows that 2 Pistols can also mine his own experiences, as he recounts tales of flipping product on the block. Though his implementation of these experiences isn't always articulate -- "I got tall money, you coming up short dog with ya midget money" -- the lush beat, provided by the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, and catchy hook save the day. 2 Pistols burrows some of the saccharine seduction from Mad Cobra's '90s hit, "Flex," on his updated version "Flex 2008." Again, some of his material sounds a bit insipid, not to mention his flow also lacks fervor. He should be given credit, however, for dropping the line, "Grab the protection off the dresser," in between all the pillow talk, especially in this day and age.
Blood Raw and Slick Pulla, of CTE, Tyra, Trey Songs, and Ray J all appear on Death Before Dishonor. "We Run It" features the aforementioned Corporate Thugs trading verses with 2 Pistols. Mr. Pistols gets away from his slow drawl on this cut and steps up the pace a bit, but of course, when Blood Raw steps in, he murders the whole track. "Everybody loves me, I'm so fly / Girl aint' that Blood Raw, when I ride by / They say he the mayor, well bitch I'm the governor / The realest n**** breathing, and you can put that on my mother," he raps.
The Ray J-assisted "You Know Me" is for all the ladies involved in thug love. On this track, 2 Pistols explains the struggles of dating a hustler with lines like, "I know you shorty and you know me / And you know I can't leave these streets, hustling is in my veins / Shorty, wish I could stay so for now just pray for me," while R&B thug Ray J croons superbly on the chorus.
Though Death Before Dishonor pushed only 16, 000 units during its first week, 2 Pistols has proven he is a talented artist with potential for growth. He has a ways to go before he can compete with the big dogs in the game, but he's already built a solid foundation with this debut. Hopefully on his next album, he will take it to the next level and experiment a bit more on the lyrical side of things.
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