Juicy J and DJ Paul of the Academy Award-winning group Three 6 Mafia packed their 10th LP, Laws of Power, with all the needed elements for any southern hip-hop collection: complex beats, bombastic voices and catchy hooks that usually get you to bob your head.
But instead of a head nod, the album gets a head-tilt. The group’s attempt at appealing to the mainstream — which the boys have been doing for quite some time — is unsuccessful. In sum, Laws of Power is weak and oftentimes unbearable.
The first track, “Feel It,” featuring Flo Rida, Sean Kingston and DJ Tiesto, is a combination of jarring electronica that mashes horribly with the duo’s gritty voices. Tiesto’s production on this track is so harsh, it left me feeling violated.
“Shots After Shots” is more of a buzzkill than a party starter. Featuring Tech N9ne, the track combines piercing rock and heavy guitar riffs as the boys chant, “I’ma drink beer / And I’ma get high / I’ma take shots ’til the day that I die.”
The rest of the album is a glorified let’s-get-crunk-and-die manifesto that doesn’t go hard enough to make it convincing. Instead, the boys ride the dance hip-hop wave that’s taking over the South and delivers tracks that remind me more of Miami than their native Memphis.
“Lil’ Freak (Ugh Ugh Ugh),” featuring Webbie, carries a slow and steady beat that is above average, and “Medicine” has funky synthesizer riffs coupled with a heavy beat.
DJ Paul has said the album’s songs represent “the law of those trends” that has made their group successful in the past. But rather than setting trends on their new record, Three 6 is only boring listeners with a corporate-cutter sound that won’t appeal to their die-hard fans.
