This felt like a half written movie for me. Sure, it was pleasing to see it not take the predictable route of the cause of the civil war being 'fascist', right-winged 'Nazi' citizens (as the lunatic left would label them), but it also said nothing at the same time. Instead, we have a story about war photographers who idiotically and suicidally take a child to the heart of war zones that ends up having the predicted result.

There is somewhat too much of the same sound making it require listens to separate tracks on initial plays, but there is some great work here from Hamilton. 'Real Love', produced by 9th Wonder, where the production is very strong, would be better without Ross ("mmmmmmmmmmm"...), but he isn't bad enough to ruin it. I didn't expect to hear Lil Jon shout "Okay" on this, but that song works well enough too. The hip hop connection goes deeper with producers Jermaine Durpri, Bink!, 1500 Or Nothin' and Cardiak adding their talent who are best known for their work in hip hop. Maybe there is nothing touching Hamilton's best songs, but the quality is strong from front to back. Best Tracks: Threw It All Away, Real Love, You Made a Fool of Me, I Thought We Were in Love, I'm Sorry, Mercy, Safe 1. Love Is the New Black 70 2. Threw It All Away 83 3. Real Love 84 4. I'm Ready 74 5. White Hennessy 72 6. Coming Home 79 7. You Made a Fool of Me 80 8. I Thought We Were in Love 90 9. Superstar 76 10. Pillows 78 11. I'm Sorry 80 12. Mercy 83 13. Safe 82 14. Mama Don't Cry 70

This is more of a various artists release than The Game mixtape as he hardly spits a verse. The best track is easily his solo song, 'Control'. Most of the rest isn't terrible, and there's some catchy enough stuff like the hook on 'Rent Due', but there's nothing that'll be memorable. Best Tracks: Plug, Control

It's alright, but despite some likeable beat switches like those found on 'Dirtball', I don't think these instrumentals are either Hit-Boy's or The Alchemist's best. My favourite is the final track that takes it back to the ol' school using Gank Move's 'Murderer' instrumental (verbatim) and vocals from 1994. It's easily the best song which is perhaps embarrassing for the rest of the freshly made tracks. The feature, HitgirlLena, also offers one of the more memorable verses. The lack of any decent chorus or catchy songwriting doesn't help the replay value of songs. As I felt on his collab album with The Game, Big Hit doesn't impress, doing nothing to stand out to me as a rapper. A more engaging vocalist could have worked with these beats to a higher level. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★☆ Hooks: ★ Best Tracks: Sly Slick & Wicked, Dirtball, Gank Move

I'd been looking forward to this, but it's really disappointing. The production is fairly weak and there isn't much to write home about regarding the vocals either. There is too much soft-shit. I understand, they've 'Grown Up', but where is the hard g-shit? Listen to something like 'I'll Bury Ya' from the 'Dogg Chit' album and there is nothing close to that sound here. The final song is produced by DJ Premier, but even that is lackluster. I hope he has some better stuff for the upcoming Nas collab. I didn't expect a classic from front to back from Tha DPG in 2024, but I didn't expect it to be such a boring album. Beats: ★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: Smoke Up, Favorite Color Blue