HOT & WET

As indicated in "Everyday" -- in which the haters are told to "read the credits" -- Bad Boy veterans 112 have gone through their share of ups and downs, from lack of respect to in-fighting to label difficulties. Though Hot & Wet is technically billed as a split release between Bad Boy and Def Soul, the album marks the group's departure from its former label. While the setting has changed (despite P. Diddy remaining on board long enough to serve as executive producer), the results are the same: the group's fourth album offers the same mixed bag of strong singles and inconsistent album cuts that fans have grown accustomed to since the 1996 debut. Appearances from T.I., Ludacris, and Chingy make the group's embrace of the South evident, and "Na Na Na Na" is a successful dancehall/R&B mishmash featuring Super Cat. There is a lot of slow-tempo material and whoever was responsible for the sequencing of the tracks likely realized this -- why else would the upbeat remix of "Hot & Wet" be thrown into the middle of the album, rather than the end, the spot where most bonus tracks are placed? ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide