Crime Mob's sophomore disc, the amazingly titled Hated On Mostly, won't be in stores until January 30th of next year, but we were listening to a five-track sampler of tracks from the LP all afternoon.
The Mob don't try to mimic the sound and structure of "Knuck If You Buck" (2005 JAM OF YEAR) all that much - though there's still headbussery and teenaged enthusiasm galore. The guitar riffs and marching band drumline of "Represent" go crazily hard, lead single "Rock Yo Hips" is perhaps the most ominous ode to dancing girls ever recorded (and definitely the only one with face-punching timpani hits), and title track "Hated On Mostly" showcases extra-aggro, almost barked back-and-forth verses from the crew, especially the girls (who sound like they were listening to more than a little Eminem in the off season).
But all that is made totally irrelevant thanks to the two jams that end the sampler. "Circles" features a Kanye-ish, sped up soul beat from Dirty Doc Jam (the producer behind "Georgia Girls," the song we damn near dedicated an entire feature to two summers ago). You might have heard his instrumental before on an unofficial remix for Gangsta Boo's "Sippin' & Spinnin'," but Crime Mob really do it justice, getting melancholy on record for what seems like the first time ever. Yet even a departure like "Circles" couldn't prepare us for "What Is Love," which samples Haddaway's song of the same title (yes, the A Night at the Roxbury theme) and flips it into a half-time banger with the
heaviest 808s we've heard in a minute, kickdrums so thick they almost distort and bend the notes. And it's also a sad one! Both these are real songs, and as much as we want to hear Diamond and Princess spit that "I wish a hater would..." shit from the last album, hearing them go all diary entry on us makes for an even more enjoyable listen.
(That said, you know we cued up "Ellenwood Area" immediately after a few rewinds of the sampler. Fuck with us, we bury ya...)