Rondoe

To let him tell it, East Side rapper Rondoe is on his grizzly. That means the young artist is grinding, hustling and otherwise getting his with the ferocity of a teeth-baring, clawed, 600-plus-pound animal. Besides bringing along fellow rapping residents of KCMO’s 50s, such as Ron Ron and Young Devi, Rondoe seems to have brought his own thesaurus to the recording sessions for Coonin: The Street Album. Listeners unfamiliar with the vocabulary of local street life should consider Coonin a stately introduction. He’s not reaching for the heartstrings but simply delivering for the streets. Rondoe chastises potential enemies on “Played Yoself”: Put a gun to your head/You might as well kill yoself/Put a quarter in your ass/You suckas played yoself. He continues a similar theme on “Facebook/MySpace,” taking pointed aim at Internet thugs. Joined by Ron Ron on the R&B-inspired “Can’t Run Forever,” Rondoe demonstrates a softer side. On another R&B respite, “We Get Cheese,” featuring Blu, Rondoe proves that there’s no room for lactose intolerance in the paper chase. Though at times the album lacks beyond-the-block creativity, the 19 tracks of Coonin form an encyclopedic statement on the nature of the local grind. For those outside the 50s who are yet still interested in one of the East Side’s more popular rappers, Coonin is required reading.