Loved By Few, Hated By Many

Loved By Few, Hated By Many

Willie D’s voice is a Southern rap institution, as ingrained and essential to the culture as a Mannie Fresh snare roll or an Andre 3000 non sequitur. While Willie’s early Rap-A-Lot albums were paragons of force and focus, the rapper takes a multifaceted approach here, sampling several of the era’s dominant Southern rap sounds. “Gun Talk” gives a sense of what a No Limit Willie D record would have sounded like, while “Dear God” looks to Tupac Shakur for inspiration. Willie even turns to his longtime bandmate Scarface for “Lil’ Killaz,” a dead ringer for Face’s downcast flow. Scarface himself shows up for “Dem Boyz,” a superlative track that also features 17-year-old Lil Wayne. “Freaky Deaky” is another standout, led by the vocals of UGK’s Pimp C, one of many Southern rappers who built his style on Willie D’s blueprint. As usual, Willie turns in a bit of fiery truth telling on “If I Was White,” but even more notable is the wider range of emotion he shows here. The young Willie D was a ball of rage, but age has brought about a change, and now genuinely poignant songs like “It Ain’t Easy” are as moving as his fieriest statements.

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