On that hit, Jackson assures her man, “[It] doesn’t really matter what the eye is seeing, ’cause I’m in love with the inner being.” Shorty 101 stands up to a two-timing male (“Get With Me”), while Dru Hill’s “Here With Me” finds a man willing to give up cars, fine clothes, fame and wealth for a woman.
Dozens of f-words, s-words and vulgar anatomical references riddle this compilation’s 16 tracks. Themes cross the line into audio porn. On “Hey Papi,” Jay-Z glamorizes marijuana use, lesbianism and casual sex with multiple partners. Sisqó lustily ogles women’s barely clad backsides (“Thong Song”). An untitled cut features LL Cool J boasting of his sexual prowess (“knockin’ girls off two at a time”) and bragging, “[I’ll] disrespect you and still make you mine.” Violent threats and posturing appear on “Even If” (Method Man) and “I’m Gonna Crawl” (DMX). But they’re tame compared to the Eminem/Redman duet “Off the Wall,” which combines hateful brutality with substance abuse and graphic sexual imagery.
The “Nasty” Professor is more like it. Sexual perversion. Drug and alcohol use. Thugging. A few neutral songs find their way into the mix, but they’re not as much bright spots as breathers. Call it Eddie Murphy’s Law: Any disc that unites the likes of Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, Foxy Brown, Eminem, Eve, Sisqó and LL Cool J is trouble.
