What you've got here is some enjoyable mainstream R&B. While lacking a great song, ('Breathe' could be argued to fit into that category), the consistency is quite high from go to whoa with a number of different sounds present. Blu's mum was a jazz singer and that come-up shows on some songs. This album does interestingly have three songs from her debut; 'Hit 'Em Up Style (Ooops!)', 'All You Had to Say' and 'Swingin'', that is odd to see. Perhaps it was to try to capitalise on the success of 'Breathe'. Surprisingly, after being nominated for best R&B album at the Grammys and having the hit, 'Breathe, minus a single and mixtape or two, this was the last we've heard from Blu. If you enjoy the '90s/early '00s sounding R&B, that is a genre that doesn't seem to exist in the mainstream anymore, this and her debut are worth checking out. Best Tracks: I Love You, Sleep in the Middle, Breathe (Rap Version), Hit 'Em Up Style (Ooops!), Don't Wanna Say Goodbye, All You Had to Say, Holding on to Love, Swingin'

As anyone who has heard it will know, 'Teardrops' is amazing. The following 'Good Man Monologue' is another one of the better songs. The funky closer 'Celebrate the World' feels a touch like the O'Jays 'Love Train'. Those aside, the other songs don't get me too engaged. Best Tracks: Teardrops, Good Man Monologue

Lately I've been checking out some underheard/lesser known hip hop acts through a kind of 5 degrees of separation thing and here I am with Partners-N-Crime who actually had impressive longevity dropping projects for 20 years from '94. And after being on some lesser known labels, here they land on Rap-A-Lot. Once you hit play I think 'Poo Shooter' will be the first song to make your ears prick up with it's unexpected chorus - "Shake that poo shooter." My ears also pricked up due to the reggae-esque production that I didn't expect after the title track. Elsewhere, there is lots of variety. As the title suggests, the first and titular song is a decent banger, and 'Ohhh' fits into that category as well being backed by electric guitars. 'You Ain't Never' brings in the R&B/pop rap feel and others toe the line between pop rap and street rap nicely. 'Do It Baby' gives off a Miami bass/2 Live Crew vibe. 'Love Jones'' picks up the soul and emotion, sampling 'Love Jones' by Brighter Side of Darkness. It would've been better to end the album with that than going back to a sex themed track with 'That's the Way' to close it out. In some of the recent albums I've checked out, I have wanted more variety in the production department, but I couldn't say that about this album. It's easy to differentiate between the tracks after a spin or two. I've saved a couple of songs to go back to and while there are some "meh" tracks, like 'My P.N.C', it's a fun enough album. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Club Bangaz, You Ain't Never, Don't Hate Me, Love Jones'

The first season in Europe is 'decent', as Bubbles would say, but the second season set in the US has a lot more boring moments and the episodes are more repetitive - Bubbles whinging, threatening to leave the crew, they make up the next scene, rinse and repeat.

This was G-Slimm's first and last album as he was fatally shot in '96. The album is known as a classic in some southern rap circles, but how much of that has to do with his passing is something I would question. If you remove the three bonus tracks, that are just clean versions of other songs on the album, this is a short album with a running time of 40-minutes. The title track and opener is a good bouncy song but then it does take a while to have anything that is truly worth replays with the second half of the album being an improvement on the first. 'Gone in the Wind' was the first moment that made my ears prick up. It has such a catchy hook (the highlight of the album) that G-Slimm missed the boat in not giving it another loop. Other hooks could be better as well. 'Live to be a Man' has a familiar sample ('Curious' by Midnight Star, also sampled on Warren G's 'This D.J', 'What's on Your Mind' by Eric B. & Rakim and many others) and the verses bump, but the sung hook isn't mint. 'Mama Pray for Me' has a similar issue. Something else worth noting is that Mystikal raps a verse on 'Back on My Block" that he would basically recite word for word in an improved performance, that is even more energetic, on 'I'm' from his solo album, 'Mind of Mystikal', that was released in '95. There isn't a lot of bad hip hop from the mid-'90s, and this is another enjoyable project from arguably the greatest year, but some songs come and go and the best moments could be better. Being a short album, there isn't enough great stuff I've taken away from it. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Fours Deuces & Trays, Gone in the Wind, Live to be a Man