Album Review by EDF
It is not often that you come across an artist that automatically shows up the genre he’s recording in by using humour that seems to have been severely lacking of late. Pimp’s debut album, POWER IS MINDFUL PEACE, was nominated for Best Urban Recording at the 2003 East Coast Music Association (ECMA) awards. The former Pimp-T decided that a slight name change was required for his follow up album because Pimp Tea sort of bridges the gap between the street image – pimp – and the royalty image – sipping tea”. You see what I mean, this guy is as mad as a hatter and now PIMP TEA = “Positively Influencing More People To Excel Artistically”.
AN URBAL REMEDY is Pimp’s second album that continues with the party atmosphere from the debut album. To explain it a bit more, it is a reflection on the way early rap and hip-hop did not take itself too seriously and back then it was actually more enjoyable. Pimp takes elements of this and incorporates it within his music. From the opening intro, a smile is planted on your face as a cinematic voice announces, “only one man can turn off an atomic bomb” or hold “artillery in one hand and a beautiful woman in the other”. This leads into SUPER DUDE which shows up other hip-hop artists for thinking that they are “the man”. SHAKE YA CABOOSE cleverly uses a Wailers sample to a hip-hop beat where they are married together with funny rhymes about shaking your caboose.
While other tracks such as HICK HOP sounds like early Beck or on the attack about corruption within the MUSIC BIZ, Pimp shows a more sensitive side on SOMETIMES, a song about depression backed with an oriental musical backdrop. MANIAC FOR YOUR LOVE is not you typical hip-hop love song where the love given is actually real love and respect and not the usual sappy songs that are released. Of course, remembering his place in the world, Pimp plays the typical hip-hop game and pokes fun at P. Diddy on P. TITTY. If you not quite sure whether Pimp Tea is your scene, check out the autobiographical THIS IS ME and if that is not enough proof, the hilarious AEROSMITH TRIBUTE SKIT will brighten up anybody’s day.
