Get Thizz To This (Deified - Keak Da Sneak)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	Deified - Keak Da Sneak
Date:	15/08/08 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Highlt varied

Disadvantages: Housey tracks are poor

"Deified" is the latest release from the Oakland rapper, Keak Da Sneak (don't ask me about the name). I don't expect many to know him in the UK as he hasn't released any singles here, but in America he is a street legend, especially for California.

The reason for his high status in his local region is due to the fact that he is the pioneer of a type of rap sub-genre named Hyphy. This club-suited music takes influence from the surroundings in the West Coast and its past, which was involved heavily in Hip Hop and Electro-Hop. More well-established named such as Too $hort and E-40 have also been drawn to this style more recently, and it seems to be building up to a level where it can compete with other Hip Hop for younger listeners, such as Crunk, Snap and Bounce.

Although having little exposure outside of his immediate surroundings: Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento, Keak has released eighteen albums, however I believe that this is the first of them to come out worldwide. Although I doubt that this will get him as much exposure as he deserves, you should go out of your way to find this if you enjoy some alternative club Hip Hop.

1. "Intro"

2. "19 Dummy" (feat. Daz Dillinger)

This is a follow-up to a track by The Federation, who gave us some incite into the Bay culture by performing a tune called "18 Dummy", in which they explain what it's like when getting off your head on 1800 Jose Cuervo Tequila. However, I assume "19 Dummy" to mean taking that to another level, and you can tell by the way he chats gibberish in the chorus that that's what he attempting to display.

**Four Stars**

3. "Quarterbacking" (feat. The Jacka)

Here is a Gangsta Rap track by Keak as he raps with The Jacka about "Quarterbacking". If you have a fair understanding of American Football then you could probably guess at what it means in terms of being in a gang. Keak Da Sneak and The Jacka rap about leading their posses in whatever is required for the gang activities. I didn't like that they tried to stick hardcore lyrics on such a friendly piece of club production.

**Two Stars**

4. "That Go (Remix)" (feat. Prodigy & The Alchemist)

Here is the first single off the album and it is a remix to a tune which previously had only Keak rapping, but now posses the lyrical talent of the infamous Mobb Deep member, Prodigy and Cali's The Achemist, who I believe improve the sound of this tune greatly by giving it more range by having rappers who wouldn't necessarily be associated with Hyphy performing on some production I this style.

**Four Stars**

5. "All I Know" (feat. E-40 & Clyde Carson)

This tune features of of the most well-known Hyphy artists in the Bay's E-40. It also has a member of Oakland's Hyphy rap band, The Team, Clyde Carson. With such well-established names behind him, you get a strong tune which plays up to the style which they have built up. Although I expect someone from the Bay to appreciate it more, I thought that it was quite a plain club tune from them.

**Three Stars**

6. "Stunna" (feat. Lil' Keke)

By this point in the album you realise the respect which Keak Da Sneak has gained as he collaborates with so many separate artists from all around, here you have Houston's Lil' Keke showing love for the work which Keak has done to pioneer a new sub-genre in Hip Hop. You have him using The Hyphy style rather than a Dirty South one which he would have been more comfortable with, but it seems to have done little to hinder him.

**Four Stars**

7. "Hard Tops & Drops" (feat. Paul Wall & Scoot)

You have another big H-Town (Houston, Texas) name on this album, here it comes in the form of Swishahouse's Paul Wall. He is one of the best at what he doe, however in the past he has been known to not bother to adapt to anything different (such as on Kanye West's "Drive Slow". However, for this one I saw a completely new side to him as the Trill rapper seems to get excited by the House beat and rides the rhythm even better than Keak does, making for great delivery, and topping the tune off well.

**Five Stars**

8. "Blurpt"

Although I am aware that Hyphy is mainly consisted to Hip Hop and House, the latter of them is not a style which I enjoy listening to at all, and here he decides to alter the ration of the two in favour of the House side. As a result I really couldn't get into the tune at all because it's just one which only works in you are in the correct atmosphere, and without this it doesn't work at all.

**One Star**

9. "X2"

After that tune, Keak gets further into the House side of his music. I thought that it was slightly better than before though as he still keeps in line with his rap foundations and only has Young Mozart production to pull him back into the Electronic side of things. I also think that as the beats were Neptunes-esque, it meant that they were much more manageable to a more general Hip Hop heads such as myself.

**Two Stars**

10. "Nothing Without You" (feat. Messy Marv & Matt Blaque)

If you are aware of what Keak sounds like when he's rapping then you will be fully aware of the fact that his voice really doesn't suit a track such as this one as he performs on R&B production about being desperate to make his relationship work with his girlfriend. As a result, his gravelly voice makes it sound so unbelievable.

**Two Stars**

11. "Oakland" (feat. Mistah F.A.B.)

As always when you have rappers from cities which aren't really hotspots for music, you have a track which has him big up big Oaktown to the max, as it is the hometown to the Hyphy movement, and where he gained all of his influence in order to make it all work. You have proper Hyphy production with pounding bass and strange noises which distinguish it from other styles.

**Four Stars**

12. "A*s Chauffeur"

You have a track guided by deep synth here, and for me I found that it wouldn't have really been worth listening to without it. I felt this way as Keak's rapping didn't really mean much here and I found it all rather average; things which we've heard on many occasions before, however Hyphy fans will really enjoy the production here, the composition is perfect.

