Green Music for Blue People
BLAC SOAP
(MySpace.com/blacsoap)
Building on the funk- and soul-informed hip-hop pioneered by Dirty South bosses like Goodie Mob, Tampa duo Blac Soap has crafted a brilliant — albeit, at 20 tracks, bloated — debut disc. Blac Soap's Seif and Fly Beads offer a refreshing twist on gangsta posturing with the anthem "Thug Hippy," a warning to would-be rivals that doubles as a highlife club tune. Over era-specific synth lines, the duo celebrates the old-school on the time-travel fantasy "1985" and are in top form on the thug-in-love number "French Vanilla," a sincere valentine that is all but guaranteed to have you singing along to the hook, "don't throw our love away." 3.5 stars
