Z come out of prison a changed man, yo. He don't be talkin' no more bout the bitches and hoze. Now he down wit the real deal: the Blackman's struggle against the ole whyte debbil. Z's first platter since he went into the tank on a booshit sex assault charge in 1999 is packed wit big, fat beats and preacher-wise lyrics to match. He bring up the CIA/crack connection ("White Mofuckin' CIA"), the AIDS conspiracy ("Fuckin' White Mofuckin' Scientists") and the worst exploiters of the Brotherman ("I'm Gonna Go Beat Me Some Jew Ass.") The record's wackest track ("Got Any Black in You? Get Some") is an old-school breakdown, where Z's boyees call out the names of famous white mofuckas while Z yell "I'm gonna stick my big black dick up yo ass." Z throw down, boyee! We glad he back. Anderson delaMare Jones IV

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Country Celebrates Incest
(Lasso)

As a Southerner, you get used to the incest jokes as soon as you leave the region. Never mind that upstate New York has a higher rate of familial familiarity than any Dogpatch you care to name; it just goes with the territory. So, as they explain in the liner notes, the folks at Lasso Records decided to "admit to it and move on. After all, some great incest songs have been written over the years... why not let the world hear them?" The results are on this highly uneven collection. James Robert Cain's "You're Better Than My Sister (But Jesus, How I Miss Her)" may be one of the strongest songs about forbidden love ever recorded, and the orotund redneckery that has made Cain such a popular favorite among the hat-and-kicker set of late is in copious evidence. Kathy Colleen and The Aberdeen Queens knock out a terrific version of the unreleased Kitty Wells classic "Please Don't You Do Me (Like My Daddy Done Did)." Unfortunately, some other songs tend towards the kind of treacly lugubriousness that gives country music a bad name. The Ruff Rider's "Because I'm Your Father, That's Why" is ruined by too many strings, while the Silver Spurs' "Daddy and His Rose (Have a Secret No One Knows)" is marred by sappy lines like "Daddy loves you, yessirree/just don't tell your Ma on me." There are some gems on this album, but as was the case with Lasso's previous collection, Country Celebrates Denying Black Citizens the Right to Vote Through Violence and Intimidation, you'll have to sift through a lot of dross to find them. Just like incest, quality is a relative thing. Jim Hallenback

This piece appears in slightly modified form at The Minor Fall, The Major Lift.