Gunz n' Butta [PA]

Audio Mixers: Skitzo ; Vaughn Beck; Sean Rock; Gazelle Alexander. Recording information: Galaxy Studios, Newark, NJ. Photographer: Chad Griffith. For returning Cam'ron and Diplomats fans who don't mind a little bumpy with their ride, Gunz n' Butta is the casual collaboration album done right. That's really saying something, since this collection of mixtape tracks and new numbers was originally promised as the inaugural release of Killa Cam's post-Diplomats crew, the U.N., but last man standing Vado is a true asset and this final product still hits hard. "Speakin in Tungs" is a strange electro stunner that sounds like Cam called producer Diplo to cut an answer track to Timbaland's great "Indian Flute," and when Dipset's strangest lyricist opens "They Don't Like You" with the great "Baby girl, don't let them bleach your dome/You should be sittin' in somethin' peach and chrome," you've got one of the best bedroom numbers in the whole Dipset universe. Prot?g? Vado sounds close in delivery to Cam's usual partner, Jim Jones, and offers a similar thug base, supporting his mentor with rhymes that are less obtuse and more street. Besides a handful of cuts from others, production is handled by the skilled Araab Muzik, who twists '70s horror soundtrack loops and bombastic opera samples into tracks that demand attention. ~ David Jeffries