First I've heard of SPM who is currently incarcerated for sexual assault. The voice quality sounds pretty good so he must have great equipment on the inside. The overall production over the two discs is sort of soft, dark and emotional on a lot of the tracks... The first disc is mostly quality. By the second, which is apparently unreleased tracks, the production isn't different enough and most of the tracks aren't as good. Worth a listen if you like the described production I've mentioned, SPM spits some sad stuff. I love the best handful. First Disc: 4/5 Best Tracks: Swim, Mexican Heaven, The Last Chair Violinist, Dead Pictures, Are We Real, Dope House Mind, Jackers In My Home, Silhouettes Second Disc: 2.5/5 Best Tracks: Filthy Rich, The System, High Everyday (Screwed)

I've never liked the most well known song from this album, 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)'. To say the least, the sample is annoying, and as a side-note is there a harder titled softer song? Moving on, like his other albums there is some bad production. Swizz Beatz, who is very capable of producing terrible beats that somehow make it onto albums provides one with 'If I Should Die'. 'Nigga What, Nigga Who' is also pretty bad in the production department as is 'Money, Cash, Hoes' that has a vomit inducing beat - Again it's Swizz on the boards. Thankfully the following song 'A Week Ago' steps it up being the best song here sampling The Isley Brothers' 'Ballad for the Fall Soldier'. As I could copy and paste from my other Jay reviews, I find Jay's style overrated and his ear for beats poor. With his Vol series, he seems to also have gotten caught up in the Puff/JD pop production values from the time period this was created in and this is probably his worst produced album. Here his rapping and topics are probably a step down from the norm as well. A couple of good songs, but nothing groundbreaking, with a lot of average late '90s hip hop cuts. Best Tracks: Intro, Ride or Die, A Week Ago, It's Like That

It seems like that as critics are busy completing their yearly best of lists that some albums released toward the end of year get overlooked as this was no where to be seen. It's unfortunate because this is a pretty consistent piece of conscious hip hop as it should be only containing 9-10 tracks, and I could see many enjoying this more than I do. The beats have something different than most hip hop with some similar electronic production traits as some recent albums I've checked out such as Radio Galaxy's 'We Come in Peace'' & H.I.S.D.'s 'The Weakend'. A comfortable 3.5/5. Best Tracks: The Black Opera, Villains, Dark Comedy, Monsters and Robots, The Magician

The pop-rap smash hit, 'Where Is the Love', was one of the first rap tracks I loved. I had it on a mixtape that I used to play on a walkman, and 'Hands Up', that was featured on NBA Live 2004, is a standout too. Besides the bookends, that are good songs, most of everything else is forgettable. Best Tracks: Hands Up, Hey Mama, Shut Up, Where Is the Love?

This starts off brilliantly and makes it very hard for you not to be disappointed with the rest of the album. 'NY Weather Report' to 'Say Something' are all 5/5 songs, but from there most of the beats just lack anything special. Talib would have been better off spreading them around a lil. Among the weakest here are Madlib's beats ('Soon the New Day' & 'Eat to Live') who I'm not a fan of and are borderline boring tracks. Worth checking out because the best are crack, and the worst ain't too bad, but it's too inconsistent for a higher rating. Best Tracks: NY Weather Report, Hostile Gospel Pt. 1 (Deliver Us), Say Something, Hot Thing, Listen!!!