Artist: KhiaTitle: GangstressRating: 2 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Sidik Fofana
Sex is too raw for metaphors. At least according to Khia, whose 2002’s “My Neck, My Back”, branded her oral sex’s chief advocate. True, the song’s bass had clubgoers chanting “that one durr is a hit”, but by the time their alcoholic slur corrected itself, the chant was more like “one hit won durr”. Alas, four years later, the Florida raised thugmisses finally serves up her self-produced sophomore effort Gangstress (Warlock).
If the alarms went off with the phrase “self produced”, the reaction is justified. Sherlock Holmes has the perfect word for this thirteen track album: “elementary”. It isn’t Khia’s saturated sexual literature that is responsible for this album’s failure, but rather the heavy monotony of the songs. The album’s first single “Snatch The Cat Back” sounds like every other track on the CD. To make matters worse, Khia’s lyrics are less than profound. On “Hit The Door” she raps, “You wanna f*ck these b######, you wanna f*ck these hoes/Ol’ p*ssy @ss ni**a, get yo sh*t and hit the door.” Here we have nothing more than perverted nursery rhymes.
Khia saves face with a couple of lukewarm hits. “Ah Ha” and “Thugmisses Thugn*ggas” might fare well on the club scene. But even so, these songs are more like taps than hits. Khia is not to blame for this dismal effort. Although she claims that Gangstress is more diverse than her first album, she more or less stuck to the formula that has sold her over 800,000 records to date. It’s just that, one, the novelty has worn off, and two this girl named Shawnna has got the new oral sex anthem.
Still, music is music, so Gangstress will fulfill a few appetites. Other than that, a lot of its listeners will be those who are fascinated by how simple a rap CD can sound. The former Tampa bartender is still safe though because if all goes awry, she can still have a night job.
