Three 6 Mafia
Most Known Unknown (Columbia)
Ellay Khule
Califormula (Decon)
E-40
The Bay Bridges Compilation Vol. 1 (Sick Wid It)
B-Legit
Block Movement (Block Movement)
Dangerdoom
The Mouse and the Mask (Epitaph)
Dripping with toxic sweat, DJ Paul and Juicy J run the gamut of crunk, horror-core rap, Three 6 Mafia‘s signature shivering drums haunted by demonic synths and strings. As the group’s smash single “Stay Fly” stalks the airwaves like an orgasmic nightmare, Most Known Unknown fulfills the promise of a seasoned fetish for bouncy, strip-club debauchery. Subliminally connecting Three 6 Mafia’s Memphis to Project Blowed’s Los Angeles, fellow double-time pioneer Ellay Khule concocts Califormula with the keen insight of an iconoclast forever two steps ahead of his competition. At his peak when channeling Hip Hop Klan echo chambers on “Sounds Like” and “Sounds of the Human Race,” Khule ricochets rhymes through paranoid delusions of a society obliterated and thus saved by hip-hop. Just as volatile, E-40‘s Bay Bridges Compilation highlights the most hyphy of Bay area rappers splurging themselves silly on the cartoonish tweak of beats produced by Droop.E. As soaking wet skins enamor hungry foul-mouths, Keak da Sneak implores all those equipped to “Show Me the Deer Foot.” Featuring the talents of Mac Mall, Turf Talk, and the Team, Bay Bridges administers a litmus test to determine just what constitutes “too playa for ya.” While 40’s cousin B-Legit could certainly exceed anyone’s expectations for a lyrical mack, Block Movement packs most of its punch within the old school perfection of “Sick Wid It.” In a perfect world, the song would be all over the radio challenging anyone sleeping in the Bay area to answer “how else did your town go from brown to purp?” Another psychedelic rap reality worth wigging to are the dead-pan expressions of MF Doom & Dangermouse, augmented with the hilarious antics of the Adult Swim cast. The Mouse and the Mask, a dynamic duo. (MF Doom plays La Zona Rosa, Monday, Dec. 5)
(Three 6 Mafia; Dangerdoom) 
(E-40)
(Ellay Khule; B-Legit)
This article appears in November 18 • 2005.