Yukmouth, sometimes known as Smoke-A-Lot, came to attention as one half of the talented rap duo the Luniz. While Luniz expertly cut their lyrics of raw sexuality and stark violence with a light-heartedness straight out of the Looney Tunes cartoons from which they derived their name, on his own, Yukmouth displays a more straightforward, darker side. On THUGGED OUT and THUG LORD, the titles said it all, Yukmouth is straight-up thug, proud of his West Coast, Rap-A-Lot hip-hop heritage.
On his third solo effort, GODZILLA, he tempers the mix just a bit, retaining the ample hooks which earned him ears from when he had "5 on it." Meanwhile, the lyrics benefit from a bit more subtlety and manage to hold on to an undercurrent as brutal as a radioactive monster randomly attacking your city. Yukmouth's verses boast a sharpness that transcend any genre, and just when you think he's fallen into formulaic, predictable rhyme, he'll spit a random line like "you fall off like Spin Doctors." While he can surely move the dance floor, he's no slouch at the slow jam, particularly when he brings in master Aaron Hall on "I Want Yo Body." With GODZILLA, Yukmouth comes into his own as an insightful, wry rapper who will never ignore his baller style.