Tru Dawgs

05/15/2002 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy

This is D3's second release from a currently imprisoned rapper, and while C-Murder might face more jail time than labelmate Ol' Dirty Bastard (the former’s trying to beat a murder rap, while Ol' Dirty's locked down on drug charges ), his D3 debut is better, anyway.

How much involvement the star had is open to question: C-Murder only appears on a handful of cuts, including "I'm A Baller," which references his legal woes. But the label wisely finesses things by also billing this as a compilation--and unlike ODB's talent-starved The Trials And Tribulations Of Russell Jones, this album actually has a few worthwhile cameos. Snoop Dogg's "Dogged Her Out" sounds phoned in, but it's still a slinky, nasty cut, while Mia X's "They Wanna Pay For It" effectively pairs sass and a vintage Sugarhill sample. And naturally, C-Murder's brothers, Master P and Silkk The Shocker, join in, on the entertaining "Where The Party At.” As a whole, it certainly isn’t enough to make you demand C’s release, but at least it suggests he’ll have a career to return to someday.