All you guys that think that Coo Coo Cal will be one of those one hit wonders, then your chance to win this bet can't be denied. However, and now it's the moment when you guys listen up, if you win or not is strongly dependent on your definition of 'hit'. Cause if your terms are that Coo Coo Cal has to repeat the success of "My Projects", then the odds are on your side. But at the same time that wouldn't acknowledge that Cal has already released two albums previously to this one, both on the indy Infinite Records. Hence this here, is just stepping up to a bigger indy (Tommy Boy), and the question is, if on Cal's third album, if there's more cuts on here that are as nice as "My Projects".

Yes, I said it: "My Projects" is nice. Actually it's more than that, it's dope. The energy is hard to deny, the simplicity of it is easy to get committed to. And lyrically we are getting the street rhetoric, but not without a rare humor as well as some observations to it: "now voice your opinion / you heard about the 'War On Drugs' / now won't you tell me who you think winning" and "so if you ain't from here or wit my guys / don't even roll through playa cause all the traffic getting minimized / cries for help cause you got car jacked / niggaz roll for a minute then pass it to the hypes to sell the car back". Quite to expect was that there's going to be a remix of this song on the album too, and we get that at the very end of it, with Trick Daddy, Kurupt and Indo dropping by to add on to this version. And Bigg Hank is changing the sounds a little bit up, what then truly makes it a Remix, instead of a whole new cut, and that's dope.

But that's one track, so what about the rest? Coo Coo Cal shows that he has more stamina in him to not drop exhausted after one cut. Hence tracks like "I Did It Again" appeals with the melody, while "Freak Nasty" is giving you some dirty funk produced by Bink!, while Cal is speaking on the loose women. Another one of the best tracks is "Ghetto Dreaming", as it's definitely more clever, as it's keeping the flossing in the context of dreaming. And on this cut, as well as on "Do You Wanna Ride" and "Wanna Be A G", Bigg Hank is further showing that he has the skills as well as the courage to do things a little different, and use the keyboard to pleasant effects.

However, Cal can do boring things too, where the beats are slacking, and his lyrics are enriched with stereotypes and obvious and expected lines. Like on the really pop side of things, there's "How Does It Feel To Ya" feat. Koffee Brown and Midwikid, that's plainly happy and provided to those that want to bounce. "Sick And Tired" is mainly tired on the beat tip, while lyrically this is actually one of the most honest tracks, as the frustration with the struggle is expressed. "Still In The Game" (that sounds like lifted from a demo, with the strange way the voice was recorded) and "Dedication" are standard repping your hometown cuts, over midwest keyboard beats. And if you want to check how that style is done well, then there's "Still Ride Till We Die", where Cal teams up with Twista who spits: "move your body / lodi-to the-dodi / bring the hottie, to the party / but if you come wit lights on then it might be a robbery".

Plenty people are not listening to mainstream or midwest or street rap, simply due to them being that. That's cool, but it's also showing a kind of ignorance, that these people often attribute to the music, even calling it the very reason why they are not checking it out. Again, that's cool yo. However, it's pretty wack. As it puts an unneeded label and prejudice on artists and releases. And in this very case here, the one hit that Coo Coo Cal needed to get a whole lot of attention, is showing a quality that must be reason enough to give this album a listen. It's to be expected that several folks that do the effort will hate it, but some will be surprised with what they hear too.