Pitchfork

As someone born and raised in the Houston metro area, it pains me to ask this question, but: Is Lil' Flip becoming the next Ja Rule? "Sunshine" marks his second successful foray into the blasted thug-MC/buxom-diva duet, and I'm starting to grow concerned that he'll soon just abandon his unique, whimsically brash style for more of the instant-success of these modern-day "Islands in the Stream"s. Even if you forgive the limp Irv Gotti-inspired tracks, Flip perfects the form so effortlessly it's scary.

Previous versions of this format have sported verbose, slightly rough hustlas yapping at their counterparts, who in turn chirp back simple, coy flirtations. But Lea is by far the most stilted female daisy, delivering laughably servile choruses (filler, really), while Lil' Flip, as if infected by her insidious banality, passes off, "I need a lady on the streets/ But a freak in the sheets," like we haven't heard that line in slightly varying incarnations like 103 times before. He's not exactly on top of his conviction, either, with an unusually distracted drawl that evokes him Lil'-Flipping through XXL and lusting more for Nelly's mouth-bling than whatever mixtape up-and-comer he got paired with here. Sure, Lea's just his baby girl, his sunshine, and they don't have to worry about silly things like loyalty and partnership-- but what happened to the days of Biggie's "Me and My Bitch"? Now that was thug love.