The follow-up to 2004's
High Class White Trash,
Big B's second solo album,
White Trash Renegade, offers more of the same; in fact, opening track "Keep Goin'" implicitly promises a near-total lack of surprises. This time out, the rapper rips off the chorus from
Toni Basil's "Mickey," giving it an unconvincing cod-reggae lilt for his own "Blow My Mind" (just the sort of cheap nostalgia move that Diddy specializes in), and then on the very next track, he does a slow burn about how lame MTV and commercial radio are on "The Underground." This complaint would have considerably greater weight if it didn't seem like every element of
White Trash Renegade was specifically tailored to appeal to a variety of cross-cultural demographics, from the faux-gangsta sheen of "Outlaw" to the hedonistic party rap and clichéd rhymes of "Hit That." There are certainly much worse hip-hop albums than
White Trash Renegade, but there are no parts of this album that don't feel calculated and focus group-tested. ~ Stewart Mason