Beanie is a passionate, strong rapper and he shows it in everything he does. A lot of the beats here though are standard average early '00s beats. The first half a dozen songs are incredibly generic and you wouldn't think that this was from one of the biggest labels. If you like what Jay had on some of his later Volume albums you may get more out of them. While not incredibly original, the best moments come in the improving second half of the album from songs like 'What Your Life Like' where Beanie talks on more sentimental topics like the terrors of being locked up and 'Die' where he spits about the temptations and ways one's life can be cut short. As much as I love Scarface, that collaboration is disappointing as the beat isn't great. Attached to the end of this is also Jay-Z's solo song 'Anything', which Jay expected to do good things, but almost flat out copying the format of an earlier hit in 'Hard Knock Life' normally doesn't work with the public. I don't like 'Hard Knock Life' and this has an even worse chorus taken from 'I'll Do Anything'. Best Tracks: The Truth, Remember Them Days, What Your Life Like, Ride 4 My, Die.

Good quality uncommercial hip hop and at the moment my rap pick of '09. It reminds me a bit of Prolyphic & Reanimator's 'The Ugly Truth' and something else that I can't recall at the moment. Apart from the odd so-so track, it's one of those beginning to end albums and hasn't been out of my playlist since I got it. A high 4/5. Best Tracks: Stutter Step, Take Me Higher, Speed Demon, Losing You, Deal With It, Hold On, Leader vs. Followers

I just can't mess with most of the rapping on this. Be it Earl or most of the featuring artists who rap with basically the same dull annoying flow. The production's okay, but there is little variation on some of the songs from the verses to the hook at times making it boring. 'The Chum' is one such example, which also features some of the best production on its outro oddly enough.

Except for the obvious 'classics' from the mid-nineties which I mostly enjoy and plenty of ya'll love, I've never dug much from the Wu as a group or from solo albums from members of the Clan. So whatever I got from listening to this album I would have been happy with. There were no expectations. What I found I was pretty happy with. The remixes are poor and so are a couple of the normal tracks like 'Rims Pokin Out' but there is stuff to enjoy. The first three songs are all very good with replay value. 'Lipton' is enjoyable also...until the chorus which ruins the song. Tracks five and six aren't as good as the first three songs but are still to my liking. 'Hips' is one you will probably skip and then you have two bangin' tracks in 'Wu-Tang' and 'Dopium'. Then before the remixes begin, you have 'Classic' which is okay but nothing special. And I'll just add that the off beat "classic, classic, classic" in the chorus doesn't add to the track at all. He would've been better off just letting the beat roll. A quick point on the bonus track remixes; They get worse as they go on. 'Stomp da Roach (Remix)' is okay, 'Dopium (Remix)' is bad and 'Hips (Remix)' is very bad. I guess if you like electronic music mixed with hip hop maybe you could get something out of them but I'm guessing most fans wouldn't. On the whole, there is some rubbish here, mainly the remixes, but they have been given the tag of 'bonus track' so when critiquing you are probably not meant to include them in your rating. The rest of the tracks though are ones I mainly enjoy, which earn Dopium a comfortable 3/5. Best Tracks: God is Love, Train Trussle, Stomp da Roach, Dopium, Coke

There is something that his first album has that this doesn't which doesn't make this stand out or work like 'Penicillin on Wax' does. Looking at the beats, it's not as intense overall or as good - there isn't a song on here as crazily intense as 'Dogs Gonna Getcha' and lyrically while Tim Dog disses many, not as many lines seem to grab me as much as his debut. 'Maddog' seems to try to be something like the aforementioned track but it isn't the same quality. It's an okay listen overall but after his first most will probably be underwhelmed by this release. Best Tracks: I Don't Give a Fuck, I Get Wrecked, If I Was a Cop, Maddog