Amil Whitehead is discovered by Jay-Z in 1997 as part of the Major Coins group, she debuts solo on his album "Vol. 2" (1998) and in the same year she signs solo for Roc-A-Fella: she's the first female rapper to agree with the label and becomes the "First Lady of Roc-A-Fella". Amil becomes Jay-Z protégé, he constantly engages in the promotion of her debut album, spending time and energy, the girl makes several appearances, the rapper writes her verses and prefers her to Foxy Brown. Between 1998 and 2000, Amil is in four Hova singles that make the charts, her career is launched with what should be a rousing major debut, but the girl, at 26, doesn't seem ready for the industry.
The production is performed by Kareem Biggs, G. Roberson, EZ Elpee, Poke & Tone, Just Blaze, Jay "Waxx" Garfield, Ty Fyffe, Rockwilder and Chavon Henry. Production is a big word, excessive in this case, it has nothing to do with it. These guys provide very individual rhythms, they have no cohesion, there's no sound concept or anything even remotely similar: thirteen rhythms wander alone in the void for fifty minutes. I don't know how much budget the guys gave for the album, but they economized too much and you can hear it all the time. The girl can't rap nor sing. She speaks slowly throughout the record, her delivery style is one of the weakest, blander and sparser of the period, delivering much more in spoken word than in rap. Her constantly bewitching voice is forcibly sensual to the point of annoyance. Amil doesn't have the talent or the adequate personality to best interpret these generic and simplistic materialistic lyrics, which for the first time she writes herself removing the pen from Shawn Carter's hands: is much more evident than usual when a guest arrives, the brilliant Beyoncé completely obscures her with a flawless hook in the first single "I Got That" (which ranks on the rnb chart) on a really bad and weak production of Trackmasterz, while Carl Thomas sings better than her in "Quarrels".
With the exception of "Smile 4 Me", in which EZ Elpee randomly finds an acceptable beat, most of the songs feature one of the worst beat of the year, never accessible and too difficult to deal with for a watered-down rnb / pop rap / pseudo-rap record. None of the proposed solo tracks work, even attempts for the club and blatantly glossy tracks to attract listeners and radio airplays, fail. The drum machine is one of the worst of the season, in some cuts the midtempo rhythm it's a good idea, but the drum is bad and kills Amil's limp voice every time. I don't wanna talk about the samples. The only songs worth tackling are those featuring Jay-Z: his contribution is effortless, light-hearted, clearly uninspired and hampered by stammering and wobbly beats, and he's still superior in everything to Amil, she doesn't sound like the host of her own LP simply because there are a lot of solo songs.
The two singles are charted, the first is the one with Beyoncé, the second deserves a separate paragraph, is "4 da Fam". This is the strongest track on the album, it's incredible, unexpected after twelve weak tracks and rare saveable exceptions. Ty Fyffe brings the best rhythm of the album: sample from the main theme created by Roy Budd for the film "Fear is the Key" (1973), jamesbondian atmosphere, beautiful, cinematic rhythm, this production has nothing to do with everything else. In fact, originally, it's a song for Jay-Z's album, then it's inserted as a bonus track for Amil. It becomes the second posse track of The Dynasty / Roc La Familia group, after "Pop 4 Roc", a song from "Vol. 3" (1999), with the same performers. Intro by Amil, silky voice, bewitching, in small doses it works; then, Memphis Bleek's powerful hardcore entry, inspired, confident, at his best, he's awesome. It continues Beanie Sigel with a slow, fragmented, hardcore delivery, then Amil again, with a slow, velvety style, good lyrics, forget everything I wrote before, she can rap now. Jay-Z comes in almost talking and walks away in laid-back mode with a relaxed, clean, dope flow. The song is splendid, four stanzas, zero hooks.
Released by Roc-A-Fella, Columbia and Sony, the album is a flop with few precedents in the era of mainstream rap for a major: top 50 on the pop chart, 12 among hip-hop albums. After the release of the album, his contract with Roc-A-Fella ends and Amil leaves his career in the music industry for personal reasons. The project, first and last for Amil, goes down in history more due to the fact that Jay-Z and Beyoncé met for the first time in the recording studios for the album sessions than for the content of the album itself. Not recommended, 3.5/10.
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