Shwayze

Malibu meets the Sunset Strip on Shwayze's self-titled debut. Shwayze is quite possibly the most chill artist to emerge from either. Touting a smooth lyrical flow, he embodies Malibu's laidback SoCal style, but he's also got Hollywood's preoccupation with getting laid and getting high. Instead of the white powder that fueled the '80s Strip, Shwayze prefers herb, and lots of it. He's reminiscent of Long Beach heroes Sublime in that aspect. He throws down the jams with his producer/partner-in-crime Whitestarr's Cisco Adler. Adler provides hooks that vaguely recall Tom Petty, but he's got his own gravelly smooth delivery. There's a tried-and-true formula at the heart of their sound that always equals summer fun. Cisco drops a straightforward, catchy chorus, and then Shwayze drops a rhyme about either girls, weed or drinking. If you live in L.A., it all makes a whole lot of sense.

"Roamin'" blends an infectious melody with a buoyant rhyme, while "Corona and Lime" proves to be more than just a product shout out. The standout tracks, "Lazy Days" and "Buzzin,'" lyrically dissect L.A. nightlife and its female denizens with intelligence and wit. Both songs are extremely catchy, but they're smart without ever losing the humor or the hook. That's where Shwayze excels—that one-two punch of hook and humor characterizes the first half of this album. Things slow down mid-record, and the songs begin to mesh together too much. The formula works, but these two buddies could benefit from more experimentation with structures and instrumentation.

During the last track "Flashlight," Dave Navarro pops up with some fiery fretwork, and the song highlights another side of the band. Dave's guitar playing breathes life into the album's conclusion, and it leaves listeners with more than just the taste of corona and lime. At the end of the day, if you're cruising the PCH or the Strip looking for fun, Shwayze's the perfect soundtrack. You might even get a few phone numbers.

—Rick Florino
08.20.08

Who says nobody makes regional music anymore? Shwayze is all about a specific place, even a specific time -- namely, the tonier areas of Los Angeles at the tail-end of the Bush era. Call it a soundtrack to The Hills generation, as this is music designed to be seen, not heard, to be repeated endlessly as bumper music to the ongoing saga of Lauren and Heidi, or on Shwayze's very own MTV reality show, Buzzin'. What has Shwayze done to deserve such attention? Well, the rapper has had either the good fortune or keen social skills to hook up with one Cisco Adler, a scenester DJ who has managed to date Mischa Barton, Paris Hilton and -- see how it's all tied together -- Lauren Conrad of The Hills. Cisco is prominently featured in all photos and publicity for Shwayze's eponymous 2008 debut, so it's easy to assume that Shwayze is a group, not a rapper, and, in most respects, they are a duo, as Adler is responsible for the sun-blasted, bud-blitzed grooves that overshadow Shwayze's mumbled rhymes about sunshine, slumming rich girls, and lazy days fueled by bushels of weed. Occasionally, Shwayze threads in hints of vague violence, imagining throwing his guns in the air and stumbling upon cops who aren't quite as intimidating as pissed-off parents, but this is all fantasy learned from movies and classic rap, retro entertainment that has him convinced that 1985, the year before his birth, was a very green year indeed. Shwayze rewrites his odes to pot and babes -- the marijuana described lovingly and longingly, the girls an afterthought -- for 13 songs and thankfully, Cisco's palette is as limited as his partner's, as he latches upon the first sunny Sublime hippie groove that he can find and rides it out, never changing it, never varying it, even when Dave Navarro steps in to do something (it's unclear exactly what) on the closer "Flashlight," which has as little to do with Parliament as "James Brown Is Dead" has to do with either the Godfather of Soul or L.A. Style. There may be no recognition of L.A. Style, but in their blissfully ignorant, lazily monotonous sunshine grooves, Shwayze does manage to be all about the style of L.A. in 2008. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide