Like its fellow homeboys at No Limit Records, the Cash Money crew out of New Orleans makes no apologies for having material obsessions. It's right there in the label name itself. But unlike Master P's No Limit posse, the Cash Money assembly has contributed a couple of fine hip-hop singles to the airwaves, particularly Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up" and B.G.'s "Bling Bling." And in resident producer Manny Fresh, Cash Money has a genuine studio guru able to manipulate ho-hum beats into super club jams. The southern-fried hip-hop this collective has laid down over the past few years can get monotonous, but every once in a while a diamond sparkles from the rough. There's also no escaping the influence of the label, which is quite evident in St. Louis rapper Nelly -- this year's biggest hip-hop find -- whose debut album, Country Grammar, logged several weeks at the top of the charts and produced the season's most ubiquitous single in "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)." You can check out many of southern hip-hop's most prestigious playas when this Cash Money tour rolls into town with the Hot Boyz, Joe, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Juvenile, Kandi, Lil' Cease, Lil' Kim, Lil' Wayne, Nelly, Trick Daddy, and Trina. It's a pretty big roster, which means you can expect only a song or two from each of the performers (no doubt their biggest hits) and probably quite a few no-shows. And, of course, plenty of bling bling.
