Damon BrownThe Atlanta boys Kaine and D-Roc, better known as the Ying Yang Twins, got some serious exposure on Lil’ Jon’s summer hit “Get Low.” New fans may be surprised to hear that Ying Yang Twins has been out for years, making national albums even before their East Side Boyz companions. New fans may also be thinking that all of their new album, “Me & My Brother,” can’t possibly sustain the energy of their recent club hit. They, again, would be wrong. This is 60 minutes of In-Da-Club, take-your-NAACP-Image-Award-and-shove-it shit, with few breaks in between. It’s the very strength of the CD – and also its very weakness. It starts with “Hanh!” a strangely addictive club anthem, which is simple as fuck:
“Think we ain’t crunk? They think we playin’
All around the world is what they’re sayin’
Hahn! (Hahn!) Hahn! (Hahn!)
To the girls in the club we spill some game
Flip the script and got the world cold screamin’ my name
Ying Yang in this thing and it’s evident
You don’t really like us nigga? You irrelevant
We hip to the game and we takin’ over
Mind control like a hypnotic potion
Puff of smoke and damn we start roastin’
Hurtin’ your stomach like a rollercoaster”
Before I new it I was walking around wanting to say “Hanh!?!” to every damn body. Another fun cut is “Salt Shaker” with – you guessed it – Lil’ Jon & The East Side Boyz. This is a personal favorite, even more so than the solid “Georgia Dome,” which is called the “Get Low” sequel. “Salt Shaker” seems like a more appropriate sequel to “Get Low” and, if Ice Cube ever filmed a “Players Club 2,” this would definitely be on the soundtrack:
“Shorty rough, on the floor wide open
Skeet so much they call her Billy Ocean
Get looow, like an 18-wheeler
That ho fine, but this ho a killer
She’s leakin’, she’s soakin’ wet
She’s leakin’, she’s soakin’ wet
Shake it like a salt shaker (Shake it like a salt shaker)
Shake it like a salt shaker (Shake it like a salt shaker)
Keep it poppin’ ’til you percolate
Put the bootie on bootie, no time to wait
Make it work with your wet t-shirt
Bitch, you’ve got to shake it until your ankles ‘ill hurt”
This is pretty much the premise for the whole album, from “What’s Happnin!” featuring Trick Daddy to “What The Fuck!” featuring Bone Crusher & Killer Mike. What’s interesting – and somewhat disappointing – is that the guest stars fall in line right into Ying Yang’s way of doing things, as opposed to bringing something fresh to the mix. It’s kind of like having Ying Yang Triplets or Quadruplets on the guest cuts. However, the Ying Yang Twins do put their partying in perspective towards the end of the CD, namely with the two cuts “Calling All Zones” and “Me & My Brother.” On the former, they bring Hitman Sammy Sam and Khujo of Goodie Mob to talk about the problems down south over a menacing, heave-ho beat:
“You gotta one way ticket to hell, smack dab in the middle of the A-T-L
I don’t want to hustle no mo’, but the streets won’t let me go
All my niggas say ‘Zone 1’ (right here) ‘Zone 2’ (right here)
‘Zone 3, zone 4’ (right here) ‘Zone 5 and 6,’ and that’s it
For a nigga with some green Atlanta is the city
And they make it so seem as you ride through the city
And the streets ain’t clean, all I see is drug deals
Big wheels and things, but anyway
They took East Atlanta back and they took it laying down
Took Little Vietnam and turned it into a white folks town
And, before I forget the say, you shoulda been fixed the streets by MLK”
“Me & My Brother,” on the other hand, speaks of the dedication Kaine and D Roc have for one another. Over a nice, plodding vibraphone beat, actually reminiscent of Dr. Dre, they talk about all that they do together (i.e. smoking, drinking and fucking). However, the slow rap style makes it a distinctive and – dare I say it, sensitive – track on the album. Overall, the Yang’s new album isn’t trying to attract new fans. It gives what their solid fan base loves: Fourteen crunk, grimey cuts without having to press fast forward. It just isn’t that deep, which is okay. Expect brain, not brain surgery.