Ying Yang Twins deliver more strip club standards

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Although the Ying Yang Twins were briefly sidetracked on their politically conscious last album, the strip club is calling once again.

Released November 28 via TVT, the Atlanta rap duo's fifth album "Chemically Imbalanced" resumes regular programming with club anthems like the Wyclef Jean-produced lead single "Dangerous" and follow-up "Jigglin'."

Their previous release, 2005's "U.S.A.: (United State of Atlanta)," was led by the raunchy sleeper hit "Wait (The Whisper Song)," which peaked at No. 3 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. But the album also broached topics like war and the U.S. prison system and brought universal appeal to the crunk duo. It bowed at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 955,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"Chemically Imbalanced," on the other hand, revolves around the seedy, sometimes complex, strip-club lifestyle. "We ain't get so political on this (album) because everybody started doing songs for females, and we wanted to let everybody know who started it," says Ying Yang's Deongelo Holmes, a.k.a. D-Roc. "Even though it's strip-club songs, they don't all sound the same. A lot of dudes are infatuated with sleeping with strippers, then you got a lot of men who are in a relationship with a stripper and want her to stop working but she won't 'cause she makes a lot of money."

For the album (it was originally called "2 Live Crew," but legal reasons forced a title change), Holmes and Eric Jackson, a.k.a. Kaine, worked with producer Wyclef Jean and his cousin Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis for the first time, in addition to longtime collaborator Michael "Mr. Collipark" Crooms.

The first track recorded with Jean was "Dangerous," which opens with a guitar riff. The song has performed modestly, reaching No. 84 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. But TVT executive VP Paul Burgess thinks "Jigglin"' will yield better results. "It's a bit of a different song for the real core Southern hip-hop fans," Burgess says. "The album is going to get the clubs banging and that's what (the Twins are) best at."

Ringtones of both singles are available on major carriers. And as with Ying Yang Twins' previous efforts, TVT shipped album samplers to strip clubs nationwide through Concrete Marketing, whose clients include Exotic Dancers Club Bulletin, a trade magazine that services strip-club owners and DJs.

Of course, there is a ying to every yang, so Kaine is ready to show his lyrical side with his solo debut "Champ-E-Yang," due next year via his own imprint, Grown Folks Entertainment. "Kaine is giving you the Yang side -- darker, gloomier songs," D-Roc says. "He (addresses) being stereotyped and people looking at us as one way."

D-Roc, meanwhile, continues to run his 2-year-old label Punnn!!! Entertainment, which houses Da Muzicianz: D-Roc and his younger brothers Mr. Ball and Da Birthday Boy. The trio released its self-titled debut last year to little fanfare -- 30,000 units sold -- and Holmes says he plans to remove himself as a member to allow his younger brothers to develop on their own.

For the Ying Yang Twins, a 20-city tour is penciled in for February. And on the film side, the act is awaiting the final script for the comedy "Viagra Falls," originally written by D-Roc. The movie's bawdy subject matter is one with which the Twins are familiar. "We went from being one-hit wonders to (just) a novelty group to 'we degrade women,' all that," D-Roc says, taking the criticism in stride. "Bad promotion, good promotion, it don't matter -- as long as people are talking."

Reuters/Billboard

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