Trapped In Crime (Remastered)

Upon an initial listen, it's very easy to dismiss this album as yet another shoddy collection of second-rate tracks carried by one catchy single, similar to what happened with the poor 504 Boyz album and its hit single, "Wobble Wobble." Again, Trapped in Crime does feature one clear-cut hit, "Down for My N's," but upon a closer listen, the No Limit crew seems to have raised their standards here. The 24 tracks feature some fairly solid beats by the more competent producers on No Limit — XL, Ke-Noe, Carlos Stephens — staying true to the patented drum-machine bounce beats and synth that propelled some of the label's better past tracks: the aforementioned "Wobble Wobble," "Make Em Say Ugh," "It Ain't My Fault 2." Furthermore, C-Murder manages to integrate some moderately effective choruses into his songs, particularly the anthem chant of "Down for My N's." Still, there's no denying that No Limit makes fairly ugly rap music; it's sloppy, abrasive beats that perfectly correlate with the camp's rough, thuggish rapping aesthetic. Yet as good as this album is, relative to the many lackluster albums released by No Limit in the late '90s, it still seems that C-Murder and his crew will never grow out of the clichés they have defined for themselves. In fact, the album's title is fitting, when one considers how he is forever forced to play the role of a thug, dropping clichéd rhymes — "I'm forever tru 'til I'm dead," "How a thug n***a like it girl?" "What you bout boy?" "You need a thug in yo life," "F*ck them other n****s 'cuz I'm down for my n****s" — yet it's precisely these clichés that make C-Murder so charismatic. Yes, this is pretty much standard No Limit fare, but it's one of the better late-'90s releases the label churned out and thus worthwhile for fans. [The clean version edits moments of profanity.]