hiphoprnbsoul rating:

Listening to Bone Thugs N Harmony's Greatest Hits: Chopped and Screwed is like listening to weird elevator music... it belongs in the background, where its bizarro vibe can be used to soothe the unwitting into a false sense of musicality.

The highlight at first, is being able to understand lyrics that have remained a mystery for years, due to oh-so-fast delivery. Just hearing BTNH on "slow" is enough to make curious fans take a delighted listen.

Unfortunately, once the novelty of hearing the group's trademark rapid-fire lyrics slowed down to the point you can somewhat understand them wears off, you're left with a double album that lulls you into a strange state of subconsciousness... a twilight-lit state of mind where there's evil sounding music playing somewhere just below your frontal lobe. It's soothing, yet disturbing at the same time.

The standout on this set, "Thug Love" featuring Tupac is a testimony to greatness of the fallen rapper. Even slowed down this gunshot-punctuated classic track kills. Kudos also to the Mariah Carey-guested "Breakdown" where Mimi sounds like a dude... a tenor to be exact. Ultimately, the challenge here is to try to listen to this 24-track screwed opus more than once without being lulled to sleep.

Warning: Don't even try driving or operating heavy machinery while listening to this CD. - Ifè Oshun

Download: "Breakdown"  "Thug Love"