KJ-52 - It's Pronounced 'Five Two'
Label: Uprok Records
Style: Rap/Hip-Hop, Urban
Released: 2003
My Grade: 3.5 stars
AMG: 4
Sounds like: Eminem, Playdough, Cross Movement, Knowdaverbs

KJ-52's It's Pronounced 'Five Two' is a good album with songs covering everything from Mountain Dew to suicide. It's an album that brings a lot of emotion, and gives you a front row seat to the life of KJ-52 (real name Jonah Sorentino). There's only one problem: It's almost an exact duplicate of his last album.

KJ has a lot of talent, there's no doubt of that, and his humor will always make his albums fun and enjoyable, so even if it's a duplicate of his previous, it's not a bad thing. There is filler though. It would be hard not to have some on an album that clocks at over 63 minutes.

Once the uninteresting interlude is over, a three and a half minute song called "KJ Five Two" is given, whose point is to make sure you know that it's "five two" and not "Fifty two". The theme is cheesy, but the song is actually pretty good. Some trademark fun stuff includes lines like: "…I tried to grow a mullet way back in high school / I was like Now everybody gonna think that I'm cool / And the girls are gonna say I'm cuter than Tom Cruise / But instead they laugh at me like the Sponge Bob dude…"

After that, "Whoop Whoop" is just another party song, so skip it. "Dear Slim pt. Two" is a second "Dear Slim" from Collaborations and doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you don't have that album, so unless you're familiar with "Dear Slim" Feel free to press skip. "So In Love With You", a love song to God is (sigh) more filler. Fortunately things pick up quite a bit after that. "Cartoon Network" is a goofy song about sharing the love of God with animated characters. "Rock On" is a solid rap-rock number featuring Rob Beckley of Pillar. "Back In The Day" will be a treat to fresh ears. "47 Pop Stars" is a song in which KJ rolls out 47 different mainstream artists in a fashion like this: "…My uncle was eating corn on a cracker all alone / It was 98 degrees out and he was out counting crows / And it was just then when my papa saw a roach…". It can't help but put a smile on your face. "# 1 Fan" and "I'm Guilty" easily invoke the most emotion on the album. "# 1 Fan" is a true story dealing with suicide, and the ending is absolutely haunting. "I'm Guilty" has KJ admitting that, in effect it was his sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. The end of this one too, can make the easily moved person shudder.

So here's a final summary: If you haven't heard KJ before, this is an excellent album to start with. If you are familiar with his work, you're not missing anything new by skipping it.

Reviewed by: Christian