Chiddy Bang, The Preview
Virgin Records
Chiddy Bang broke out the blog rap ghetto with “Opposite of Adults,†an ace reimagining of MGMT’s “Kids.†Rapper Chiddy and producer Xaphoon Jones attempt similar magic on The Preview, from flipping Passion Pit’s “Better Things†into “Truth†to bringing Darwin Deez aboard “Bad Day.†Unfortunately, most of these songs suffer from unmemorable choruses and bland electro-hop hooks, while Chiddy seems limited to decent lyrical riffs on “blowing up.†The Preview is just an appetizer until Chiddy Bang drops a full-length in 2011, and it looks like they’ll need that time to develop into songwriters worthy of the hype.
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This is the original version of a review I wrote for Rhapsody.com. After I turned it in, my editor asked me to revise it because the tone was too negative. I guess I couldn’t help but express my disappointment about this one.
