If the title wasn't obvious enough, the cover photo of
8Ball lost in a haze of blunt smoke should clue the listener in to the general vibe of
Light Up the Bomb. Straight up Dirty South party rap, this album makes few claims to cultural significance: the solid single "Time2hitdaclub," which makes odd use of a sample of the Windows "blue screen of death" noise as its main hook, is the closest
8Ball comes to a manifesto here, and the skit "Barney Phife," with
8Ball's interactions with a stereotypical Southern cop, is the most obvious social commentary.
Light Up the Bomb does the job as background entertainment, with its heavy synthed-out beats and electronic hooks, but it's a relatively uninspired outing from a rapper who has done better work in the past. In keeping with current hip-hop fashion,
Light Up the Bomb is also available in the modern-day equivalent of dub, a chopped and screwed edition that slows the tracks down by about 25 percent to mimic the effect of a cough syrup high. [A "chopped and screwed" edition was released in 2006 as well.] ~ Stewart Mason