Posted on 05/07/2008 4:56 PM
Sheek Louch (pronounced "Looch" for those wondering) is one of the founders of the Lox and D-Block. His latest release Silverback Gorilla is much of the same thug rap as his previous two solo debuts with a few introspective tracks thrown in the mix.

My first impressions on Sheek Louch are what you'd expect from this current era of "thug rap" His flow is very choppy, at times he's smooth and other times there are gaps. His voice is decent enough, but what kills it are his lyrics which are generally very simple. It seems like most of the lyrics are filler and follow a very defined concept. The titles to these tracks reflect the simplicity of the subject matter, for example "Scrap to This" and "That's a Soldier." One of the few tracks that holds real lyrical substance is "Don't be Them," which is a song about being yourself. Sheek cautions future emcees by saying "Don't be Jigga, don't be Nas, don't be Kim, don't be them, don't be 'Pac, don't be Big, be yourself, homie you that kid." He goes on to state he doesn't want people to look up to himself either, that being yourself is a lot more honorable than looking up to some rapper's facade. Definately a truism in this industry. That track put his cars, drugs & gunplay talk into perspective a little bit. Apparently he doesn't want to be looked up to which is good considering all the trash-talking a feuding he's done in the past.

Notable guests on this album include The Game, Fat Joe, and of course his fellow D-Blockers Styles P & Jadakiss. Unfortunately none of them add much to the album.

The definitive single is "Good Love" which is a relatively unorganized song lyrically but features a catchy beat that samples Betty Wright's famous song "Tonight is the Night." It's produced by Red Spyda and is the only track that feels significantly different than the others. The other beats are all very similar in that they feature loud, sharp, tightly cut snares that seem to hit way too often. These are laid over huge horns and simple synth rhythms.

Silverback Gorilla is another cookie-cutter thug rap album full of money, drugs and gun-talk with one catchy single. I wonder if the record industry is considering bringing back the CD single...

-Nick McClure