Judging by his not-so-serious MC name, one might assume that southern rapper Devin the Dude is a pop-rap artist in the style of one of P. Diddy's protégés or a sometimes-unoriginal rap artist in the style of one of the Cash Money Millionaires. However, this guy definitely has much better lyrics, much better samples and what seems to be a much better sense of humor than all those other guys on "Just Tryin' ta Live." Devin's sense of humor really shines through on "Zeldar," which is a hilarious rap done with a computerized alien voice, and "R & B," which is a smooth R& B jam with an intro done in a white-trash cowboy voice. Oh yeah, the song is also about Devin's love of beer and weed. "It's a Shame," gives off a jazzy funk flow with a slow-jam flavored chorus about how the same things in life that'll make you laugh will be the same things that make you cry, and "Lacville '79" is another funky number with its funky guitar and electric piano. The best track on the album has to be "I-Hi," because of its jazz-funky, trippy saxophone sample. The album kind of slows down in the middle with several of the tracks having boring, 50 Cent-style samples, even though the lyrics are fine, but it picks back up again near the end with the harder rocking beat of "Fa Sho," and the groovy, organ-and-piano-laced closer, "Just Tryin' ta Live." Even though he may not be as big as other southern rap counterparts like Nelly, Ludacris or Lil' Jon, I'd say Devin the Dude ranks up there with the best of them in terms of lyrical ability and songwriting smarts