On this “remix” version to “Can’t Stop Partying”, Weezer’s Raditude-housed attempt at getting some rhythmic radio love, one Grammy-winning rapper is traded for another has Chamillionaire bumps Lil’ Wayne out of the frame to showcase how much of a “rock star” he is.
Which is, whatever, especially considering that Cham doesn’t really offer anything here lyrically that your 10-year-old little brother couldn’t have penned himself. With a verse built on tired references to threesomes, bra dismantling and Patrón-sipping, Cham sounds like he’s giving a lesson in Party Rap 101. If Flo Rida or, hell, LMFAO had made the decision to barge onto this track, we probably would’ve gotten at least one clever line…and they don’t even have shiny Grammy’s to call their own.
Chamillionaire won a Grammy for pilfering the racist undertone behind the “driving while Black” epidemic and turning it into a trunk-rattling summer smash. On his last single, “Not A Criminal”, Cham made it clear that his focus wasn’t on selling dope but selling records. Still, the cops refuse to get off of his case, identifying Cham (and the iconic Slick Rick) as the lead suspects on an unsolved murder case on his timely new single, “Hip Hop Police”.
Remember the line in “99 Problems” when Jay Z was having it out with an officer that had pulled him over? Stretch it out over three verses and you have “Hip Hop Police”, a story tune in which Chamillionaire and Rick take turns rhyming an interaction between the smarmy “5-0″ and themselves. Opening with an epic, “the-spaceship-is-landing” intro before a 2001-based Dre-like collection of plinky keys, whooshing synths and ticking drum beats set the scene up, Cham creatively scripts an entertaining take on the mysterious police force targeting those “troublemaking” rappers.
Like “Ridin’”, “HHP”‘s subject matter is based on something serious, but Cham doesn’t allow that to kill all the fun. The hook playfully jacks “Murder Was The Case” and the verses are embedded with humoring quotes from the out-of-the-loop cops who question Cham’s allegiance with pimps (he’s referring to Pimp C) and, noticing Slick’s eye patch asks, with a straight face, if one of rap’s greatest storytellers is in fact a pirate. Rick is as smooth and as witty as we remembered him to be, and the nod from a relative newcomer to one of his influences is appreciated. You also can’t ignore the art-imitating-life element: Slick Rick has spent much of the past fifteen years tussling with law enforcement himself.
Though it’s still hard to give Chamillionaire his due respect (he’s a lyrical force to be reckoned with, but “Ridin’” just seemed to be too huge to not be looked at as a fluke), “Hip Hop Police” further assures that he could end up being one of the future mic greats.
Chamillionaire is right. Out of all the flashy Southern rap newcomers bombarding us these past few years, he seemed more likely to flop than end up with a No. 1 pop hit and Grammy, among other major accolades. But with a slick rap style that belied his Houston roots and a trunk rattling, police brutality single that became an odd club anthem, Chamillionaire emerged as the one to beat.
On the first single from his new album, The Ultimate Victory, Cham seems intent on not burning out just as quickly as he’s arrived. “Not A Criminal” follows a similar blueprint to his 2005 smash “Ridin’”: a generic, albeit infectious club beat; inane chorus sure to be this spring’s hottest singalong; and lyrics fueled by some strange fear of persecution (“Everywhere I go/ They look at me like a criminal/ But I’m a CEO/ I’m a self-employed CEO”). Throw in a barely-there cameo from the always-underused Kelis (relegated to chorus harmonies placed too far low in the mix to actually warrant a featured credit) and Cham undoubtedly has another major hit on his hands.
Aware that few were betting on him (and in a much-ballyhooed industry drought, the odds against him were stacked high), Chamillionaire can’t help but relish in his post-success glory as “Not A Criminal” spends most of it’s time laughing in the face of those who didn’t believe in him. But for all of it’s appeal, “Not A Criminal” comes up short by being a little too self-obsessed. Though you can easily adopt it’s “anti-hater” stance, who really cares about Cham ordering Universal to “open up the vault” cause he’s just had “another million dollar thought”.
Though he barely avoids the “one hit wonder” tag with this one, Chamillionaire ventures into the danger zone by seeming to believe he’s on the same level as the best. In a singles-driven industry like today where new artists nursing hit records are a constant, it doesn’t take long for a former chart king to fade back into obscurity, and if Cham doesn’t watch himself he could end up on the back of milk carton in a season’s time.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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On this “remix” version to “Can’t Stop Partying”, Weezer’s Raditude-housed attempt at getting some rhythmic radio love, one Grammy-winning rapper is traded for another has Chamillionaire bumps Lil’ Wayne out of the frame to showcase how much of a “rock star” he is.
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