Too smart for the cliquish hip-hop world yet too inventive for the rock crowd,
2 Skinnee J's might have to content itself as a group that is simply too good for mass appeal. Well, that's the mainstream's loss, as
Volumizer is a strikingly good amalgamation of both techniques, with impressive pop sensibilities and atypical stylistic juxtapositions. In spite of the dire prediction above, the fact is that almost all of this, the band's sophomore major-label platter, is quite accessible; the hip-hop comes from the
Michael Franti school of hard-hitting knocks, but the addition of musicians is what helps the more rap-oriented cuts stand out. There are also tracks that owe almost nothing to hip-hop, such as "Grown Up," which sounds like
Lenny Kravitz jamming with
the Kinks, "Lost and Found," which resonates like
Sugar Ray's more alternative-sounding fare, and "Sugar and Candy," which melds a primal
Beastie beat with
Beck embracing blackness (and not for the hip factor, but because he bleeds it). Put
Volumizer on par with the early
Funkadelic records in that its innovation is greater than the sum of its rock and R&B parts. ~ Brian O'Neill