On their third full-length outing, Andy Samberg, Akiva Shaffer, and Jorma Taccone – collectively known as THE LONELY ISLAND – break out the jams for a rap album that’s hardly wack, despite being called THE WACK ALBUM. As a follow-up to their previous albums, 2009’s INCREDIBAD and 2011’s TURTLENECK & CHAIN (both of which I own) THE WACK ALBUM is just as good (if not better in places) on a comedic front, but it opens up a weird situation in which THE LONELY ISLAND almost sounds too legit. While being a send-up of current hip-hop, THE WACK ALBUM is easily on-par production-wise with the best of who they’re lovingly taking shots at, and the delivery is just so serious that you could picture these guys busting out some non-funny rhymes at some point in the near future.
Oddly appropriate for what I do over on the mainpage, “Diaper Money” touches on a subject I’ve blogged about (check this ancient entry), but also exemplifies the serious delivery that I’m talking about. It’s effective because it’s straight-faced, and before you watch the video below, I’ll note that I have the first two things mentioned in the song – “Diaper Money” and that “Wife P—y”:
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With co-conspirators like GREEN DAY’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Solange, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Robyn, and MAROON 5’s Adam Levine making appearances on the album itself, THE LONELY ISLAND is stepping things up for the visual accompaniments as well. Their latest video entry is for “Go Kindergarten,” and features Sean Combs and Paul Rudd:
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If THE LONELY ISLAND keeps their current cycle intact, we’ll probably be looking at another full-length album in 2015 with singles that will start arriving as videos this Fall. Sure, I’m speculating – but I can dig it. THE WACK ALBUM is worth picking up, if only to crank up at parties and for the neighbors… just to see how long it takes them to realize that it’s a comedy record.
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The Rock Father Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
