The Biv 10 Pee Wee All-Stars

Once a key member of New Edition and Bell Biv Devoe, Michael Bivins turned to enterpeneurship at the close of the '90s, launching Biv 10 Records with the awkwardly-titled Michael Bivins Presents the Adventures of Biv 10 Pee Wee All-Stars. All of the artists on the compilation make their debut here, which shouldn't be surprising, since every artist here is under 14 years old -- pee wees, if you will. Apparently, there's some sort of audience for this, since Pee Wee All-Stars appears a few short months after Master P's equivalent project, Lil Soldiers. True, Bivins' army of kids isn't as street-ready as P's, but they have a similar hardcore-lite feel, and even if none of the Pee Wees trade in explicit gangsta cliches, the delivery and attitude makes it clear what these kids want to be. On a pure sonic level, portions of the album sound good -- strong beats, appealing constructions -- but really, this album works if you like to hear little kids act like gangstas -- sort of the hip-hop equivalent of a pre-teen beauty pageant. If it's distasteful for you (and it is for me), it's hard to accept Pee Wee All Stars, even when the music sounds good. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide