Can you imagine a world where a hip-hop album was created with absolutely no samples from other music, featured Rock band singers on guest spots, and had a song completely devoted to Myspace?
Neither can I, but lo and behold the Gym Class Heroes album “As Cruel as School Children” offers exactly that. The third album from the indie Hip-hoppers is fueled by 12 tracks of fresh new music, three humorous skits (Sloppy Love Jingle, Parts 1,2,3) which end in drunk stupor and bad sex, and guest spots by other Fueled by Ramen label mates.
Notable tracks include the Myspace tribute New Friend Request, where frontman Travis McCoy spins a tale of Myspace stalker-type love; The Queen and I, a song you dedicate to your drunken ex; and Its Ok, But Just This Once!
Also noteworthy is the song Clothes Off, a new spin off of Jermaine Stewart\'s 1986 single We Don\'t Have To Take Our Clothes Off. It features labelmate Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and takes a stab at Stewart\'s cry for abstinence. And quite frankly, they do it in a manner that makes me think, maybe we do have to take our clothes off to have a good time… unless family\'s involved. Nobody wants to see great grandma doing the electric slide and trip over something gross and saggy.
Arguably the best thing about the album is the lyrical styling of frontman McCoy. McCoy has been on hip-hop\'s radar since summer of 2002, when he won a freestyle competition on MTV’s Direct Effect. He’s made an appearance in a Styles P. video, and had a stint with Cobra Starship. Travis’ style is reminiscent of classic hip-hop, sort of like The Roots meets Tribe Called Quest.
The Heroes fall flat a few tracks like Viva la White Girl, a rocky ballad about the love of music, and the hard-to-understand track On My Own Time. Nonetheless the album shines on, giving hip-hop a happy, lovestruck perspective, without sounding cheesy and campy (I’m looking at you, Sum 41!). As GCH fire up the band and let the lyrics flow, one might describe it as an unrelenting expression of art, I’d just quote McCoy and call it "So Sexy."
"As Cruel As School Children" is on sale July 25, 2006 from Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance.
