Due to a three part series in The Source, the infamous Polo gear stealing Lo Lifes are a world renown name now. With two of their members having made noise throughout the hip hop galaxy, they already made a name for themselves, and as Thirstin Howl III stirred up an excitement, only, as some claim, paralleled by the hype surrounding "The Slim Shady EP", Rack-Lo has to be the Lo Life's Royce Da 5'9". Then again this simile can't be upheld, after just a short time into "Hip Hop's Inauguration". This is centered around the concept of Rack being elected the new President, and flowing over a Wu-Tangly beat, this track operates as his acceptance speech. Second in line is "Vote (Skit)", a 15 second Public Service Announcement, that takes us to the next proper track "Hangman" that features Noise. Put the 1st Ladee is opening this intense track with a cocky confidence, that makes this keyboardy song fitting for us to enjoy, and enhances the qualities of the drum and the drilling rhymes by Rack.

It's a strange phenomenon that the more you listen to Thirstin, the more he sounds nice. His flow of different vocal tones, and restrained talking, progresses what a Quasimoto should have continued. Thirstin's first manifestation on "Skill Or Be Skilled" is unfolding, like we are reading an episode that was told to the shiny magazine. And quite effortless, Rack takes up where Howl left off, while the beat changes to something mid 90s bluesy. Just like they were stripping stores off their Lo gear, Rack is stripping voices off other people's beats, and uses them on tracks like "Voice Of The People", a bragging and boastfest. Now this record is something strictly lo budget, so it should be no surprise that there's an uncredited dude rhyming on this track. Next up, "1st Ladee Blues" showcases the singing ability of Rack's sidekick bird. Without a gap in the process, one of the most finished sounding tracks is coming next: "Lyrix". Explaining the contents of the patches that make up himself, this track is straight spitboxing, with again Ladee submitting some lines, and cinematic effects taking this further than we suspected at first glance.

El Presidente continues to utilize known beats, but sufficiently lesser known beats, as it's hard to point one's finger on what he's using on "Bullet Gold Card", that features Richie Balance. But Rack is taking in the beats and makes them very much his own, especially nicely shown on "Remember The Timez". On "Save Yo Own Ass", he's trying to do some insanity rhymes, that other people do better. The lackadaisical track is suiting him alright, but is still having the bytaste of being a mismatch to his rapid fire flow. Passing by "I'm A Thief (Interlude)", with its movie dialog bit keeping things between the guidelines, "Million Man Rush Pt. 2" is talking about the Lo Lifes version of shopping for merchandize. With a gloomy beat, this gets a thoughtful side to it, that lets us wonder what kind of second thinking went into blatantly talking about all the mias that Rack did.

Again it's needed to note, how he's taking in this Killarmy track he uses for "President's Day". And what was good once, can't be bad for being used twice. This time the world angst in Rack's voice parallels the angst put into his content, even though this is more a fairy tale, than a news report. Going through "The World Is Ourz", Howl returns on "Life's A Gamble". With another dope beat, this lecture on how to get monetary means, rises to be another highlight on this record. Continuing on mixing a 100 million ideas per track, flowing for flow's sake, "Golden Child", blows a different horn than the remix to "Remember The Timez 2000", that is an especially well worded memory lane trip, as it basically mentions things, places, events, but so many at a single time, you jump from one to the other, before even having the time to do a 'damn, yeah I do'.

Exchanging the education of a building to the education of life and the streets, "School Of Hard Knocks" talks about the reality of someone not being pushed by possible alternatives or scholarships. "Skillergan's Island" features Richie Balance and El-Tyshiek, and hiphopsite.com gets a special shout out in the form of the "Hip Hop Site.Com Promo", which is a thank you for all their spreading the word, and an opportunity for these two to showcase their computer and internet lingo. Another movie clip, used on "1st Ladee" leads up to "Spit In Ya Face", that is probably meant scaringly literal. And finally, "Hip Hop Lives In The Ghetto" feat. Fort Knoxx has the duty to end this album with a boom.

The phenomenon of a studio gangster or a studio thug is a complete stranger to this record. The concept of overproduced tracks, label politics and bullshit too. This is hip hop, at its rawest, its most elemental, its self making. It's hip hop, not for everyone, but honest, thrown out there to enjoy or ignore. It's not like Rack cares. And in that complete casualness, and contentness, this sounds strangely appealing, and strangely dope, even though it stands for so much that usually had to be criticized. But how can we do that, if the record is just straight up fun, straight up headnodders, straight up an enjoyment on the lyrical tip? Fuck. In their last heist, the Lo Lifes might just have stolen your consciousness. Who cares?