producers: dj tomekk, thomas schmidt

guests: krs one, torch, coolio, gza, curse, stieber twins, prodigal sunn, group home, flavor flav, mc rene, mc serch, others.

As Tomekk is also called the German Funkmaster Flex, it's only fair that said Funk Flex opens the album, and gives a shout out to his German spitting image over a low background boom. This is seconded by Pete Rock also dropping by on the "Intro" to give a shout, before the voice of KRS-One then gets us to the first real track on here, with him being featured on "Return Of Hip Hop (Ooh, Ooh)". With a cool beat but a corny hook, hip hop elitists (well, minus Rene) team up for some spitting, and Torch seems to have got himself some skill refreshment, as he comes correct saying "es ist schon seltsam, schaust Du dir die Welt an / denk an Probleme die durch das Geld kamn / so viele Leute haben hip hop ausgebeutet / ich bin halt ein Typ dem die Scheisse viel bedeutet" and "achte auf dein Image / aber vergiss nie dein Karma / manchmal fragt ihr euch ob Gott verrückt ist / aber was wollt ihr tun, wenn Gott zurück ist?". On the other hand, he ends his verse with some stupid babbling, while KRS cleverly puts some German words into his verse, before MC Rene shines as always with his lackadaisical flow and continued dope rhymes.

On "Legends (Rauch Was, Trink Was)", Tony Touch does his rhymes over a dark and minimalist at first beat, that then gets better with the strings and the computer effects, the change of drums, with the marching sound towards the end, resulting in a very ill offering, that only gets somewhat spoiled by the synthetic flute that is coming on later in the cut. Now Tomekk is also a remixer and he gave "Hot Boyz" by Missy Ellitott the treatment. This reviewer does not know the original version, and so can't compare, but this version right here is straight up dope. Much less appealing is "Run It Selectah" with Prezident Brown, that is some Dancehall toasting, and is totally leaving us cold. Also the effort with the Aphrodelics ("The Genesis") is not really happening, as it seems to be too influenced by some beats that are hot right now, without adding anything special or new to this style of being. And that makes it even the more amazing, that the next cut that we are feeling, that will also be the next single, is "Girls" that features Coolio, of all people. But the beat is on some dope electro boogie vibe, with Coolio being buried deep in the track, giving us his thoughts on them girls, to good effect.

Going a similar route, as in also trying to create something electro, "Backseat" featuring Tikki Diamondz, Traft, Plattenpapzt and MC Spontan sounds worse than it actually is, and it will take you a few seconds to appreciate the oddness of it, and also enjoy the straight up spitting on this track. Now, all those that know the original version, will be horrendously disappointed by "Ich Lebe Für Hip Hop Teil 2: Juice Crew Sage 2001". This wouldn't sound so crap, if there wouldn't be a the original, and very dope version of this song (listen to the original version here). This sucks. Lyrically it's still on point though, as GZA, Curse, Prodigal Sunn and Stieber Twins go for it, with Curse spitting his rapid fire flow, saying "Ich rap so optisch, nicht mal Kino kann das / denn viele Fronters sind aussen Hahn und innen Puss' wie Lilo Wanders / ich hab n' Maul, das sich an Mikros anpasst / ... / Curse ist der Typ der nach'm Bad fragt und mit Edding deine Fliessen anmalt / deine Tochter in Gesangkabinen langmacht / In roten Suiten, doch immer angesagt bei Schwiegermamas" and his fellow German cat, and ½ of the Twins, goes "mein Flow beim Pissen erdacht, Wissen ist Macht / was mich an Deutschland ankotzt wenn jeder Spast aus Rap ne Wissenschaft macht / hard wie dein Paps nach nem harten Tag und Herzinfarkt im Straßengraben / lag aber nicht wieder erwacht / wahre Feinde dissen dich wenigstens öffentlich".

Things then go into the also not too impressive "The Heat" with Group Home, before the still very funky and very fresh "1, 2, 3... Rhymes Galore" comes on. Not only does Tomekk team up with Grandmaster Flash on here, but also with Afrob, Flavor Flav and MC Rene. Flav doesn't manage to say much, but it's Rene that spits: "sein erster Reim gab ihm den kick, der Groschen fiel, es machte Klick, ja in diesem Augenblick war klar wo seine Zukunft liegt, er musste auf die Bretter, die die Welt bedeuten, wollte rocken wie die anderen Rapper vor ganz vielen Leuten". The beat on this is so darn funky, this should be a hip hop classic.

Torch is then talking his theory on "Temple Of Hip Hop" before Stone River appears on "Blessed By God". This cat might never be heard of before, but does not leave a bad impression, also being able to flow over a strong orchestrated beat. As he mentions Serch Lite Records at the beginning of the track, what makes it fair to say, that his mentor is dropping by on the next track, as MC Serch appears on "Fuck You", a very smooth track, that features some ill spitting by Serch, who goes through punchlines, like a comb goes through straight hair: effortlessly. Only the chorus and the organ is giving this a little damper, it still being real dope though. The mood then goes low, dark and threatening with Die Firma's "Kreislauf", who talk about conspiracies, rumors, truths, esoterics and hidden knowledge. There is nothing bad to be said about this, what leave us with giving it enough props. Then there's only the "Outro" left, that features Valerie and Sophie, telling us that there will be more coming up in September.

This record does include the good, the very good, the okay and the disappointing, if not to say the horrible. And so it's held back by the returning desire to skip a track. But it's also almost tragic that it does not allow you to give the other tracks the deserving exposure, as those that you'd like to rock often, are stuck between tracks, you'd rather not rock at all. So steer clear of those awful offerings and concentrate on the good stuff. There's plenty of that on here too.