United State of Atlanta

Not long ago, rappers from the South and Midwest would complain to anyone within earshot about mainstream hip-hop's blatant marginalization of their scenes and heavy, seemingly insurmountable West and East Coast bias. These days, however, the Midwest and South dominate the hip-hop charts, from the conscious likes of Common and Kanye West to the ubiquitous production of Lil Jon, who has succeeded in transforming crunk from a regional form of dance music to mainstream pop. The title of the new Ying Yang Twins album, U.S.A. (United State Of Atlanta), cheekily acknowledges this new paradigm, proudly representing its home base with dirty songs straight out of the dirty South.

The Ying Yang Twins widen their narrow spectrum with USA (United State of Atlanta) by adding Black Eyed Peas and OutKast's attitudes toward albums to their already slick and sleazy party crunk. There are songs about the inhumanities of the prison system, a bluesy track about the dehumanizing effects of poverty, a song about the Ying Yang Twins' love for each other, a song about Jesus, and a whole lot of songs instructing strippers on how to dance. At 77 minutes and 23 tracks, the sprawling album is weighed down by some filler and redundant numbers, but as a step forward for a party band riding on whatever the Dirty South sound of the moment is, it's surprisingly bold and accomplished. At the time of its release, the sleazy, catchy, and downright gimmicky Wait (The Whisper Song) was blowing up on radio, but as another party single from a group that's released a truckload, it doesn't represent the risk-taking attitude of the album. Although a guest shot from Maroon 5's Adam Levine seems like an uninspired attempt at pop crossover, the alterna-singer blends well with the boys on Live Again, a look inside the life of a stripper that's deep and bleak, not misguided and ridiculous like you'd expect from these former jokesters. To contrast the hardcore sex trilogy of Wait, Pull My Hair, and the hideous Bedroom Boom, there's the sensitive portrait of fraternity in My Brother's Keeper, a rags-to-riches story with music to suit Tupac dreamscapes. Southern regulars like Mike Jones, B.G., Pitbull, and Lil Scrappy all shine here, but the earthy and soulful Anthony Hamilton rises above all others, taking the Twins deep into the world of The Isley Brothers on the sincere and spiritual Long Time. Ghetto Classics is the album's mind-blowing moment, with the duo commenting on African-Americans' role in the military and urban history over a fierce Art of Noise loop.

The best tracks repeat their hooks enough to turn them into mantras, bass kicks exploding and maddeningly simple keyboard lines worming their way into your frontal lobe, Miami bass and Chicago house run through extremely expensive sequencers and morphing into a radiant space-age bounce. It's first-rate club music, and first-rate club music is always worth your attention. Ying Yang Twins' fourth album doesn't disappoint. U.S.A. (United State Of Atlanta) certainly has its rough patches, but it also boasts a surprisingly broad, rich emotional palette in addition to plenty of the expected raunchy anthems. There's never any doubt here what the duo's primary lyrical preoccupation is – let's just say it begins with S and ends with X – but for its superior first half, at least, there's a whole lot going on here.