"Say cheese, now I got pictures of what a bitch is" My first thoughts weren't too positive on this. I understand it's a posthumous album, but the start is a bit of anti-climax where we hardly hear the man we all came to see. I think that is what led to my initial lukewarm reception. He was the last verse on the lead single as well. I mention in my review of Eazy E's 'Str8 Off Tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton' that I find it a bit odd when the lead artist isn't the first voice on the record. All of the features make me think that DMX wasn't as far into a finished album as he made me think from his talk on Drink Champs. Aside from that, he doesn't spit very naturally on some songs. As DMX aged, he became a bit more mumbly when trying to spit fast. Lyrically he doesn't hit as hard either. The production is consistently decent-good but nothing is near amazing. While there are a lot of co-producers with him, Swizz has never been able to create a whole album of great beats. On to some songs: 'Bath Salts' was a hyped video on YouTube almost half a decade ago, and maybe it was just because Swizz was playing it at a volume of 11/10, but the beat doesn't hit as hard. The DMX verse comes from his 2009 song “Spit That Shit”. I've always liked D's verse but Nas steals the show and has another great verse on the best song, 'Walking in the Rain'. Lil Wayne actually raps a listenable verse on 'Dogs Out'. I haven't been able to say that about Wayne for a while. I think DMX also sounds great over the soulful 'Take Control' production. I was really looking forward to this. DMX helped me fall in love with the genre, and while I find this to be a decent collection of songs, it's fallen a touch below expectations. I'm not religious, but his prayer to close the album gets me more hyped than some of the music. The better songs are the more soulful tracks. It doesn't feature a great hardcore tune like he blessed us with so many times throughout his life. Best Tracks: Bath Salts, Take Control, Walking in the Rain

The fruit does not fall too far from the tree does it? While this may not be the innovative music of MJ, he would be proud of the quality of this. Seeing folk/singer songwriter as genres, I did not expect to like this as much as I do. It very much has elements in the alternative-R&B vein as well that we hear so much these days. As the list below shows, it is a great consistent album featuring some of my favourite songs that I've heard for a while. Best Tracks: collide, repair, undone, cosmic (wait for me), dead sea, let down, scorpio rising, wilted, another spring

A fairly consistent pop rap album as far as I'm concerned and K-Maro's first pretty much all English album which makes it much easier to enjoy the whole thing. He only shows us his multilingualism with a few words throughout the tracks. Most of it is really pop-rappy so stay away if you don't like the sound of that, and if you did like his past hits like 'Femme Like U' and 'Crazy' there is nothing with that sort of dance-rap type of vibe to it. Probably the kind of artist you are better off checking out a song though before you get the whole album. Best Tracks: Let It Show, Love it or Leave It, Take You Away, Change the Game, Not Your Time To Go

There are aspects of this to appreciate, particularly some of the Cole's verses and flows, but after a few listens, I'm not left with anything memorable enough for a higher score. There isn't anything top-tier. '4 Your Eyez Only' aside, Cole seems to have reached out to outside producers more than his other projects, but there isn't much I like enough. Give me his beats from his first two albums any day of the week over the trap influenced production here. And the 'Do It Again' by The New Birth sample on 'Close' has been used so many times on some songs I love that is feels stale here. Best Tracks: 9 5 . s o u t h, p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l

While never having the expectation of amazing song after amazing song, you used to always be able to count on Khaled for a banger or two on his albums, but this and his last project haven't even had that. The beat on 'Big Paper' got me feeling kind of hype but it didn't last. Boring. Generic production. A number of artists featured who I do not enjoy. Cringe Puffy screaming Scarface quotes. Not for me. Best Track: Sorry Not Sorry (feat. Nas, Jay-Z, James Fauntleroy & Harmonies By The Hive)