Poisonous Mentality

Poisonous Mentality goes to show that J.T. Money wasn't truly in his element on 2 Low Life Muthas. The departure of his partner, Debonaire, to Home Team ("Pick It Up") brought about a radical shift (a look at the album's cover, depicting J.T. and his droogs escaping with a bag of loot, indicates this) from relatively lighthearted material to harder production and an endless flurry of expletives. Whether relating crude and often cruel sexual exploits or tales of criminal dirty work — often within the same song — it's plain to see that the album has much less to do with J.T.'s desire to keep up with the times, and all to do with him coming into his own. The only full-on sop to the party crowd is "Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya" — featuring one of Luther Campbell's delivered-while-on-the-can guest choruses — and it just happens to be one of the best of its kind. This is one of the toughest, meanest records to have come from the south, from one of the most sick-minded and hilarious MCs of the era. The fact that the album was an anomaly when compared to most of the others coming from Florida at the time has a lot to do with why it isn't widely recognized as such.