It’s Not What You Say… is probably the most diverse album in Mac Dre’s catalog, and it shows the Vallejo stylist drawing inspiration from the younger generation of Bay Area rappers he helped to cultivate. With Messy Marv, Dre dives into the incensed gang raps of “Iz Real,” then turns around to join Andre Nickatina and producer Nick Peace for the audacious “Livin’ It,” an astounding beat built on nothing more than the jingle of an ice cream truck. Mac Dre’s talent has always been to bridge the reality of street life with the circus of the imagination. Likewise, he has always been a bridge between tradition and innovation. One of the best things about It’s Not What You Say… is its embrace of classic, bass-oriented trunk raps. “Sex, Drugs, Rap…,” “Chevs and Fords” and “Hold Off” are as resolute and impactful as anything by Too $hort, while “So Hard” proves that Dre can still rock a beat in the most fundamental fashion. No matter what he’s doing, he always lives up to the credo of this album’s title, a philosophy epitomized by “Bleezies-N-Heem,” which turns the standard ode to intoxication into something loopy and unpredictable.