Hip Hop and rock 'n' roll have a long and storied history together, stretching all the way back to the days when Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay first sampled a crunchy, distorted guitar riff to form the musical foundation for Rock Box. The you've-got-your-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter musical pairing exploded internationally when the group collaborated with classic rockers Aerosmith on a funkified update of "Walk This Way," and by the time Anthrax joined forces with Public Enemy to reinvent "Bring The Noise" as a blistering heavy metal anthem, the fusion of rebellious genres had become a full-fledged phenomenon. Unfortunately, the late-'90s glut of mediocre rap-rock bands clogging the airwaves (see: Limp Bizkit, Insane Clown Posse, etc.) seemed to render the sound persona non grata, more likely to be the butt of a joke than the object of any self-respecting Hip Hop head's fandom. 

It's been four years since AttenCHUN! put the boisterous Atlanta emcee formerly known as Wayne Hardnett on the Hip Hop map, and a lot has changed for Bone Crusher in that time. Gone is Midas touch producer Jermaine Dupri, who originally discovered and signed the former Lyrical Giants member to his So So Def imprint. Gone is much of the 6'1" heavyweight's massive girth, which he lost while setting a record for biggest individual weight loss on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club 4. Gone is Arista, the major label muscle behind his critically acclaimed debut. And on Free, Bone Crusher's first album for his own label, Vainglorious Entertainment (a nod to Afrocentric Hip Hop icons X-Clan, perhaps?), gone for the most part is the Hip Hop sound with which he made his name.

"In this time where there are real people dying overseas, there is no way to take a gangster song seriously," Bone Crusher said in a press release explaining his somewhat surprising new musical direction. "We need something to make us smile." To that end, Free is essentially a pure party album extremely light on Hip Hop beats, heavy on rock guitars and full of songs designed to make you get off your ass and jam.

The opening track, "Welcome," sets the album's tone, with bubbly beats and funky vocals that sound like Outkast fronted by George Clinton (or perhaps Cee-Lo's less talented cousin fronting P-Funk). "Lovin'" and "Fat Boy Rock Star" crank the guitars all the way up to 11, with Bone Crusher's distinctive throaty growl intent on his flying his freak flag high. It's a full five tracks into the album, on the '80s synth-pop of "Round and Round," before the man finally drops his first full-fledged rhyme, and the rest of the album suggests he's not likely to revert to his old sound anytime soon - which isn't necessarily a good thing, as the rudimentary songwriting, unimpressive guitar riffs and limited vocal range make this a lukewarm party at best. You've got to give any artist some credit for attempt to stretch his creative boundaries, but the execution is ultimately disappointing.