Mixtape Review-Candy, Diamonds & Pills by Gangsta Boo

by Dan-O

Gangsta Boo has been insinuating this point for years in interviews but let me just state it frankly. Do not compare Boo against other rappers; male rappers, female rappers it doesn’t matter. She has lived an entirely different journey; a better comparison would be against the legendary horror director George A Romero.  Like Romero she is the architect for a style that practically dominates today.  While Romero gave birth to the zombie craze that has swept up all media and made Robert Kirkman more important than his actual comic books; Boo started the deep dark crunk that became trap that became drill that became Yeezus and so on and so on.  Her new mixtape Candy, Diamonds & Pills is about that journey but like Night of The Living Dead at its core it is about identity and character.

At ten songs it never feels short and each song drips with tension and hostility. Sonically a zombie is around every corner whether it’s the scratched repetition of Boo saying “Itching” on Itching or the maniacal laughing throughout Kill Bitches. Her flow always finds its way with both feet planted on the ground, no matter how crazy the production behind her is. Her voice is frustrated but reassuring, melodic and jagged at the same time. This isn’t to give the impression that Candy, Diamonds & Pills is a thoroughly heavy experience. It still has Can I Get Paid which is a top notch stripper song all about butt cheeks and orgies; a welcome addition to the Three Six Mafia stripper song library(Interestingly Can I Get Paid is from the strippers perspective).

The same way Romero needs the best set designers and special effects people, Boo needs Beatking and Stunt N Dozier. Out of the ten songs, the intro and outro are spoken messages from Boo so they don’t count, Beatking produces four and Stunt N Dozier do three. Both have worked with her before and seem to be raising their game from beat to beat. Beatking does Gimme Something which has that stabbing-scene-from-Psycho sound stretched and weighed down with bass. He also gives us Kill Bitches which has a distorted whine of a horn along with a flood of bass. At the same time Stunt N Dozier Meet The Devil will drive you crazy and make you want to smash things. It’s just evil. Gangsta Boo sails on the soaring and crash of strings “them weidos on the internet in my comments talkin’ that big s___ I don’t lose sleep on that nonsense ya’ll playing checkers I’m playing chess. You gon’ f__ around get your nose bus’ I ain’t talkin’ bout from this cocaine my fist be some angel dust.”

That verse is really important. The outro is a passionately delivered explanation of her place within the Three 6 Mafia legacy. At its core, Candy, Diamonds & Pills is her chance to acknowledge that while the internet gives way to millions of negative voices all shouting negative things to bring you down (especially women) this won’t work on Gangsta Boo.  She won’t ever sit back and watch her legacy be wiped out; not because she’s Southern and isn’t respected like East Coast MC’s, not because she’s a woman in a male oriented industry. Her voice will always remain louder and more powerful than her detractors; like Killer Mike she doesn’t spit rhymes she roars them.

Stream or download Candy, Diamonds & Pills below:

http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/34964/gangsta-boo-candy-diamonds-pills.html