Kottonmouth Kings

Cloud 9

Suburban Noize Records

(Kottonmouth Kings MySpace)

You either love them or you f@#king despise them. There has never even been any middle ground when it comes to the Kottonmouth Kings. I guess that is going to happen when you strongly promote a lifestyle over substance. However, even Kottonmouth Kings’ fans lately have a right to have doubts over the band’s recording ability. In a production line style approach, the group has pumped out an album (with at least 20 tracks) every 12 months and seemingly without any quality checks as part of the process.

The band’s previous album, Koast to Koast, aside from a hand-full of tracks was rubbish. So it is a relief the band is heading in the right direction again with its newest offering Cloud 9. Bringing back the band’s unique brand of rip hop (punk hip hop) was a wise choice. Songs like No Escape, Livin’ Proof and Loadies are reminiscent of old classics like Dyin’ Daze and Full Throttle.

I am surprised it took them 9 studio albums before they actually released a song simply titled Marijuana and here it’s one of Cloud 9’s strongest tracks, thanks largely to the always on point Johnny Richter (even when some of his band-mates may not have been).

The appeal of the Kottonmouth Kings for me personally was always through its rip hop, reggae joints and skate style raps. Therefore, the guests here, including Tech9 and ICP, don’t really do anything for me, nor does a few of the more urban sounding flows like Ridin’ High, One Day or Litas.

Naturally over a 22 track album there will be a fair share of hits and misses, and while Cloud 9 is far from the Kottonmouth Kings best work, it’s good to see their heavy pot use has not completely destroyed their ability to pass out a couple of satisfying joints.

Reviewed by Pilipo