Chamillionaire
Beat Box
Reviewed by Robert Gabriel, Fri., Nov. 25, 2005
Chamillionaire
The Sound of Revenge (Universal)
"Catch me today with a Canon or a Kodak, 'cause by tomorrow, yesterday gone be a throwback." Bun B's Screwed hook on "Picture Perfect" spotlights Houston's Chamillionaire as one of the most talented sing-song rappers anywhere. The former Swishahouse thoroughbred and Paul Wall collaborator parlays the melodic mastery of 2002's Get Ya Mind Correct into a solo debut filled to the brim with brains. With "Fly as the Sky," producer Mannie Fresh spins a technological web so sticky with resin that Cham and Lil Wayne lose themselves in its psychedelic patterns. "Trying to catch me ridin' dirty," Cham recruits Krayzie Bone to address the injustice imposed by those "steady denying that it's racial profiling." Crooning up a storm on "Grown and Sexy" and "Peepin' Me," Cham spits game with the daring of a seasoned playboy prone to getting away with such suggestive compliments as "you look better from behind." While his radio anthem "Turn It Up" hypnotizes by way of Scott Storch's magic touch and the proclamation "give me that million dollar beat and let me show you what to do with it," Cham proves that even interludes can bump, as evidenced by his interpolation of OutKast's "Ms. Jackson" on The Sound of Revenge intro. Succinctly put, "You looking for the truth? Look no further, here it is."