The Album 1997 Album

The Firm

Take yourself back to 1997. Nas was coming off his great 'It Was Written' album. AZ reuniting with him for a whole album after the heralded 'Life's a Bitch' with his solid couple of solo projects as well. One of, if not the most popular female rappers, Foxy Brown, coming off a platinum album the year prior. Dr. Dre and the Trackmasters handling most of the production! And Cormega, I mean Nature as the 4th rapper, who was filling in for Cormega, who was meant to be on the album, but had some creative differences. After listening to the themes on this album, and then listening to most of Cormega's subject matter in his work, it doesn't seem like a perfect fit. Despite the change in MC, I can imagine anticipating this heavily in '97, drooling as the plastic was ripped off the case and slotting the CD in the player only to be left disappointed 53 minutes later. If consumers knew that Nas would hardly be on this before they bought it, I'm sure that would've lowered expectations. After track 10, he doesn't have another verse until track 16 and is missing from earlier songs as well. AZ goes missing as well. Wizard has a short track on track 11. I have no idea who that is. It's fairly consistently decent but given the lineup, you'd expect some brilliant songs, and there is none of that here. 1 Intro We are introduced to the Mafioso theme of the album through one of many interludes. 2 Firm Fiasco ★★★★ One of the strongest tracks even if AZ sounds a bit like he is trying to fit too many syllables into each bar with somewhat of an unnatural flow. 3 Phone Tap (Intro) N/A 4 Phone Tap ★★★☆ A clever concept with the verses sounding like they are coming through a phone. 5 Executive Decision ★★★★ 6 Firm Family ★★★☆ 7 Firm All Stars ★★☆ Sounds like something from Bad Boy. 8 Fuck Somebody Else Intro N/A 9 Fuck Somebody Else ★★☆ 10 Hardcore ★★★ 11 Untouchable ★★★ 12 Five Minutes To Flush Intro N/A 13 Five Minutes To Flush ★★★☆ 14 Desperados Intro N/A 15 Desperados ★★★★ 16 Firm Biz ★★★★ 17 I'm Leaving ★★★☆ 18 Throw Your Guns ★★★☆ Best Tracks: