by Jason Birchmeier

Put Yo Hood Up, Lil Jon's first album for TVT, is a vital step forward from his previous couple underground albums. The producer/rapper's bass-heavy productions remain the highlight, as always, though he now has a long and varied list of guest rappers to accompany the beats, including such household names as Too Short and Ludacris, who are teamed up on "Bia', Bia'." Put Yo Hood Up also features guest features by Eightball & MJG, Three 6 Mafia, M.O.P., and Jazze Pha, among other, lesser-known guests. The de-emphasis of the East Side Boyz in favor of these guests works in favor of Lil Jon. Not only do the bigger-name guests serve as commercial draw, but the varied roster helps better showcase the productions, which presumably are fit with stylistically suitable rappers. Plus, the end result is an album that resembles a street-level mixtape rather than a traditional artist-oriented album -- a plus in this case, since the East Side Boyz can't carry an album this long by themselves. Besides "Bia', Bia'," which is the standout here, Put Yo Hood Up includes such highlights as "I Like Dem Girlz," "Who U Wit," and the title track. Note that some of these songs (e.g., "Who U Wit") were previously released on Lil Jon's underground albums, namely Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album (1997) and We Still Crunk (2000).