Having rediscovered their lost fame and well-deserved success, the Fat Boys never stopped and continued to release one album after another. This is their project number five, full of hits and pitfalls. The group is sometimes behind the keyboards, assisted by Eddison Electrik, Steve Linsley, Gary Rottger, Albert Cabrera, Tony Moran, Van Gibbs, Tony Bongiovi, Chris Richards, The Indiana Crew and Fresh Gordon, along with several musicians.
The enthusiastic public response to "Crushin'" (1987), get the boys to bust out "Are You Ready for Freddy", song created for the soundtrack of the slasher film "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (1988), and then included in their fifth LP. Together with this piece, given the fortune obtained by covering covers of other artists, the Fat Boys go wild recording songs by Chubby Checker ("The Twist", 1960) and Richard Berry ("Louie Louie", 1957): the first is one of the rap trio's biggest hits, it ends up in the Hot 100 and PolyGram distributes it all over the world, allowing it to reach the top of the charts in Germany and Switzerland, becoming the first Fat Boys song to reach number one on a music chart. The same cover is second in Belgium and the UK. "Louie Louie" reaches the Hot 100, although obtaining less positive feedback from the public, as well as the other single "Are You Ready for Freddy".
This record leaves you stunned by its pretty poor quality. Incredibly poor. I mean, you don't expect it to be of such a poor level. Trivially skeletal rhythms, still tight, still too simple, Run-DMC are now light-years away but the music, for the Fat Boys, doesn't change. No matter how much production, hooks and delivery scream Run-DMC, their hardcore delivery style always sounds bad, ridiculously hardcore and scarce even above funky beats.
"Big Daddy" is a regrettable attempt to crossover rap rock reggae, with hardcore reggae delivery unplayable on this skeletal rhythm. The title track sounds almost decent, but "Louie, Louie" ruins everything, it's indecent, it seems the parody of a rap rock parody. "Are You Ready For Freddy" is slightly better, the last three cuts present the same problems in their differences.
Released by Tin Pan Apple and Polydor, distributed by PolyGram, this album sells copies in the United States and Europe (continuing to be strong in German-speaking countries, like the previous one), it reaches box 30 among rnb products and, two months after its release, it's the latest Fat Boys CD certified gold by the RIAA. This is Fat Boys worst effort: in their mediocrity they still try to be tight hardcore with dull and weak beats, random beatbox, wack lyrics and rapping, realizing a lame and excessive "pointing-to-pop" record that flops inevitably lower, 3/10.
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