The men behind most of the tracks on this faux mash-up of rap and rock are the nearly forgotten rapper
Mellow Man Ace and guitarist
Lanny Cordola, who not only appeared on
Dave Coulier's
Songs in the Key of Beaver but also the Cleopatra compilations
A Tribute to Garth Brooks and
The Complete Tribute to Garth Brooks. A real "mash-up" would mean original tracks are mixed together, but almost everything on
Rock vs. Rap is re-recorded. The highlight for sure has to be the original team-up version of "Bring the Noise" by
Anthrax and
Public Enemy, but some of
Cordola and
Mellow Man Ace's productions are worth checking out.
KRS-One's "The Devil's Crown" is actually his "Ah Yeah" with a new rocking backing track that improves on the original.
Kottonmouth Kings' good buddy
Big B delivers "Hey Joe" in a pleasing and lazy
Sublime style, and
D. Brown's rap over
Cordola's take on
Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" is a winning combination. Too bad the limp version of
Ratt's "Round & Round" from
Stephen Pearcy and
KRS-One (who was signed to Cleopatra, meaning he's doomed to keep turning up on their compilations) is one of the best examples how "mash-ups" should be left to irreverent bootleggers and not hair metal hangers-on. Worse yet, the lyrics to
the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" get "updated" to "Everybody dies alone/So get stoned!"
Cordola can certainly shred on guitar but too much of the album is a loud and rebellious mess with too much swagger and no soul.