“I’m Different” plays like a de-fanged “Rack City,” while “Yuck” can’t help but sound like an over-inflated Lil Wayne B-side (with a subpar Weezy hook to match I guess Trukfit’s taking up too much of his artistic effort right now). But the price to pay for such hilarity is steep: despite an impressive roster of producers - Bangladesh, DJ Mustard, and Streetrunner, among others - none of the heavy hitters can seem to offer anything but rehashes of their earlier smashes. So, yeah, this might be one of the funniest rap albums of 2012 so far, from a lyrical standpoint.
Going so hard you’d think I mixed a Viagra with a Soda.Dippin’ it like fondue, spinach dip, cheese stick.Eee-err Eee-err, sound of the bed/ Beat it up, beat it up, then I get some head.She got a big booty/ So I call her “Big Booty”.They’re buried in otherwise insufferable, repetitive trap rap songs, but they’re there. That said, there are some hilarious lines on this album. Unfortunately, there’s no #BasedGod magic to redeem this debut, nor is there a moment where things completely come together in anything else but a hip-hop zero-sum. He’s an enigma in the same way Lil B and Wacka are - interesting personalities presented in the context of underwhelming rap that may or may not be part of a larger joke that we’re not all in on. Epps has several strange quirks to differentiate him from the rest of the masses: a strict adherence to a one-syllable-per-quarter-note style of rapping, a tendency to utter “YAHH” or “TRUTH” or even his own name by means of introduction, and a cadence that falls somewhere between self-parody and complete seriousness. If you’ve flipped across any channels broadcasting music videos, if you’ve turned on the radio in the past three months, if you still read the feed from that awkward rap fan in your 10th-grade health class on Facebook, you’ve probably heard a 2 Chainz song - or, at the very least, a 2 Chainz guest feature. That Kreayshawn song about breakfast? Why the hell not? There’s no time to pick sides or dip your toes in any beef - just take what you can get. Now that we’ve got the nomenclature out of the way, there’s only one thing left to do: get thee a feature spot. Even if you’ve been performing for over 10 years, even if you’ve helped to establish Playaz Circle as a decent dirty south duo, you can’t expect to get a Burger King licensing deal with a name like “Tity Boi.” So you pick something more family friendly… 2 Chainz? It’ll have to do. Exhibit A: if your old moniker is Tity Boi, you can kiss your dreams of superstardom goodbye. Tauheed Epps just may be one of the most overwhelmingly mediocre rappers in the game today, but he’s a damn good business man.