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Here's a brain twister for all you kids out there: Who truly brought
forth the fusion of Rock and Rap? The Beastie Boys? Run DMC? Limp (I
can't belive I'm typing their name) Bizket? The answer is none of
these guys. The master my friends, is Dee Dee King. This is the album to
play when you want to impress that certain someone, or for most cases,
get rid of that certain someone (like a bad roomate). No matter just
how bad this album is, it's truly brilliant. 'But isn't that an
oxymoronic statement?', you ask? Well, it is. But it's true. Read on
and you shall understand. The album consists of 7 raps and 3 punk
rock songs. I'm going to highlight my favorites for length purposes.
Opening up the album is "Mashed Potato Time", a rap that 'samples' the
60's tune of the same name. Debbie Harry of Blondie fame sings the
actual melodic line in the chorus, and does a wonderful job at it.
Essentially, the song is a blend of 60's girl group and weak, lame, and
funny rapping. Debbie also appears on "German Kid", a song that utilizes
both English and German in the lyrics. I feel bad that Debbie had to
sing on this song because it's really cheesy. But it's just cheesy
enough to be fucking A-grade hilarious. Probably the two best raps on
the album appear on side two: "Brooklyn Babe" and "Emergency".
"Brooklyn Babe" has fairly chauvinistic-yet-funny lyrics, and the
chorus, while oozing that element of Sharp Cheddar, is nicely melodic.
"Emergency" has a very cool Ramones-esque guitar riff working for it in
the intro and through the chorus as well. The tempo is upbeat, and as
far as story-telling goes, this song does so well, going to the point
of having voice variations for the different "characters". All of the
raps on here, not just the ones highlighted, truly aim to please, but
in actuality only succeed in making one laugh... Now for the
rock songs. "Baby Doll" and "Poor Little Rich Girl" both appear on side
one, and are well-crafted, catchy tunes. "Baby Doll" incorporates a
simple and gentle lyric verse with an explosive chorus that has great
harmonies. This one has got to be good, because the Chesterfield Kings
even went as far to do their own stellar version of it on "Don't Open
Till Doomsday". "Poor Little Rich Girl" is a definitely one tune that
would've made one killer Ramones song. It's solid, hard hitting, and
catchy; probably the best track on the album. One song on here that
the Ramones did do, on their last album "Adios Amigos", is "The
Crusher". Dee Dee's version is a rock-rap mix, and is actually fairly
ugly. It's too shouty and nasaly, and the spoken words aren't that great
either. The Ramones version, featuring Joey and CJ is much better.
I don't care how bad this album really is, it is truly a work of art.
If Dee Dee hadn't been so serious about this, it would've made a
wonderful novelty album. I highly recommend this album to people
with severe depression. Who needs Prozac when you've got Dee Dee King?
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Dee Dee King: Standing in the Spotlight