With his debut album, Already Platinum, Houston-based rapper Slim Thug proved that he had the ability to be the next big thing out of Texas. While the album fell slightly short of the platinum mark, it was a strong selling record that had a few hits and cemented Slim Thug as someone to keep an eye on. Now, the self professed “Big Boss of the South” is back, and he’s coming in with backup. On Slim Thug Presents Boss Hogg Outlawz: Serve and Collect, Slim Thug is joined by his compatriots the Boss Hogg Outlawz, which consists of J-Dawg, PJ, Sir Daily, Chris Ward, Rob Smallz, Killa Kyleon, and Young Black. For those anticipating that Serve and Collect would just be another solo offering from Slim Thug, they will be in for a rude awakening when listening to this album. While Slim Thug appears on 9 of the 15 tracks on the album, he is not some omnipresent force on the album. Instead, each member of the Boss Hogg Outlawz is given their own solo track to shine. This approach has a two-fold effect on the album. While its purpose was to obviously showcase the lesser known artists in the Boss Hogg Outlawz, the fact that Slim Thug is absent from more than a third of the album may irk some fans.

The album starts off with Slim Thug’s lone solo offering, “We Boss Hoggin’” which proves to be a tough act to follow. Slim Thug does what he does best which is bragging about cars, money, and things involving both candy and Cadillacs. While the subject matter may be redundant, Slim Thug’s outstanding flow and charisma on the mic allows you to forget that content-wise, he really isn’t bringing anything new to the table. Some artists in the group who show promise are C-Ward and P.J, whose respective tracks “Rollin’” and “It’s That P.J, show brief moments of swagger and lyrical proficiency with lines like “These haters don’t want to see me blow/ Got me so sick like Ne-Yo.” R&B artist Rob Smallz is next with a collaboration with Slim Thug, Cheatin (need we even guess the focus of this track). While not a bad track, “Cheatin” just seems very out of place on the album. It is a decent collaboration, but it just doesn’t fit in with the talk of “candy paint” and “purple”. J-Dawg’s “Ride on 4’s”, a clichéd track of talking about riding around the hood, drinking and smoking, falls flat. The non-solo tracks are hit or miss, with “Wood Wheel”, standing out with its pulsating yet simple beat, while “Recognize a Playa”, the lead single, has an overpowering beat that outshines the artists themselves.

Slim Thug Presents Boss Hogg Outlawz: Serve and Collect is a solid debut effort from the group. It is not a great start by any means, but Playing With Fire or My World (Kevin Federline and Ron Artest’s respective debut albums) this is not. With some more seasoning, Slim Thug and the Boss Hogg Outlawz have the ability to deliver a very good album, they just don’t do it here.

by Lamar Tidwell

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