S.A.P.S.

Flash and swagger go a long way in the modern rap game, where it’s all about the look and the hook. The Cranberry Show brings plenty of both on its debut full-length S.A.P.S.—short for Sex And Pencil Shavings—an album aimed at suburban teenage skaters and drunk club kids high on Casio beats, goofy rhymes, and sing-song choruses about horny girls, fresh sneakers, and how to properly sag skinny jeans.

Fashion rap from the city’s junior class clowns, S.A.P.S. goes right for the geek-rap jugular, opening with a pair of tracks seemingly derived from some lost Sega Genesis RPG: “Electric Girl,” a party-chick anthem wrought with drug references and backseat escapades, and “Moon Song,” a goofball ballad with an off-key chorus copped from Kanye’s reject pile. Then S.A.P.S. goes into full-on 2 Live Crew mode with “I’m Horny,” where MCs Arcane and Focus take turns tossing off dirty schoolyard couplets over a simple TR-808 beat.

The Cranberry Show’s lack of pretension might be its most refreshing attribute, but S.A.P.S. is a little too frivolous for its own good. The back half of the record is a series of near-misses, growing tiresome with the stale braggadocio on “Perks,” and then annoying with the one-finger keyboard hook repeated ad nauseam throughout “Pants Sag.” All that's missing from S.A.P.S. is a "Dougie" dance song.