This is my first experience with a M.O.P. album and after a few listens I'm tossing up between 2.5 and a 3 out of 5. There is some stuff I really enjoy like 'Forever & Always' and 'Salute a G' for example, but particularly with the harder tracks toward the end of the album, I'm not feeling the beats. Almost everything from 'Blow the Horns' to 'Rude Bastard' is quite enjoyable though and 'Salute a G' is one great banger! Best Tracks: Blow the Horns, Foundation, Street Life, Salute a G, Forever & Always

The main problem I have with this is that the production fails to differentiate enough track to track, and I just don't like it enough. He has to be one of the rappers at the top of the list, who I really rate as a rapper, but has just failed to give me much enjoyment from many of his projects because I don't like his beat selection. Also, while I value good rapping as much as the next rap fan, I generally like a chorus. I think after being underwhelmed through a number of Wu projects, that that's a problem I have with his music as well. While I grew to love 'Back Like That' after playing 'Ne-Yo's' debut non-stop, I don't find anything else to be brilliant and after giving this a number of tries, nothing has changed. Best Tracks: Shakey Dog, Back Like That, Dogs of War, Momma, Three Bricks

What can I say about this? First of all, I couldn't wait to hear 50 and Wiz on 'Hate Bein' Sober'. I've never longed for a verse from those two before, so that was a huge warning sign only a few songs into the album. It didn't get any better from there with it being a chore to get through. CK is just such a terrible lyricist and has an often incomprehensible mumbly voice. I like my fair share of ignorant hip hop, but this takes it to a whole other level. Then I'm hearing people praise the beats. It's probably hard to fairly critique these when I can't stand the voice on top of them, but at the same time, I'm not hearing anything that good, or that I haven't heard before. He is a worse Waka Flocka. I'm starting to get over this trap rap saturation. Before I go, look at the title of this album. This guy is what? 17 years old? Finally. Beats: ★★★ Bars: ★ Best Tracks: I Don't Like

I've given this a heap of tries hoping that it would grow on me, but the production is just underwhelming. Even on the best tracks, it's more Lupe's rapping that pops out than the beats. This is more apparent towards the latter stages of the album as well, where the final five songs are all nothing noteworthy. Some of the choruses are also too repetitive particularly at the beginning of the album like 'Go Go Gadget Flow' and 'The Coolest', that seem to go on and on - "The coolest nigga, what? The coolest nigga, what?" The best songs like 'Streets on Fire' are great, but the really high moments are sparse. 3-3.5 / 5 Beats: ★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★★☆ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: The Coolest, Paris, Tokyo, Hip-Hop Saved My Life, Streets on Fire, Little Weapon

Don't you hate misleading titles? I was hoping this would be full of mid-90s west coast Death Row-eque beats. It begins with one on 'Still Smokin' but there's not a lot from there. Nevertheless, the production is fairly good. The opening half a dozen tracks are all decent with 'Sandwich Bag' to 'Doggystylin' being a good streak. I hate the autotune/cookie-cutter voice on the hook of 'Daddy', but the beat is hard and Snoop's verses still make it noteworthy. 'Conclicted', produced by Nas' new BFF, Hit-Boy, sees Nas and Snoop trading bars that doesn't happen anywhere near enough on songs with features. If I was to nitpick, I'd say Nas could sound more passionate on this one. The following song, 'Doggystylin', has a hard beat as well. As a massive Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, it's hard to take the next song, 'Crip Ya Enthusiasm', seriously and not shake my head all the way through it! I'd be interested to hear opinions on the production from someone who has never seen the show and heard the iconic theme before. This is the first big skip for me. Not long after, 'House I Built', feels a bit more like chill g-funk '90s instrumentation and is a standout. From there, the back-end is definitely weaker. It gets a touch more pop. 'Get This Dick' is one of the worst songs with the songs surrounding it not being noteworthy either. A Nate and Snoop song generally creates excitement, but 'Outside the Box' isn't great either. There is nothing extraordinary here or to put in a best of Snoop playlist, but it's a fairly consistent mix of west coast and trap rap from front to back-at least until track 14 or so. As seems a trend these days, many songs are short, so while it's 18 tracks long, the runtime of only 53 minutes means the album doesn't drag on. His best rounded album for quite some time. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Still Smokin, Sandwich Bag, Conflicted, Daddy, House I Built. Pop Pop