11. If You A Thug feat. LaReece, K-Mont, Asu

When Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's "Creepin' On A Come Up", with the signature tune "Thuggish Ruggish Bone", came out, a lot of people, across all sub-genres, felt that song, and they probably will not admit it now. The EP was fresh, innovative, something different. Heck, it was dope, straight up. However, already with "E. 1999 Eternal", the Bone style didn't sound as exciting anymore (a style, that by the way, borrowed a lot from the Freestyle Fellowship). Sure they enjoyed the success of "Crossroads", but the downfall seemed to be inevitable. And so after a while Bone and affiliate releases came and went, and a lot of people didn't care to notice. But now this review is as crazy as to tell you to notice again, as for some odd reason, this album is staying in the CD player longer than the smartalecks would have ever thought possible, as this record is actually to my liking.

Starting off with "Ya'll Don't Know Me" produced by LT Hutton, Krayzie is starting off singing, and this album does have a certain soft R'n'B feel to it. Krayzie is addressing the audience with the questions: "excuse me, but do you know me? / you've seen me on TV and in the video / got caught up in "Crossroads", forgot that we was criminals / that's right, we them same niggas to come up from nothing" to then go into pointing out the phonies that "don't like Bone, then why the fuck you rapping like me, bastard". This is followed by an extended guestlist track called "Ride The Thug Line" featuring The Gunslangers: Keef G, Bam and Young Dre. It's however "Can't Hustle 4 Ever" featuring LaReece and Young Dre that captures our attention again, but not due to the rain effect. LaReece is asking the hustler how long he intends to do this, before Krayzie explains why he has to do what he does: "I gotta go get it my goddamn self, cause ain't nobody about to give me shit / gotta go out and get the rent pay / so I'ma be out here on this block with these rocks and this glock / 'until I profit could you stop it?' / Mama used to say, but until I see it better, it got to be this way".

Tiffany is adding the hook to "Talk To Myself", that has us hear more of Krayzie's 'thug with a conscious' rhymes. The guests are kept coming on "A Thugga' Level", where Krayzie resurrects Def Jef and Boss. The result is one of the strongest tracks on here, with the beat being universal, even touching upon past Boss styles. Reaching out for another known producer "Da Thugs" is credited to Irv Gotti (and also Lofey). The track is somewhat lighthearted, while "If They Only Knew" again goes the R'n'B borrowing route, with LaReece helping out, and Krayzie doing some romancing rapping. Def Jef is then providing a cool beat for "I Don't Give A Fuck", a solo track, that is utilized to give some bouts to the critics, haters and suck ups. "Time After Time" is another song that borrows from a previous track, this sounding like it's going the R.Kelly route, with a choir being added to give it an extra depth. However, the song sounds nice, and with inspired lyrics, this seems honest.

Teaming up with LaReece and Asu, we are given "Ride If You Like", and both are also featured on "If You A Thug", where K-Mont is also adding his voice over the Arabic flutes. Sade's "Feel No Pain" then gets blatantly used on "Heard Time Hustlin'". This is her song about hardships, and it fits a hip hop subject matter surrounding well. The next cut "Gemini" is a run of the mill cut, what has us progress to "I Don't Know What", that's produced by The Neptunes. Kelis is providing the hook, and what probably should have ended up in the clubs, is bouncy, and moveable, okay, but not the dancefloor stomper that was the initial intention. So we continue on to another almost ridiculous rework, as "Rollin' Up Some Mo'" is an adaptation of "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)". Sure Krayzie makes it work, and LaReece, Asu, K-Mont, Boss and Keef G seem to take two and pass the microphone, but redoing a rather recent hit like that, is a little too fishy.

Now "Eveybody Wanna Be Thugs" is all original again, produced by L.D., and has us find Krayzie by himself, doing this dope track. He spits the rhyme (with a one year old origin date): "I'm looking at all my niggas on the corner still trying to come up on something / like some paper, cash money / two-double-o-zero, niggas is desperate to make it / battling Satan, but the plate that he made us looks so tasty / temptation overtook my devils persuasion", before we are bypassing the "Bloody Murder" skit. Massive Attack's "Teardrop" is then ripped off (this sounds more like a blend than sampled) on "Kneight Riduz Wuz Here", a track credited to the Kneight Riduz. And so the track is again good, not only due to the beat, and the quality of its source, but also with the obscure voices. Another skit ("Ready For Combat") is leading up to the last track on here, it being "Thug On Da Line", featuring K-Mont, LaReece, Asu and Wish Bone. The Super Sako beat could again easily be a R'n'B backdrop, and strangely enough, the voices are buried, making this an awkward mix.

Okay, I didn't claim that this is the most brilliant album ever. I didn't claim that there's something so special about it, that it will appeal to each and everyone that usually will just not enjoy it. Naw man, as said, no one is as surprised as me, that I enjoy this. Maybe I like this, as it's catering to a broad, a pop appeal. However, the overall impression is just a good one.