Kells is back with his long-awaited ninth solo album in the space of sixteen years, and some could even almost call this his tenth after the leak mid-last year. Only two songs survived that leak ('Go Low' & 'Whole Lotta Kisses') that are both solo produced by Kells, with the remaining thirteen being co-produced. When I realised those two were the only songs that survived I was surprised as in my opinion 'Hair Braider', 'Skin', 'Screamer' & 'Playas Get Lonely' were comfortably the best tracks from that leaked album, particularly 'Playas Get Lonely' which was very solid. Anyway, the tracklist is what is it. My first impressions were not excellent and I was thinking this was his worst album by far. However, as with favourite artists you give the album more time and with each listen (over ten of the album) the songs that were disappointing have grown on me and I enjoy most of this. Some tracks of interest - Where his last two albums have been fairly hip hop influenced this only features a couple that are. 'Supaman High' is one of these which has a dirty south/snap type of beat, is a grower and adds something different to the album but isn't anything brilliant. The other is the opener where Kells raps his verses using autotune over a similarly influenced beat but not as intense, and then the chorus is switched to Robert singing normally. 'Exit' features a piano loop identical to 'Best Friend' from 'Double Up' and Kells saves the average production with a good vocal performance singing about exiting a club with a girl. After that, in 'Echo' Kells yodels during the chorus and sings about noises during sex and it's one of the better tracks. Track seven and eight, 'Like I Do' and 'Number One' are comfortably up there as best tracks which both feature contagious choruses (particulary 'Like I Do') and good build-up. As do the other highlights that come toward the end of the album with the single 'Religious' and 'Elsewhere'. 'I Love the DJ' is an odd one and sees Robert singing over a club/dance beat which is something he hasn't done before. It starts off with him singing "This may sound strange, this may sound strange to you...." It takes getting used to but it isn't horrible. 'Be My #2' is also in the same mould with what reminds me of an English pop-dance beat behind the vocals, but this doesn't work as well and is one of the weaker tracks. Finally, I'm also not feeling the final six-minute long track 'Pregnant'. It lacks any vocal or musical build-up, and there is nothing memorable on offer. Lyrically, it is very much an R. Kelly album. Sex, chicks and more sex. It is though probably less extreme than some of his past work and there is nothing on the sexual simile level of songs like 'Sex Planet' 'and 'The Zoo' that were on 'Double Up'. Many fans may have thought that when U Saved Me/Happy People came in '04 that Kells had matured lyrically and was going to change it up a touch more but that album seems like an outlier as far as his discography is concerned. As far as the beats go, as mentioned he gets more help from other producers than his other albums with only two tracks being solo R. Kelly jobs. Apart from the couple of dance influenced tracks that I mentioned earlier it does still have that R. Kelly feel though to most tracks. As mentioned, it did take a couple of listens that I may not have given the time too had this been another artist and I wasn't a fan of the guy or I was younger and this was the first I'd heard of R. Kelly, so you have to take that into account, but overall this album in many ways while lacking consistency ain't bad from the King of R&B and fans should get something out of it. He is still a brilliant vocalist and while there aren't as many great tracks as there should and has been on most previous Kells releases it is fairly solid. Best Tracks: Echo, Like I Do, Number One, Religious, Elsewhere.

This is a fairly solid album all the way through and probably the best thing KRS has been involved in for ages - although I still have much to check out - and apart from his sensational debut, not much else has grabbed me. I always enjoy his in your face vocals and lyrics but often the beats he raps over leave room for improvement. To the other half of this team, and Buckshot is someone I haven't heard much from in the past. His group albums such as Blackmoon's Enta da Stage have been in my to listen to list for a while but I haven't got around to it yet, but I like what I hear on this album from him. Track for track, as mentioned every track is fairly solid. The production is handled by a total of ten producers on this album but it still maintains the same sort of theme throughout the whole disc. I feel it does lose some steam though in the middle of the album. From 'Runnin' Away' to 'Hear No Evil' nothing is too great. But then it does finish well with some of the best tracks featuring late. Nothing though reaches the heights of 'ROBOT' which is a great track (where they talk about the autotune movement in hip hop) and puts Jay-Z's 'D.O.A.' to shame. Like Raekwon's recent album and some other three outta fives, if some of the middle range tracks were up a level this would probably be a 3.5/5 but there are still too many just okay tracks. Also, I wouldn't have minded one or two tracks that changed the production up a tad more. A bit like Slaughterhouse did toward the end of their album for anyone who has listened to that. However, it's a pretty good feast of boom bap/hardcore hip hop beats with two hungry rappers and some good featuring verses. Worth a look. Best Tracks: Survival Skills, ROBOT, Oh Really, Connection, Murder 1, We Made It

This is one of the few '80s hip hop albums I can really get into from beginning to the end thanks to the excellent original funk-inspired production! The only reason it doesn't score higher marks from me is because one or two tracks drag on a touch, and both MCs do have a bit of a boring flow. - I think Erick gets much better in this regard with future albums. But for the time it was released it's a quality album, particularly from a production point of view. Best Tracks: Strictly Business, Let the Funk Flow, You're a Customer, The Steve Martin, Jane.

His Most Inconsistent Album 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' is a classic Pac anthem. The two interludes are laced with nice laid back production making them worthwhile as well. 'Point the Finga' goes hard, as does 'Last Words' featuring the two Ices. Upon revisiting the album at this stage I'm wondering why I haven't rated this album higher. However, it soon becomes apparent as it falls into problems for a run of tracks, where the production falls into a hole - not a large one, but they just get a touch boring. Even 'Keep Ya Head Up', with its important lyrics, just doesn't have interesting enough production. There is also 'Guess Who's Back' in the middle of the album that feels like it should be an introductory song. As I had thought may have been the case, on the cassette issue, it begins side B which makes sense I suppose. It gets better from there though. The title track 'Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...' is an improvement. As is the Nostradamus like titled 'The Streetz R Deathrow' that features samples that have been used on other great hip hop songs. Then the last three songs go well as well with 'I Get Around', 'Papa'z Song' and '5 Deadly Venomz'. The Ice Cube influence on Pac is very evident here, with the Don Mega being sampled and featured, along with the aspects of the production throughout the album being similar to early Cube releases. It's consistent in that all the worst songs are basically bundled together in the middle, but overall it is the Pac album with the most average songs, largely due to weak production, and the least great songs. Best Tracks: Holla If Ya Hear Me, Point the Finga, Last Words, The Streetz R Deathrow, I Get Around

ANOTHER underheard west coast release. The best on this are funky, contagious songs with engaging rapping. Best Tracks: 602, I Remember, It's on Me