The release of their freshman effort proves the union of rappers T-Nasty and Mr. Fatal has been No Good – that is, in a good way.
No Good, the Miami-based rap crew, breaks into the big league of the dirty South rap game with its debut album, ‘Gameday PBB.”
The cliché “two of a kind” might accurately describe the group members, T-Nasty, (Tracy Lattimer) and Mr. Fatal, (Derrick Hill) now. But in the past it probably meant very little for the two who grew up on opposite sides of the social tracks.
Hill, the son of a well-known pimp, was reared in a very tough urban Miami neighborhood.
If Hill is the day of the rap group then Lattimer is the night. Lattimer comes from a working class household in the Fort Pierce area with a stepfather who served as pastor at the local church.
It was a combination of faith and fate that brought the two together.
Before Lattimer and Hill recorded their first song they spent several years paying their dues to hip-hop gods.
The two worked as hype men, promoting fellow Miami-based group 2 Live Crew in 1992. They went on to open for well-established rappers The Junior Mafia, Lil’ Kim and the late Notorious B.I.G .
The song on the album, “Ballin’ Boy,” netted No Good a No. 3 spot on the Billboard rap singles chart.
Even as the grounded duo climbs in record sales and the charts, the grounded it never gets too far from its roots.
That down-to-earth mentality is apparent on the album’s fourth track, “Keep it Real.”
Mr. Fatal rings in with lyrics like, “platinum rings, diamond rings to gold teeth, we breaking off bread with our folks, people on the streets. We spread love, get love, making ends meet.”
The album moves into a basic economics and pharmacy lesson on its fifth track “Dopeman.” T-Nasty rings in with lyrics like, “As long as they buyin’, we supplyin,’ ” and “I’m your momma, I’m your daddy, I’m your n-a in the alley, your doctor when you need, your fast weed and CDs,” giving a whole new meaning to the term entrepreneurship.
In the same song he describes a recipe you won’t find in any of Martha Stewart’s cookbooks for whipping up a seven-course narcotics buffet with lyrics like, “We cook it up, we cut it up, we wrap it up.”
There’s a little something for everyone on this album. Even relationship advice is a base No Good covers in the song “Giggalo/Jiggle It.”
The prototype woman according to No Good meets 36-24-36 specifications. “Nice eyes, nice thighs, hairdo and it’s all hers too,” demonstrate T-Nasty’s appreciation for authenticity in his female subjects.
While No Good may not give long-term relationships their nod of approval, the bass-heavy, well-constructed lyrics will have listeners nodding their heads.