Shut up, Dude starts with obvious hits “Who’s That? Brown!”, “You Oughta Know”  and “Pizza Hut”, and sets up a lengthy but skillful mixtape of old school nods and pop culture non sequitors. They meander from song to song with no point in sight. I applaud the “rhyme for rhyme sake” ethos, but it loses steam after  about 8 songs and becomes fairly repetitive (or at least bland). Nothing horrible, but the exceptional peaked early. Even if the songs are free, a well edited release still makes for a better listen than a grab bag of everything you’ve ever rhymed slung together. Sit Down, Man shows marked improvement for thematic structure and even some improvement in the production. Less hook laden than the former, but much more satisfying. Which gives me hope that the joke is not on me for actually liking these guys. They are a train wreck in every show – purposefully – bouncing between being enamored with tricking the world into believing that they are real MCs and being bored by rehashing each song on a nightly basis. And for that, shame on me for even trying to support this mess: if they don’t want to take themselves somewhat seriously, why should I? But it IS refreshing to get references to Maya Angelou’s bubble butt (again, try not to giggle) and hearing a reinterpretation of the Days of Our Lives theme.

If you can handle the obsession with pop culture, literati references and an absolute lack of editing, give these guys a shot. I am. And probably will until the next ivy league educated rap group comes around.