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As a posse showcase masquerading as an 8Ball solo album, Light Up the Bomb has some pleasant surprises. Dirty South vet 8Ball ensures that his M Gang crew are bolstered by the beats of protégé/producer Montana Trax, and Montana has mastered new-school Southern bombast production with rookie ambition that occasionally approaches major-league success, even if it’s sometimes a bit too by-the-numbers dirty. When he’s on — in the powerhouse opener “M Gang,” for example — he’s throwing fire. Loko may be the crew’s lone female MC, but that’s not the only reason she’s the disc’s most distinctive voice; her commanding flow grabs the spotlight whenever it pops up in a mix. 8Ball’s delivery is as lush and compellingly languid as always; absent, however, is the usual complexity of his lyrics. On his solo albums and with long-time mic partner MJG, he’s always dealt with the dichotomies of the ’hood, tempering his true-crime tales with notes of conscience, introspection, and more questioning. This time around, it seems, there just wasn’t room for that.
