I’m not familiar enough with all of these originals to say for sure whether these versions improve on them, but from what I do know, there isn’t much difference. Most of the time, it’s just other rappers added in. As he mentions in the intro and interlude, Diddy seems to think that makes him a genius of the remix. The most altered track is the closer, 'You Gets No Love', which modifies the instrumental with Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'. The best moment here is Carl Thomas’ 'Woke Up This Morning', but that’s only because it already used Biggie’s superior 'My Downfall' instrumentation—this version just tacks Biggie onto an already solid song. The weakest track is 'So Complete', which is just dull. Diddy’s ad-libs and weak lyrics don’t help either. Take 'I Need a Girl' as an example: "At first we were friends, then became lovers (Oh) / You was more than my girl, we was like brothers (Oh) / All night we would play fight under covers." … I get what he's trying to say but it just wounds weird. Overall, I’m not a fan of the late '90s/early '00s Bad Boy sound. Very little here rises above mediocrity. If you want to hear someone who actually remixed great songs, made them sound different, and in some cases even better, check out R. Kelly’s discography. Best Tracks: Unfoolish, Notorious B.I.G., Woke Up This Morning 1 P. Diddy–Intro 2 G. Dep*– Special Delivery (Remix) 60 3 P. Diddy–I Need a Girl (Part 2) 54 4 P. Diddy–Bad Boy For Life (Remix) 63 5 P. Diddy–I Need a Girl (Part 1) 67 6 P. Diddy–The Remix Phenomenon (Interlude) 7 Ashanti–Unfoolish 68 8 112–Dance With Me (Remix) / Peaches & Cream (Remix) 60 9 Mary J. Blige– No More Drama (Remix) 61 10 P. Diddy & Cheri Dennis–So Complete (Remix) 20 11 The Notorious B.I.G.–Notorious B.I.G. (Remix) 70 12 P. Diddy–That's Crazy (Remix) 50 13 Carl Thomas–Woke Up In The Morning (Remix) 72 14 Faith Evans–You Gets No Love (Remix) 50

I checked this out for the Nas features, and they’re both among the best tracks, though on 'Thugs Calm Down', Nas brings that weak singing he leaned on too much in the late '90s. As expected from the credits, the sound is straight boom bap. 'Ain't Got a Clue' flips the same Aguaviva sample (Poetas Andaluces) used on Nas/The Firm’s 'Affirmative Action' or just uses 'Affirmative Action'. At just 35 minutes, it’s an easy listen, but it won’t blow anyone away, and unfortunately doesn't sound mixed and mastered well. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Ain't Got a Clue, Want It, Thugs Calm Down

The cover art looks like someone surprised him with a photo. This release features three songs and a shout-out track, built on familiar G-funk samples. There’s nothing particularly standout here, and the vocals sound as if they were recorded with low-quality equipment.

This was a decent way for BDK to bow out. It follows from his last couple that are mostly just boom bap This one has decent highs, but too many average songs. Everything is decent or better but some of the decent ones just needed to have something extra for the album to be an overall higher standard. Id say too that this has the least creative experiments. There's nothing like a song with Dolemite, Barry White, bluesy moments etc that his previous albums have. If you like east coast boom bap with a hint of the late 90s sound, you'll get something out of this one. Best Tracks: Uncut Pure, La-La Land, Earth, Wind & Fire 1. Intro 2. Uncut, Pure 90 3. Entaprizin' 84 4. Girl Talk 5. Change the Game Around 60 6. La-La Land 90 7. Ole Tyme Bluez 8. 2 Da Good Timz 66 9. Fish Tandoori 10. Terra N Ya Era 70 11. Hold It Down 70 12. Daddy's Theme 13. Earth, Wind & Fire 80 14. Do U Really Know? 60 15. Shame - Prelude 16. Shame! 66 17. Last Night Episode 67 18. Definitely 64 19. Unda Presha 70 20. Outro 21. Uncut, Pure - Remix 74

This has always been my favourite Big Daddy Kane album. Revisiting it after going through his other albums, I think I slightly overrated it—but only slightly. That said, I’ve also gained a new appreciation for tracks like 'Sex According to the Prince of Darkness', which might be BDK’s best slow jam rap. The instrumentation is fantastic. Dolemite opens the song with his answer to what the definition of sex is: "Baby, sex is just like puttin’ money in the bank. Once you take it out, the interest is all gone." The album is structured in two halves—'Homicide' and 'Suicide'. The first half leans slightly heavier, while the second half kicks off with the aforementioned track, shifting the tone slightly. 'Brooklyn Style...Laid Out' features an excellent beat switch at the end that had a lot of potential—it’s a shame it wasn’t expanded into something more. Scoob Lover/Big Scoob appears on a few tracks, but his high-pitched voice doesn’t quite work. At times, he almost sounds like Eminem in his early days, and I’m not sure why he decided to rap like this. He was a contributor on Kane's earlier albums and he doesn't sound like this. 'Somebody’s Been Sleeping in My Bed' is a fun, bluesy track, adding to the album’s overall playful energy. Like Kane’s previous work, this is straight-up boom bap with sharp lyricism, but this time, it feels like he’s having a bit more fun. Where this album falls short compared to other classics from the era—and arguably Kane’s discography in general—is in its content. The themes don’t go much deeper than battle rhymes and braggadocio. The highlight, though, is 'That’s How I Did ’Em', a fiery diss to bootleggers. Beats: ★★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★★ Hooks: ★★★★ Best Tracks: Brooklyn Style... Laid Out, Lyrical Gymnastics, That's How I Did 'Em, Sex According to the Prince of Darkness, Somebody's Been Sleeping In My Bed --------------------- Old Review: I really like this album and it's my pick from Big Daddy Kane's discography. I feel the mid '90s Golden Age production throughout the whole album (some of which BDK produced himself), and with his brilliant flow BDK rides them well as usual. Lyrically maybe it ain't near the plethora of great '94 material in the genre, but for me as I can't love the early BDK material because I'm not a huge fan of the production, this release gives me a chance to enjoy his brilliant style and skill over beats more to my liking, and that's the kind of people who I'd recommend this to.