Trick Daddy - Back by Thug Demand

If you like original, innovative hip hop; hip hop which will educate and entertain you, then Trick Daddy's seventh album, Back by Thug Demand, is best avoided. Breaka Breaka is the opener, and it sees Daddy rhyming off the usual shopping list of the traditional Gangsta accessories. From there the album uneventfully rolls along with heavy, bouncy bass beats underlining almost every track. You Damn Right and So High are slight departures, with Trick demonstrating his sensitive side, while Chevy has some intelligence-imbued lyrics, but overall it's not enough to compensate for the album's abundant shortcomings. Ten years since the release of his first album, Trick is still swimming in familiar waters. Everything on this album has been said before, and more importantly, said in a better way. If you like Gangsta rap save your hard earned cash and buy NWA's Straight Outta Compton! [Franck Martin]