The Dirtball's first solo album is an entertaining show of hyperspeed rhyming; suburban Oregon-based
David Alexander sounds like a cross between
Eminem and
Twista, without the lurid lyrical skills of the former (although he does have a similarly acid, sarcastic edge to his vocal style) and the impossibly limber tongue of the latter. For the most part, the Dirtball acquits himself well enough, and at times -- particularly the mile-a-minute opener, "Bulldoggin'" -- the results are downright impressive. Over the course of a full album, however, the Dirtball's fairly limited artistic palette gets emptied; at 20 tracks plus unlisted bonuses,
Pop-A-D-Ball is simply too long by at least half. The album's arrangements and production aren't much of a match for
Alexander's lyrical dexterity, either; coupled with a good producer who knows how to both control his excesses and burnish his better ideas, the Dirtball could make an album that's more than a promising start. ~ Stewart Mason