An obvious step backwards for Black Thought which releases his third chapter of the "Streams of Thought" series, which is also his debut studio album at 49 y/o, that is, one of the most "expert" debuts in rap game history. After 9th Wonder ("Streams of Thought, Vol. 1") and Salaam Remi ("Streams of Thought, Vol. 2"), the Roots rapper relies on the production of Sean C of The Hitmen. Guests of his debut album are Pusha T, Killer Mike, Swizz Beatz, Schoolboy Q, CS Armstrong, OSHUN and the two main guests, Portugal the Man and The Last Artful Dodgr.
After the introductory track, piano with melodic sample, good electric guitar riff with amp, energetic skeletal drum and synthesized delivery, Sean C offers a jazzy sound carpet for "State Prisoner", lean energetic drum machine, ethereal melodic sample in the background and slow delivery hardcore by Black Thought, which also holds up the change of beat during the track. In "Good Morning", the beatmaker of the Puff Daddy production team, provides a great hardcore boom bap with a tight and energetic skinny drum: the MC of Philadelphia gets overtaken by both guests, with Pusha T slashes the cut with a slow flowing delivery, dope, and Killer Mike finally killing it with the final verse and devastating smoothness hardcore flow.
Decent hook by Swizz Beatz. In the fourth track, the production drops in quality due to a poor and mediocre jazzy rhythm, the rapper's smooth hardcore delivery doesn't find an appropriate sound support on which to spit his braggadocio bars. Skit, then "Quiet Trip": tight skinny drum machine, good jazzy boom bap, decent samples, quick delivery of Black Thought, light bridge on pop soul hook performed by Portugal, The Man & The Last Artful, Dodgr. These two guests stay for the next piece, "Nature of the Beast": Black Thought gets to sing, in a crossover cut with a decent pop production, where the rapper also proves he can sing, in case anyone ask. I didn't think it was necessary.
"We Could Be Good (United)" is another pretty monotonous and forgettable rnb crossover cut, with decent production and a CS Armstrong pop rnb chorus, good OSHUN that delivers few competent bars. "Steak Um" is supposed to be an easy banger on this tape, but something isn't working: the drum is wacky eccentric and tight, Sean C's jazzy boom bap doesn't affect, the Roots rapper isn't fit on this beat, while Schoolboy Q sounds better. The music doesn't improve in "Thought vs Everybody", bad rhythm with drum close to trap, mediocre, poor samples and cheap beat: only the smooth delivery of the MC saves this song. After a jazzy interlude, Portugal the Man and The Last Artful Dodgr return in "Fuel", where Black Thought expresses his latest personal and socio-conscious bars: slow, lean, energetic drum, Sean C's jazzy lo-fi boom bap, splendid ethereal sample, present for a few moments, the rapper delivers smoothly, then leaving room for the pop soul chorus. It closes an outro that resumes the introductory beat.
More than his first studio album, this effort looks like an EP stretched to 35 minutes, with 13 tracks, 4 skits, 3 solo cuts. The production of Sean C is surprisingly good, I mean that he makes you pleasantly fall asleep, which is far better than the standards he has accustomed hip-hop fans during his producing career alongside fellow LV: he makes few mistakes, and they're easily forgivable, on the whole, his work is forgettable. Black Thought confirms his reputation as a great-top lyricist, at the same time he builds clever bars, but can't find particularly punchy or inspired lyrics: he disappoints from this point of view, going to experience the rnb sung joints, which are difficult to contemplate. This short project blatantly leans towards the commercial part of the game in its middle section, with sleepy and mediocre tracks, even kept down by the lyrics: released by Republic Records, this short, erratic LP doesn't reward Black Thought's commercial efforts and is kept off the charts. After his third solo product, the rapper's reputation, acclaimed for years as one of the best lyricists in the circuit, isn't yet cemented by a clear classic album.
Rating: 7.2/10.
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