Peezee

Avoid Star Status all costs. Using rappers skills as a system of celebrity measurement — with Nas being A-list and your best local MC on the D-list — Peezee ranks near "Z.” Originality is absent on this disc, which occupies that ugly little place between rap and R&B. If Justin Timberlake rapped it might sound like Peezee does on "Fur,” but Timberlake’s connection to the Neptunes and Timbaland means the production could outdo the terribly tinny production found here. "Tha Anthem” is a blatant knock off of Jay-Z’s "Big Pimpin’.” On the lyrical tip, Peezee offers phantom punch lines. Listening to it you can hear that he’s swinging but nothing connects and you lose interest real fast. "Whuss Good” is the best stab at a dope beat but the hook fails even as he spits, "I got an energetic flow my rhymes is proteins but my city’s anaemic lacking some pro teams.” And that’s that, at its best this is amateur.