If the majority of bass music producers were even half as talented as C.C. Lemonhead and Jay Ski, the genre might have become more than a hokey cul-de-sac off hip-hop road. The Jacksonville, FL, production team of Lemonhead and Ski were responsible not only for the anthems "Whoot (There It Is)" and "Tootsie Roll" (as
95 South and
69 Boyz, respectively), but they also struck platinum with
Quad City DJ's' "C'mon n' Ride It (The Train)." One of the biggest singles of 1996, the song was a relentlessly catchy workout full of witty, shoutable lyrical couplets. Just as the duo's previous triumphs had, "C'mon n' Ride It" extricated the raunch from bass music, but retained and even expanded on the booty-shaking rhythms, almost to cartoonish proportions. While "C'mon n' Ride It" was a success as a single, applying its formula to a bankable album was a trickier prospect. Lemonhead and Ski didn't necessarily succeed with
Get on up and Dance -- it suffers from repetition, and nothing is as undeniably catchy as the single. But as nothing more than a party record,
Get on Up is a harmless, humorous, and entertaining diversion. "Work Baby Work (The Prep)" is almost a dub plate of "C'mon n' Ride It," "Summer Jam" reinterprets the summery piano line of
Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" over a rap that cops the meter of "Tootsie Roll," and "Hey DJ" steals
Ready for the World's "Love You Down" (just as
INOJ later would for her So So Def-affiliated single "Love You Down"). Hovering at an average of 132 beats per minute,
Get on up and Dance also never makes the mistake of including a ballad or an unfunny skit. It's all about dancing, all the time. Two "C'mon n' Ride It" remixes close out the party on a familiar and fun note. ~ Johnny Loftus