The gun shine state is at it once again with yet another promising up and coming MC. On the strength of his catchy first single “Shawty” Plies is putting in his bid for the coveted rookie of the year spot, the same spot in which his label mate Rick Ross finished amongst the top four in last year’s competition. Though he’s been holding it down on the mixtape circuit for quite some time now Plies has been patiently waiting for the premier time to hit the streets with his national debut. Judging from the job Slip-N-Slide CEO Ted Lucas has already done with the likes of Trick Daddy and Rick Ross, Plies shouldn’t have too hard of a time adjusting to the mainstream street market on this, his first go round.

Plies opens up his debut spitting bone hard lyrics over deep fried bass courtesy of Papa Duck on “The Real Testament – Intro”. On the Midnight Black produced “100 Years” Plies offers his street vision on race relations and the pitfalls of the country’s judicial system. Plies relies heavily on his overtime football game close relationship to the streets on tracks like the anti-snitch shit banger “I Kno U Workin” and the anti-broke heater “On My Dick”. Producer JR Rotem simultaneously helms “1 Mo Time” and “I Am The Club”. On the latter Plies sends a delinquent request for one more fuck session over Rotem’s mesmerizing sound foundation, then on the former JR’s production comes off as your typical club fodder. With a rumbling bass line and a somber piano arrangement Plies lays down one of the realest songs since 2Pac’s “Dear Momma” on “Runnin My Momma Crazy”. Thanks to some help from producer Drumma Boy and crooner T-Pain, Plies may have landed the summer’s biggest rap hit in “Shawty”. Plies started the album out with considerable noise, but as the disc wears he starts to lose the listener’s interest on the likes of “Friday” and “Goons Lurkin”. The Tank assisted “You” and the Akon assisted “Hypnotized” are the album’s most out of place occurrences, with a lack of street credibility the tracks are definitely just a mere hope for commercial singles. Plies reverts back to the streets as he closes out the album with bangers like “Kept It Too Real” and “Murkin Season” which both bring things back to a hood reality in the midst of a rather weak tail end.

Plies’ major debut isn’t as good as his label mate Rick Ross’s from a year ago, but he manages to show just about as much promise. Of course the disc starts off incredibly strong but sways off trail down the stretch. A few things for Plies to work on are his simple rhyme schemes and choosing more diverse beats. Other than that Plies manages to prove his hit making capabilities which will make him an intricate part of the Slip-N-Slide foundation.

VERDICT – 11 / 20
LYRICS: 2
PRODUCTION: 4
DELIVERY: 3
CONSISTENCY: 2