Clarence Reid's best work as über-freak dirty rapper
Blowfly was on his earliest albums, which sounded like the product of a loose and loaded after-hours party with
Blowfly constantly topping himself on one sexual gross-out after another while his band vamped on classic funk rhythms in the background. However, as
Reid's
Blowfly sessions became more successful, they began to take on the polish of
Reid's above-ground with work with
Betty Wright and
Gwen McCrae, and while
Porno Freak offers some good and greasy funk grooves and plenty of potty-mouthed talking from
Blowfly, the trouble is the album sounds too professional for its own good. Cuts like the Spanish-accented production number "Maricon" and the pro-sexual harassment anthem "To Fuck the Boss" are funny, but the arrangements and performances sound too slick to achieve their full sleazy impact, while the title cut's delivery is tight enough to make
Blowfly sound like a "real" rapper, it makes him sound like one whose flow is just a little bit addled, leaving a track that shoots itself in the foot. There isn't anything "wrong" with
Porno Freak, at least by the standards of
Blowfly's best-known work, and it does bridge a musical gap between the worlds of
Clarence Reid and
Blowfly. But the latter persona represents a man whose albums are best when they're at their sleaziest, and ultimately this is like the R-rated cut of Emmanuelle compared to the XXX-Behind the Green Door fearlessness of
Blowfly's best stuff. ~ Mark Deming