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Keepin’ It Street in the Woods is the first album produced by the Woodbums, and what an album it is! It begins with what is easily the most ballad-like song in the United States-based rap collective’s catalog. “Song for the Ladies” is a tender ode to the opposite sex that never comes across as either demeaning or overly sappy. It gives then-rookie MC Ginga Snapz a chance to bust rhymes from the heart, and it constitutes a great opener for the album. The second track, “Check under the Hood,” cautions the listener to make sexual conquests with care, through a series of narratives relating to hook-ups gone awry. The attention to detail in the storytelling is vivid, but never slows down the development of the plot, if something developed in three minutes can be called that. “Ginga Bredd Juice” is a collection of old-school boasts that are just clever enough to make you smile; for example, Ju-C Juice uses the lines “[w]ack MC’s, I’d hate to be ya/ Cuz you bite people’s styles like a quesadilla/ I got street cred like Al Pacino/ And I drop twenty yards like Dan Marino.” The fourth track, “2 Young 2 Drink 2 Drunk 2 Fish,” is a solo track from Snapz, and it thoroughly merits its spot as the Woodbums’ most famous song. With lyrical content describing underage drinking on a raft, it is an original and catchy track. “G Funk (On the Strang)” is another track based on clever rhymes rather than narrative; both of these styles are strong points for the Woodbums, so this track is full of quotable gems like Bredd Loaf’s “I can rock well like my name was Norman/ With the funk on the Strang and I be global warmin’/ My thunder be stormin’, and my hordes be swarmin’/ And I got more wives than a polygamist Mormon.” The sixth track is called “Draggin’ Dragon” and consists of Loaf and Snapz trading couplets which “subtly” refer to their members. “Wave to the Weave” leaves the reader with a pensive outlook about women with hair extensions.
Every beat on the album has a slightly different feel, but all of them seem to mesh, and this is Bredd Loaf’s genius as a producer; he infuses every track he produces with his trademark sound. Loaf also manages to weave a hip-hop aesthetic into every one of his beats, whether it’s the Oriental pulse of “Draggin’ Dragon” or the blaring synths and bumping drum machines heard on “Check under the Hood” (I defy anyone not to start grinding with something upon hearing that beat). Another aspect that gives personality to the music is the blatant contrasts in the individual rappers’ styles: Loaf’s laid-back swagger, Ju-C’s often incendiary flow, and Snapz’s delivery, which perfectly personifies the album title. Snapz, this being his first album, did shake a few times, but his lyrics are so solid on this album (“The girlies are tryin’ to sit next to me/ Slippin’ some drink into my ecstasy”) that any faltering in terms of delivery is rendered a moot point. Keepin’ It Street... is a classic in Woodbums history and an excellent album by any standards. It is refreshing to hear a rap album more focused on cleverness and a release of energy than a message. Don’t get me wrong; having a message is important in the grand scheme of things, but it is also crucial to have a few albums from which the most important lesson the listener learns is to “check under the hood.”
The Woodbums deliver a fresh, fun album with Keepin' It Street in the Woods. One of my favorites.
Best tracks: “Check under the Hood,” “2 Young 2 Drink 2 Drunk 2 Fish”
