various artists :: Wild'N Out Compilation Vol. 1 :: Ncredible/RED Music
as reviewed Steve 'Flash' Juon
Heads up - the "Wild'N Out Compilation" is EXCLUSIVE
to Walmart. If you go to Amazon.com looking
for it you're out of luck. Heads up part two - if you thought
that an album could get around the censorship the related TV show
received on MTV - forget about it. Walmart would not even stock
it on their shelves if it carried an explicit rating or parental
advisory sticker. Nick Cannon and his friends cursing is
just too much for America's fragile youth to deal with. After
thumbing through "Wild'N Out" though I can see why this was
targeted at Walmart. In fact take a look for yourself.
MTV's own market research shows their audience getting
younger, so it's not surprising that they'd match this up
with the purchasing power of Walmart's clean album buyers
(fully ignoring the fact that Grand Theft Auto is one aisle over).
If you're over 18 and you're in this for the hip-hop music that
comes from Nick Cannon's brand of freestyle humor, the extras
packaged with the CD won't be that extra. It's not likely you
will make your own squads and play your own version of the show,
nor will you be doing the crossword at the back, though you
might linger on the picture of the Wild'N Out Girls and read
some of their fun facts (measurements not included).
Perhaps nothing illustrates the schizophrenic relationship
between hip-hop's adult themes and MTV/Nick Cannon's demo better
than the album's finale "Show Me Love," a Troy Ave updated 2014
version of 50 Cent's "In Da Club" complete with G-Unit's Tony Yayo.
"You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub
Outside I got a Tec, inside I got a snub
I roll correct, act wrong and get a slug
I see that you in the money, well baby just show me love"
Even though the song's chorus refers to violent gunplay,
lines like "Jewelry all rocky/you know how I be/told you
motherfuckers in the hood I'm papi" get silenced on the
curse words. There's no point to a few of the tracks -
if you want to hear the "Wild'N Out Intro" just watch the
show and if you want to hear Charlamagne Tha God lecturing
you on hip-hop that this album "represents the great space
that hip-hop is in right now" that's on you. It's not even
that I disagree with his point, it just could have been
used for another song instead. The best songs come from skits
performed on the show like Kevin Hart's "Muffin Top" ballad.
On the whole the compilation gets a thumbs up for that reason -
it's pretty clear there are songs from the show that have a
shelf life beyond the individual episodes. In fact if Nick
Cannon digs deep enough into the archives there could be many
MANY volumes of "Wild'N Out," which is clearly why this
is only "Volume 1." If I may though the package should be sold
in two different ways - a cleaned up Walmart friendly version
with the activity book for the kiddies, and a 18+ retail version
that's uncensored and has no booklet. You can even charge a
little more for it and throw in an uncensored "Best of Wild'N
Out Uncut" DVD. There's opportunities here Nick - capitalize.
(Also go for more than 36 minutes next time!)
Music Vibes: 7 of 10
Lyric Vibes: 7 of 10TOTAL Vibes: 7 of 10
![[Wild'N Out Compilation Vol. 1]](../coverart/wildnout.png)
Heads up - the "Wild'N Out Compilation" is EXCLUSIVE
to Walmart. If you go to Amazon.com
looking
for it you're out of luck. Heads up part two - if you thought
that an album could get around the censorship the related TV show
received on MTV - forget about it. Walmart would not even stock
it on their shelves if it carried an explicit rating or parental
advisory sticker. Nick Cannon and his friends cursing is
just too much for America's fragile youth to deal with. After
thumbing through "Wild'N Out" though I can see why this was
targeted at Walmart. In fact take a look for yourself.