The first half is all really solid except for the Danny Brown verse which completely ruins that song. How do people like that voice? But this is 4-5 songs too long. The sound begins to get boring and some of the features are not great at all. Mac Miller's verse being one such example which is annoying. It also could have used another song or two with the energy of 'Shitsville'. Gibbs is at his best over harder beats as opposed to Madlib production in my opinion. Best Tracks: Deeper, Shitsville, Thuggin', Uno.

Piñata was good. I didn't love it. Without relistening to it, from memory my problem with it I think is similar to this one. "It ain't smacking, it ain't funky, it ain't bangin'" - Michael Rapport said this about Nas' 'NASIR', and whilst I was listening to this I thought of that quote. I don't need an album full of bangers but there isn't a lot to get me excited. I like Gibbs as a rapper, but he isn't a great natural fast spitter which he attempts to do a bit throughout this album. In my review of Pinata I said, "Gibbs is at his best over harder beats as opposed to Madlib production", and nothing on this album has swayed me from that opinion. My favourite Gibbs song is '[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZiR4ztpo8c,Fuck Rap Pt 2]' - I think the dark trap like beat suits him best... and even 'Shitsville' which is my pic from his previous album. While he spits with some pace, the beat fits him more. This has a couple of 4/5 star songs, but throughout my 3-4 spins of it, nothing has grabbed me enough to go beyond that.

This begins with odd beatboxing pinball like sounds on 'Bumper Snippet (Kid Part)'. I'd be interested to hear the story behind it. While some aren't the finished product, a number of these songs sound dated compared to what ended up on 'Dangerous'. 'Monkey Business', that made it on to 'The Ultimate Collection' years later, is one of my least favourite unreleased songs I've heard from MJ. 'Work That Body' and 'She Got It' are demos but sound more like incomplete '80s 'Bad' era songs. The arrangements are entertaining at times though. 'She Got It' actually give off a bit of a 'Come Together' vibe. 'If You Don't Love Me' has some ol' school rock influences. It's one of the better songs here. 'Serious Effect' with the LL Cool J feature is decent, but again, doesn't feel like it would've fitted on 'Dangerous'. 'Happy Birthday Lisa' is MJ's song from The Simpsons. It's nice to hear him sing it but isn't a song I'd ever play again. The 'Black or White (Remix)' is The Clivillés & Cole Radio Mix and moves it into the dance genre. It's okay... 'Dangerous (Alt. Ver)' is the early version of "Dangerous" finally released on "The Ultimate Collection" in 2004. This is amazing and almost matches the version that made the album. The 'Who Is It (Remix)' is the IHS Mix and strips it back and extends it. I love the original but I find this version boring.

I loved their last collaboration, 'Still on the Hustle', back in 2011. This is another consistent concise project that is well worth checking out if you love boom bap/east coast hip hop, but the high moments aren't as high. The production, predominantly handled by Large Pro, is perhaps rawer than much of his previous production. Best tracks: Whoooooo!!!!, Ain't a Lot Changed, World Wide Street Legends, Borough of Queens (Q.U.), Watch Em

While I haven't heard every Common album, I have never rated him as highly as some others have. Whenever I have listened to him I normally enjoy what I hear but love little greatly, probably largely because vocally and stylistically I have never put him on the level of other '90s greats like Cube, Nas, Scarface, Pac and so on. On the production side of things on this album, I find that much of it sounds too simple to WOW me. There are some good jazzy influenced beats by No.I.D, but there's no real killer production, and despite there being many samples in most songs, you don't really notice a lot of them. Track for track the well known 'I Used to Love H.E.R.' is very interesting subject matter wise, in that this is '94, arguably the best year for hip hop ever, but Common is rapping about it going too commercial already - and you'd say a couple of years later in 96-98 it really did heavily start to go down that path with more pop rap hitting the market. Also, some of the tracks like 'Nuthin' to Do' and 'Chapter 13' for me lose a bit of their appeal by going 30-60 seconds too long. Not always, but for most rap songs 5:30 can be pushing it. Despite this review being mostly negative so far due to the acclaim this has, overall I enjoy it and it's a consistent pleasing solid album but I have never thought of it as any better than that. Generally for me to give an album a four out of five or more it needs to have a few five out of five tracks, and while the first two tracks come close, (and 'Book of Life' ain't far behind) other than those, everything is solid but nothing is too mind blowing. Just below a four out of five for me. It could possibly rise with more listens. Best Tracks: Resurrection, I Used to Love H.E.R., Book of Life, Communism, Maintaining