There are just some albums that have a feel to 'em, that can only be described with the word art. And that doesn't mean that it's avant garde, or anything else but good hip hop. The description mainly speaks about the vibe and intention that the artists wanted and was able to capture with his album. What manifests in the way he puts words together, the way he chooses messages, the way he picks beats, and the loving timber that can be heard in his voice. And Himself's album "Providence Plays No Favorites" is one of those art albums, that is accentuating emotions, putting them in tales, while still making it thumping enough for the head.

The art is showing through on "Hard To Smile", where Anacron is doing one of his best, while least obvious beats. The beat is enjoying a lot of room, with the drum dopely progressing, and the bass coming on a long time into the cut, what then creates a nice tickle. Lyrically Himself is talking about the struggle and the necessity of approaching it with a persistent stance. The vibe of "On A Good Day" is in the same depth, as the beat is somewhat melancholic, with the lyrics exploring a good day in a mad world, where "in the city even the predators are prey, and even the prey don't play". And Himself is further keeping his words reflective, when on "Last Miles" he's being honest about his pain and shortcoming problems. We have heard the sample of "Lessons Learned" before, but it makes the cut smooth and perfectly fitting the vibe of this album.

"Everybody Dance" is a simple happy tune, that's capable and meant to get everybody dancing, with both the lyrics and the beat, that was produced by DJ PNS of the Molemen. Also slightly bouncy is "What About You", as well as the chorus on "How Do You Like It?", what however is untypical, as it's different to the otherwise usually dark and nightly beats. Still nightly, but mostly jazzy, the "Intermission" is giving us niceness in proportions we can't consciously remember Anacron having done before. "Not Moved By It All" is keeping the music very low, bare as so often on this album, while DJ Whitelightning is matching the more anxious lyrics with a hard drum on "Howard To 95th".

Writing the biography of her, on "Pepper Mills" Him's profiling this luckless person, that falls prey to the ghetto and realness traps. Also introducing a person to us is "Andre", while here, we are listening to the thankful words, as we are sharing the reminiscing all the good that Andre did for Him, in actual, but also morale terms. The third person to be in the center of the focus of one track is "Flash Gordon", who's the player to whom everything appears to come easy, including chicks. That however then turns sour, the cut progressing in cinematic visions of chases and exchanges of shots. And finally, "Frustrated" is portraying Himself, himself, and it's coupled with a dope DJ Alo beat.

Yes, artists hate comparisons, but this album does cause some names to pop up when listening to it: first, Himself does at times share similarities to Common, in the way his voice sounds, as well as how he does his verses. And second, this album often features the styling of a Living Legend release, especially with the beats. Now if you add the two together, the words and flow of one very dope emcees, together with creative beats, that got the courage to be different and effective, then you got a sum that is equivalent with an abundance of reasons why this album is good. And math doesn't lie, this album is good for all reasons and descriptions mentioned above.