"Nobody's that good of an actress." I had to laugh at that line that is heard half way through the film. Drew isn't a brilliant actor, but she is pretty damn bad in this. It feels like a high school film project in parts. I gotta admit though, that birthing from a slug ending was unexpected. What the .....?!
After two pretty great albums, this one doesn't quite work as well. It's all still consistently enjoyable funky west coast mobb music, but the high moments aren't as great. Pooh is a hard rapper to find information on, but perhaps with the title, and some of the content on the album, some of this was rushed out due to some criminal case and that is why there are more featuring artists on this project compared to his previous albums. But that's just an assumption.
It's still definitely a worthy album, but took a tad longer to stick than his previous couple where the best stood out from the first play. The album is somewhat front loaded with many of the best songs being in the first half a dozen songs, but there is nothing unlikeable.
Beats: ★★★★
Rapping/Bars: ★★★★
Hooks: ★★★★
Best Tracks: Sentenced to Five, God Forgive Me, Don't Fuck Wit My Money, Bad Dreams, Use Ta Be My Homie!!, When I Come Home
Average start with 'Death Before Dishonor' being the worst cut largely due to the sound and hook with a singer I don't like. All in all, it's a decent 40 minutes of east coast g rap but nothing to write home about with a number of tracks that aren't engaging enough. You kind of know what you're getting with Styles. At times I find the way he raps and rhymes a tad grating. The featuring artist, Bucky, steals the show on the penultimate song with a strong presence over a hard beat just spitting for three-minutes straight.
Best Tracks: Porsche Lights, I Ain't Doing 2 Much, Blood Money, Cried on Sunday
If you like some quick spitting and boom bap, you'll get something out of this short album. At the same time though, this definitely isn't reinventing the wheel and the sound will be quite familiar for fans of the genre. The best is the DJ Premier produced 'Leave It Alone'.
Best Tracks: Leave It Alone, Chromed Out
There are some decent moments. Alan Arkin trying to act as a hard ass police chief, the Mike Myers beat poetry, and the paranoid state Mike gets in should make for a better movie than it is, but it all comes together to be fairly unmemorable in the end. 2-2.5/5