This one is consistently decent and better than I expected given the reputation it has. Loon was never one of the stronger rappers on Bad Boy. Black Rob, G. Dep and Shyne were all more engaging from around this era, but he has a relaxed, laid-back flow that can be enjoyable. While I don't agree with them calling Carl Thomas "always-skippable", NOW Magazine's description of Loon "sounding like a slightly more awake Mase" is fairly apt. The issue though is there’s nothing here for Loon to really hang his hat on. I can play this front to back and bop along, but there’s nothing on here that hits A-tier. The producer list has some big names including Scott Storch, Bink!, Buckwild and an up-and-coming Akon (with 'Like a Movie'), but again, none of the beats wow. The whole album leans a lot more pop rap than those other Bad Boy names I just mentioned. There’s still some gangsta rap in the bars, but the overall vibe (production, themes and R&B hooks) stays pop most of the time. I also can’t not mention the interludes. 'Barbershop (Interlude)' is a standard skit of a bootlegger getting beat up for selling Loon’s albums, but 'Pimpin’ Ken (Interlude)' feels terribly acted (and probably terribly written) for the female voice actor. Her responses to the pimp just sound odd. 'Down for Me' feels like the part 2 (or 3?) to 'I Need a Girl'. Some lyrics in the hook caught my ear - “I want a woman that'll wash my hair (My hair).” I’m not sure Loon is focusing on the right priorities, or he wants his mother... Overall, if you can stomach pop rap, this is a surprisingly listenable but ultimately forgettable record. It’s pleasant enough to leave on, but there’s nothing here that sticks to your ribs, and no single track that elevates Loon into a must-hear artist. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★☆ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: How You Want That, Down for Me, Story, Things You Do

“Where would this shit be if I never came through? / ’Cause these niggas keep reheatin’ the same soup / McDonald's be sellin' more burgers than For The Win / But at the end of the day, the quality is shit, don't trip." Ironically, those bars could be describing this album itself. Fifteen tracks of the same-sounding material, rehashing what these two have been doing of late. I’m bored of this kind of hip hop. Listener after listener call it “safe,” "basic," or “boring,” and they’re right, but they still hand out 3.5/5 like participation trophies. Standards are way too low and there are way too many conformists. We generally admire art because it does something we can’t. Great rappers make you feel that gap, but here, you don’t. There’s no bouncy flows, no sharp delivery, no commanding mic presence, nothing that makes you rewind a line. Especially with Alchemist. That slow flow, that you need no talent to do, where you could drive a bus between each bar is a style I've always disliked, and he leans on it hard here. There are a few clever lines (assuming they wrote them), but way too much empty brag rap too. Hit-Boy fares better on the mic. Take 'Show Me the Way' as an example. It's a 4/10 track until he steps in and gives the repetitive beat some life to increase the quality. The first couple of songs are passable, with the second standing out mostly thanks to heavier drums. These two need to take a step back and stop releasing every half-baked beat they touch. Give us something that moves. Something that surprises. This same formula of looped soul samples and dusty textures dragged out for three minutes for a whole album needs to die. No hooks, no energy. Too few seem to know how to write a hook anymore or value it. Aside from the drums kicking in around the 30-second mark on something like 'Home Improvement', there’s almost nothing new to hear from the instrumentation if you've listened to the first 10-seconds of songs. Honestly, even if this were my favourite rapper, I couldn’t try to convince myself that this kind of looping monotony is special. There are a few moments where the instrumentation slows or shifts slightly but that's when the songs are all but over. This happened on Mobb Deep's new album too - also partly produced by The Alchemist. And as if the lifeless loops weren’t dull enough, we get Boldy James on 'Not Much' sounding like he just woke up from a 20-year coma. Give me some fu**ing energy! This is another wildly overrated album from two respected artists who should know better. How hard is it to make a few seconds worth of a loop and stretch it for a few minutes? Especially for guys at this supposed level. It’s lazy, uninspired, and people will keep pretending it’s great even while calling it “safe” and “boring” before never listening to it again. Beats: ★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★ Hooks: ☆ Best Tracks: Business Merger, Walk in Faith

The beats are solid but rarely more, and honestly it confirms why I’m not expecting too much from Premo's upcoming collab with Nas. I’m also pretty over DJ Premier’s scratched vocals as hooks/outros that you hear a lot here and it’s repetitive. The clear standout, as the track ratings currently show, is ‘Survivors Remorse’ because it has melody and a proper hook. The next best, ‘Reinvention’, has some of the strongest rapping and content on the project. I haven't loved Ransom from the few projects I've heard from him but I probably find him more appealing here when he's at his best. It's an EP at only six songs long, so it's easy to digest, but 'Survivors Remorse' aside, there is nothing close to great to save for later. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★ Best Tracks: Survivors Remorse, Reinvention

After hearing so much modern hip hop that lacks energy, like the last album I listened to, 'Goldfish' from Hit-Boy & The Alchemist, it’s refreshing to press play on an album and have the beats and raps get your head bouncing right from the start. Not everything here is great. Some beats sound dated, but G Dep brings enough flow variety and mic presence to make a few average beats hit harder than they should. It starts strong. The first two tracks are bangin. The single, 'Special Delivery', opens with Puff yelling and saying nothing for over a minute. It’s absolutely mental. 'Keep It Gangsta' with Shyne suffers from a weak hook: “We them niggas with big guns and big dicks / Flood ya block, and keep it gangsta / We them niggas with big guns and big dicks / Coke them rocks, and keep it gangsta.” Who is rapping along to that? It’s not just the lyrical content. The flat delivery from Shyne and the lack of any instrumental change make the track fall flat. Like his Bad Boy label mate Black Rob did with 'Thug Story', G Dep reworks another classic with 'Doe Fiend', which is his take on Eric B. & Rakim’s 'Microphone Fiend'. Other tracks of note include 'Smash on the First Night' that has some nice bounce despite being another predictable sex track. 'I Am' features legends Rakim and Kool G Rap, though, maybe it's just me, but Rakim’s voice sounds higher-pitched than usual. As he often did, Carl Thomas helps deliver one of the album’s best moments with 'It’s All Over'. It could have been tighter if it cut a few interludes and some of Diddy’s unnecessary yelling, but overall this is a solid and underrated album. I’d still rank Black Rob’s Bad Boy projects higher, but this one deserves more credit than it gets. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Everyday, Child of the Ghetto, I Am, It's All Over

Who better to hunt down a criminal than Tommy Lee Jones? Unfortunately, that’s also the film’s biggest problem. He’s more than 20 years older than Benicio del Toro, yet somehow runs like Hicham El Guerrouj despite a visible limp, and still manages to outfight a man supposedly among the world’s most dangerous, with the stealth of Batman, no less. Any sense of believability evaporates from the start. The plot feels thin and underdeveloped too, lacking that extra layer of depth or emotion that stronger entries in the genre like Rambo or The Fugitive deliver.