Benzino is probably best known for beefing with Eminem. That feud started a year after this project was released, so Benzino isn't preoccupied with any Eminem dissing here. As the tracklist suggests, Benzino has a lot of help with only a couple of solo tracks. Thirteen of the seventeen songs are produced by the production group, Hangmen 3, that includes Benzino. The production is more than decent and bangin' at times, with a variety of different sounds, but falters in parts with songs like the single, 'Boottee', produced by Teddy Riley. It stands out within the first five seconds. The repetitive, "Bom, bom, bom, bombombom", or whatever it is, gets annoying. The following 'The Jump Up' is better with Cormega's verse standing out. 'Shine Like My Son' isn't great vocally, featuring Benzino's young son, but the production is funky and Case's smooth vocals add positively to it as well. Other well known features, Scarface and Snoop Dogg, are wasted on the below average 'Figadoh'. 'Bang Ta Diss' is a bit of missed opportunity with the hook lacking any energy. Given the reputation Benzino has as a rapper, this is better than I expected. Delete the skits from the playlist and this isn't a chore to play from start to finish at all. As mention, most of the instrumentation isn't bad, and In terms of the rapping, lyrically there is nothing of note, but I don't dislike any of the vocals. As an aside, unless they have found Jesus, why the hell do artists/labels only put clean versions on streaming services though?!!! It's one of life's mysteries. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Feel Your Pain, Nobody Liver, G-A-N-G-S-T-E-R, The Jump Up, Throw Dem 3's (Boston Niggas) 2. Who Is Benzino? 70/100 3. Bang Ta Dis 66 4. Feel Your Pain 71 5. We Reppin Ya'll 60 6. Halfway 50 7. Figadoh 48 9. Nobody Liver 80 11. Picture This 44 12. Any Questions 66 13. No Parts of Us 62 15. Ghetto Child 61 17. G-A-N-G-S-T-E-R 74 19. Boottee 30 20. The Jump Up 72 21. Shine Like My Son 64 22. I'm Fucked Up 62 24. Throw Dem 3's (Boston Niggas) 77

What do people like so much about this? Most of the positive reviews seem to indicate that people like it ironically. I read that viewers walked out of the screenings due to excessive violence. While someone gets their head caved in at the beginning, unless it was edited out, there really isn't much to get one's knickers in a knot about. As a film, this is annoying, overacted and doesn't have that much of a plot. One of those style over substance movies.

9th Wonder makes some pleasant beats, but he is limited as a producer. I've often felt that his creations get repetitive. 'Friends' is one example. It basically just loops the start of Outkast's amazing 'She Lives in My Lap', that would make it one of the best songs, but it erroneously includes the female's laugh about every two bars that gets irritating and ruins it. The loop in the title track gets repetitive too. On 'Rewind, maybe the keys are too highly pitched, however, part of the instrumentation reminds me of the tremendous 'Iron Galaxy' by Cannibal Ox that helps it be above average. 'What It Is' has some terrible expressionless rapping by Mu$ that makes it the worst moment, and I don't enjoy Roscoe's feature on 'King Is Born', so there are minor things that ruin some tracks for me. Elsewhere, it's fairly vibey, with an improving second half, but nothing wows me. Hus is okay, but says nothing much I've taken notice of. 'Chaos' is the highest point of the project for me. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★ Best Tracks: Behind the Scenes, Chaos 1. Rewind 63/100 2. King Is Born 50 3. Supergoat 54 4. Friends 50 5. Behind the Scenes 72 6. Famous Poet 62 7. What It Is 34 8. The Waviest 60 9. Chaos 80 10. Already 65 11. Box Office 70

A Very Front Loaded Album Still D.R.E. = One of the best songs in the genre. It's gangsta, has a great melody, a catchy hook, it works on the radio, and I'm not sure who on Earth could refuse it (even if some of the lyrics could be less simplistic - ("Still, I stay close to the heat/And even when I was close to defeat, I rose to my feet/My life's like a soundtrack I wrote to the beat/Treat rap like Cali' weed, I smoke 'til I sleep/Wake up in the a.m., compose a beat")-ehhh). And surrounding 'Still D.R.E.' are great songs with iconic beats. However, like 'The Chronic' is, this album is also inconsistent. After 'The Next Episode', it completely falls away. There is nothing great from 'Let's Get High' to 'Ackrite' before the improving 'Bang Bang' and 'The Message'. And add in the skits, and it just makes it feel more bloated than it needed to be. There are enough great tunes here including, as mentioned, one of my ultimate favourite rap songs, and 'The Watcher' also features one of my favourite beats that Jay-Z reused years later on on 'BP2', but the quality wavers. Dre ain't a great rapper, but he has a strong presence and a good handful of these beats are the reason why he is heralded as one of the best producers in hip-hop. It is definitely held up too highly though by many. For such an apparent perfectionist, I'm not sure why the best songs, that are mostly within the first 11 tracks, weren't scattered around the weaker songs, or why a few of them even made the cut. Beats: ★★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★★ Best Tracks: The Watcher, Fuck You, Still D.R.E., Xxplosive, What's the Difference, Forgot About Dre, The Next Episode, Bang Bang

He definitely isn't the only artist to do so, but MC Breed seemed to follow trends, as he seems to be looking like some version of Rick James on the album art. He got more gangsta with his last couple of albums as that genre popped, and here he comes with the g-funk, which was taking off around the time this was recorded (continuing with the west coast flavour of his previous album). I love g-funk, but this just doesn't have anything that original, and as I've said with other reviews of MC Breed albums, he doesn't have that x-factor as a rapper. After three albums that each improved, despite being his most commercially successful project, I think this is a step in the wrong direction. It's consistency okay, (there are lots of 3/5 songs), and even though he is jumping on g-funk, I see some creativity, but there isn't really anything memorable. On songs like 'Back Up in Ya!' the rapping doesn't match the quality of the music either. The album also starts and ends with a completely boring intro/outro which doesn't help its cause, and it isn't until track seven, 'One Time', where a song catches my attention that begins the best run of the album. This one just meanders through a little too much to rate it higher. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: One Time, Seven Years, The Deal Is Da Funk, Break Yourself