1. Pressure (Intro) ★★★★☆ The opener, with Pac vocal samples and Ro borrowing Pac's lyrics from the legendary 'Can't C Me', as well as other famous rap songs is dope. Someone needs to make a project full of Pac samples and homages. On 'Never Fold' he actually says, "I come up with my own shit, there's not a lot of sampling", but he actually has borrowed lots of concepts from 'Ring My Bell', 'Many Men' to Biggie's 'Fucking You Tonight' to name a few. 2. Man Hold Up ★★★★ This is dope rapping with minimal singing. 3. Where My Niggas At ★★★ This is the first to get a video for it. Far from my favourite, but a decent track about loyalty. 4. Roll 1 Deep ★★☆ How many tracks can Ro write about being 1 deep? Ehh. The chorus is alright, but the production isn't great to make the verses that worthwhile. 5. That’s Me ★★★☆ 6. Never Fold ★★★ 7. Fall Bacc ★★★ 8. Heaven 4 a Gangsta ★★★☆ The best song since 'Man Hold Up'. A little harder, angrier and darker. 9. Lord Knows ★★★★ Lots of singing, but this is more catchy, with the featuring vocals from Lolita Monreaux helping the hook stand out. Better production too. 10. Playa ★★☆ 11. Waitin on the Checc ★★★ 12. Shin Dig ★★★ 13. On My Necc ★★★☆ Another catchy hook ★★★☆ 14. MurdererxLanlawd ★★★★ As with 'Lord Knows', the featured vocals are dope and make the song stand out along with its vibey feel. 15. Everywhere I Go ★★★☆ 16. Live It Up ★★★☆ 17. H-Town Legend ★★★☆ 18. Gone Eat ★★★★ 19. Actin’ Funny ★★★ Here he addresses people like me who miss his spitting, but damn, I'd love more hard quick rapping from him, because there are few who do it better. 20. 5th ★★★☆ This album is similar to Z-Ro's past few albums in a number of ways. They've been over an hour making them take some time to digest, similar by way of quality, the singing/rapping style Ro has done for quite some time now-more so than his straight-up spitting, and without enough amazing moments. As with his past few projects as well, this has grown on me after being underwhelmed early on, but there is nothing-little here that fans will be putting in a best of Z-Ro compilation. It starts and ends fairly well, but there are too many skippable songs in between. Given Ro has been putting out material consistently for almost 25 years, he'd be much better off releasing a 12 track album, rather than a 20 one, given the content isn't breaking any new ground. And it has its moments, and I'm not sure who produced this, but the production definitely won't wow the listener. Still a 3-3.5/5 because there are enough good moments, and as always Z-Ro is more enjoyable to listen to here than most rappers, but here's to more quality control on his next. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Pressure (Intro), Man Hold Up, Heaven 4 a Gangsta, Lord Knows, On My Necc, MurdererxLanlawd, Gone Eat, 5th

I pressed play on this album straight after just listening to 'Radio', and this is so much better from the first 10 seconds. There is so much in the production compared to all of 'Radio'. Hip hop production moved along fast. Those were my thoughts after the opener, but unfortunately the follow up, 'Kanday' sounds more like something from LL's debut. It's still decent with a catchy hook of sorts but the production sounds regressive from 'I'm Bad'. From there, it continues to be a bit of a let down after the dope opener. None of the production matches it for me. Lyrically, 'My Rhyme Ain't Done' reminds me of Cube's 'A Gangsta's Fairytale' and is the first real boring moment though and the rock-rap 'Go Cut Creator Go' isn't my thing either. '.357 Break It on Down' steps up the production and LL raps impressively making it another one to keep from the album. The closer, before the short skit, 'The Do Wop', sounds fresh as well and is another favourite. Overall, this is definitely a step up from his debut. There is much more variety, from the hard first track, the soft 'I Need Love', the do wop, 'The Do Wop', making it a much better listen. Subjectively, it still suffers from my lack of love for '80s hip hop production, but most of this is palatable to good. LL's rapping and word play catches my attention more too. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★★ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: I'm Bad, .357 Break It on Down, I Need Love, The Do Wop

I'm starting to revisit and review every LL album in chronological order. I had this at 2/5 originally and I've dropped it down half a star, as it's even less thrilling than I remembered. 'I Can't Live Without My Radio' should've ended at about 2:30. It goes on twice as long as it needs to with its boring beat. The next, 'You Can't Dance', uses some of the same instrumentation, and again, doesn't maintain my interest. 'Dear Yvette' has a laughable hook. 'I Can Give You More' changes up the production a little more than the same-sounding first three songs but still gets tedious. I think I'll end commenting on every song. 'Rock the Bells' is the best thing here. It doesn't drag on like the opener and there is a little more in the production. Albums like this are the reason why I'm apprehensive about checking out mid '80s hip hop. LL is entertaining at times, but the beats are just too primitive and similar from song to song. I could produce these songs in about 10 minutes. A few times as well, the chorus is just the beat riding. Objectively this may have been good for its time, but I'm rating this subjectively, and it does almost nothing for me. Beats: ★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★☆ Best Tracks: I Can Give You More, Rock the Bells

Nardwuar pulled this LP out when he was interviewing Kendrick, and it piqued my interest. Not every song is amazing, but the best have some nice production touches and beat switches that make them dope. I was disappointed to see that M.C. Stripe's discogs is empty, as 'Rhymes Too Funky' is one of the highlights. Worth checking out if you like late '80s hip hop. Best Tracks: Rhymes Too Funky, Vanilla Don't Play, Off the Top of My Brain, Quicksand

I love the '90s west coast-esque album art, but that is where my adoration for this ends. Being EP length, with 8 short songs, it's an easy listen, but nothing blows me away. I don't think I'll be revisiting this one. Best Tracks: There He Goes, Straight G, See tha Sunset