Trina and the Lady Tigra: Still Better Than Tupac

When it comes to this year’s hip-hop discussion, not only do I feel somewhat out of the loop – I’m not even sure where the loop is anymore. My hunch is that 2008 hasn’t been stellar for the genre, though not for the reasons one Paul Kix recently suggested in an extraordinarily nincompoopish Salon essay: dude, if you only discovered rap in 1989, no wonder you believe dance novelties are evil, and I hereby sentence you to two weeks of learning to do the Popeye. Believe me, the impulse "get funky make money" has been there since the Sugarhill days. And if anything, what makes 2008 sub-par so far is that we didn’t get a “Chicken Noodle Soup” or “Vans” or “Lip Gloss” or “Cupid Shuffle” yet. Gotta say, though – those new albums by Trina and The Lady Tigra sure don’t sound wack. Heads have been hating on Trina’s Still the Baddest, not really sure why. It’s admittedly not as earth-shattering as her first two, but then neither was 2005’s The Glamorest Life; and people underrated that one, too. What I will say is this: “Still the Baddest” itself rocks harder than most hard rock has lately; the Missy duet “I Got a Bottle” is a laugh-riot electro-freakazoid throwback to Stacy Lattisaw’s “Attack of The Name Game." Trina’s kinetic phrasing in “Hot Commodity” cracks me up, too; “Single Again” balances back-on-the-market melancholy with euphoric whoot-whoot; and the Keyshia Cole collaboration “I Got a Thang for You” is a sweet R&B diversion. Some of the more self-consciously mean and nasty tracks would be easier to live without, but as porn-rap goes, at least Trina’s has a sense of humor. And I also like how she still brags about the size of her butt so much. SOURCE:THE RHAPSODY