Cool Breeze - East Point's Greatest Hits

From the time he appeared on Goodie Mob's debut album, Soul Food, Atlanta's Cool Breeze has had one goal in mind--representing the Dirty South. His freshman effort, East Point's Greatest Hit, aptly showcases his clever wordplay and distinct flow; on the lead single, "Watch for the Hook," Cool Breeze is joined by fellow Dungeon Family members Outkast and Goodie Mob for a succession of rapid-fire verses and tightly spat rhymes. Organized Noize's multilayered production style, which combines drum programming and live instrumentation, becomes so captivating that one may wish for an instrumental version of the album. However, once the focus shifts back to the vocals, one will discover how appropriate the title East Point's Greatest Hit truly is. --Celine Wong Amazon.com

Good debut from obvious talent (3.5/5)

As a Dungeon Family fan, I had to check out Cool Breeze's 1999 debut "East Point's Greatest Hit." I first heard Cool Breeze on the song "Dirty South" from Goodie Mob's 1995 album "Soul Food" and was excited to see that he had finally released a solo album. Cool Breeze is very proud of his southern heritage and on most of the tracks, he speaks fondly of his home of East Point, Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. He recalls stories, people, and occurrences of his past throughout the album's seventeen tracks. Cool Breeze has a whole lot of character and is often really fun to listen to, he has a distinct flow where he emphasizes the last word of each line and has a cool voice with a southern drawl. The production, handled mostly by OutKast's legendary beat crew Organized Noize, is for the most part excellent, thick with funky, solid beats and good hooks. The few guest appearances, while there are not enough in my opinion, are solid, including good collaborations with the whole Dungeon Family, Sleepy Brown, the Calhouns, and Kurupt. I do have a few problems with this album. The first is that most of the disc is edited and poorly so, using bad scratches to censor some tracks like a radio station would. Sometimes I wish that Cool Breeze would switch up his flow a little bit, on some of the tracks his delivery sounds identical. The couple of tracks that aren't produced by ONP have some weak beats and the sound quality of the recording isn't great. I also think the skits and interludes are bad, they are not funny and don't add to the album at all, actually detracting from the final product. Despite the few shortcomings, "East Point's Greatest Hit" is a strong debut that I recommend to DF and southern rap fans.

"Ghetto Camelot" begins the album well, Cool Breeze spins tales of ghetto lifestyle over a tough, horn-laden beat with a weird female-sung chorus. "Watch for the Hook" is awesome, and an obvious highlight of the album. It is a posse cut featuring the whole Dungeon Family, and it has great upbeat production and good raps from the whole crew. I really like "Good Good," which has a great performance from Cool Breeze and a great hook, I like how he repeats the last word of every rhyme. The beat to this song is very good as well. "Cre-A-Tine" is a boastful, grittier song, and "We Get It Crunk" is a good collabo with Kurupt, their chemistry is impressive and the beat is funky with droopy synths. The poor editing really takes away from the quality of this track, but it's good anyway. "Butta" is an odd, smooth track that only a Dungeon Family member could pull off. Over a laidback beat, Cool Breeze tells a strange story, and it sounds really cool and kind of artistic. I thought "Hit Man" and "Black Gangster" were pretty good songs but not really great. Lyrically "The Field" and "Tenn Points" really stood out. He represents his character and home on the song "EPGH." My favorite song on the disc by far is "Weeastpointin,'" a gorgeous laidback funky song featuring Sleepy Brown. Sleepy makes an amazing presence on the song, singing beautifully over the soulful piano vibes and funky synths in the chorus, the lyrics are cool depictions of East Point and the song definitely stands out on the album. The funky style continues into the next track, the upbeat and experimentally electronic "Doin' It in the South," another strong highlight of the album. The tracklist closes with a bonus track where Cool Breeze shares the mic with his crew The Calhouns.

Overall, "East Point's Greatest Hit" is a flawed but entertaining album showcasing an entertaining MC and good beats. This is very good southern hip hop and I really wish that he would have recorded more music, I hope he'll put out another album in the future. I recommend "East Point's Greatest Hit" especially to fans of Goodie Mob and OutKast's later albums, and southern hip hop fans in general will probably enjoy most of this album, because it is solid musically and lyrically. December 7, 2006

Why didnt anybody give him a chance?

Cool Breeze is the most underrated rapper in the dungeon family click! Its unfortunate that he got overshadowed by Outkast and Goodie Mob. Standout tracks: ghetto camelot, watch for the hook, creatine, good good, the field, tenn points, black gangsta, doin it in the south, E.P.G.H, etc. Filler: butta is too weird for comfort and the calhouns is kind of dull plus the skits are nothing to brag about. Songs like the field , east points greatest hits, tenn points show that Cool Breeze has more depth in his character than Outkast. I dont see how people could sleep on him when his album had everything. It was creative, it was somewhat conscious and it was lyrical. People dont know what their missing because they are too busy following the crowd. August 14, 2006

Dat Dungeon

Dis cd was straight. Some of the beats made it hard to listen to, but Breeze came hard on 93% of the tracks. He sound like DJ Quik minus the smooth beats. Dat Skinny Calhoun cd gives u more of that classic DF FOUNK. September 22, 2005

nice debut

I just recently bought this album(6/04), and it's still tight. Beats and lyrics are not outdated especially since it's 4 yrs later.I've always loved "Watch for the Hook" but never bothered to purchase the album. I'm defintely not disappointed. In fact upset I didn't buy it sooner. Production is good and it's refreshing to hear someone drop lyrics without cursing.

Favorite tracks: Watch for the hook, the Field, Doin it in the South, Hitman.

Too bad he didn't return for a second album. July 15, 2004

Hmmmm

"Butta"

This album was a near classical collection (subliminal message).
This aggin should've got a damn spot at running for mayor. He put it down for the town. He's not Atlien'ish or Goodie Mob'ish. He's Cool Cutta! He got that butta! Black Gangsta! You know all the good stuff you never heard about. Better buy it! I wish Big Bass Brian would've mastered it. Though, Chris Bellman did a good job.

Shadik Scrambles! October 12, 2003

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