SPANK ROCK & BENNY BLANCO
Spank Rock & Benny Blanco Are... Bangers & Cash
(Downtown Records)
Spank Rock has been hailed as a hipster dance hero, responsible for delivering Baltimore-influenced dance music with extra portions of raunch into the underground rap scene. The concept project Benny Blanco & Spank Rock are... Bangers and Cash is no different from Spank Rock's last album, YoYoYoYoYo (Big Dada), in terms of lyrical mindset, but boasts the high-gloss hand of DJ/ producer Benny Blanco to fuel a 2 Live Crew freak revival.
The value of this is EP lies in its accessibility, its ability to move a new crowd of sex-crazed socialites. The beats bang bigger than the booties emblazing the cover of the album, and Spank Rock's agile lyricism helps progress the call-response style hooks that channel the crew, which inspired the album. While each of the five tracks on this EP illustrate Blanco's ability to bring '80s-era club rap to updated 2007 grit, it falls short of stunning engineering ingenuity. "Loose" and "Shake That" are comprised of bubbling, low drums that will guarantee to pulse any club, and "Bitch!" is filled with elements that are brash more so than ironically garish. The other two tracks on the album, "B-O-O-T-A-Y" and "Pu$$y," follow in that fashion.
The substance of each track is similar to that of 2 Live Crew almost to the blueprint, and therefore prevent any substantial place in hip hop's lexicon - but will introduce a whole new crowd into how vivid "booty dropping" can actually be. Degrading, graphic, and flashy as it may be, this album's sole directive is to glamorize dance clubs, and it does everything it promises. Crazy amounts of bang, with the best dazzle money can buy. Eavvon O'Neal
Watch the "B.O.O.T.Y." video. What do you think?
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