La' Chat - Murder She Spoke (CD)

All Music Guide

On her debut LP, Murder She Spoke, La' Chat quickly establishes the fact that she's more than just a Gangsta Boo soundalike. Like Boo, Chat represented the feminine side of the Three 6 Mafia sound -- a ghetto, thug bitch from Memphis not afraid to get lewd and tell you how it is. And indeed the Three 6 camp plays a major role in this album's sound, with Juicy "J" and DJ Paul dropping their trademark beats, and the myriad Three 6 rappers making cameos throughout the album, often as foils to Chat's tough-girl stance. Unfortunately, it sounds like either "J" and Paul are saving their best beats for their own albums or perhaps that the duo are running a little short on ideas -- their production work here is surprisingly subpar. Yet, as typically Three 6 as the beats sound on Murder She Spoke, Chat's performance more than compensates. Once again like Boo, she could be one of the best MCs in the Three 6 stable. She exudes a harsh attitude and delivers her rhymes with a liquid flow. Plus, she...'s not afraid to get exploitative, best exemplified on her interpolations of longtime Three 6 motifs: two examples being "Slob on My Cat" (interpolating "Slob on My Knob") and "Luv 2 Get High" (interpolating "Now I'm Hi"). Yet Chat never resorts solely to sleaze to engage her audience; most of her lyrics are street smart and center on street credibility and politics. More than anything, though, it's refreshing to see a female effectively represent her side of the thug life. So even if Murder She Spoke suffers from many of the same problems plaguing other Three 6 solo albums -- namely, not enough fresh ideas and too much filler -- it's still one of the better Three 6-affiliated releases to date and is indeed an impressive debut for Chat. - Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide Read more Less