Lil’ Doogie, The Thoughts of My Mind (Independent)

The next great white rapper is a puppet. Well, at least when it comes to the Dirty South, where local native Lil’ Doogie—a real man, brah—has just dropped one of the more satisfying New Orleans rap records of the year. Working with fellow West Banker Ballzack, the former Douglas Fontaine is representin’ out that Marrero with three tracks, including the hit “Lil’ One,” that prove the old dictum: any musical comedy is only really as strong as its tunes.

The joke itself, which has been building a loyal Internet fanbase for Doogie over the past year, stems from the disconnect between the visual (he’s Sesame Street cute) and his disturbingly accurate thug mouth. The songs on The Thoughts of My Mind, which include a “Lil One” remix with that Uptown bounce, play the street cred card hard—Doog, er, shares Ballzack’s gift for Best Bank culture-heavy wordplay, rhyming “Bitch you know I got it” with “Belle Promenade it” and “Barataria” with “I ain’t scared of ya.” But it’s the beats, which could be mistaken for anything on Q 93’s Top 8 at 8, that really drive the jokes home, and while nothing here is quite as hot as the hit, that one song is good enough to suggest that Morgus’ spiritual heir just might be a foulmouthed piece of cloth with a hand up his ass. God knows weirder things have happened lately.