Nappy Roots

Nappy Roots hearken back to a time in southern rap when lyricism was king, ruling over plodding beats and guttural, unintelligible yelling. After a brief stint on a major label and a hit album–2002's Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz–they're back on their own label, with their best album yet, The Humdinger.

And they don't waste any time addressing their current situation. Opener "Beads and Braids" is a head-first assault on an industry that spit them out, capped off by the sarcastic question, "Why y'all ****** don't rap about money?" It brings up a good point–it's not that Nappy Roots don't rap about the traditional southern rap archetypes that we've come to expect, they just do it more realistically. They rap about strip clubs ("Pole Position") but stop to wonder aloud if their mothers are going to hear it; they rap about cars ("Good Day"), but mostly because they aren't sure if their cars are going to start.

The Humdinger shows Nappy Roots to be funny, down-to-earth hip-hop stars who care more about their craft than they do about their shoe deals. It's something their southern rap peers could learn from.

—Nathan Atnikov
08.25.08