sample to anchor a pugnacious club track. (MJG takes aim at Chrysler-driving exaggerators, explaining, “A 300 is not a Bentley, an apartment not a house/A Geneva not a Rolex, you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout.”) Meanwhile “30 Rocks” is a marvelously tipsy-sounding ode to the nightlife, and “Relax and Take Notes” uses an old Notorious B.I.G. “Turn Up the Bump,” produced by Danja, has an angry-hornet synthesizer line and plenty of trash talk. And 8Ball, whose physique matches his nickname, has perfected a heavy but smooth style he delivers words in an even stream, then shifts the meter to add elegant syncopation. ![]() MJG is typically unpredictable and excitable when he wants to emphasize a syllable, he’ll sing it instead of speaking it. (“I like the way this one sound right here,” Diddy said, as if anyone asked him.) But as usual the focus is on the two rappers themselves. ![]() “Ridin High” is the duo’s second album for Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy. Maybe this stuff never sounded new, but it also never gets old. Their rhymes continue a centuries-old tradition of African-American boasting and toasting. Plenty of high-minded hip-hop acts have come and gone since 1993, the year 8Ball & MJG released “Comin’ Out Hard.” And perhaps it’s no coincidence that these two Memphis rappers, with their greasy pimp tales and grim crime narratives, have outlasted the competition. ![]() 8BALL & MJG “Ridin High” (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
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