Maceo - Straight Out Da Pot (CD)

All Music Guide

The second Big Cat Records signee to go solo, Maceo debuted with Straight out da Pot, an album similar to that of his labelmate predecessor, Gucci Mane, who had debuted months earlier with Trap House. The teenage rapper upholds an ideology common among mid2000s Southern rappers, namely a general emphasis on dealing cocaine as a means for financial gain and on marginalizing women as sexual objects. Granted, Maceo isn't as engaging as Young Jeezy, who rapped about similar topics yet did so in a wittier fashion and became enormously popular as a result. Still, Maceo is more engaging than the myriad other runofthemill "trap or die" Southern rappers struggling for market share in 2005. To his benefit, he gets aboveaverage beats from Fats and GFresh, who produce the bulk of Straight out da Pot. Highlights include "Go Sit Down (Hoe Sit Down)" (a manly ode to putting women in their place as Maceo would have it, that is), "Nextel Chirp" (a heedful song about the do'sanddon't's of conversing ab...out drug deals over the phone), and "Ladies and Gentlemen" (a party song). "On My Way" is another highlight, though its lovesong intent seems out of place here among these generally loveless songs. Anyone who takes issue with the state of Southern rap circa 2005, with its prevailing emphasis on dealing cocaine as a respectful profession as well as objectificating women as sexual conquests, as rapped over crunk beats, of course will find little of interest here (with the exception of outrage, perhaps). But anyone who finds appeal in Young Jeezy and Co., or simply is at peace with the reality of this music as a medium of cultural expression for some urban youths, will find this debut by Maceo to be one of the more notable such releases in 2005. [Big Cat released a choppedandscrewed edition, which had become par for the course among Southern rap releases by the mid2000s.] - Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide Read more Less