Devin the Dude
Waitin’ to Inhale (Rap-a-Lot)
Devin the Dude’s fourth solo album takes seven steps into a cloud of smoke dating back to ’94’s “Smokin’ Dat Weed” by the Odd Squad. Devin’s singsong raps meander through humid Houston streets one sidesplitting crack-up after another. As “Just Because” and “Cutcha’ Up” tiptoe on the brink of comedic license, beats by Coughee Brotha DJ Domo hog the spotlight. Where the Steely Dan-inspired loft funk of “She Useta Be” meets the spiraled trash-jazz of “Don’t Wanna Be Alone,” Devin submerges himself in a bubble bath of fleeting fantasy. Picnic’s transcendental keyboard paints “Almighty Dollar,” but “What a Job” recruits the guitar-driven pimpology of Snoop Dogg and André 3000 to rail against the music business. When Devin backs interludes of a kicker kook looking all over town for “that boom” with the country-hop of “Nothin’ to Roll With,” his Texas roots nourish. Fading into the Odd Squad zone of “Til It’s All Gone,” Waitin’ to Inhale reeks of a session well past cursory experimentation.
This article appears in April 6 • 2007.