Dungeon Family "Even In Darkness" Review

Dungeon Family "Even In Darkness"

Reviewer:	Megatraum
Rating:
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First of all, before I get to the review, the Dungeon Family consists of: OutKast (Andre 3000 & Big Boi); Goodie MOb (Cee-Lo, T-Mo, Khujo & Big Gipp); Backbone; Freddie Calhoun (aka Cool Breeze); Slimm Cutta-Calhoun; Killer Mike; C-Bone; Society of Soul (Sleepy Brown, Big Rube, and a couple of other people); Witchdoctor; Nathaniel; and a couple of lesser known background singers and emcees.

"Presenting Dungeon Family" (Backbone, Killer Mike) - Starts off annoyingly with someone banging on a door telling the Dungeon Family that they have 6 minutes (a recurring theme of this album) till its showtime. Then it goes into a verse from Backbone which is pretty tight. He pretty much gives the album, as well as the group, a nice introduction.

"Crooked Booty" (Cee-Lo, Andre 3000, Sleepy Brown, Khujo) – First full track and its blazing. Cee-Lo starts off this track with a little acapella-ish verse over a shallow piano beat. Then the real beat breaks in and the rest is amazing. The “Crooked Booty” is basically a dance that they invented for the poor and Andre, Sleepy, and Big Boi displayed it on BET’s 106 & Park. It’s a really funny dance consisting of just swaying around side-to-side with your chest, as explained in the song. Khujo comes pretty tight on this track and nice vocals from Sleepy Brown. Next single?

"Follow The Light" (Sleepy Brown, Cee-Lo, Big Gipp, Big Boi, Shuga Luv) – Tight beat and nice, short verses from Cee-Lo, Gipp, and Big Boi. All three emcess flow amazingly on this track with the double-time style. One of my favorite tracks on the album.

"Trans DF Express" (Cee-Lo, Andre 3000, Big Boi, Big Gipp, Backbone, Sleepy Brown, Joi) – Everyone should have heard this by now. It’s their first single off this album. It’s pretty much inviting everyone to join in the DF Express. Everyone comes nice on this except Backbone, whose flow and voice is very unattractive to me. Otherwise a great track.

"On & On & On" (Big Gipp, Big Boi, T-Mo, Witchdoctor, Khujo, Nivea) – This beat is sick. It’s an ill up-tempo beat for the emcees to flow the hell out of it. Witchdoctor seems out of place on this track with every other emcees flowing double-time and just verbally killing it. Amazing track nonetheless. Another one of my favorites.

"Emergency" (Big Gipp, Mello, Backbone, Ricciano, G-Rocka, Blvd. International) – Big Gipp starts it off really nicely. He can flow it so many different ways. This song’s pretty good. Oh, by the way, Mello is the guy from Parental Advisory.

"Forever Pimpin" (Never Slippin’) (Freddie Calhoun, Ricciano, Kirsten Shelton) – A short one verse track from Freddie Calhoun. Nothing much here to talk about here.

"6 Minutes" (Dungeon Family It’s On) (Big Boi, Witchdoctor, Big Gipp, Backbone, Khujo, T-Mo, Cee-Lo, Freddie Calhoun, Big Rube, Debra Killings, Sleepy Brown) – Wow, just look at the lineup on this track. Big Boi starts it off with an ill verse. And Cee-Lo ends it with an ill verse. The beats great and the hooks catchy, what more can you ask for? A verse from Andre maybe? Seems like a possible single.

"White Gutz" (Big Boi, Big Gipp, Bubba Sparxxx, Cee-Lo, Khujo, Ricciano, Sweet Melodi) – Yes, Timbaland’s new artist Bubba Sparxxx makes an appearance on this album. And he’s not bad either. This is the only the second time I really heard him and I’m glad to see that he doesn’t flow like he did in “Ugly” all the time. He’s got some versatility. Anyways, about the track, it’s tight. I especially enjoy Big Gipp’s verse and how he ends every line with “..that’s what they love..”. Nice track.

"Rollin" featuring Society of Soul (Sleepy Brown, Andre 3000, Cee-Lo, Big Rube) – This is one of those slow, mellow tracks that OutKast are really good at making. Andre starts it off nicely and Society of Soul keeps the vibe going. But its Big Rube that takes the cake on this track. And Cee-Lo sings it out at the end.

"They Comin"… (T-Mo, Khujo) – First off, nice hard-hitting beat. I’m feeling the bass on this. T-Mo and Khujo spit their verses nicely and the song’s nice.

"Excalibur" (Big Gipp, Big Rube, Khujo, Cee-Lo, the DF Corral) – Now this is the banger. Everyone comes tight. Gipp has a great verse. Rube rhymes tight again, and Cee-Lo has another amazing verse. The chorus is the tight and the beat’s great. I love how they let the beat ride out for like the last minute. Reminds me of “Liberation”. Great song overall. Best track on the album.

"What Iz Rap?" (Witchdoctor, Big Rube, Ray, Preecha, Ramon) – I’m not a big fan of Witchdoctor. But Big Rube’s on this and he holds his own again. Not bad.

"Curtains" (DF 2nd Generation) (Chamdon, Blvd. International, Slimm Calhoun, Killer Mike, C-Bone, Nathaniel, Brother James, Lil’ Will) – This is the track that basically introduces the lesser-known members of the family, with exception of Slimm Calhoun. Nice beat but there isn’t really exceptional emcee here.

Nothing much is needed to be said about a crew whose lineup includes OutKast and Goodie MOb. Quality and creativity is pretty much a given. And I’m not disappointed at all. I just expected a lot more appearances from one of their best emcees, Andre 3000, who only appears on three 3 tracks. That’s just blasphemous. And he only raps on one verse, choosing to sing the other verses. The members of Goodie MOb and Big Boi all come tight on this album. And Big Rube surprised me on this album. He actually raps his rhymes a couple of times and does so quite well. But some of the lesser-known cats need to stay that way. More tracks from the main players would’ve certainly given this album a 5 mic rating. It’s also nice to see that they stayed away from guest artists (having only one, a fellow dirty south emcee Bubba Sparxxx). They already have enough members to have made a 30 track album. And with OutKast as their stars, selling records should be no problem. On the production tip, the beats were great. As we all know, Organized Noise always provide great beats for these dirty south players and Andre and Big Boi (Earthtone III) are becoming really good producers, as seen on this album and their previous two albums. In the end, this was a great album and I hope they make this an annual thing like what Bone Thugs did with their Mo Thugs Family project.