G. Love and Special Sauce

G. Love's still knocking off blues folk, goofball white guy raps and good vibes while continuing to stretch out on mellow tunes like "Lovin' Me" and "Stone Me." Meanwhile, back in eighth grade, "Booty Call" sounds like something a chubby class clown would get trash-canned for performing during nutrition break -- only it's good.

G. Love's blend of junkyard blues and hip-hop swagger made a lot more sense in
alterna-riffic 1994, and now the challenge is to make the songs stick as his approach begins
to sound more and more like shtick. The Hustle is a near miss because it's as annoyingly
unfocused as it is tunefully sincere.