If the majority of
bass music
producers were even half as talented as
C.C. Lemonhead
and
Jay Ski
, the genre might have become more than a hokey cul-de-sac off
hip-hop
road. The Jacksonville, FL, production team of
Lemonhead
Ski
were responsible not only for the anthems
"Whoot (There It Is)"
"Tootsie Roll"
(as
95 South
69 Boyz
, respectively), but they also struck platinum with
Quad City DJ's
'
"C'mon n' Ride It (The Train)."
One of the biggest singles of 1996, the song was a relentlessly catchy workout full of witty, shoutable lyrical couplets. Just as the duo's previous triumphs had,
"C'mon n' Ride It"
extricated the raunch from
, but retained and even expanded on the booty-shaking rhythms, almost to cartoonish proportions. While
was a success as a single, applying its formula to a bankable album was a trickier prospect.
didn't necessarily succeed with
Get on up and Dance
-- it suffers from repetition, and nothing is as undeniably catchy as the single. But as nothing more than a party record,
Get on Up
is a harmless, humorous, and entertaining diversion.
"Work Baby Work (The Prep)"
is almost a
dub
plate of
"C'mon n' Ride It,"
"Summer Jam"
reinterprets the summery piano line of
Sister Sledge
's
"We Are Family"
over a
rap
that cops the meter of
"Tootsie Roll,"
"Hey DJ"
steals
Ready for the World
"Love You Down"
(just as
INOJ
later would for her
So So Def
-affiliated single
). Hovering at an average of 132 beats per minute,
also never makes the mistake of including a
ballad
or an unfunny skit. It's all about dancing, all the time. Two
remixes close out the party on a familiar and fun note. ~ Johnny Loftus