Rating:
  Release Date: September 12, 2006
  Website: Pigeon John Website
  Label: Quannum Projects

Pigeon John “and the Summertime Pool Party” Album Review
Have you ever been driving and looked over to see the cat next to you cranking out? You know . all smiling with the windows rolled down, system bump, freestyling or singing at the top of his lungs, doing the Carlton and shit? Well, that was me this week. I picked up a copy of Pigeon John’s new release, And the Summertime Pool Party, and it is definitely one of those catchy and happy feel-good hip-hop albums.

This kid talks about a lot of positive glass-is-half-full type of stuff, consistently encouraging people to be happy despite the stressors that surround them. The following choruses had me singing along no matter who was watching:

No matter if there’s bills that you still gotta pay
No matter if your dreams are fading away
No matter if you can’t even see the sun
Cause the clouds went away
It’s a brand new day

And …

Welcome to the show today
You’re gonna have fun in a major way
I know you got bills to pay
But it’s my job to help you let it wash away

In addition, Pigeon John is a funny cat, and I kept catching myself in the rear view mirror laughing or looking all corny with a cheesy smile on my face. Throughout the album, he made a handful of hilarious references, including the following about regular guys trying to pick up girls:

Just trying to meet ya
Hey you across from the bar
I ain’t no pimp or athlete or hip-hop star
I’m just a regular guy
I don’t make that much money girl I ain’t got a dime
But if you give me a chance
I’ll take you to the derby and I’ll teach you how to dance with me
And you gonna peep how I sway
And when we at the movies girl you ain’t gotta pay
That’s my guarantee
You’ll get your money back for free
Girl if you ain’t feeling me

Say Cheese!
I don’t smile too much … in pictures and stuff. I have this baby tooth where my permanent tooth never came in and I’m self-conscious about it. The tooth looks like a scraggly dead stump and is heavily noticeable when I smile. However, after a couple days of smiling and laughing and doing the robot in my car, I didn’t care anymore. I was cheesing all over the place no matter who saw my weird tooth. This made me think. I mean, I wasn’t doing this last week when I was bumping Jedi Mind Tricks, so what is it about Pigeon John that makes me smile? As a matter of fact, what is it that makes people smile at all?

Although commonly acknowledged as a simple facial expression caused by the flexing of muscles at the corner of the mouth, usually in response to happiness or amusement, a smile is actually a complicated selective scientific event. Scientists believe that when you smile, the pea-sized pituitary gland at the base of your brain produces biochemical compounds called endorphins, which work as “natural pain killers” by reducing both physical and emotional pain, and by giving you an increased sense of well-being. In short, this means that smiling just might make us healthier by aiding in our body’s creation of a natural chemical that makes us happy and stress free.

We all gotta smile more yo, whether or not you got good teeth. So pick up Pigeon John’s And the Summertime Pool Party. Become that cat singing like a clown on the way home from work. And let your stress fade away. Be happy y’all. Peace.