LOVE US OR HATE US

Dirty: Mr. G, Big Pimp (rap vocals). Additional personnel includes: Baby Pacino, Maxamillion, Lil Burn One, Twist & Wicked, Mr. Blue. Producers: Maxamillion, Big Pimp, The Titans. On the opening title track of their Rap-A-Lot debut, LOVE US OR HATE US, Alabama's foremost representatives to the rap world, Montgomery duo Dirty, come out with lyrical guns blasting, immediately laying into the label which dropped (and, in their minds, dropped the ball on) their first two records. You can't really blame Big Pimp and Mr. G-Stacka for being a bit soured; while other rappers with lesser skills are plastered across billboards and have their videos in heavy rotation on multiple channels, this formidable duo has had to hustle to get any play. But that's just the first track, and once that's off their chests, they ease right in to proving once again why they are considered one of the Dirty South's premier crews. Their music is unforgiving, unapologetic, and uncompromising ("I ain't never been sweet, I'm gangsta"), whether they're spit-firing sharply at their detractors as on the infectious "Keep My Name Out Your Mouth" or rolling through the hood to a Philly-soul beat as on "Pimp Life." And while this duo's first single is called "I Wish," it's not an inspirational song; the message is completed "I wish some(body) would.?" Dirty may have been under-appreciated in the past, but the raw LOVE US OR HATE US should make up for that slight.