Chingy

Chingy's debut album, Jackpot, rides into record stores on the strength of "Right Thurr," an insanely catchy single full of chest-swelling keyboard melodies. It sounds like the inside of a strip club, spewing out snare effects and lewd drum patterns inspired by the Neptunes that twirl and clap like dancers spinning on a pole. Mostly produced by the Trak Starz, it's remarkably consistent in quality, and each track glitters and glistens with libidinous energy while projecting a superficial glamour that's both enticing and alienating. Even the original pussymonger, L.A. producer DJ Quik (under the pseudonym "Da Quiksta"), contributes "Bagg Up," a luscious midtempo beat that hearkens back to early-Nineties G-funk.

The Trak Starz is the true star of Jackpot; Chingy's role, then, is to contribute the occasional sure-shot hook and ride its beats with fluffy, innocuous rhymes that allude to pimping and other good-natured sex games. On the hit single "Right Thurr," he succeeds magnificently, slurring out "I like the way you do it right thurr" in a faux-British accent with all the charisma of Dana Dane. Less appealing is "Chingy Jackpot," where an anonymous female vocalist dispenses with political correctness and asks, "Chingy/Why your eyes so chinky?" Otherwise, it's hip-pop business as usual here. Like mentor Ludacris (who lends help with Snoop Dogg on the pounding "Holidae Inn"), this St. Louis-based member of the Disturbing the Peace crew is unafraid of making candy-coated songs that would probably find a home on the radio if they weren't so dirty.