producers: alchemist, dj premier, havoc, lord finesse, others.

guests: foxy brown, carl thomas, nas, mobb deep, algado & shoballotti, others.

If you ain't walk the walk, then don't talk the talk. Straight up. Well, translated that means, that if you've never shot a gun, then don't talk about pulling triggers. If you haven't done hustling, don't build a career on claiming you have. See, hip hop got a fakeness radar and studio thugs are not allowed. That's why this record holds more weight, Capone-N-Noreaga have lived the strives, the hardships, the running and the ignorance. That last one had to be mentioned too, as the whole street rap is not only walking the thin line between reporting and glorifying, it also still does not offer too many solutions, but hides behind a wall of screenplay rhymes. Still, these guys here lived shit and so their words have a different meaning than words by cats that haven't even seen a jail cell outside of their fantasies or the TV program.

The record catches you on a surprised foot, as the blissful Intro "Change Is Gonna Come", sung by Carl Thomas, opens the album. This Sam Cooke classic lets you overlook the cheesy keyboard sounds, it just being a beautiful tune. As dope this is, as unexplained it remains, apart from the loose connection to 'it's been a long time coming'. We are glad to note though, that with "Phonetime", the album is not already slacking. The concept of Nore and Cap conversing, the one being outside and the other inside the jail, on a "I'm outside on the streets, just holding it down / I'm in jail pumping iron son, and reading books / I'm in the studio, dropping sixteen's with hooks / I'm in the yard in the cipher, just smoking my sticks / I'm in Queens Coliseum, just copping new kicks / I hit the law library, hope to come home soon" level. That's done cleverly over a bearable L.E.S. beat. On "Queens", things shift into a stereotypical mode, with materialistic rhymes and a piano heavy Alchemist beat. However, the next jewel is just around the corner, with the DJ Premier produced "Invincible" coming on next. It's interesting how one track, as dope as this one, can shed such a good impression on the rest of the album, it giving it a overall good impression. So this is definitely the highlight of the album, and the honesty Nore shows, when he goes "yo, 'Melvin Flynt' drop / my whole collasso stop / I can't believe I fucked up and made a half-ass album / my excuse is, my pops just died / and I ain't wanna make music", gets a lot of props too. This track also shows that the CNN cats can rhyme. They can flow and sound comfortable doing it. So another aspect that leaves a good impression.

"Bang Bang" features a dope Alchemist beat and an animated Foxy Brown. Possibly retorting to another Queens group + female rapper collabo, Foxy is angry and goes "you talk slick / fuck is all that sneak shit? / you and Diddy y'all kill me with that subliminal shit, bitch / why is you fronting and kicking that street shit? / please, impress me, go back to that freak shit / while your broke-ass was guzzling nuts and shit". Passing through the "Gangsta Skit", Nokio 'The N-Tity' and Kenya 'Flame Flames' Miller serve CNN with a proper beat on "Fuck Wit Us", with Cap going "now I spit righteous bars / fuck living like the stars / give me a hood crib and a Chrysler Dodge / cause I'm just like y'all / my kicks scuff like y'all / I still get harassed and searched up like y'all". The first really weak track then comes on with "Straight Like That", featuring Algado & Shoballotti p/k/a Final Chapter. The beginning hook has previously been done, and it didn't work, the beat is uninspired and lyrically, we aren't shown new galaxies. So we check out "All We Got is Us", and E.Z. Elpee manages to pull of a cool beat, while Cap and Nore go through thug talk.

CNN connect with Goldfingaz and Troy Outlaw to do "Brothers", and they team up with Nas on "B EZ". And both tracks suffer from weak beats. It's also surprising what Havoc hooked up for "Gunz In Da Air", that's strangely appealing though. This is Nore's chance to shine for himself, before on the "Wet Willie Skit", Tyson Beckford and QADR get their thug on. To little sense though. "Full Steezy" features a cool SPK production, that Capone uses for some rhymes showing his game. We are then progressing to "Queens Finest", that features Mobb Deep, Algado & Shoballotti. The Havoc beat is on the same low level as the thug babbling, well maybe, somewhat better. Dame Grease then does "You Can't Kill Me" and the keyboard chords only show their full size after having had the chance to continue and after being combines with the drastic rhymes, what results in something quite dramatic and appealing.

There are more Queens cats getting the chance to shine, with Musaliny-N-M.A.Z.E. dropping their rhymes over "Don't Know Nobody". This track was produced by Lord Finesse and Chris Liggio and happens to be the latest low point in the career of the D.I.T.C. crew. A few years back, Finesse would have been ashamed seeing his name associated with such a beat. So disgusted we progress to the special track for the international release, the familiar "Hey Y'all", again featuring Algado & Shoballotti, who seemed to have refused to leave the studio. However, with this DJ Scratch beat, the album ends on a good note.

But of course the album is not all good, but calling it all wack would be plain wrong. Actually it only starts to drag towards the second half. The chemistry between Cap and Nore still makes more out of this, than an ordinary group would have been able to. So the album is not suffering from a sophomore jinx, while it not exactly is about to repeat the high status of "The War Report". But we didn't really expect that it could or would do that anyways, right?