producers: kanye west, lofey, robert "shim" kirkland, bernard "big demi" parker, just blaze, j-5, rockwilder, buckwild, bink, daven "prestige" vanderpool & eddie scoresazy, t-mix, sam sneed & p. skam

guests: memphis bleek, jaÿ-z, amil, eve, scarface

You have to live up to the hype. But you never can. Everyone expects it. And everyone is very fast to put you down when you don't. People enjoy to see others fail. And so few are able to succeed in the face of hype. Have the labels ever thought about that? Expectations are a mother....hush your mouth. But I'm talkin' 'bout....whatever.

This album kicks in the right way. "The Truth" is laced with a dope rolling beat, as hooked up by Kanye West. Beanie rhymes "I come from high school, and go straight to the league" and later in the track "now they see my face on screens and I ain't even chase this dream / I feel sorry for those who did". This topic of him getting into the rap game, almost by accident, returns throughout the album, like on "Raw & Uncut", when he rhymes "who you know who can spit till he pop the real / never thought about rappin till he coped his deal". The album continues with a stupid "Who Want What". And that's a bad meaning bad. This wanna be Swizz beat track, done by Just Blaze sports some of the wackest keyboard horns possible, and Memphis Bleek can't help being Memph. However, Beans kicks "we outshining niggas, two of the finest niggas / got niggas like damn where'd Jay find them niggas". Then again the first part of the chorus is kinda nice. Does contain a certain enjoyable energetic repetitiveness.

Next up, Ja˙-Z shows up on "Raw & Uncut", over a funky Bink production. But that doesn't prevent us to progress to "Mac Man". Another stupid beat by Robert "Shim" Kirkland, even worse than anything ever heard in a video game. It trying to sound like a video game, makes us barely realize, that Beans is using video games characters throughout the story. And the last part of this weak trilogy is the Roc-A-Fella pop club bubblegum track (produced by T-Mix of the Mo-Suave family) "Playa" with Jigga and Amil. The latter is desperately trying to find something to say, but ends up only babbling ignorantly.

But the quality of the album returns on "Everybody Wanna Be A Star". The beat is dope and the reflective lyrics are getting props too "I switched my hustle to get this cream / now everybody and they mom wanna spend $16 / I got niggas wasting they change to get in this game / like shit gone change when they get in this game / you think it's just rhymes and beats / man this shit's stress time and heat, deadlines to meet / everybody wanna come cry to me , come spit they little lines to". And the anti-ignorance continues on "Remember Them Days", where Eve, providing the hook goes "it's all good now, we out the hood now" and Beanie spits "remember kids who run the block / you never thought they would get harmed / only time our block got wet was when the sprinklers were on".

The quite appealing "Stop, Chill" is a rhyme exhibition over a beat by the equally hyped Rockwilder. Then Scarface shows up on "Mac And Brad". They trade rhymes back and forth, no chorus is spoiling the flow, and the beat is some hybrid of the South and East, that also shows how much influence a Mike Dean, John Bido or N.O. Joe had on hip hop. The best moment on this belongs to Scarface, when he goes "you must of thought that we was friendly when we told you we was rappers / we jackers / we want the money / that's what we after / we want the package / under the god damn mattress / and if the brain splatters don't matter / that's what we practice".

From Still Diggin to Kurrup Money, Buckwild did corrupt his once upon a time unmesswithable style. However, on "What A Thug About", he returns with a funky, funky guitar, and we are a little less mad at him. But he can't live up to the dope, dope beat of "What Your Life Like", as done by Robet "Shim" Kirkland. This very cinematic background, provides the sonic companionship for Beans gripping talk about jail. He goes "you got 5 years in, never been flown a kite / you hearing grown men moan at night / they got you stuck in the can / white man got you fuckin' your hand / your wife on land fuckin' your man". He continues to show his insight on the Bink produced "Ride 4 My", where it's all about loyalty, and ends the album with "Die". Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool's musical piano and no chorus disruption has Beans rhyme about ways to die.

And so we can conclude that this album has as many interesting tracks on it, as it has tracks to fast forward. Beans shows some shining moments, where we understand all the hype about his person. While we of course can't agree with his ignorant thug lyricism, we at the same time don't hesitate give props for the other tracks, where actual content and message, has us pleased, that we checked out this album.

Oh yeah, and for the US cats that didn't get "Anything" on their Ja˙-Z album, it's on here.