The ultimate goal of the
Strangeulation series is to pimp
Tech N9ne's
Strange Music imprint and the label's roster, but just like on the first volume, this second release feels less like a crass marketing tool and more like an uncontrollable
Strange Music office party. If the HR department's question is "What would you say you do here?," "Wake and Bake" is the answer from
Krizz Kaliko and
¡Mayday! during a compressed and angry track that's somewhere between
Kanye's
Yeezus and
the Beastie Boys' aggressive version of funk.
Tech,
Rittz, and smooth-voiced singer Darrein Safron flirt with the mainstream as "We Just Wanna Party" sits between horrorcore and
Bieber-big R&B, while the monolithic "PBSA" strips dubstep, EDM, and trap music of everything but bass, offering the ultimate in booming systems and a big, cocky bomb from
Ces Cru ("I stay high like A.I./What the f&#k we talkin' about? Practice?"). "Blunt and a Ho" with
Tech ("Sittin' right on top of me with that magnificent rump") and
Murs ("I once ran this festival called Pay Dues/But I never got paid dude") stands above it all, thanks to rapid rhymes that surf on neo new jack swing beats designed by Michael "Seven" Summers, who produces most of the album. Serious and heavy interludes dubbed "Cyphers" link all this party-time madness, and while some of the jokes are "insider" and designed for fan club members, entrance into the
Strange Music club has never been easier, and thanks to this collection, it's never been such (devious) fun. ~ David Jeffries