"Hip Hop Lives" opens a period of collaborations for KRS-One, which continues in 2009 with this record made together with Buckshot. For the rapper of Boogie Down Productions this is the second collaborative LP and the fourteenth since he embarked on a solo career, for the rapper of Boot Camp Clik is the third collaborative. Production is handled by 9th Wonder, Havoc, Marco Polo, Black Milk, Coptic, DJ Mentplus, Illmind, Khrysis, Nottz and MoSS. The guests are Mary J. Blige, DJ Revolution, Rock, Sean Price, Smif N Wessun, Loudfmouf Choir, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, Immortal Technique, Naledge, Melanie Fiona, Slug, Bounty Killer and K'naan.
KRS-One and Buckshot are two New York MCs, both Brooklyn natives, Parker grew up in the Bronx. They have decent chemistry, not great, and feature only one "solo" track out of fourteen, the rest being covered by guests. Production is tough, accessible and robust most of the time, thanks to competent beatmakers, a rarity in KRS's discography in the new millennium. The two main performers deliver worthily by constructing honest tracks whose themes resume a little those treated in the collaborative record of KRS-One together with Marley Marl and a few variations, including the denunciation of autotune in "ROBOT". Guests do their homework without leaving any particular traces, no one impresses among Heltah Skeltah, Smif N Wessun, Kweli, Monch, Slug and Immortal Technique.
The product is quite consistent, it drops a bit in the final part, but it's acceptable considering one hour of material. Released by Duck Down with whom KRS has signed, the album gets a generally positive response from reviewers and audiences. 6/10.
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