Okay, "That's The Way We Roll", looks, is called and in a way sounds like the next old jiggy shit. Yes, it has them elements, appearance, wrapping and seasoning. There's the catchy hook, that makes it easy for every dog to bark along, raise the bottle and do it in a call and response way, with Alley being the drill sergeant. Soldier, give me twenty push ups, now!! And the beat is also blatantly catering to the club. This Detroit native opts for an amalgam of some Down South urgedness with Bay Area sound effects, and a Casio aesthetic of New York. So...

But that can't even be a diss. First of all, what's wrong about being played at a club, or get folks to dance, apart from this being where this rap music was crated and started? Right? Now lyrically Alley shows surprising honesty when he says "I don't told ya'll before, man, I ain't got shit / ain't no bling bling floatin' round in my watches". Still, he's not all about the truthful thug relativism, as he also spits the nasty, with him telling us "I can't mess with no lick if I can't profit / or have sex with some chick if she ain't topless / I'm a freak, baby, gotta see them things hoppin' / show me your face girl, let me know the pain's throbbin'". What then results in this track hitting where it is aiming. And you can't complain about that.

There have been days when Da Beatminerz where regarded as some of the best producers out there. After two classic albums, Black Moon's "Enta Da Stage" and Smiff-N-Wessun's "Dah Shinin'", the world was bowing and paying respect. Then they had a fall out with the Boot Camp click, the excitement started to seize, just like their number of records they had coming out slowed down. However, Da Beatminerz, and with saying that, mostly Mr. Walt and Evil D (the two main cats), are still kept in high regard, those classic being classics after all. Still though: one can't completely shake off the feeling, that after some years have passed, this kids again have something to prove.

And Rawkus gives them the chance to show it to the world with their upcoming "Brace 4 Impak" album. But now, with us having the chance to check out the first two tracks, we have to wonder if they will be able to repeat past acclaims. And "Take That" makes it hard for us to think so. That funk something is monotonous and lacks the sparkle, lacks the low booms of old, it hovering quite mediocre. The Flipmode Squad are squashing themselves onto the few minutes time this track has and Vinia is kept too far in the back.

So things have to get better on "Extreme Situation", also in the way of a needed connection between the beat and the voices, that sound separate on side one. With fellow Boot Campers Cocoa Brovas stepping to the mic, there's promise. And this is reggae-ed out, with nifty sound effects and Tek and Steele, as well as Blackheart actually sound like they were listening to the beat while putting their rhymes and singing down. And so, in what it does, this is good. For the album however, there's still enough, quite enough room left for improvement. But we shall still anticipate it too, as those two classic albums can't have been done by pure luck, right?

The GOS (Gift Of Speech) is in the house, with a three track platter that stars with the self produced "Freedom Of Speech": The beat features a low hum, a piano and little else. In the mean time GOS does his best braggadocios, with punchlines that don't depend on violent rambling, but on cleverly penned 'make you smiles'. This however is just a quick opening, as it soon moves out the way for the Krystof produced "Roll With The Punches". Here it goes a 90s route, without it copying the offerings of that age, still having that flavor though, and that' can't be too bad. GOS keeps it similar on the topic tip, with him expressing what he thinks will satisfy his audience. He though also fits in some meaning, when he separates the emcee from the rapper, adding another notch to the track.

On the flip we get the coolest beat on here. This is blatantly funky, with the siren, the hop and everything else. So The Heat pulled out something hooray with his beat for "Step Up Front", that is plain fun, despite when GOS goes into some wack emcee bashing: "If you can't show an prove, you prove you ain't shit", so GOS tells us. But he just showed us that he can give us a cool 12".