I've always felt that this was slightly overrated. The first two songs are okay, but get a bit stale. Thanks to Nate Dogg's dark vocals on the hook, 'All My Life' is an improvement. Some of the following tracks sound like beats Jay would choose to rap over, which in my opinion isn't a good thing as more often than not I'm not a fan of his beat selection. It also gets poppier and weaker with 'On My Own' and 'We Get Around'. 'Life' and 'Full Effect' get the ball rolling again, with the latter being an eerie, darkly produced track, and the next song 'Turn Out the Lights (Freewest)', is one of two songs produced by Kanye and isn't bad either.
One of the strongest run of tracks then occurs near the album's conclusion with 'You Don't Know' to 'Hear the Song' being standout cuts. The final two songs, particularly 'You Got Me' aren't worth typing much about.
There are some good songs here, with some good beats and a unique rapper spitting over them. At the same time, I've never thought that this was a very consistent record, with there being too many slow moments to rank it highly.
Best Tracks: All My Life, Full Effect, You Don't Know (In the Ghetto), Alright. Hear the Song
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