**Three Stars**

13. "Playa Like Me" (feat. Too $hort & Celly Cel)

A couple of Bay legends join Keak here as you have two rappers who are best known for their work in the nineties as lesser-known Gangsta Rapers, but with time as the West Coast divided into the North and South, they have aligned themselves with the Bay, where they reside to join in with the Hyphy movement. Here they make full use of the Hyphy beat and come with the type of raps which made them famous for a decent result.

**Three Stars**

14. "N Fronta Ya' Mama House"

Here is a tune which brings you back to the early nineties as you here some pure Dr. Dre-inspired whining G-Funk here. Keak really knew what he was doing when he chose to use this backing, and you can tell that this music was his favourite as he grew up with it all around him as the West progressively over-took the East coast in popularity in Hip Hop music.

**Five Stars**

15. "Go Dumb Go Stupid"

Sneak goes back here as he takes influence from back in the days of West Coast Electro-Hop. You get this impression as you have the chorus of "Go Dumb, Go Stupid" said in a robotic style. This all displays that the link between the past and present day his been shown through the use of a throwback voice-modification technique. Although it may be good at showing this, it is outdated, and bringing it back at any time is a poor decision. I throughout that the Electronica production was also rather predictable, and so I couldn't rally credit this particular tune with anything specific.

**One Star**

16. "Going Going Gone"

I could really appreciate all that went into making this one work as it is very different from other Hip Hop tracks, here you have the producer implement Sneak's odd vocals noises into the beat, which also has a steady snapping rhythm and a whistling hook. When you put this all together you have a tune which seems to overcrowd you with sounds and box you in, perfect to burst out with some Krump dancing.

**Three Stars**

17. "Stock With Game"

For me, I was disappointed by this tune rather than actually disliking it. I felt this way towards I because it had so much potential with some strong and original beats, but then when this was mixed with a chorus which had him steal lyrics directly from one of his most well-known collaborations with E-40 on "Tell Me When To Go", it ruined it. Without being lazy and doing such a thing, it could have been one of the best on the album.

**Two Stars**

18. "Her Name"

I listened to this so many times through, however it doesn't seem to makes any difference to me as it still isn't making much sense to me. It is a story about meeting a girl and then something happens where he wants her number, but doesn't no her name. It's strange, but the way he tells it makes you lose track part-way through. Regardless of the fact that it's not told in the best of ways, the beat is amazing and probably distracts you from the tale.

**Three Stars**

19. "I Get It In" (feat. San Quinn, CHOPS & Bra Heff)

The producer known for doing the beats on recent releases for Bun B, Chamillionaire and Lil' Weavah, CHOPS does the same here. For me, he is an underrated one, as he makes such strong beats, and judging by the acts which he's worked with his speciality of Dirty South comes through here with some hard blasts which Southern Rap is known for. I believe that this is what made the tune, and it is a banger.

**Four Stars**

20. "Who Started This"

This is an interesting track from Sneak as it has him change his tone for once. Usually you have the rapper performing his lines in a very laid-back manner, but here he decides to address all of the haters which he has, ones which are complaining, despite the fact that they wouldn't have been able to come up without someone like him creating Hyphy, for them to go on to do.

**Three Stars**

21. "Drop It On Tha 1" (feat. Lil' Retro & Yaberation)

I believe that I enjoyed listening to this particular tune as this beat from it seemed to take quite a considerable amount of influence from the sounds of Atlanta, in particular the Collipark-esque stuff which is known to be performed by Dem Franchize Boyz with the Snap Music style. With this as foundations and a deep bassline running through it, the rapping seems to adapt naturally to this original sound.

**Four Stars**

22. "On Citas" (feat. Paul Wall & Chingo Bling)

I really wasn't impressed by this one at all, and as Chingo Bling is a rapper which a hate listening to, this was probably where most of this came from. Overall it didn't have much going for it though, so it was a waste of time remixing such a weak tune. I'm surprised that I feel so strongly towards it as I should get something out of the Traxamillion production (as he is a top man for Hyphy), but no, it doesn't work for me.

**Two Stars**

23. "Super Hyphy"

Here is one of Keak Da Sneak's most well-known tracks, and one of the first which attracted me to his work. I expect that it's the final tune on the album as it is more of a bonus than a normal tune as it will have featured on a past album, seeing as it came out in 2006 and five other records have come out since then by him. Regardless of this it's a great one to introduce you to the sound of Hyphy, and had I not heard it earlier, it wouldn't seem out-of-place or even old in comparison to the remainder of the material.

**Four Stars**

With so many tracks on this album, you expect to hear a wide variety of tunes, and this is certainly something which you receive from it. I'm pleased that included in this mix amongst some obvious club tunes and Housey ones, were also a couple of throwbacks which took on G-Funk and even a little Gangsta rap, and I thought that the execution was perfect. Although the guests aided him, I believe that even without the likes of Daz Dillinger, Paul Wall, and Lil' Keke, this would have been a strong album due to the fact that the production is so strong and Keak adapts well to it.

Although there's lots of positives to the record, with so many tracks on it there has to be quite a lot of bad ones, and when he gets deep into the House stuff, I doubt many who aren't that familiar will be put off as I was with it. At times he can be quite repetitive too with the things he says.

I believe that the main problem for someone who decides that they may give this a go will be understanding him. This is a serious point as I thought that it was just him, but the accent is really cartoony in the Bay Area of California, and mixed with his gravelly voice, you may not have a clue what he's on about at times here. The copious levels of Bay Slang used here may be another issue, so if you dare to give this alternative album a try, brush up on your Bay lingo, especially if you will struggle with the references to Gettin': Stupid; Thizz; Dumb, then you will struggle getting a grasp of this.

Summary: Keak Da Sneak's new album