Thursday, December 8, 2016

Ms. Tee - Hot Girl

Trishell Williams, better known as Ms. Tee, is an artist that represents from the vile swamps of New Orleans, LA. Known throughout the Southern region for her soothing voice and providing vicious backup vocals, Ms. Tee first started off with Cash Money Records. In fact, she was the first female artist signed to that infamous label. After three somewhat successful albums with Cash Money Records, she would end up leaving them over a royalty dispute in the year 1996. Hot Girl is her fourth album and it was released in 1997 on the rival label, Untouchable Records. As with most Untouchable releases, production duties are assigned to Merrill "Real Roc" Robinson and Gary "Ozone" McKee. Together, they provide a spirited collection of rhythms that strictly define that classic New Orleans sound. A type of sound that seems laid back but is hype at the same time. The beats incorporate vivid notes from the genre of Bounce as well as various Southern elements to complete their composition. Now, the blend mentioned above only works flawlessly on a few cuts. Some tracks on here seem to have too much going on at one given point and almost become an audible distraction. Some of these faults could be blamed on the mixing and mastering department but not all of them. Not to worry though, because the composers do a good enough job of camouflaging these blemishes by spacing the tracks properly. The record also has its' ups and downs in the lyrical section. Ms. Tee is no ordinary songstress. Her tone is quite mollifying and she can change her pitch and tempo instantaneously. It's her blunt approach and vulgar themes that tend to go downhill. Although, one could overlook the vulgarity due to the record's underground nature and let it pass but it's truly hard to ignore the subject matter. The songs end up taxing the listener at one point or another and their motives become very unclear. Also, there is hardly any originality to her rhymes. Almost every verse or hook is an interpolation of a popular R&B song, Ms. Tee just presents it with her Southern flair and outlandish demeanor. Thus the end result is a mundane one even with the artist's superb voice. Guest appearances are made by L.O.G., Fila Phil, Lokee, Pimp Dogg, Charlie Hanseen, S.A.C. Mafia and Mike Love. The album rounds out with a total of fifteen tracks and with the discrepancies mentioned above, it becomes impossible to finish it in one sitting. Although the record can sustain itself because of the lavish guest list, it just doesn't have anything long term for the listener. Neither lyrically nor musically. The end result is a sub par effort from the artist, especially when considering the fact that she was known for providing the deadliest choruses and hooks money could buy in The Boot.
      

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