Hated on Mostly, pretty great mostly

More than just knucking because they're buck.

By Jordan Sargent, Staff Writer
April 3, 2007

Where Hated on Mostly, Atlanta-based Crime Mob's second album, is derived from truly eludes me because anyone I know that knows Crime Mob unabashedly loves the group.

If you don't actually know Crime Mob by name, then you most certainly know it by its crunk-defining 2004 single "Knuck If You Buck." And if you don't know "Knuck If You Buck" by name, then you've most certainly been bludgeoned over the head by it.

It's an epic song in the truest sense of the term, a regional fuck-around that couldn't help but storm the suburbs. And though it's pretty scary (first lyric: Well, I'm that gat totin' pistol holdin/Nigga on yo damn street"), it was also invigorating as hell.

Not in the let's-go-out-and-jump-someone way, but because if you couldn't get geeked about a bunch of high-schoolers making a song as good as this, then you need to stick to operas or something. Beyond everything great about the song, it was it's head-busting energy that became the group's calling card — even in a genre where energy is valued over anything and everything.

That energy is still prevalent here on Hated on Mostly, but it's toned down and tamed in places when Crime Mob want to turn plaintive and "mature." It's a seemingly groan-worthy move, especially for kids that can't even (legally) drink, but there are reasons for this turn inward: Ex-group member Killa C is embroiled in a child molestation charge that the group refuses to talk about. They have "Kunck If You Buck" looming over their heads, and they're two years older and moving out of adolescence.

This is most evidenced on the swooning "Circles," which samples Friends of Distinction's dripping "Going in Circles" almost in full. The song sees Crime Mob wading in the muck between puppy love and serious relationships as women cheat on the guys in the group, and men send mixed singles to the girls. Crime Mob isn't one for subtlety ("Five hours straight pussy unconditionally loving that"), but this is a necessary move for a group with such a rock-hard outer shell, and the fact that it pulls it off without the hint of a wink speaks to their potential as artists down the road.

It also shows that it is about more than just throwing bows and getting crunk, but there is definitely a fair share of that on the album.

And, of course, it's mostly all very good. "We Some Playaz" sees Lil' J opening with "You can tell by the way I walk and the way that I talk, I'll beat your ass" and the chorus of "Go to War" revels in the lines "Taking pills, working wood wheels/ Fuck where you're from and fuck how you feel." Those both work as general themes for the album.

Sonically, Crime Mob again matches its lyrics with complimentary ominous sounds including Twilight Zone-style synths and nightmare-fueling pianos, creeping, dark-alley-montage electric guitars and most notably, the use of guttural grunts and yelps as instruments.

The shining-star here is the secretively seductive single "Rock Yo Hips," a song that's quietly bum rushed American Top 40, and is Crime Mob boiled down to its true essence. The members don't rap about beating you up, but it still sounds like a raucous gang-attack. And it's elastic bass drum thud and two-note keyboard loop is the most immediately catchy beat Crime Mob group member Lil' J has ever produced.

People looking for 11 songs like "Knuck If You Buck" will be disappointed, but Hated on Mostly holds together like a full-album should: as a cohesive statement.

Yeah, that statement is "We. Are. Beating. Your. Ass.," but it's a testament to Crime Mob that it also assaults your ears.

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Hated on Mostly, pretty great mostly

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