David Banner gets rowdy and raunchy

September 20, 2005|Globe Correspondent

There's no doubt that David Banner has been instrumental to the rise of Southern hip-hop. The Mississippi native has been a creative and eclectic producer, and while his MC skills have not always kept up, he's shown that he's a force. Banner's new record, ''Certified," out today, will no doubt take him to the upper reaches of the charts, but this sprawling, brawling set of Southern-fried rap stumbles when it should soar and disappoints as often as it exhilarates.

The disc gets off to a smoking start with the organic whoosh of ''Lost Souls," which features some searing guitar work and some of Banner's most trenchant verse. Banner has always mixed hard-rock elements into his sound, and here, as well as on ''X-ed" and rumbling closer ''Crossroads," he underlines the songs with the proper menace and bite. Lil' Jon shows up to produce the rowdy crunk of ''Treat Like Me" with Jakakiss adding his East Coast bark, and ''Gangsta Walk" is a delirious walk on the wild side with Three 6 Mafia and 8Ball & MJG mixing it up with Banner. Play this loud.

There are a number of hot-wired tracks throughout this 68-minute opus, particularly when Banner's explosive production (''Bloody War") and political outrage (''Ridin' " featuring sizzling cameos from Dead Prez and Talib Kweli) are penetrating and take the set to a higher level. And the ode to West Coast hip-hop, ''Westside," evokes the high '90s with more than a little devotion. All good.

But there are some serious misfires here including the overly salacious ''[Expletive]" in which Banner's sexual proclivities are, um, overexposed, and the hit single ''Play," which is a breakout success but sounds like a knockoff of the Ying-Yang Twins' ''Wait (The Whisper Song)." It shares the same producer, Mr. ColliPark, and it already feels redundant. Banner also gets all warm and fuzzy on ''Thinking of You," another stinker that should have remained in the vault.

Banner layers his tracks with musical innovation -- especially good is the effective acoustic guitar on the reflective ''My Life," and he's more than persuasive about the powers of Southern hip-hop. If only he kept his sexual fantasies to himself, this could have been a certified knockout.