Ghetto Bill

Despite releasing his last solo album just over a year ago, the first words out of Master P's mouth on Ghetto Bill are, "It's the return of the living legend, man." Does P consider a year a long time away, or is he making a comment on the streets' general indifference toward his sprawling Good Side, Bad Side release? Could be the latter since Ghetto Bill takes none of the chances Good Side, Bad Side did, but to a fault. With plenty of classic Dirty South bangers, returning No Limit soldiers will appreciate P's return to the gutter on Ghetto Bill, but no new fans will be won by this overall single-minded release. Thugging, getting paper, rims, scoring with hood chicks, and all the usual topics are here in excess, something that weighs down the truly grand moments of the album. "I Need Dubs"' interpolation of LL Cool J's "I Need Love" is inspired and the most brilliant single P's unleashed in quite some time. The reflective and talky "Best Hustler" displays that old Master P charm while a loopy Myke Diesel beat makes "Shake What Ya Got" very necessary for Dirty South partying. The whimsical "Whole Hood" offers some relief from all this swagger and bragging, but it's not enough to call this a well-rounded album. Having diluted his importance with an endless parade of mediocre product, "better than usual" is the highest compliment P's gotten from critics and message boards for quite some time. Thicker production and great singles make Ghetto Bill better than usual, but the wicked highlights shouldn't have to fight so hard to be found among all this painfully redundant filler. [Ghetto Bill was also made available in a clean version, with all explicit material removed.]