Track Review ⊙ Daily Ops Home
UGK f/ Talib Kweli and Radeem Devaughn :: "Real Women"From Underground Kings (Jive; 2007)
Think fast, rap fan: Andre 3000 or Talib Kweli?
If you chose Talib Kweli -- or, more specifically, if you'd choose "Real Women" over UGK's Outkast collab "International Players Anthem" -- you're an idiot, but that's okay: the idiot's album of the millennium is about to come out. "Real Women," in its loose pulsing billow, with its wahs and vibes and lovingly cooed chorus, through its bland, transparent "pro-women" pose, is more indicative of UGK's stunningly straightforward eponymous career relaunch. This is a record that is exactly what it seems to be, which is exactly what it is supposed to be, which is why "International Players Anthem" is in its radiant complexity a feint and "Real Women" (which, like every other track on Underground Kingz, is a banger first and foremost) is a better sampling of what's to come. This is the sensitive jam, of course, but it's still also a party jam, and Talib's apologetic rap about back tattoos sounds pretty good, starting easy but eventually finding enough space in the cavernous production to spit pretty goddamn hard, ten syllables a second. Bun B rides the beat, glibly monochrome; Raheem Devaughn whispers a bunch of romantic shit. It's good loud.
Point being: this track is attempting to praise women but still contains the phrase "silly hos." UGK is back!
Clayton Purdom :: 10 August 2007 |
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