Crook By Da Book: The Fed Story

The unexpected triumph of Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul and Juicy J at the 2005 Oscars and the ubiquity of celebratory anthems like “Stay Fly” brought Memphis’ vibrant hip-hop scene some much-needed popular recognition. Project Pat\'s menacing flow and tongue-twisting lyricism have made him a standout member of Three 6 Mafia’s Hypnotized Minds clique. *Crook By da Book: The Fed Story* certainly contains enough giddily morbid lyricism, funereal tempos, and Willie Hutch-fueled hooks to satisfy any diehard fan, but Pat’s album is distinguished from the common run of Hypnotized Minds releases by his mind-numbingly formidable cadences. Where other Memphis MCs might be content to simply flow over Juicy J’s sinister production work, Project Pat’s hallucinatory rhymes and relentlessly fluid cadences provide the perfect counterpoint to Juicy J’s icy synths. The combination of these two talents produces some incredible moments; the hypnotic chants of “I Ain’t Going Back to Jail” and the eerie Spaghetti Western whistles of “Crack a Head” take the bleak aesthetics of Memphis hip-hop to previously unimagined heights.

Project Pat's often delayed Crook by da Book: The Fed Story finally arrived at the end of 2006, a year when the man finally joined Three 6 Mafia, the Oscar-winning crew he's always been affiliated with since the beginning, without ever being an official member.