Guido SternAs far as teenage hip hop records go, almost everything can be placed on a continuum that ranges from the untalented gimmick that was Kriss Kross to the unrefined skill of Shyheim. An argument could be made that Soulja Boy’s consciously nonsensical (and catchy) music doesn’t really fit in anywhere, which probably explains why he didn’t disappear from the public memory after his first hit (see: Hurricane Chris).
“That Gutta Boy Music” contains much of the foolishness of a Soulja Boy album, except it forgets to be even somewhat catchy and The Gutta Boyz don’t have even some semblance of charisma. Now I’m not comparing SB to Jay-Z, but his charm and ability to entertain are undeniable, be it his surprisingly insightful diatribe against Ice-T or simply ghost riding and jocking in front of Piggly Wiggly on Thanksgiving for no apparent reason.
Neither of the Illinois-based duo—D’Nique and Yung Shawn—are good lyricists, even for their age (which is ambiguous—D’Nique claims to be sixteen in the Intro but that seems somewhat unlikely), but the disposability of their music is underscored by their almost fathomlessly unimaginative hooks. A few choice selections: “Nothin’ but that gutta, that gutta, that gutta boy music,” “this the kinda beat that make ya head knock knock // go ahead and do ya thang and let ya head rock rock,” and, most ridiculously, “shhhhhhhhh, shhhhhhhhh.” To their credit, their flows usually do venture beyond nursery rhyme delivery, but they tend to trip over their own words on occasion.
The production on “That Gutta Boy Music” isn’t any more creative than the rapping, save for “Run It Back,” which is at least ambitious enough to loop the Looney Tunes theme into the bare bones (simple drum pattern + synth/bass) production that sometimes makes it hard to distinguish between songs. I still wouldn’t recommend this song to anyone I care about, but alas The Gutta Boyz are young (or as one says of himself in a punchline that doesn’t exactly make sense but is at least memorable: “I’m young but I’m grown like Andy Milonakis”) and can hopefully improve upon this freshman effort. Until then, stay away from this album unless the song title “Ssssshhhhhhh” truly piques your interest.