Fun Lovin' Criminals are an entertaining mix of hip-hop and hard rock. The hip-hop follows a lot of the same themes other hip-hop artists talk about, like violence, drugs, gettin' it on, and whatnot. The rock influences tend to be pretty funky and relaxed. Musically this is far more interesting than any other rap or hip-hop album I've reviewed thus far (it doesn't take much).
There are of course some annoying hip-hop cliches that I could do without. Sample lyric: "The Fun Loving Criminals, out to represent." And even though the band appears to be playing real instruments instead of heavily relying on synths, drum machines, and samples, the music is still mostly repeating a short loop endlessly. I've always loved "Scooby Snacks", which is fun, goofy, dark, well composed, and just long enough. That last point is key. Too many hip-hop songs, including a few on Come Find Yourself, go on for much longer than they should for such empty pieces of music.
There's a pretty solid guitar solo on "I Can't Get With That" and hints of another on "King of New York". I'm not so sure about the cover version of "We Have All The Time In The World", which you may know from the George Lazenbee James Bond film. It's a solid soft-rock cover instrumentally, but the lead singer is kinda gritty and lazy. A later track "Methadonia" has similar excellent instrumentation but very shoe-gazy vocals. I'm not sure I like either track, but then I think back to the mess Kid Rock made on Devil Without A Cause called... Oh shit, I forgot to write the name in the review. Whatever, it was a piece of crap ballad that Mr. Rock tried "singing" with a massive amount of autotune. I like the two soft rock songs on Come Find Yourself because at the very least they were completely honest and real.
Anyway, I liked Come Find Yourself a little, and certainly a lot more than any other hip-hop/rap album I've ever heard in my life. That alone is worth 3 stars. If the rest of the genre was more like this- real instruments makes a big difference- I might find more of it tolerable. Maybe. Kid Rock and Rage Against The Machine do employ real bands and the result is still terrible. Fun Lovin' Criminals is OK.
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