Let's do some thug bashing. Well, actually, let's not. Maybe we can't give the whole Roc-A-Fella camp daps for their lyrical strength, but their leader, despite his regularly questionable content, enjoys the respect of many fellow true emcees and many listeners. This could allow us to start off this review, with the complaint, that despite "The Dynasty" being forefronted by the Jigga, and him being on most of the tracks, the other R-A-F's are going through this album like a revolving door, having us put up with their babbling. But that's actually too harsh a comment for what we are just about to hear.

It's all about the Hova on the "Intro", with a Just Blaze beat that allows a dramatic entry. This is already full of lines to quote, like"never read the Qu'ran or Islamic scriptures / only psalms I read was on the arms of my niggaz / tattooed so I carry on like I'm non-religious" and finally "this is, food for thought, so do the dishes". Things are going downhill on the next cut, with Jay, Sigel and Bleek flawing over a stupid and desperate club thump on "Change The Game", that wouldn't have impressed west coast riders 5 years ago. But the way this familians flow together, how they hand the mic to each other, that is very cool and shows true chemistry. Despite the next cut ("I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)") being Jigga go fo' delf, the track still lacks, with a beat that opts to try to accomplish the same, as the track before. Lyrically, this is all about "save the narrative, if you saving it for marriage / let's keep it real ma, you saving it for karats", expressed well, but still expressed unnecessarily.

It does get better on "Streets Is Talking". Beanie sums up what this is about, going "the streets is not only watching, but they talking now? / shit, they got me circling the block before I'm parking now?", while Jay spits "and the streets say Jigga can't go back home / you know when I heard that? when I was back home". Slowing things down, and over a universal Kanye West beat, our main host talks about some true past struggles on "This Can't Be Life", with Beanie and Scarface following suit, to show that both these cats know how to coin a rhyme to real effect. Scarface for example goes: "I got a phone call from one of my nigs / said my homeboy Reek, he just lost on of his kids / and when I heard that I just broke into tears / and see in the second hand, you don't really know how this is / but when it hits that close to home, you feel the pain at the crib". It's just hard taking in a track like "Get Your Mind Right Mami" after such honest pain, as it's a materialistic, stacking up gear for chicks tracks.

And it's just about time for the beat side to change to something hard hitting. And DJ Clue is coming through with something dope for "Stick 2 The Script", he himself luckily mostly shutting up. Lyrically thuging, gold diggers get a middle finger, Beans rhyming "you can be my hoe bitch, I can't make you my friend / because friends depend on friends, not Bean Sigel's shit / I don't need you, let welfare feed you". Next, the whole family rips through "You, Me, Him And Her", with Amil showing true lack of skills and a whole lot of ignorance rhyming "and I, lazy bop, Mercedes hot / in my way through the tunnel like Lady Di". The overrated Rockwilder then goes club desperate, using an annoying electric static sound on "Guilty Until Proven Innocent". R.Kelly is crooning the chorus and Jigga talks about what everyone wants to know: what's up with the accusations, the lawsuits. And so he tells us "yeah, I get it down, anxiously, the public can't wait / niggaz had to have it way before it's release date / Jigga get irate, press get it fucked up" and "you heard the rhetoric, 'Jigga hit me over the head / with a champagne bottle at the bar, can he buy me a car?' / naw, how do y'all equate your pain / would it all go away if I bought you a Range?", resulting in a 'not guilty'.

Rick Rock finally gives us something okay on "Parking Lot Pimping", a track about just that. Interestingly enough, the Memph solo cut is quite cool, as the lyrics work in a lost Sopranos episode way, and the B-High production is not slacking either on "Holla". As aight this is, it can't live up to the heat of "1-900-Hustler". The concept is about a call in service, where you can ask some true player and playboy questions, them giving it to you raw and without no sugarcoating. Bink combines these run downs with a in your face beat, that undoubtingly is dope. Newcomer Freeway suffers to hang with the bulldogs though, as his chaps are more puppy like, also due to a uncomplimentary voice. It would have been too dope, if this would have been followed with an equal banger. But Sigel and Bleek opt for a bubble gum pop beat on "The R.O.C.", to little, if any success.

And so it's Jay again that is saving this from going redundant. "Soon You'll Understand" gives us Jigga in his insightful, talking to a possible love, telling her "you deserve better, this is ugly; Gina, please don't love me / there's better guys out there other than me / like a lawyer or a doctor with a Ph.D. / think of how upset your mother and brother would be". Just Blaze's production works too and Jay continues: "wasn't fair to tell you to wait, so I told you to skate / you chose not to, now look at the shit we gotta go through / doing a fight, throw in a fuss, you the mother of my baby / I don't want you to hate me, this is about us / rather me, I ain't ready to be what you want me to be / because I love you, I want you to leave, please". Towards the end of this touching track, he once again addresses his mother, asking for forgiveness for all his wrongdoings. And again, a "Squeeze 1st" is just a spit in your intellects face, a 'how to shoot you 101' track, over a wanna be "The Real Slim Shady" beat, by, who else, Rick Rock, should never follow a real track. But thankfully, Sigel and Jay take it back to the more important things, with a valuable topic on "Where Have You Been", where they address their fathers, over a fitting T.T. beat, that Jigga uses to go: "you said that you was coming through / I would stay in the hallway waiting / always playing the bench, waiting / and that dame came and went / fuck you, very much you showed me the worst kind of pain / but I'm stronger and trust me, I will never hurt again".

Once more, this album gives us the best and worst of two worlds, with Jigga still being incredible, even making the stupidest lyrical content have some appeal, while Beans being the only possible successor to the heir, only lacking in fulfilled flows, while Bleek actually seeming to grow, he's still a few sizes too small and a few topics too limited, while Amil barely even appears on this record, and on that she completely sucks. And you wonder where her album is that's supposed to be out. However, with this "Dynasty" record, catering to the entertainment, the streets and the thinking mans world, taking it in a such, will allow you to quit moaning about Jigga not just doing the one thing you like. Of course, for you it would be better, but just like DMX said: 'stop being greedy'.