It's not surprising that Baton Rouge, Louisiana, rapper Webbie's major-label debut is filled with the requisite talk of guns, drugs, bitches, booze and bling. Dubbed "gangsta shit" by Webbie himself, Savage Life is the uninitiated's walk through the urban underworld of Baton Rouge, a down-South country pillar that once had the second-highest murder rate in the nation. The attraction of the 18-track disc is the stellar in-house production from Trill Productions and Cash Money Records' Mannie Fresh -- perhaps the dirty South's leading man behind the boards. Webbie's distinction from others in the genre is his ability to cough up radio-friendly hits such as "Give Me That," featuring Bun B. of UGK (though the album version is not friendly at all), and "Bad Bitch," a remix of which, featuring rap diva Trina, appears on the Hustle and Flow movie soundtrack. Webbie's tour of the Baton Rouge thugscape is an entertaining prospect, but it's the lead single, "Give Me That," that propels Savage Life from an unfulfilling album full of macho boasting to a workable project. On the sex-drenched tune, a testosterone-filled Webbie tells women of his ilk, Now I can tell from your size/That the pussy is fire/So I'm here/And I'm willing to give you/Whatever it require/For you to lay down on your back/And then open your thighs/Long, short, deep and wide/I'll have you rolling your eyes. Classic chauvinism, but it sounds good.
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