Right now it seems as though H-Town is one of the hottest breeding grounds for southern rappers. From Slim Thug to Paul Wall to Lil Flip to Mike Jones to Chamillionaire to… well you get the point. One of the most prominent players in the market is the often overshadowed Devin The Dude. Between putting in major work for the likes of Dr. Dre and Scarface, Devin has assembled a loyal following like none other. His 1998 debut The Dude sold nearly nothing but the impeccable music he made cannot be forgotten. His two follow up efforts Just Tryin To Live and To The Extreme boasted the same brilliant musical genius. Now over two years removed from his last effort Devin hits the scene hard with his highly anticipated fourth solo effort Waitin To Inhale.

Devin opens his fourth set with the help of his old group the Odd Squad on “She Want That Money”. The four group members speak on the expensive pleasures from prostitution over Domo’s lazy bass lines. Devin breaks down the significance of having just a little bit of money on “Almighty Dollar”. Snoop Dogg and Andre 3000 show up and profess their love for there rap careers alongside Devin on the album’s highlight “What A Job”. Both “Broccoli and Cheese” and “Hope I Don’t Get Sick-A-This” are poor examples of Devin’s once enticing sexually explicit imagery. Devin switches gears on the first single “Lil Girl Gone”, instead of rapping about explicit sex he takes time along with Bun B and Lil Wayne to understand the trials and tribulations within a troubled young ladies’ life.

Devin takes a considerable chunk of the album to get into a domestic state of mind. On “No Longer Needed Here” he details the aggravation that stems from an ending relationship. Then on “Just Because” he goes Eminem psycho while nonchalantly detailing the acts of violence he’d like to take out on his spouse. “Don’t Wanna Be Alone” and “Somebody Else’s Wife” are way more than self explanatory. Devin purposely comes off like a pedophile on “Cutcha Up” where he anxiously awaits the ripening of the buds on the  little trees. Devin’s country singing on “Nothin To Roll With” turns out to be an ill advised attempt at diversification. The album closes in the same fashion that it opened featuring another gust spot from the Odd Squad on “Til It’s All Gone”.

It seems as though Devin focused more on his subject matter rather than focusing on the quality of the actual music. First time listeners will be thrown off by the first two singles as he chose to diversify himself but the rest of the album finds him spitting about his normal outrageous sexual exploits. Only problem being four albums is more than enough pornographic details for one to sit through. Not saying that Waitin To Inhale is a complete failure, but it’s defiantly the Dude’s most sub par work to date. Maybe next time he’ll take a longer draw and come up with some more real smoker anthems!    

VERDICT – 12 / 20
LYRICS: 3
PRODUCTION: 3
DELIVERY: 3
CONSISTENCY: 3