After releasing his solo debut ("Heavy Mental") and the first album with the group Sunz of Man ("The Last Shall Be First") within a few months of 1998, Killah Priest separates from Wu-Tang and Sunz of Man, who do without him while the Brooklyn rapper decides to continue "he against the world". As per the tradition of the supergroup, the artist changes his moniker to Masada, an acronym for Most Analyzing Situations And Drama Artistically.
The production is entrusted to Daddy Rose, Just Blaze (almost at the debut), LZA, Buddah, Shamello, Q-Base, Wiz and Curt Gowdy, while the guests are The Maccabeez (Killah Priest, Daddy Rose and Saulhaudin), Black Rose Kartel (Daddy Rose, Saulhaudin, Goldie Mack), Hot Flames, Kavalier, