This is a change of pace from Miilkbone's debut. From a lyrical and production point of view, there is less feel-good music. He seems more pissed off, with the beats being a lot less funky/jazzy compared to his debut and there being more gangsta rap themes lyrically. Perhaps it's because of the Eminem beef that he addresses on 'Dear Slim'? His most well-known song, 'Keep It Real', begins with, "I ain't about to sit back and talk about gats and glocks/And busting caps on blocks, cracking on practice cops", but he seems to have abandoned that here. Purely as a rapper, be it vocally or stylistically, Miilk doesn't have anything to set him apart from the crowd either. While I had no trouble playing through this a few times, there isn't a song anywhere near as strong as the aforementioned song or my personal favourite, 'Where'z Da' Party At?', and it lacks much to anything I'll be going back to for a higher rating. Best Tracks: Sex Money Drugs Cars, Why U Hate, Enemy of State, Outro

I have the unpopular opinion that this is better than his debut. While the standouts of The Sun Rises may not be present, overall the beats aren't as abstract from DJ Premier and I enjoy them on the whole more so for the whole disc. The most outstanding portion of this album is the middle - One Day to Scientifical Madness, that is brilliant. Original and consistent. Best Tracks: Tha Frustrated Nigga, Revenge of the Prophet (Part 5), Scientifical Madness, Me or the Papes

Large P, while perhaps following a similar formula that he has for years, can still make some great beats that don't sound out of place in the current era. This album flows between bangin' beats and raps, to instrumental hip hop, most of which are really damn good. Before listening to this album I hadn't thought of Large P when thinking of the best producers/rappers, but after listening to this album he has to be mentioned amongst the likes of Paris, Erick Sermon, Kanye and so on. Upon listening to this it quickly gave off a similar feeling to another album that won't be too far from my best of 2012 list-The Next Logical Progression-with its funky beats and great vocals. The album perhaps loses a touch of steam towards the middle with the 'Barber Shop Chop' and 'Live Again', but it's only a minor trough. Overall I love most of the beats, the rapping is top-unlike other producer albums which are ruined by producers thinking they can spit-and it rarely lets up. As mentioned, while Large P hasn't created something overly original with this, he has created one of the most enjoyable hip hop albums front to back in a while. ♪Kick Da Habit♪ Best Tracks: Key to the City, UNOWHTMSAYN, Focused Up, Light Years, Mack Don Illz, Sun, Star & Crescents, M.A.R.S.

Speakerboxxx Let's start with Big Boi's Speakerboxxx which is more of a general hip hop album than Andre's disc. It isn't as experimental as some of Outkast's previous material but there is a fair bit of funk here as we have seen on Outkast's past albums. Killer Mike joins Outkast again and it makes for two quality tunes, with 'Bust' being my pick from the two. Like many hip hop albums I don't see the need for the skits here - it's a minor issue but one that wasn't needed. A few tunes are close to filler, but it's very consistent with a few great tunes like GhettoMusick. ★★★★ Best Tracks: GhettoMusick, The Way You Move [[CD 2]], Bust, Church, Reset, Last Call The Love Below Andre's album on the other hand is something a lil unexpected, and perhaps explains why the artists are separated for this release. This album shows Andre to be the more creative and diverse of the two (if we didn't know that already), as he creates a high quality R&B/pop/hip hop/funk album. I probably find this to be the disc I go back to more years on, with it being unique and there being more that I love on it. ★★★★☆ Best Tracks: Happy Valentine's Day, Spread, She Lives in My Lap, Behold a Lady, Dracula's Wedding, A Life in the Day Much of Outkast's albums are somewhat hit or miss for me except for their debut, so this album is a welcome change where I enjoy a larger percentage of what they gave us. And given it's two discs, Andre and Big Boi do a good job with each disc. There aren't the classics of the B.O.B.'s and the like, but for 35 tracks, most work very well.

This begins with the iconic freestyle, 'Mo City Don', that Z-Ro has said he is tired of performing and the great rapping never stops. In saying that, the production isn't as great. For want of a better word, it sounds a bit cheap. I feel like this, I'm Still Livin and Power are almost a trilogy as they have similar sounding beats before Crack kind of picked it up featuring some outstanding production. Going back to this years later it also features a wider range of subject matter compared to what we get on Ro albums these days. '1 Night' is one of my favourite songs from Z-Ro of all time. Beats: ★★★☆ Bars: ★★★★★ Hooks: ★★★★☆ Best Tracks: Mo City Don (Freestyle), I'm a Soldier, 1 Night *Written in 2K19