JT Money: Pimpin On Wax

Pimping has always been a recurring theme in rap music, but few stay in touch with their inner Iceberg Slim as effectively as does JT Money, a rapper whose debut, Pimpin On Wax, is a veritable concept album focusing on the lost art of pimping hoes and freaking flows. It's an oft-repeated maxim that pimpin' ain't easy, and accordingly, Pimpin On Wax begins with an all-too-prescient skit in which a coalition of pimps successfully sues the government for $100 million, citing attempts to fuck up the game and create a national atmosphere that's inhospitable to pimping. As can probably be imagined, Pimpin On Wax is a very silly album, and one not likely to be played at too many NOW picnics. Fortunately, it's also pretty fun, as Money's mack-of-the-year persona is far too comic and over-the-top to be truly offensive. As evidenced by song titles like "Something 'Bout Pimpin'" and "Rap Ass Nigga" and skits like "Pimp Matrimony," Money clearly has a sense of humor about himself and the pimp game, and that helps keep the disc from getting too bogged down in all the silly thug-life clichés. By now, pretty much everyone has heard "Who Dat," Pimpin On Wax's head-noddingly, insistently catchy single, and while Money seldom explores material outside the pimp game, the record does display a fair amount of sonic variety, from the country-fried "Ho Problems" to the laid-back Too $hort collaboration "Something 'Bout Pimpin'" to the sarcastic spoken-word piece "Poetry Moment." Pimpin On Wax isn't for everyone, but if you're enamored of pimping or appreciative of Rudy Ray Moore's spoken-word work, it's an irresistible guilty pleasure.