This is a fairly solid album all the way through and probably the best thing KRS has been involved in for ages - although I still have much to check out - and apart from his sensational debut, not much else has grabbed me. I always enjoy his in your face vocals and lyrics but often the beats he raps over leave room for improvement. To the other half of this team, and Buckshot is someone I haven't heard much from in the past. His group albums such as Blackmoon's Enta da Stage have been in my to listen to list for a while but I haven't got around to it yet, but I like what I hear on this album from him. Track for track, as mentioned every track is fairly solid. The production is handled by a total of ten producers on this album but it still maintains the same sort of theme throughout the whole disc. I feel it does lose some steam though in the middle of the album. From 'Runnin' Away' to 'Hear No Evil' nothing is too great. But then it does finish well with some of the best tracks featuring late. Nothing though reaches the heights of 'ROBOT' which is a great track (where they talk about the autotune movement in hip hop) and puts Jay-Z's 'D.O.A.' to shame. Like Raekwon's recent album and some other three outta fives, if some of the middle range tracks were up a level this would probably be a 3.5/5 but there are still too many just okay tracks. Also, I wouldn't have minded one or two tracks that changed the production up a tad more. A bit like Slaughterhouse did toward the end of their album for anyone who has listened to that. However, it's a pretty good feast of boom bap/hardcore hip hop beats with two hungry rappers and some good featuring verses. Worth a look. Best Tracks: Survival Skills, ROBOT, Oh Really, Connection, Murder 1, We Made It

This is one of the few '80s hip hop albums I can really get into from beginning to the end thanks to the excellent original funk-inspired production! The only reason it doesn't score higher marks from me is because one or two tracks drag on a touch, and both MCs do have a bit of a boring flow. - I think Erick gets much better in this regard with future albums. But for the time it was released it's a quality album, particularly from a production point of view. Best Tracks: Strictly Business, Let the Funk Flow, You're a Customer, The Steve Martin, Jane.

His Most Inconsistent Album 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' is a classic Pac anthem. The two interludes are laced with nice laid back production making them worthwhile as well. 'Point the Finga' goes hard, as does 'Last Words' featuring the two Ices. Upon revisiting the album at this stage I'm wondering why I haven't rated this album higher. However, it soon becomes apparent as it falls into problems for a run of tracks, where the production falls into a hole - not a large one, but they just get a touch boring. Even 'Keep Ya Head Up', with its important lyrics, just doesn't have interesting enough production. There is also 'Guess Who's Back' in the middle of the album that feels like it should be an introductory song. As I had thought may have been the case, on the cassette issue, it begins side B which makes sense I suppose. It gets better from there though. The title track 'Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...' is an improvement. As is the Nostradamus like titled 'The Streetz R Deathrow' that features samples that have been used on other great hip hop songs. Then the last three songs go well as well with 'I Get Around', 'Papa'z Song' and '5 Deadly Venomz'. The Ice Cube influence on Pac is very evident here, with the Don Mega being sampled and featured, along with the aspects of the production throughout the album being similar to early Cube releases. It's consistent in that all the worst songs are basically bundled together in the middle, but overall it is the Pac album with the most average songs, largely due to weak production, and the least great songs. Best Tracks: Holla If Ya Hear Me, Point the Finga, Last Words, The Streetz R Deathrow, I Get Around

ANOTHER underheard west coast release. The best on this are funky, contagious songs with engaging rapping. Best Tracks: 602, I Remember, It's on Me

Kevin reminds me of a mixture of Future (who I dislike) and Young Buck (who I like), particularly when he yells and the topics at hand. There are too many similar-sounding beats and songs here, but the good ones driven by contagious hooks-Future's strength if he has one-make songs worthy of replaying. Best Tracks: 4 Legs and a Biscuit, MYB, 4:30AM, Smiling Faces