Beats vs. Album (4.5 Stars)
Rory | NYC | 03/31/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I've only listened to the CD straight through a few times, so might have to edit this review on further listens, but my initial read is that this album is fire, but not an all out classic, which for many JMT fans might qualify as a disappointment b/c of the love for Stoupe. Don't fall into that trap. Any JMT and especially any Stoupe fan should love this album as long as you don't let your expectations build this into the second coming of VBD or whatever JMT album first got you hooked on them.
Let's start with the good since it's mostly all good. The beats are straight fire, but anything less from Stoupe's first producer album would be a disappointment. It felt like he wanted to show his range a little bit more on this, so you have your classic Stoupe beats along with some new styles that keep it real fresh. The features are real well chosen and manage to keep the album versatile, but not too all over the place. M.O.P., Supastition, Outerspace, Demoz, stand out in my mind, but almost everyone kills it. Lyrics are strong and most importantly only one short appearance by the clown formerly known as Jus Allah and even his verse is far better than anything he put out on HOV, but going to take more than 1 verse to make up for that disaster.
Some things to keep in mind and this is really more expectations management than criticism: 1. only 10 songs and 37 minutes in total 2. B/c it's a producer album with different MCs the flow from song to song not as smooth as a 4.5 star album normally should be 3. Think Stoupe fans made a bigger deal of this than Stoupe himself did, so he didn't personalize it with any of the interludes and intros that stood out so much from the earlier stuff 4. less rap vocal samples, which not really a criticism, but love the way Stoupe usually samples old Mobb Deep, Guru, Jay-z, Big L, Jada, etc.
All in all an all think the 4.5 stars says it all. If you take this album in and of itself and enjoy it for what it is without constant comparisons to all the old JMT you will NOT be disappointed. Stoupe's beats are as top notch as ever and unlike some of the weaker JMT affiliate albums the lyrics keep up well with the production. No skips (except maybe the last song) and 4 or 5 absolute bangers don't see how you could go wrong."
Best production from Stoupe, hands down
ZeeMan | 08/16/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've been a JMT fan for awhile and I love the group mostly because of Stoupes music. Sure I love Vinnie's anger and energy but after awhile the attitude gets redundant and predictable. Hell even in same album u can find similar verses. There last album "A History of Violence" was probably the worst in their catalog thus far (well I'm not a HUGE fan of The Psycho-Social...LP either). That's probably because they brought Jus Allah back. While he was one of the reason, Violent by Design is such a seminal classic because his style was calm to Vinnie's anger but still both were saying stuff to make ones hair stand up in back of the neck. But on "A History of Violence" Jus Allah just sounded he was trying too hard to sound hardcore and badass and beginning each sentence with I'm This and I'm That type nonsense. Anyway after that album I kinda put JMT on the back burner until they release something more substantial so I was unaware that Stoupe went out and made his solo album in the meantime.
I got the album yesterday and I've already listened to it 4x. It's one of the best production on hip-hop you're likely to see this year or from JMT thus far. There's no Vinnie Paz but Jus Allah does get one spot. The album starts off hard and ends with a very great pop track that I'm surprised to say I like it a lot. I usually frown when there's a r&b track on hardcore hip-hop album but Stoupe is so good that track ends the album on a high emotional note. Rest of the 9 tracks are straight fire. Each artist gets their moment to shine on a Stoupe beat (which is very rare outside of JMT guest appearances) and you can feel they want to give their best lyrically.
This is thus far the album of 2009 and already one of my favorite albums of all time. Raekwon's OB4CL2 & Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 just got a stiff competition to win the best of 2009 from me. I highly highly recommend this album to any JMT fan or any fan of EastCoast hip-hop or anyone who wants to hear something refreshing from what they are used to on the radio because I doubt this type of greatness will ever be played on radio."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1