nce in a while, an artist comes along that completely revolutionizes rap music. They influence new artists that are coming out, and everyone tries to emulate them on their albums. Hopefully, this won’t be Big Moe, because otherwise hip-hop is headed straight for the unfortunate state of uninspired music and weak efforts. Big Moe, a new artist from Texas and a part of the late DJ Screw’s infamous Screwed Up Click, burst onto the scene with an approach similar to the 3-6 Mafia. The single, “Purple Stuff”, slightly reminiscient to 3-6’s “Sippin’ on Syrup”, displayed his love for cough syrup with codeine, AKA The Purple Stuff, and is replete with references to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Screw’s artists were legendary for appealing mostly to users of the cough syrup, from down South, especially Texas. Before his early demise, DJ Screw created what is known as the Screw Tape, taking the music’s speed down to an almost hypnotic speed. Listeners already knew that Purple World would be a good “Screwed Up” album, but would it work in the normal speed, or would it bore everyone not from Texas like every other DJ Screw release?


Big Moe is a very limited lyricist, and, unfortunate for him, looks a lot like D-12’s Bizarre. While his rhymes are very weak, Big Moe does actually bring a slightly different approach to rap, with a very sing-songy flow, similar to a southern version of State Property’s Freeway. The flow is actually intriguing for a while, and Moe does show a good instinct on when to switch from straight singing to a bit more traditional hip-hop. However, the difference between Moe and Freeway is that while both have relatively limited subject matter, Freeway raps about things and has a few punch lines, while Big Moe has next to nothing to offer. His lyrics on the first single “Purple Stuff” are a great example of his talent. The only rap lines delivered by Moe on his debut single are a few lines of complete predictably : “Now see it started back in seventy-fo', Teri gave life to Moe / See momma was a hustler, daddy was a buster, y'all know how that go / I was raised Screwed Up Texas, didn't know my direction / Now I'ma state representative, been chose by election / Some said I wouldn't make it, but I'm still in the game / Things done changed, diamond rangs; / man it's funny how things done changed / I hooked up with that DJ Screw / He slowed it down, chop-chopped it too / Got blades on the bus, candy paint on the truck / If you wanna know what's in my cup.... Purple Stuff!”. The guest, D’Gotti, who appears on many more songs, is even worse. The problem is 100% due to lack of effort. If Big Moe put time into writing his raps and thought about his subject matter, he would be a much better rapper. Since he doesn’t, Purple World is an album that very few will be able to listen to the whole way through.


The beats are very generic, emulating the popular songs in hip-hop of a year ago, when the album was begun. The production team is a group of relative unknowns and judging by their work here, they deserve to remain as such. One of the two "deep and meaningful" songs, “Why Why”, has a main riff with a Spanish guitar that has been heard in thousands of songs before, and a drum line that sounds like it was taken straight from a keyboard demo. While Moe and his unidentified guests actually get fairly deep, they cannot escape the amateurish beat and their lack of flow. The other beats are very derivative and hearken back into the past hip hop trends unsuccessfully. “S.U.C.” sounds very much like a stock Warren G or DJ Quik party beat, with plenty of chimes and a very simple backbeat. The reason the two are both revered as near legends is because of their ability to change and progress. “S.U.C.” sounds dated because Warren G and DJ Quik have evolved and music like this isn’t being made anymore. “Still da Barre Baby” is the worst song, on the album, and maybe the worst song of all time (really). Besides the elementary school age children rapping terribly and sounding completely out of place, the beat sounds like a mix between a 4th grade band concert and a 2 –piece Mexican cantina band. Besides being completely bizarre, the sound is irritating and downright sickening. Moving on, “It’s About to Go Down” sounds like a throwaway beat by Nelly’s production team, complete with a poor Nelly impersonator on the hook. Not only is it a poor attempt to cash in on Nelly’s fame, the song isn’t even close to the quality of Nelly’s songs, which are pretty poor themselves. Nearly every song on Purple World is along the same lines. “Thug Thang” sounds like a version of “Country Grammar” created using the new Game Boy Advance music program (not a good thing). “Dime Piece” could pass for any slow jam out today, with its generic hook, lyrics, and beats. Nothing stands out on the album, and there isn’t even one song that is anywhere close to decent.


When discussing Purple World, a friend of mine who is very big into the Screwed Up Click, claimed that it was a classic. The only way to truly enjoy it, he claimed, was either A) the Screwed version or B) on the Purple Stuff itself. This statement shocked and mortified me. Is music at the point where it needs to be modified to enjoy it? What happened to albums that stood out on their own merits? True, many would agree that drugs enhanced past groups like Pink Floyd, but the music can be enjoyed on its own merits. People claim that jam bands can only be truly appreciated with the addition of marijuana. Lacking an expansive knowledge of anything but hip-hop, I can not truly judge other musical acts. One of the problems with Purple World is that it lacks the elements of good hip-hop: namely good beats and good rhymes. Many fans will tell you that the classic album by Nas, Illmatic, is even better if you sit down and smoke a blunt before it. However, even without the drugs, Illmatic is a classic album. The beats and rhymes hold up without the additions, and whatever is added by smoking pot is not an effect that reaches every listener. Purple World may be wonderful on codeine and cough syrup, but the fact is that it doesn’t work as a good hip-hop album. Albums like Juvenile’s 400 Degreez and Ludacris’ Back for the First Time are examples of good hip-hop albums from the South. Big Moe’s debut is not. It is a weak attempt at a good album with very little effort brought forth from the artist.