In what must be the best of all possible underworlds, Brotha Lynch Hung is not only on top of his game on this 2010 effort, but he’s also found a perfect match when it comes to labels. Dinner and a Movie is the horrorcore rapper’s first disc for Tech N9ne’s Strange Music, the label that helped Krizz Kaliko become an underground rap hero by granting the gifted wildman plenty of freedom. Brotha Lynch is treated no differently, and kicks off the partnership with a risky, ambitious concept album concerning a rapper-eliminating serial killer who’s much more Jason or Freddie than he is Hannibal Lecter. This is a brutish album with plenty of Rob Zombie-like thrills as voices, sound effects, story-advancing interludes, and sickening skits all keep the listener spooked and unsettled. The best tracks, such as the zombie-stomping club cut “I Plotted (My Next Murder),” can be lifted out of the story and survive on their own, but the album is most remarkable taken as a whole, as the story goes from gross to scary to sympathetic and personal, and then back again, all without losing a step or trying your patience. At 22 tracks, that’s quite a feat, but the ICP-meets-West Coast beats supplied by Brotha Lynch and others keep the ears ringing, and the hooks are plentiful enough that even the pure of heart will find these murder ballads stuck in their head for days. Make no mistake, Lynch’s unquotable lyrics are extreme, and while it’s easy to ignore the crudeness of “Colostomy Bag” and others, tracks like "Sit in That Corner Bitch!" and "I Tried to Commit Suicide" bring true hate and despair. To say Dinner and a Movie isn’t for everyone is an understatement, but it’s the diabolical and devastating rapper at his very best.
© David Jeffries /TiVo