Everlast has a 'Beautiful' formula

Yhere's a certain formula to any song that Everlast puts out: acoustic guitar plus rap beats plus post-modern non-sequiturs equals gold. However, he's refined his already-strong melodies to make a mature, coherent piece of work that isn't nearly as hit-or-miss as the tracks on Whitey Ford Sings the Blues and Eat at Whitey's. \n The opener, "Blinded by the Sun," sounds very, very similar to the Eat at Whitey's track, "Black Jesus," as it's catchy and well-produced, and the follow-up, "Broken," is great -- it's a heartfelt ballad that doesn't seem forced or self-conscious. It's nothing particularly groundbreaking, but at least he does it well.\nUnfortunately, the title track is more of the same old Everlast -- a hip-hop-tinged storytelling session about unlucky people in unfortunate circumstances. The softer, country-inspired numbers are the ones that wind up being the most memorable, but the majority of White Trash Beautiful represents Everlast's rap roots to some good effect. It's a definite improvement, but if he were to make an entire album of songs like "This Kinda Lonely," it would make for a much better hip-hop/country album than anything Uncle Kracker will ever produce. This is a step in the right direction, but garbage like "Soul Music" isn't helping to foster any artistic development.\nMaybe an album without the word "White" in the title would make the difference.