Album (p)Review -Playdough "Hotdoggin'"

I went to the release party for Playdough's new album Hotdoggin on Friday night after sleeping all day and all I brought you was this bandcamp widget (yes you can listen free, cheapskates!)

Oh, and here's a youTube vid of the single My Cadillac for your playlists, just in case your job blocks bandcamp (like mine does!):

the smiley-faced, hard-touring rap dude came home to Dallas and rocked out with the locals Friday night at the Green Elephant and I finally got my 4XL teeshirt with the design I made (above). I also copped the record and have been listening to it non-stop...

Although Hotdoggin comes 5 years after his previous solo studio record Don't Drink the Water dropped in 2006, it doesn't feel self-conscious or overworked, which is always the worry when an artist spends a long time putting together new material. I wasn't worried. Playdough has been a constant presence in the music players of his loyal fanbase in that time. Besides the fact that his records age well that so we find ourselves still enjoying them like they are new whenever we dust 'em off, Playdough has dropped a number of unofficial mixtapes and records (his Aussie tour record Goodonya, and the extra dope Writer Dye mixtape come to mind), guest spots, and mixtape one-offs, while also riding longside frequent collaborator Freddie Bruno as rap duo Phonetic Composition, and as part of the mighty Deepspace 5 collective. I said all that to say, Playdough has established himself as a name I could trust.

So anyways, Playdough is really in touch with his own musical tastes and is clearly feeling himself on this record.  He strikes a satisfying balance between crowd-pleasing catchy music choices and abstract wordplay that rap nerds can get into. He has some funky stuff happening on the album production-wise, with a mix of beats from Dallas all-stars like Freddie, PicnicTyme, Blaze Won, DJ Sean P and Sivion (and other underground luminaries like For Beats Sake, Beat Rabbi and DJ Bombay). In case you didn't know, he also produced a few tracks under production alter-ego Harry Krum too...

The first song that jumped out to me as a potential repeater is track 5 The Business, which sports shout-outs to David Blaine, Lord of the Rings, Tex Avery and Zombieland in the same verse (he performed this song at the release party... see the Ustream vid above). Of course, upon repeated listens, his ode to his wife Singleminded Female (track11), Franks & Beans (track 8, featuring Gift of Gab), and I Got It Like (track 13) are equally brilliant. Beat nerds will feel Elizabeth Shue (track4), which was produced by emerging Dallas-based button-pusher PicnicTyme. (the title track is playing in my ear as I type this... it doesn't suck either).
So my official recommendation is that you should cop it. It won't be long before my daughter is mangling some of these hooks in her two year old patwa to her daycare classmates... 'cause I believe in spreading hip hop anyway I can!

holla!

-samax.

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