It’s always a treat when solo MCs can successfully collaborate for a full-length project. In the brightest scenario, we’ve been blessed with Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star. While B.o.B. and Scotty ATL’s Live & Direct doesn’t match Black Star’s excellence, it’s still a solid project in its own right.
The ATLiens team up to sprinkle seasoned insight over a bubbling stew of southern goodness. The two mix well together, with Scotty often acting the carefree player to B.o.B’s tenured veteran. The approach creates a balance of silly and serious that carries Live & Direct through 14 tracks, almost never letting up. While the youngster elicits laughter by declaring “Me and bro about to drop the greatest shit of all time, call the plumber,” on the same track B.o.B muses that “I’d rather slap five with my niggas, than to swing with a closed hand/’Cause it’s easier to raise a child than it is to repair a broken man.”
Not that the two are rigid in their roles. Scotty ATL proclaims the pain behind his hustle on “Navigation” (I’m almost out of tears I’m paranoid, I’m running out of time I want to buy some minutes”). Meanwhile, B.o.B displays ignorance at its finest on “Grown Folk” (“I just bought a zip for myself, and I’m a smoke that hoe up in one session”).
The music palette matches the music: a familiar, appropriately Atlanta sound that manages to be rich and diverse enough to stay fresh throughout. As a unit, they avoid being bland even when rapping about topics that, on the surface, seem obligatory: an ode to their city, money sex and drugs, one night stands, etc. “FukkOnEm” details a man who has meaningless sex not solely for carnal pleasure, but because he’s so scarred from past hurt that he won’t let himself get close to anyone. Even “Money Sex Drugs,” which features the kind of robo-warbling that would have Hopsin banging his head against the wall, is irresistibly catchy.
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The only real missteps are “Pretty Fine Stripper,” which fails to rise above the status quo for booty-shaking tunes, and “Like a Shoe,” which is annoying and pointless, even if it is mildly humorous.
B.o.B is definitely the stronger MC, and provides the most memorable moments. While Scotty ATL benefits from the collaboration, he isn’t lyrically potent and it’s safe to say he wouldn’t be nearly as compelling on his own. In that respect, Live & Direct is a strong project that proves album-length collaborations between two natural soloists are alive and well in Hip Hop.
