T-Bone is one of very few gospel crossover artists with abilities on par with the larger non-gospel set. Despite that, he's essentially unheard of outside the Christian music scene. On 2001's
The Last Street Preacha,
T-Bone and his crew present an entirely solid album of West Coast G-funk. It's not mere emulation, though -- there are actual Sir Nose-like samples, vocoders à la Zapp & Roger, and the occasional
Dre-like synth and string sampling.
T-Bone's phrasing starts out with a stuttering, swaggering lope in the realm of
2Pac, but eases into an ever-relaxing lope with a smoother delivery. By the time of "Ride wit Me" he's moved into full G-funk, working his way into a
Warren G area. Aside from a couple of forays into the territory of
Bone (the
Thugs-N-Harmony version) with four-part harmonies, and another thuggish run, the majority of the tracks feature a style that's primarily a poor man's
Snoop Dogg. That's not to say
T-Bone is bad in any way, though, just not
Snoop himself -- the talent and ability are huge here, and the styles range widely from proper West Coast G-funk to high-speed Spanish rap in the reggaeton mold. It's rare to find an artist hidden away in Christian music with this sort of crossover talent, but
T-Bone is likely to remain under-recognized by many listeners. ~ Adam Greenberg