A channel I view on YouTube placed this as the best No Limit album which made me get around to checking this out. With what I had heard previously, I had Fiend's previous album, 'There's One in Every Family' as the best, so I always intended to listen to this. Fairly quickly, I disagreed with the ranking. After the intro, 'The Rock Show' tries to start the album with a hardcore banging track but it fails. From there is gets better though up until 'Get In 2 It ' with improved instrumentation and flows. This is a consistent enough album but enough high points aren't present and at times the production sounds too similar throughout the album making it drag on for a lot of the tail until the closer, 'Waiting on God', that is the strongest track. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: War 4 Reason, Get In 2 It, Trip to London, If They Don't Know, Waiting on God 1 Street Life 2 The Rock Show 50 3 Talk It How I Bring It 63 4 War 4 Reason 70 5 Get In 2 It 80 6 Ak'n Bad 70 7 Heart of a Ghetto Boy 70 8 Trip to London 75 9 The Truth Is 64 10 Been Thru It All 56 11 Mr. Whomp Whomp 70 12 I Was Placed Here 60 13 I'm Losing My Mind 60 14 They Don't Hear Me 50 15 If They Don't Know 74 16 Walk That Line 55 17 Waiting on God 88

"Be Now, Be Ill, Be Down, Be Real" Even if this is stacked with features, and kind of feels like a producer album, isn't it great to have the greatest to do it back? When I first heard the lead single, 'Be Ill', I loved it immediately. It's classic boom bap. I don't love the way Kurupt flows on it, and Rakim is easily the best verse, but it's still dope overall. As each further song dropped, my anticipation waned as they don't match the aforementioned track, but there is still some worthwhile music here. Some may be surprised at seeing Rakim as the producer, but he did produce a lot of the Rakim & Eric B music, so he's always been doing it, and the beats are on point. The features are mostly nice, but some of their content doesn't fit with Rakim's usual message in hip hop. 'International' has an amazing hook that uses previous Rakim's lines that is a large reason why it's one of the best songs. This album/EP is so easy to just play on a loop. It's only 7 songs, but it's the most consistently enjoyable 2024 project I've heard so far. Here's to a new Rakim solo album where we hear more from him. Minus one point for having Lenard Larry McKelvey on the album. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★★ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Be Ill, Now Is the Time, International 1. Be Ill 94 2. Now Is the Time 80 3. Love Is the Message 72 4. God's Playground 62 5. Pendulum Swing 70 6. International 90 7. Sign of Se7en 74

It's good to have Freeway back. He's been through a lot as he talks about throughout the album including his kidney disease and tragically losing two children. He's been an underrated rapper over his career, but I do find Stimulus Package 1 overrated, so let's see what this is like. It begins okay. 'Time' is decent, then 'Philly' is better. The high-pitched sample in 'My Own' is overpowering and annoyingly repetitive and it makes it the worst song by far. Aren't we past producers just looping four bars worth of instrumental repeatedly throughout a song? 'Keep Winning' is good, but again, the looping could do something else. It hardly changes for the duration of the song. A lot of the loops Jake One has created aren't anything special. Freeway's best songs in my opinion are ones like 'All My Life', 'It's Over', 'Microphone Killa', 'Jungle' and 'Around the World' with their thumping energy and a catchy hook. There's not enough of that on this project. In saying that, the song that best does these things, with a memorable hook, that has different musical elements to the verses and more energy is the closer, 'Family Tree'. 'Crystals and Keys' has a Rick Ross type hook with strong instrumentation making it one of the best. 'Freezer' has more bounce and a memorable hook. I don't like the single, 'RIngin', much. "Phone keep ringin' ringin' ringin' ringin'". The hook is weak. 'Heartbreaker' has an odd poppy hook for a Freeway song. On initial listens, this didn't do much for me, and while it has grown on me, there's nothing here I'm loving with a few skips. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Philly, Keep Winning, Freezer, Family Tree Time (feat. Conway the Machine) 63 Philly (feat. Peedi Crack) 70 My Own (feat. Sauce Walka) 30 Keep Winning (feat. Black Thought) 66 Price of Fame 54 Lord Forgive Me 60 Freezer 74 RIngin (feat. Jadakiss) 50 Heartbreaker 50 Nothin They Can Do 60 Crystals and Keys (feat. Scholito) 70 Bearded Legend 66 Surgery (feat. Symba) 68 Family Tree 80

This one is a well produced fun album. I love Rodney O's 'U Don't Hear Me Tho' that's used in 'Workout', so it was nice to hear that reworked. The sample, ('Fred Wesley's 'Up For The Downstroke') used in probably my favourite Pac song, 'Heartz of Men', is reused by Quik in 'Eazy Call'. Unfortunately the song ain't coming close to Pac's. There are some other very familiar samples that I usually have mixed feelings about, but I think it's done in a way that just isn't over doing it. Best Tracks: Dern & Spruce, Workout, Chupa's Groove, Ayo

This is the only '98 No Limit album without a feature from Master P which maybe suggests it wasn't given the love of other releases. After a number of spins, there isn't one song that has stood out to me. Snoop really wasn't trying on some of his No Limit features and we hear it again here with an underwhelming verse on 'Gangsta Shit'. A lot of it sounds really similar, has similar themes, being just another No Limit gangsta rap album. 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind', with a softer sung hook, is basically the only song that changes it up. The choruses aren't memorable partly due to the instrumentation not changing up enough as don't the vocals. At this point in my journey through No Limit's discography, it's the worst one. Beats: ★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★ Hooks: ★☆ Best Tracks: Quickest Way to Die, I'm Gonna Hustle, Out of Sight Out of Mind