You have to put your hands in your hair. Or on the bald head, as the case may be. Guru's fourth studio album, the first not to be part of his famous Jazzmatazz series and not to be tagged under Gang Starr, is below expectations. 72 minutes divided into 19 tracks, just 4 soloists.
The rest of the songs have two or three guests each time. Well-known names run out in the first twenty-five minutes and almost all happen on bad beats, dull boom baps that don't tell you anything. They're not even looking at you. "Back 2 Back" isn't DJ Premier's best beat, but it's still not totally bad, in any case, the track doesn't stay in history. Edo G, Ice-T and Treach are all on poor productions. The most interesting cut is the Wu-Tang Killa Beez posse "In Here", where The Alchemist creates a nice rhythm for the bars of the representatives of Royal Fam, Sunz of Man and Harlem 6.
Then, the quality of the production decreases, the quality of the performers is considerably lowered, and the record finds itself welcoming performances by amateurs who are unable to enhance the songs and leave nothing to the listener. There's another rhythm of Alchemist ("Collectin 'Props"), but it's not as good as the previous one. There's a good rhythm of Pete Rock ("Pimp Shit"), on which the rap leaves a lot to be desired. Among the surprises behind the keyboards, Adam West does a good job on "The Come Up", finding performers in front of him not up to elevating that dark and elegant musical choice. If it's true that the guests aren't up to the occasion, Guru presents himself in a bad condition, listless, lacking in energy, static both lyrically and technically. The disc religiously places thug and braggadocio as the only themes and doesn't foresee particular variations, there's not much inspiration. The rapper leaves Virgin Records and goes independent, releasing the product with Landspeed, and inevitably moving away from the charts, in a disk that marks the descent towards the worst part of his career. Not recommended, 4/10.
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