producers: funkmaster flex, rockwilder, dj twinz, erick sermon, jocko, rahim, mannie fresh, dj scratch, scizzahandz, irv gotti, big kap, dj riz, others

20. Deadman Walking feat. Beanie Sigel, Dutch & Spade

In case you wonder why Funk Flex jumped ship from Loud, there are probably two very simple reasons: first, he released the Flipsquad compilation on MCA and second he saw the success that a DJ Clue has on Def Jam. Adding one and one together, the two in this mathematical equation was, that Flex and his Flipsquadian Kap hooked up with Def Jam too, which is a MCA associate through Universal.

Now there shouldn't be anything that prevents this from blowing up: it's very club friendly, can be considered radio friendly (Flex doesn't hesitate to play it), very jiggy and gathers together some of the hottest names in rap music: Ruff Ryders, Biggie and Tupac, Eminem, Method Man, Ja˙-Z and the Cash Money Millionaires, to only name a few. And what sticks out like a sore thumb has to be that Tupac and Biggie track. Well, it's actually just a freestyle, recorded at a show once. Biggies lyrics actually also pop up on his new album on a track there.

Bouncy and choppy horns are the company for Eminem's lyrics on "If I Get Locked Up". This Rockwilder produced background inspires Em to spit in rapid fire "hip Hop is universal now, it's all commercial now / it's like a circle full of circus clowns up in the circuit now / but now the white kids like it, so they tell me I can buy it / but as soon as I get on the mic it's like the night get silent / either that or booed, that's why I keep an attitude". The next track belongs to Snoop, who rhymes over a collage of different samples, previously used by Biggie on hits like "Juicy", "Who Shot Ya" or Junior Mafia's "Get Money". This gives the track a strong freestyle vibe to it, also because of his quotations of lyrics from the same tracks.

A dark, atmospheric beat by DJ Twinz, complete with bells, has Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Kool G Rap team up for a Queensbridge onslaught. Prodigy rhymes with his best thug grill "for thrills, fuck women in they high heels / 'till they max out and pass out from how it feels / my niggas win their appeals / 'cause high-paid lawyers get broke with big bills / stash boxes conceal the big mills / so if we got problems, somebody get killed".

The Def Squad shows up in the studio to do "Okay", with Redman and Erick Sermon sharing the mike over a bouncy, funky Sermon production. And for Raekwon's cut, Funk Flex teams up with EZ Elpee to produce an interesting mixture of choir sample, drum kicks, strings and scratches. "For My Thugs" is a competiton in thugness with the Roc-A-Fella camp spitting violent braggin' rhymes, like Ja˙ "blast through your stomach, stupid, you can look through your lunch" over this Rocwilder track, that sounds very Swizz and very typical Roc-A-Fella jiggy.

The Cash Money Millionaires effort is spoiled by a too chaotic Mannie Fresh production. When the piano gets calm, the bass is left out, you can actually decipher a tight idea, that would have made the beat sound much nicer, if having elaborated on that idea only. The lyrics are typical Cash Money flashing and flossing by B.G., Lil Wayne and Juvenile. After that track, LL come's in, but with referances to 'ride', 'pimp', 'gangsta shit' or 'dom' make him sounds trying to hang with the young kids. He also points out his status, in a show and tell manner, when he rhymes "L.A. worth paper, ask Russell Simmons who put 'em up in that skyscraper / ask my dogs up at Fubu, who made them major / LL nigga, now who's next that need a favor". But he comes correct when he goes "invincible, unstoppable ya'll niggas ain't ill, your illogical".

Add to this a Lil 'Kim "I Know You Got Soul" interpretation, a 'trying to sound like Missy' Angie Martinez, another Capone-N-Noreaga reunion, an almost blasphemic combination of thug rhymes by The Murderers over the classic "Live At The BBQ" (Main Source) beat, an interesting Darell "Digga" Branch produced beat on "Deadman Walking" and a Fat Man Scoop featured club track "Def Jam 2000", that chops up many of past Def Jam hits and you got the essentials of this album. While it's surprising how often Flex and Kap let other producers do their thing, with them having hot shots behind the boards, they will be laughing all the way to the bank.