Lil' Wyte - Still Doubted? Album Review

Artist: Lil’ Wyte
Album: Still Doubted?
Label: Wyte Music/Hypnotize Minds/Select-O-Hits Records
Executive Producers: Lil’ Wyte & Partee

Almost 10 years ago in 2003 a white Memphis rapper backed by Three-6 Mafia exploded onto the underground scene with the album “Doubt Me Now” (backed by underground hits like “Oxycotton” and “My Smoking Song”) selling over 300,000 copies of the independent album (with little to no promotion whatsoever). Fast forward to 2012 that white boy, Lil’ Wyte, has stuck around a label for 5 solo albums (and a group album) that no one other rapper, other than Project Pat, has stuck around for more than 2 for. He’s also kick started his own label, Wyte Music Records, and been featured on the hit MTV series “Adventures in Hollyhood”, scored a major label deal with Hypnotize Minds/Warner Bros. Records, and had his music featured on popular TV shows like “Eastbound & Down.” Lil’ Wyte’s new solo is a direct shot at all the naysayers with the title “Still Doubted?” after sticking around for a hell of a lot longer many claimed he would be able and he even the cover takes a shot at all of the rumors that have surrounded his name for as long as I can remember (I remember hearing the Lil’ Wyte is dead rumors back in high school). Lil’ Wyte emerges from a bloody bathtub with drugs and guns surrounding his body taking shot at all the “is Lil’ Wyte dead rumors?” that have circulated for years. For almost 10 years Wyte’s sound has been molded by the legendary production of DJ Paul & Juicy of Three-6 Mafia, that is, until now. Neither Paul or Juicy appear on the album in either production or rap form and Wyte’s in-house Wyte Music producer Big BOI Beats handles the bulk of the production along with some help from Lex Luger and 2Tall along the way. After his last solo album featured only one brief guest appearance on the whole album Wyte has called on some of the underground scenes favorites as well as his Wyte Music brethren with guest spots from the likes of Young Buck, Al Kapone, Project Pat, Lil’ Will, Pastor Troy, Bubba Sparxxx, Lord Infamous, Frayser Boy, and more.

“Still Doubted?” starts off with an Intro featuring Wyte talking to his “friends” (in the form of drugs) as he also talks to himself. Wyte utters the words “I’m tired of this sh*t…everybody thinks I’m dead already anyway” as apparently he kills himself only for one of his boys to find him passed out in someone’s yard taking us into the first song “I Do It.” Over thunderous bass and haunting keys Wyte describes how and why he does what he does on these beats and then we move into the haunting “Stoner Night” backed by smooth saxophones as Wyte kicks his stoners anthem for 2012. One of the more laid back tracks on the album, it almost feels like a hardcore version Kid CuDi’s “Day & Night”. Brain cells will be killed this Summer to this song. Atlanta legend Pastor Troy (who also dropped an album today, “The Last Outlaw”) joins Wyte on the rawkus “Sold My Soul.” PT and Wyte shine over the haunting production and Wyte stakes his claim as the original Dirty South white boy:

“don’t you see what’s going on?/
Dre found a white boy with lyrics and Paul found one in his own home/
now understand that I helped build everything that you f*cking see/
from now on every white rapper that drops has gotta’ go through me!/
Cause it’s the phonies, they fakes, they snitches, they snakes/
I swear to God when I go to hell all of their souls I’m gonna’ take!”

This song definitely has a feel of the gangsta-crunk rap we used to get from both Pastor Troy and the HCP camp back in the early 2000’s. Wyte vents on “U Don’t Know Me” getting personal about everything from his father’s passing to drugs and drinking to baby mama drama to haters. Wyte takes it back to the drugs with “All Kinds of Drugs” was former G-Unit capo Young Buck and Lil’ Will join in him in a dedication to “All Kinds of Drugs.” Atlanta’s Lex Luger co-produces this one with Big BOI Beats. Young Buck mockingly says in the beginning of the track “don’t do drugs kids… give ‘em to me!” Young Buck definitely shows that, though he’s been out of the spotlight for awhile (for various reasons), his pen game remains extremely strong. One of the most underrated southern rappers of the last decade, Bubba Sparxx, joins the fun on “Show Some Skin” as Wyte and Bubba slick talk to the females.

