Lil Scrappy

Dang! Maybe it's the fact he's got more than one artist to choose from, but whatever the reason, DJ/remixer Michael Watts is positively on fire here. The Swishahouse main man and Texas' greatest contribution to syrup sippers everywhere bounces between destroying and pumping up Lil Scrappy and Trillville's split album, creating a hypnotic haze that's one part party, one part bad trip. He doesn't go half and half like original producer Lil Jon did. Instead, he switches artists every three songs or so, sticks the Bohagon bonus track in the middle instead of on the end, and makes the album busier and fiercer with tight edits and perfect flow. He's screwed (slowed) things down more on other releases, but he's only chopped up tracks this vigorously on his bootleg mixtapes (and if you can find the Swishahouse mix of Prince's "Purple Rain" -- whoo-lawd!). Thunderous booms and jerky stutters are the way Watts takes Trillville's more hook-filled chants on, while Lil Scrappy gets every third or fourth hectic lyric rewound. Since no major label has allowed Watts to chop and screw a compilation's worth of artists, this has to be the best aboveground example of what the man can do, and without a doubt the most varied. Chopping and screwing will remain a simplistic, freakish, and totally unnecessary genre to most, but Watts' savage ripping of these Lil Jon protégés will make skeptics with even a sliver of excitement for the druggy sound into jaw-dropped believers. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide