Jibbs Featuring Jibbs (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Jibbs (rap vocals); David Banner, J. Valentine (vocals); Fabo, Chamillionaire (rap vocals); Mike Hartnett (guitar); Elvis Williams (keyboards); Helen White (background vocals); Melody Thornton (vocals).

Audio Mixers: Kevin "KD" Davis; Mr. Leslie Braithwaite; Phil Tan; Serban Ghenea.

Recording information: Chalice Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Larrabee Sound Syudios, Los Angeles, CA; Phat Buddah Studios, St. Louis, MO; The Basement, St. Louis, MO; The Boom Boom Room, Burbank, CA; The Closet, Los Angeles, CA; The Lair, Los Angeles, CA; Zac, Atlanta, GA.

Photographer: Jonathan Mannion.

It's hard to believe that no one had made a popular hip-hop hook out of the grade-school singalong "Do Your Ears Hang Low" before Jibbs's "Chain Hang Low," but all the more kudos to the St. Louis wunderkind. "Chain Hang Low" became one of the hottest hip-hop singles of 2006, and Jibbs, still a tender teen, inked a deal with Geffen. His debut, JIBBS FEAT. JIBBS, is smart and catchy, and borrows heavily from Dirty South and East Coast sounds, turning out club bangers and sure-footed bravado with surprising ease. Guest appearances from Fabo and Chamillionaire boost the album's status, and underscore the fact that Jibbs is a comer to watch.

Jibbs' story involves MC dreams since the age of ten and a hip-hop friendly family with an older brother -- DJ Beats -- making tracks for Nelly and Chingy. Imagine being nurtured in this environment, add a little respect along with some swagger and bling and that's exactly what Jibbs sounds like. This spirited 16-year-old is somewhere between Nelly and Chingy but without any of the sleaze or cussing, plus he's got a reverence for hip-hop and styles his album like an LL Cool J release for the '80s. Jibbs Featuring Jibbs is surprisingly tight in an era where hip-hop albums go on way to long and the guest list is short, putting the focus right on the artist and making the album's title perfect. Even if he isn't cussing, the charismatic Jibbs can still kick it hard, hard enough that tough man David Banner hands him a serious beat for the exciting opener "Yeah Boii." Banner's involvement isn't the only time the album tips its hat to the current sound of the South, and just like Nelly, Jibbs is a St. Louis-based rapper who reps Midwest while sounding pretty darn South. The excellent "King Kong" with Chamillionaire has a screwed and chopped inspired chorus, the party starting "Firr Az That Thang" could have fallen off a Ying Yang Twins album, and Z-Ro wouldn't be out of place if the empowering and well-written "Hood" ever gets a remix. Course the reason you're here is "Chain Hang Low," the fun and extremely infectious single that takes the kiddie song "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and turns it into a weekend trunk rumbler. If you can't stand the slick pop of the single, by all means skip "Go Too Far," a sugary sweet update of Janet Jackson's abstinence anthem "Let's Wait Awhile" with Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton (and what the heck is a fishnet-stocking wearing Pussycat Doll doing on an abstinence anthem anyway?). A hard homeboy dad will balk at the soft track, but his kids won't, and while Jibbs is talking to the teens, parents can always latch onto DJ Beats' winning throwback production. Good flow, good beats, and overall, a good time. ~ David Jeffries minimize