Ohio crooner Big Lazy provides the soulful hook over the soulful beat boasted with acoustic strings and heavy snare on the personal “I’m Going Home.” Wyte spits his lines about life on the road and all the struggles that come along with it and following his dreams:

“I sit and write in my room and sometimes it’s depressing/
my favorite times to write is on the road when there’s no stressing/
just questions…/
as I gaze out the window/
I-40, west bound to the next show/
you know, I swear to god I probably shook 3 million hands/
and I touched that many I’m pretty sure there’s 10 million more fans/
that I’ve never met and probably never will/
but I know you cherish my music, and I cherish you, and that’s real/
see I’ve kept it 100 throughout my whole career/
and take into consideration that this still might not be my year/
and I understand, that I’d probably be a little bit farther/
than the place I am today but in return I became a father/
see my first baby mama didn’t want me to rap/
I had a dream to follow so I had to break away from that/
and in the next relationship I played the husband and the daddy role/
my pops died and it sent my brain into a system overload/
the only thing that made the pain go away/
was drinking crown royal straight from the bottle with no chase/
popping xanax after xanax to go to sleep/
little did I know when I passed out that bitch was on the creep/
f*cking with 2 of my homies and I ain’t gonna’ say who they are/
hell, the whole f*ckin hood know who they are/
but I’m some bigger sh*t, better sh*t, badder b*tch, bigger crib/
bout to relocate everything and really show yall how I can live”

Lil’ Wyte introduces his new group Thug Therapy on the hardcore “Call Us” over the thunderous beat as Wyte actually steps to the side and lets the Memphis duo (who Wyte grew up) take center stage. Next up Wyte introduces another newer Wyte Music signee in Memphis’ Miscellaneous as he joins Wyte and Memphis underground legend Al Kapone on their hometown anthem “M.E.M.P.H.I.S.” taking it back to old school Memphis crunk music over the thumping Big BOI Beats production. Wyte and Misc. really shine with their verses going in and out of the machine gun flow but Al Kapone absolutely losses his mind on his show stealing verse. Former HCP standout Frayser Boy joins Lil’ Wyte and Wyte Music’s Partee on the trunk rattling “Gun Down” which sees each man pop more shots than the New York police department on one of the more hardcore songs on the album (both lyrically and sonically). For all of those that looked forward to every Lil’ Wyte & Frayser Boy collabo back in the day this is definitely a treat to see the two back working together.

Wyte enlists Three-6 Mafia founder Lord Infamous and Liquid Assassin of underground horrocore favorite Grave Plott on the juggalo inspired “Welcome To The Gathering.” Infamous steals the show by showing that despite all of his personal and medical problems over the past few years he can still tongue twist with the best but then Liquid Assassin comes in and spits a verse so fast that would make Twista blush. Wyte Music’s $hamrock (formerly of VH1’s “White Rapper Show”) joins Wyte on the catchy “Yeah Ho” and then Partee returns on the harder “Get Em Out of Durr.” Miscellaneous returns for the lead single “Sike” where the two mockingly say they’re going to let the drinking and drugs go, sike. Wyte follows up with the most introspective record on the album “Lesson Learned” (which was actually previously released on “Wyte Christmas 2” but is one of my personal favorite Wyte records) produced by 2Tall where Wyte spits in detail about his history with Memphis group Shelby Forest Click and the beef that brewed between them leading to physical altercations and his mother suffering brain damage as a result of an attack from a crackhead. He also talks about in detail about his fathers passing and wonders if he would still have both parents had he never signed his deal only to realize that him making in music is exactly what they wanted.

Wyte follows up with the thumping “Money Train Gang” where Wyte attempts to literally rap his a** off with the double time flow. Wyte closes out the album with a quick Outro and then two bonus songs which have been previously released for the unreleased “I Aint Dead” mixtape with Lex Luger: “Money” (featuring HCP legend Project Pat, Miss Wyte, & Partee) and “Lost In My Zone.” “Money” is a paper chasing anthem while “Lost In My Zone” is a rowdy “Crash Da Club” type of record. Both are stellar productions by Lex Luger.

Overall “Still Doubted” is one of Lil’ Wyte’s most complete projects and easily his best solo since “Phinally Phamous” with something for everybody and Wyte really going back to more hardcore songs while also adding the drug/party songs and even more personal records. I really only have two gripes with the project: 1) no Paul or Juicy at all, I understand Wyte stepping out on his own and trying to move out of his mentors shadows but I really think even just a couple of beats would have put this one over the top (but Big BOI Beats definitely held his own and really put together a slew of banging beats); 2) no “Posse Song”, I really think a posse cut featuring Wyte Music and HCP artists could have been a classic (“Money Train Gang” would have been the perfect setting for that or even a remix of it). Wyte definitely delivered with his first solo album in 3 years and it seems that going back independent was the answer for him.