Gangsta rap, pure, simple and raw--it's a formula that just won't die, and rapper Silkk plays it out for all it's worth. In "I Represent," Silkk breaks it down, from the wake-up-and-strap-on-the-9mm ritual to the death threats for any rivals who might dare to try and take him down. Musically, the style is West-Coast smooth, with few hard edges. Silkk likes to set up a basic rhythm track, usually a slow-tempo groove, and work around it.
In "Ghetto Tears," he runs down a litany of inner-city woes, from 13-year-old overdose victims to senseless shootings. And in one line, he sums up what is, unfortunately, the attitude of many who find themselves trapped in the clutches of hopelessness: "The ghetto's like one big headache, one big ol' migraine/Tryin' to stay high till I die, tryin' to hide the pain." The themes here are familiar--drug dealing and gun violence, and women who are "ho's" and "bitches" --and the album faithfully records the vicious cycle that particular life entails.