producer: jay 'icepick' jackson, swizz beatz, dj shok, p.killer trackz, david starr, teflon, dj iroc

guests: jadakiss, swizz beatz, dmx, eve, p.killer trackz, capone, the lox, case, icepick jay, parle

The plan was to diss the hell outta this album. Just for the ultimate stupidity and ignorance of the "High Roller" skit, where some extra hard dudes show their manhood with harassing a handicapped person, declaring at the end "handicapped niggas get it too". Fuck you. Are these the lengths we now have to go, to come up with something new and exciting and extra hard to impress the thug crowd? So not having respect for people in a undesirable situation is getting us respect? For real? Fuck that. But as said, that was the plan. Then sitting down and starting to listen to the album again and again, it's hard to hear it's pop appeal, to hear the Swizz Beats that are just too bubble gum to not like 'em. Then Drag-On has an interesting flow too. So what's to do now? Support such ignorance with a good or decent review, or still dissing the hell outta the record, although it has some qualities? Then again, the job of a reviewer can't be to judge the album by the cover, to judge the album by a skit. And so we will give this a big, a huge, a humongeous, a monstrous diss for the "High Roller" skit, and with that being outta the way, we can start to talk about the album as a whole.

After the burn / fire "Intro", "Opposite Of H20" kicks in. It's easy to front on Swizz, but this beat is dope. It's keyboardy flute, the way it works with Drag's flow, it stops, keeps on going, hesitates again, and then continues. Drag drops lines like "we buy cars, 4, dot after it, get gas in it / go fasten it, then crash in it / me and Jadakiss, truck kidding with the chip / burning up and make em 'sorry officers I only got my permit'", but the way he spits these is making this track so much more appealing than it's content. This is a banging chemistry, a dope track, and if the whole album would be like this, it would be pumped in this stereo much more often than it is. But unfortunately not all is as bread and butter. "Spit These Bars" feat. Swizz Beatz and produced by DJ Shok fails to repeat the tightness of the track before this. And while the hook is catchy, it fails to be as energetic as the ones on other Ruff Ryder anthems. P.Killer Trackz also doesn't amaze with his beat to "Groundhog's Day", while Drag's flow again pulls this track outta the wack lagoon.

And then there's the "High Roller" skit, which is followed by "Niggas Die 4 Me" featuring DMX. This is another one of them rowdy club tracks. Swizz' beat is still sounding too keyboardy, but it's simple melody and the bare energy it spits out just gets every crowd going. DMX does not more than provide the hook. But Eve is trading rhymes with Drag on "Here We Go". The Ruff Ryder party continues with this cut, and there's quite a chemistry between these two. Of course there don't have to be too many words wasted on the content. It's what the double R folks like to rhyme about. On this track, as well as on most other tracks. Murderous tales are spit in dope story telling fashion on "Snipe Out", over a tame beat, while on "Click, Click, Clack" P.Killer Trackz tunes up the energy a little bit, while Drag spits "I'm real flashy / cop a Benz and crash it the same day and be back on the subway" and a bunch of other quite nice punchlines. And then DMX returns for "Get It Right". It's quite amazing that DMX still knows of ways to flip the same old content he spits on every other track he ever has released. He doesn't say nothing new on here, and when Drag does not sound nicer than DMX, then only because his flow is all dumbed down.

So it's about time to switch the vibe and do something for the ladies. Sort of. "Ladies 2000" kicks "I love these hoes" in the chorus, and not many females should be turned on by that. The playful piano is pop enough though, but who is the Teflon, who produced this? Is he the Teflon featured on the Erick Onasis album or the "My Will" Teflon or a third one? Whatever, Drag spits "I spent a lot of money on this mattress / so I can't stand a trick that gives me wack sex / I just tell 'em they better go home and pack theirs / cause if you're fronting, well, you are one hell of an actress". As much as Jadakiss is underrated, Styles, also of the Lox, can't rhyme. Case in point his contribution to "Drag Shit". Just several bars of nonsense. Then again, Drag doesn't say anything worth quoting either. But Styles gets a second chance to amaze us on "Ready For War" that features the whole Lox. He does kick "I could keep my eyes closed, still reading the signs / young niggas think they hungry then you feed 'em a nine / might kidnap they ass start feeding 'em swine / so I don't feel bad when I gut 'em like a pig", but the rest of his verse is to fast forward. And he's in good company, cause Sheek is not saying much either. So Jadakiss and Drag have to save the track. The first kicks "if you like me you never'll fail / live by the three rules you make it, or be dead or in jail / and I ain't really got much but I'm up on cats / and Kiss don't just spit I throw up on tracks" and the latter rhymes "I keep my guns like laundry / I dump a load, make niggas fold, watch em die, and let em drip dry".

A bonifide chart stormer is "The Way Life Is" with Case on the hook. Swizz combines a basketball organ with some church bells, and Drag gets as conscious as he can get. Dropping rhymes like "wanna talk about our chrome whips / there's niggas out there don't own shit / while we sit at home and bone a bitch while niggas is homeless" and you wonder if he ever listened to himself. Cause it's all back to his usual ranting on "Pop It". Next he does ask "What's It All About" (featuring Parlé), which again has Drag in his more thoughtful, but with only two tracks really being on that tip, this guy seems to know what's up, he knows water, but rather puts gasoline in the ignorant fire, to use a simile Drag would enjoy. Then there's the bonus track "Life Goes On", a honest track, where Drag talks about his father, the relation that never was one. Swizz and DJ Shok put melodic pop guitars on the beat, which makes you wonder why this is a bonus track and not a leading single.

Concluding, Drag-On can rhyme. He has a tight flow and judging from a few tracks, he also has an expressive talent. Unfortunately he wastes this on some shoot 'em up, drop it, I got, thuggism lyrics. In combination with Swizz' ear for today's likes, he still will be successful with this record. So should he care about our complaints? No, but we don't have to listen to this either, if we don't want to.