So yesterday was a Texas holiday called UGK day. Alright so it’s not an official holiday and the postman still delivered mail and the banks were open, but to those of us that are into that real southern hip hop, or should I say that trill southern hip hop, yesterday was a holiday. It’s been about 5 years since their last album hit the streets and with time in between alot of things have changed, but these two are still on top of the country rap tunes game.

This time we’re lucky enough after all the wait to get a double album with 29 tracks and if you got into the stores fast enough you got to grab a copy that included a bonus DVD with a few of the new videos on it. If you acted real fast its currently on sale most places less than $13 with the DVD. I got mine for $12.99 and I’ve been wearing the discs out in the car for over 24 hours now and I’ll let you know this is as good as its ever been, or pretty close.

I’ll always be a fan of a few classic UGK tracks and I’m just not sure for me anything will ever compare to Diamonds and Wood, One Day, Murder, Pinky Ring or some of those tracks from Ridin Dirty. Maybe its just because I remember the time when I was hearing them while I listen, and not just the song, or maybe its because UGK was still raw and still hungry. Since then a lot has changed, Southern rap has really exploded and the spotlight is on it. Others have come up and come and gone. Bun B has done a verse for nearly anyone that was hot in the last couple years and his mixtape appearances were numerous.

So its with all of that, that I dipped into the first track on the album Swishas and Dosha. Although it’s a 2007 track it gave me a bit of a feeling back to the Ridin Dirty days, but not quite there. It’s a hot track none the less and Im sure you’ll hit repeat on it a few times. To me a stand out track has got to be track 4 ‘Life Is 2009′ with Too Short. It’s probably because I grew up on Too Short’s rhymes and very much remember Life Is Too Short and could hear the beat in the back and mix it up with Bun and Pimp and it’s exactly the type of track I’ve always wanted to hear.

A track that really surprised me was track 13 ‘Trill Niggas Dont Die’ featuring Z-Ro. This track reminds me a little bit of some NWA ‘Real Niggas Dont Die’ but it’s got a hot verse by Z-Ro. I definitely can imagine Im going to put this on heavy rotation with the other few tracks that caught my ear immediately. The best thing about having a double album is that something that catches your ear right away, even when it fades there will be other tracks that you caught later on and start to feel so the album stays fresh much longer.

Track 15 ‘Still Ridin Dirty’ with Scarface is one of the better tracks on the album. This track was circulated around a bit on mixtapes, but this version includes an additional verse by Pimp C and thats more than enough to make it even hotter than when it was hitting mixtapes pretty hard 2 or 3 months ago. One of the better tracks on the album without a doubt.

You know I can go on and on, I think from top to bottom you can listen to this double and not have to skip ahead or skip over tracks. Everything is hot, there are plenty of collabos, interesting ones include a track with Dizzee Rascal and Pimpin Ken called ‘Two Type of Bitches’ track number 18 if you like that real pimp shit. Maybe you like the ‘International Players Anthem’ thats in heavy rotation on radio and video right now with Outkast, but did you know it was originally done with Three 6 Mafia? Well this album includes a chopped and screwed version of the original as well as the original with Three 6 Mafia, I prefer it over the Outkast version but thats just me. What about the Rick Ross collabo for ‘Cocaine’ that appeared on the Cocaine Cowboys mixtape, its as hot as anything else with that Dade County type flow.

Bottom line is to date in 2007 this is the best release if you’re a little older and have been appreciating southern rap music for more than a year or two. If you’re new there are plenty of collaborations to interest you and turn you onto Bun and Pimp and their country rap tunes. Maybe you first heard UGK with Jay Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’ well you’ll like this too. If this album were rated on a 1 to 5 star level it would get 5 stars, if it were rated 1 to 10 scale it would get a 9.5 only because nothing is perfect. Get out and buy a copy and support real rap music and artists that put out quality into their product and get some UGK in your life!