Playdough: Hotdoggin

Playdough: Hotdoggin
The first paragraph of Playdough‘s press release touts the fact that he’s shared the stage with such diverse artists as Atmosphere, KRS-One and The Black Keys. I thought this was an odd thing to boast about within the first lines of a press release, but listening to Hotdoggin, I soon understood why.
The album is alternative hip hop with a strong root in rock music. Tracks like “Ya Heard” samples The Black Keys but Playdough still manages to rap over it much like how Rhymefest rapped over The Strokes on “Devil’s Pie”. Other tracks like “No Angel” are not hip hop at all but more like hip-hop-tinged pop similar to 90s one hit wonders like Space Monkeys or Space.
The rock-based tracks are not Playdough’s forte however; his strong-suit is the more traditional hip hop beats. Playdough murders a Blaze Won beat on “My Cadillac”. The track samples what sounds like a 1950s Cadillac jingle and flips into a great hip hop beat making for one of the best odes to a Cadillac since Rich Boy‘s “Throw Some D’s”.
Luckily there are more of these type of tracks on the album than the rock based tracks, making Hotdoggin a very successful album. In the end, I would liken Playdough to K-Os and K’Naan but I think Playdough has a more obvious mainstream appeal. Considering the success that K-Os and K’Naan have met, I think that means big things are to come for Playdough.
Rating: 8.5/10
MP3: Playdough “My Cadillac”
Buy: iTunes or Amazon