Bang for the Buck
Label: Fatbeats
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Bang for the Buck
Ugly Duckling wants desperately to provide your very own frat party soundtrack. Every track on this new effort is dedicated to touting the group’s qualifications for getting the job, from the raucous “Yudee!,” complete with exclamation point, to the faux-menacing “Lower the Boom,” in which U.D. claims, “We are on a mission that’ll cover the map/ So be advised that you’re under attack.” Hardly. Anyone unlucky enough to have experienced a frat party knows there are always stories to tell the next day after a handful of aspirin. Bang for the Buck plays more like an orchestrated play date set up by mommies serving Kool-Aid. The cartoonish, glossy production by Young Einstein is actually very solid, and miles more cohesive and consistent than any other indie rap release this year. Regardless, the madcap white suburbanite act of MCs Andy and Dizzy is not only about 15 years past its prime, but in an age of Eminem, Sage Francis or even brainier jokesters like Paul Barman, it’s simply irrelevant.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2006.