Smut Peddlers: Porn Again

A melanin-impaired hip-hop supergroup of sorts, Smut Peddlers pairs The High & Mighty (Mr. Eon and DJ Mighty Mi) with Cage, an indie rapper with a ragged, mush-mouthed flow that makes Wu-Tang Clan's ODB sound like William F. Buckley. As its title would suggest, Porn Again begins where The High & Mighty's dirty-minded Home Field Advantage left off, peddling proudly offensive one-liners and pop-culture-crazy punchlines brimming with references to sex, drugs, and free-flowing misanthropy. But Smut Peddlers has more to offer than tasteless jokes and a puerile, well-documented obsession with pornography. As on Home Field Advantage, DJ Mighty Mi and Mr. Eon deliver a wealth of clever song concepts and strong production in the DJ Premier/Pete Rock style. On "Josie," Cage and Mr. Eon trade rhymes about messing with the mind of an incorrigible Parker Posey lookalike who "freestyles with her mouth full, like a pornographic Serena Altschul," while "My Rhyme Ain't Done" transforms LL Cool J's B-boy anthem into an mini-epic of pornographic surrealism, with Mr. Eon traveling to outer space for a stoned, intergalactic orgy. Cage is for the most part a nonentity, and his presence doesn't much affect Porn Again either way; as a result, the album sounds like a good High & Mighty record with a space-filling guest who refuses to leave. "I'm a rap legend to little weird white kids," boasts/complains kindred spirit RA The Rugged Man on "Bottom Feeders," a darkly funny statement of purpose that's easily Porn Again's best track. Mr. Eon and Mighty Mi haven't quite reached that level—nor has RA The Rugged Man, for that matter—but with Porn Again, they're on their way.