Middle Tennessee rap duo Six and Teze has released the ideal album for those in finance, or those just seeking general advice on handling money. “Got to get that cheddar, got to get this cheese,” “Throw some money at ’em,” “What you gonna do if your whole family’s counting on you,” “I’m Mr. Cashville himself” and “What your pockets lookin’ like?” the rappers say. Hey, the name of the record is Shoebox Money, and with that shoebox money, the guys got the house in the hills and eat Red Lobster.
Every album needs a theme, and the cash talk doesn’t bother me. Everyone’s trying to get their money right, after all.
Probably the best thing about the music is that Six and Teze don’t seem to be pretending to be something they’re not, which can be a common ailment with a lot of local rap music. They got plenty of bump in the trunk and seem to have their feet on the ground too. On their MySpace page, Six and Teze list their heroes as “Real men and women who take care of real issues to insure their families are protected and provided for.”
The Shoebox Money project opens with a solid, thumping bass line on track 1, “Mr. Cashville.” Then get your 18s ready for No. 2, as “Super Clean” really gets the low frequencies out.
Though we get a little dose of some autotune, the club style “Money Dance” gets you moving.
That leads to the powerful “Prime Time,” with the nice vocal hook “Put me in the game coach” along with various sports references. I can see this one being played at LP Field as the Titans are getting fired up for the game. Though if you don’t have a quality sound system the constant, crazy fast click tends to dominate this track.
“Pass me the ball, it’s guaranteed to score,” it says.
Really, play it at the stadium. It’s way more suitable than “Sweet Home Alabama” yet again.
Six and Teze inject a little humor with the intro of “Real Life (Young Obama)” as a guy frustratingly exclaims, “I thought we just got through payin’ you” in a very realistic way; I’ve been on both ends of that phone call. This song actually goes on to deal with some serious “real life” themes.
There is a lot of repetition on the record with the same click and synth patterns looped over and over through a song, but that’s the nature of rap music. The bass is powerful and there’s enough variety in the beats and tempos from song to song—from party to reflective—to keep Shoebox Money interesting throughout for the listener looking for some solid cruising beats.
