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"I’m not tellin’ your children to smoke, ya see," Devin the Dude once said. " ’Cause if they just say no, that means more for me." About 90 percent of the underground legend’s œuvre is made up of lines like this — blunted, scratchy-voiced paeans to weed and women — and that might lead you to overlook his less hedonistic moments. But some of the finest songs on the Dude’s most recent outing come when he takes a step back from the pussy and the purple and lets the haze clear. "Briar Patch" is a slow-motion Southern nightmare with toybox backing and a paranoid Devin casting himself as Br’er Rabbit. The album’s closer, "Unity for U & Me," may be a little hoky, but it’s well intentioned. It’s easy to roll your eyes when Devin tells you to "shake a stranger’s hand," but it’s even easier to lay back and appreciate his laid-back charm. Devin the Dude + Royce Da 5’9 + Audible Mainframe + Slaine + Jake the Snake + DL | Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | Nov 3 | 617.863.EAST. BY CHRIS NELSON
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Issue Date: November 4 - 10, 2005 Back to the Music table of contents |
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