Whatcha Got a Gun For

In the 1980s and 1990s, Dallas wasn't considered a major player in rap. If New York, Oakland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami were rap's major leagues, Detroit, Seattle, Atlanta and Dallas could be considered minor-league players. Dallas gave hip-hop such notables as the D.O.C. and Nemesis, and the Texas city was also home to pop-rapper Vanilla Ice (who inspired so much animosity from hip-hop's hardcore that many Dallas MCs didn't want his name mentioned in connection with their city). The Dallas rap scene also gave us U Know Who, a little known trio whose Whatcha Got a Gun For didn't do much nationally. The members of the group aren't bad rappers at all, but unfortunately, much of their material is pretty routine. "We Want the Funk," "Nothin' but a Party" and "Do You Wanna Jam" are run-of-the-mill hip-hop party tunes -- nothing to get excited about. However, the CD contains a few memorable socio-political raps: "Robbin' Hood," "Black Thang" and the title song lament the gang violence and drug dealing that plagued Dallas' inner city neighborhoods. While the songs aren't in a class with the commentaries of Public Enemy, Ice-T or KRS-1, they indicated that U Know Who had some potential; however, the trio continued to be obscure and failed to break through commercially. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide