producers: undercastle, kraneum, noah mass.

All the hard knock, ruffneck cats that grew up with hip hop will have a hard time to get with this album. And you peeping the cover will have you become very prejudiced about the album. But no, this is not R'n'B. This is rap. Then again, when you start listening, you are not too sure about that anymore. Because the "Introduction" is four minutes, note four long minutes, of some Spanish guitar plucking, and you are getting ready to flee the scene once Julio or Enrique Eglesias storms the stage. But neither does. However, you immediately feel misplaced, as it looks like you need to be a chick or a torero to understand this. The same vibe is then furthered on "Take Control", as again a guitar is providing the dominant sound. But what's making the track even harder to get with is the sung chorus, that's simply cheesy. The lyrics are talking about doing the nasty between the sheets, but one cat spits them in a Sisqo flow. And while that cat once ridiculously won the Hip Hop Grammy, that fact doesn't make this sound any better.

But by the time "Julie" comes on, you are already soothed into this style, and hence the hook is not as shocking anymore. But what we also realize is, that the hook is straight up pop music. And pop has a universal appeal, hence the melody is sneakingly catching us. What then has us almost embracing the plush styling of "You Know Me", that with stitching piano, and lyrics that are about easy to relate to relationship hassles and problems, makes us be okay with it.

However, there are some tracks on here, were the grilling cats can get with too. One is "Millenium", another is "How We Do", where there's some repping on the mic going on, and the words are spit in a rapid fire flow. And when we put on our North West mindstate, cuts like "Life" are coming across cool, with the lyrics being worthwhile, and the beat featuring enough thump and melody to get the nodding going. One of the best tracks "The Arrival" is even quite hard, with the strings hooked up by Kraneum being dope. He's also spitting some of the braggadocios rhymes, along with the other featured guest Ashabee. The beat on "Neema Verse" is cool too, with the flow being a little too sing-songy, and having a strange accent. Then "What Do You See" is also hard, and the production kept dramatic, with the Arrival again using this beat to spit some braggadocios verses that are also encouraging at times.

As mentioned several times in this review, this has a lot of pop appeal. That'd be reason enough for many to diss this thoroughly. It's enough for us to give it some slack, as it makes it rather cheesy at times.