Discovered by Luther Campbell,
Poison Clan was initially molded similarly to
2 Live Crew, as evidenced by
2 Low Life Muthas' production -- executed by Campbell and
2 Live Crew producer Mr. Mixx -- and its mostly lighthearted but occasionally raunchy themes of womanizing, partying, and goofing around.
J.T. Money and
Debonaire broke out with this album's booming, "Shaft"-sampling "Dance All Night." Not terribly dissimilar from
2 Live Crew tracks like "Move Somethin'," it's one of the few clean songs
Poison Clan released -- it's easily their most accessible, and it's also one of the best dance-rap singles of the early '90s; some rotation of the video on Yo! MTV Raps helped give the group some notice, but the remainder of the album didn't do a great deal to build on its success. The duo proves to be competent on the mic, but they don't go much beyond that, and Mr. Mixx's production work rarely hits the level of his best work for
2 Live Crew.
J.T. Money briefly hits upon the gangsta themes that would saturate the remaining PC records; on "Bad Influence," he shows he's most comfortable with hard-edged rhymes. This decent debut comes off as
2 Live lite, an issue that would be rectified right after this. ~ Andy Kellman