The subtitle of
B.A.'s third solo album tweaks obsessive name-dropper
Mike Jones, but this hardcore rapper doesn't waste much time in dissing others in his lyrics.
B.A. Sports 2/This Is Not Mik Jones is strictly by the book, with the usual gangsta themes and imagery showing up repeatedly: pimps, hos, guns, that sort of thing. The settings for these raps are equally familiar beats and synths, with occasional feints toward
Kanye West-style portentous, thundering piano chords, as on the opening "Hard." At some point, gangsta rap apparently moved from being the poetry of the streets to a kind of pre-packaged lifestyle music no more threatening than the
Jimmy Buffet and
Bonnie Raitt albums suburban-hedonist baby boomers play in their minivans. This is that sort of album. ~ Stewart Mason