Scinfoe

At the outset of this, the first collaboration between local MCs Negro Scoe and InfO Gates, a young boy tells listeners: Man, y'all don't want it, partna. He's right. Only a sadist would enjoy this thorough bludgeoning of hip-hop music. A convoluted cross between rude-boy swagger and hipster rap, On the Green is schwag, leaving users with a dull headache, dry mouth and mild paranoia that the experience may never end. The hook from "Welcome," the album's first track, glimpses Scoe's annoying habit of spelling out words: It's the S-C-I-N-F-O-E/It's the S-C-I-N-F-O-E/Scinfoe, bitch/Scinfoe, bitch. In 1994, when Method Man employed a similar trick on "Tical," it was instantly classic. More than a decade later, in the hands of Negro Scoe, the method is played out. Not surprisingly, InfO's production borrows from the instrumental funk of Method Man's larger crew, the Wu-Tang Clan. Hard-rocking electric guitars, snare drums and record scratching form a sound that Scinfoe describes on MySpace as "the national anthem on crystal meth." If only their verses were as clever as their self-description. Instead, both MCs expend most of their limited lyrical energy decrying the wackness of other rappers. This begs a question of double negatives: If wack rappers call other artists wack, are those rappers still wack? Sadly, the answer is yes.