In case you don’t know much about crunk, here’s a simple lesson: This specific brand of hip-hop should be viewed differently than the rest of the genre. Hailing from Atlanta, crunk doesn’t focus much on lyrical content; instead, the musical form is meant more to engage and excite, not provoke thought – resulting in an ever-growing number of repetitive, substance-less crunk albums.

But lucky for Lil Scrappy, the rapper is fine enough to avoid crunk’s stigma. On his sophomore project Bred 2 Die, Born 2 Live, the self-proclaimed “prince of crunk” provides a solid mix of traditional “head-bussing” music and mellow – sometimes even socially conscious – tracks. And unlike much of crunk, Scrappy’s lyricism rarely slacks, even on his most boisterous songs.

One of the reasons the album is so versatile is because it is executive-produced both by Lil Jon and 50 Cent. It seems Scrappy has taken notes from 50’s book of rhymes, for he too is able to create predominantly gangster-esque songs complemented by melodic R&B choruses.

The album starts with a bang with the straight-up “I’m Back,” a track that showcases Scrappy’s wild rhyming style. Scrappy continues his creative boasts on “Touching Everything,” with lines such as “You can catch me in the club getting drunk as usual/ The aura around a n—– just be so crucial.” This song also features a high energy cameo from Yung Joc, who steps up his flow to keep pace with Scrappy.

Other standout collaborations include “Been a Boss,” which features Young Dro and Bohagon. Young Dro dishes up amusing, engaging rhymes such as, “Feds come, I see ’em clear, like the diamonds in my ear/ Hate cuz I pop crystal like you pop a beer.”

And what would a crunk album be without vocals by producer/rapper Lil Jon? Scrappy features his mentor on the chorus of the powerful and aggressive “Gangsta, Gangsta.” Even though some of the lines are ridiculous – “I’m so gangsta, I eat the cereal out the milk” – the overall attitude of the song is one of straight-up, boastful aggression: “I got gangsta in my blood so you can kiss my ass.”

When he’s not busy bragging, Scrappy shows he has a point of view to coincide with the thumping instrumentation on “Police.” Although he does not channel the same desperation as previous anti-police anthems by N.W.A. or KRS-One, Scrappy’s lyrics are still hard-hitting: “You won’t let me off the hook/ Wanna go by the book/ But everyone knows you’re the biggest crook.”

Scrappy continues along this socially-conscious vein with the Tupac-sampled “Livin’ in the Projects.” Although the rhymes are simple, the lyrics are an honest testimony about a childhood plagued by poverty. And every hip-hop album needs tales of an underdog beating the odds of society, which Scrappy embodies on “Like Me”: “Gotta have shelter for my little sister/ Mama wasn’t around cuz she’s a drug dealer.”

But Bred 2 Die, Born 2 Live definitely contains a few songs to fast-forward through, especially the absolute worst song on the album, “Pussy Poppin.'” As obvious from the title, this song is pure misogynistic stupidity. Hip-hop is riddled with songs that treat women in a sexual light, but as long as the songs are handled creatively like the Notorious B.I.G. did with “One Mo’ Chance,” they’re tolerable. Yet there is nothing redeeming about “Pussy Poppin’,” which is basically a crunk version of Khia’s sexually explicit “My Neck, My Back” – both songs are musical pornography with no artistic merit.

Despite faltering on a couple of songs, Lil Scrappy uses memorable lyrics and solid production to add diversity to the crunk genre with this album. With tracks to dance to in the club or ponder alone, Bred 2 Die, Born 2 Live proves Scrappy truly is the prince of crunk – and he doesn’t need milk to eat his cereal, either.

Contact reporter Alex Rush at diversions@dbk.umd.edu.