Southern hip hop has always shone as the gritty, loud and commercialized home for energetic rap music. Gene The Southern Child and Parallel Thought linked up to craft a new southern hip hop album for listeners to enjoy, and although the former may not be as known, the latter should draw some attention, as the fairly-known producer normally possesses a sound unlike typical southern hip hop. Truth be told, Parallel Thought adds potency to this otherwise mildly barren album, yet he conforms to the generic style of southern hip hop in order to properly coexist with rapper Gene The Southern Child.
While utterly unimpressive on the opening track, Gene The Southern Child shakes things up by rapping simple rhymes and appealing to a hardcore, violent street persona. The majority of the album finds Gene rapping in nostalgic mode, representing his city and asserting his street nature while simultaneously speaking on personal pastimes. Ultimately, however, The Southern Child sticks to commercialized subject matters and pure street talk, urging fake people to test his realness. Rhymes about guns, liquor and other commonalities find their way into the rapper’s verses.
The best rhymes this southern artist creates are the ones like the verses on “Collecting 100s.” Although the scheme of the song is hustling to make money, there’s a certain personality to it that is impressive and engaging. Gene’s southern dialect adds to the emotion on the track and is arguably the artist’s shining moment on the entire album. But it is also without question that the assisting producer responsible for this project’s soundscape definitely helped build-up this track’s (as well as all the others’) entertainment value.
Parallel Thought is great in that he has a very unique, semi-ambient sound that creates spellbinding atmospheres wherever his production can be heard. On “Artillery Splurgin’,” Thought does his best to keep that abstract sound style while working to drop unadulterated, southern drums full of synthetic kicks and snares, and fast-paced hi-hats. Possibly his best demonstration of his underappreciated production skills can be heard on the title track, where he creates a soothing, nighttime-y aura layered with trickling melodies and echoing drums. If there’s a defining aspect of this album, it is the production by the one and only Parallel Thought.
Interesting in contrast, there’s Gene The Southern Child, who so happens to be more of a cookie-cutter rhymer, and then there’s Parallel Thought, who stands out in the crowd. Combined, one gives more than the other, but they both find a common place to share their sounds in the overall effort to create this collaborative album.
Rating: 5.0/10
MP3: Gene The Southern Child & Parallel Thought “Artillery Splurgin’”
Buy: iTunes
