Whodini — Six

In 1996, Whodini releases his studio album number six. It's called six. The fantasy is over. After losing their chance to deal with Def Jam a couple of years earlier, the boys signed with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def. The production is handled by Dupri himself along with Dave Atkinson, Red Spyda and Carl So-Lowe. The guests are Lost Boyz, Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, Trey Lorenz, Trina Broussard, Nicole Jackson and Mr. Black, among others.

A short intro that leads to a skeletal and tight jazzy rhythm, the Lost Boyz lift the cut on this exquisite production and drag Whodini. R. Kelly delivers a decent hook in the next ballad; sung interlude, then Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz come out on a syncopated and tight jazzy rhythm, the landlord duo struggles to stand up to the confrontation. Four tracks follow with more or less successful R&B hooks that reinforce the songs and light / weak deliveries of the duo, after which you get to the only guest-free song: funky, tight skeletal rhythm and decent delivery of the duo who suffers from a hook functional poorly executed. A remix ends the disc, but this cut doesn't get too far from the original ballad.

Five years after their last CD, Whodini are back on the scene, but by now they are out of fashion: they try the hardcore way, pursuing a music that is not theirs and a style steeped in vulgarity totally distant from their history, only risking undermining their legacy for no real reason it's worth it. The duo no longer holds an album by themselves (one solo song and one remix out of thirteen), in a LP saved by guests who are either better MCs and R&B singers. "Keep Running Back" is the only single from the album, it has the merit of entering the rnb chart and above all of being the only song of the group to hit the rap chart. Backed by Columbia, the record hits the rnb chart and is the last released by the group.

Rating: 5.3/10.