I don't love Jay-Z as a whole or the 'American Gangster' album, I have it at 3/5, so it wasn't surprising that I have found some improvements here from the original album. 'Sweet' and 'Success' are such tracks that I like more than the originals. Others offer a good alternative. All in all, if you liked American Gangster you should find something here that you enjoy, but recently 9th Wonder hasn't been someone you'd hold your breath for waiting for him to produce a brilliant beat. Best Tracks: Pray (for Me), Success, No Hook, Sweet, Fallin', Black American Gangster

The first half or so is alright.. But then everything completely falls away. It becomes more poppy, the beats gets worse and it gets tedious. You basically might as well stop listening to this at 'Straight to the Bank'. After two albums and a few mixtapes, 50 sounds like he has writer's block, again mentioning Nas and Kelis' relationship as he did on Piggy Pank among other repetitious lyrics. Another sign is 'Amusement Park', which sounds like 50 was flat out trying to copy 'Candy Sho'p for another hit. Without the good beats of his first two albums, 50 can't make this a passable album. Best Tracks: My Gun, Straight to the Bank

50 is back and first off, I have to say I find this album a more listenable album from beginning to end than some of his others. However, when you go back to it looking for tracks to play there really ain't that many that standout. The Dre and Mark Batson produced track 'Death to my Enemies' is one of the best with a nice beat which differs from the rest of the album. As does Eminem on 'Psycho' where he is trading lines with 50 about doing crazy shit. It sounds like something that would have fitted on 'Relapse'. 'So Disrespectful' also caught my attention due to the beat which I recognised from Killer Mikes banger 'Pressure' from ' Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II' and ain't bad. But 'Pressure is a few notches better. 'Stretch' is also enjoyable with a simple yet effective beat by Rick Rock with some nice lines by 50. Apart from those few the most radio-friendly track 'Baby Be Me' ain't bad if you don't hate pop rap and neither are some others like 'Ok You're Right' and 'Crimewave' to name a couple. As with all of 50's past albums though this just fails in consistency for me and to keep me that interested for a whole album and begins to get boring less than halfway through the album. This isn't helped though by the album dropping off in quality after the first eight tracks or so, and also I think 50 doing a lot of his choruses himself without much vocal change tends to add to this feeling. While there is nothing really too bad and as mentioned it's pretty listenable throughout and it's better than Curtis with a higher percentage of harder beats and tracks that fans of 50 will enjoy, for me though I just can't enjoy 50 on the mic enough for a whole album. He doesn't have the character of Snoop, the originality of DMX among other things, the topics of Scarface. etc. Average gangsta rap. Best Tracks: Death to My Enemies, So Disrespectful, Stretch, Baby by Me, Ok You're Right

This album is a consistent record but apart from the title track, which is far and away my favourite track present, nothing else is close to brilliant. The rappers leave a touch to be desired and don't really excite you and make you want to learn the lyrics they are spitting. Also, I'm not sure if it was just because it comes after the great title track just mentioned or it actually does drop off but I definitely lose some interest after the eighth song. It's a fairly negative review for a decent rating but I guess because it has so many praising reviews I wouldn't be adding anything to them. It's worth checking out but I do think the overall rating this has does exceed what it should be when you look at some other albums around this time. Best Tracks: Let 'Em Know, Live and Let Live, That's When Ya Lost, 93 'Til Infinity

I'm a fan of Tha Dogg Pound, but there isn't a whole lot here to have you coming back. The production mainly from Daz & Ivan Johnson is nothing at all new, and although bangin' at times, such as the opening song, there still isn't anything amazing. Some of the better laid back g-funk tunes that DPG albums have always had are 'U Remind Me' and 'Donutz in tha Streetz' that may be worth checking out. You're better off checking out their debut or 'Dogg Chit' for their best albums. Best Tracks: DPGC Muzic, Hittin' Donutz in tha Streetz, U Remind Me..., What U Gone Do?