There are some misses here including the opening two songs, and the production is very mid '00s with some of it sounding a bit cheap as was the case around this era of mainstream R&B. The highs are nice though and if you like slow jamz you'll get something out of this project. When the album gets more upbeat the success rate drops off apart from 'Bump' that isn't a bad track. The final song features a quick eight bar phone-it-in verse from Jadakiss and the other feature listed is Jazze Pha who only offers a short intro and an adlib from what I hear. Fabolous offers a little more with his raps on the Special Edition of the album. Best Tracks: Breathe, No More, Bump, Hurt You Bad, Missing You

Young Bleed's follow up to his consistent debut, 'All I Have In the World, Are... My Balls and My Word', begins really well with the good opening two tracks being quite different from one another offering variety. In all of my playthroughs of this, I come away with the same feeling though; which is that the album falls away. 'No Disrespect' is the first to drag on. Then 'Give and Take' doesn't do enough and 'Bounce, Mob, Skate' gets boring too. The song shows no differentiation between the verses and the chorus, and the chorus lacks energy. As is often the case with hip hop albums, the final track is more of an introspective/conscious song with some nicely sung vocals making it the best of the second half. Best Tracks: Bless Em' All, I Couldn't C' It, A Husla', My Own

This is another worthy album produced by Televangel. MILC and the features ride the beats well enough., but as I've said before, it would, and would've, been amazing if he/Blue Sky Black Death worked with rappers at the top of the tree and with more of an x-factor. It's a highly consistent album. If I was to rate each song, they'd all be hovering around that 70-80/100 mark which made it a challenge to choose the best tracks. I just think the ones below have a bit more energy to them. There isn't a WOW song to make me come back to this though. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: Searching for Bobby Fischer, Fish Soup

This is surprisingly consistent. It starts off bangin' and while the first third is the strongest, it's pretty much all enjoyable music. 'Let Them Things Go' and the closing track, 'Terror Era', are the only average moments. The Pun and Big L featured song 'Bring 'Em Back' is somewhat of a let down given the talent on it as the instrumentation isn't strong. I laughed out loud at Joe trying to jokingly imitate the GOAT R. Kelly's "Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh" vocals from 'Down Low' on the opening song. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Nothing's Gonna Stop Me, Hum Drum, Lean Back, Yes Dem To Def

This is pretty good with the first half a dozen songs being quite strong with a couple of bangers in the mix. It drops off a degree with 'Cherry Blossom', and 'Let's Get to It (Remix)' but they're still worth a listen. The biggest flaw with Bun B is the repetition in his lyrics at times ("woodgrain"/"UGK for life", etc), but he still does everything else well as a rapper. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Intro, Brand New, On the Low