Da Mista Masta

Archie Lee flaunts his down-south dialect quite extensively throughout Da Mista Masta, his debut album for Swishahouse. He's far from the first rapper to proliferate a Lone Star lexicon and drawling flow, but he's certainly one of the most flamboyant Texans out there, self-describingly "swangin' wide wid a throwd swagger when not grippin' some grain while ballin'." His colorful rhetoric is accentuated by a host of fellow Swishahouse rappers — Big Tiger, Slim Thug, Blyndcyde, Big Pic, Lil' Ron, and more — and the sorta screwed-up post-G-funk so often associated with Houston at the turn of the century. The standout tracks here, like "Hopes and Dreams," tend to feature melodic, sang hooks that perfectly offset the lively rhythms that make Da Mista Masta as much of an album to bump at the club as one to thump in your trunk. In short, prime-era Swishahouse.