Like all the others that preceded it and many who will follow it, it arrives as an appetizer for the sequel to Rick Diamonds' debut. This official mixtape of Raekwon The Chef is made in collaboration with J Love: it's an abridged version of "Only Build for the Streets Part 2", from which eleven tracks are cut, for a final total of 20 songs and about three quarters of listening time.
Guests are Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, RZA, Polite, Busta Rhymes, Macy Gray, and Ill Bill. Don't sleep on the production: most of the beats are credited to RZA, J Dilla and Pete Rock, while Eric B. and Mondee have a beat each. The Abbot is the author of six beats, Jay Dee makes five productions, Pete Rock four. At first listen, you may not even notice that a large part of the tape is made up of beats by the Detroit producer, despite the good quality of its soundscapes.
"State of Grace" is recorded while Lex Diamonds & Tony Starks are in Miami working on some records, including the infamous "RAGU" collab mixtape. RZA provides the two MCs with some of its own beats and Shallah takes this: it's one of the very few tracks released after 1997 where you can find RZA and Raekwon together, The Abbot recites the intro, then leaves room for Lou Diamonds. The song boasts an intro skit straight from one of the iconic opening scenes of "Scarface" (1983), when Tony and Manny are in Miami, and is one of the best moments of Raekwon's decade.
The tape is made up of tracks already released in the past by the rapper, with the curiosity of having a track from every Vatican mixtape released up to now: among these stands out "Enemy", which has a beat by J Dilla and an excellent contribution by Ill Bill. The final section is very strong and features several gems, including a couple of re-releases of "North Star", bonus track that closes his debut album, first on an elegant piano scale accompanied by a dirty and dusty drum downtempo ("Wu Tang Production"), then in the final song of the same name which is the original one, leaving the celestial rhythm and the impeccable rap of the interpreter untouched. Popa Wu is credited somewhere even if his contribution is cut, while you can listen to Ol' Dirty BZA singing in background, and he's not credited.
Between these two tracks, there's a new mix of "C.R.E.A.M." in "Life's Hectic", with the same beat masterpiece by Bobby Steels and a different lyrics by Raekwon and Inspectah Deck and "Sneakers", which is the original track of "Immobilarity", excellent rap on a top notch production of Pete Rock that was not adequately appreciated at the time of the album's release and remains one of the best "hidden" / "underrated" productions of the Mount Vernon producer.
The tape is excellent at times and would be a must-listen for any Raekwon fan, if it weren't for the fact that J Love feels compelled to repeat his name and his tag in every song every fifteen seconds above the performers' rap, completely ruining the fluidity of the tape and killing almost all the tracks. If you can handle this, the triple c mixtape is a good showcase of Lex Diamonds talent. 7/10.
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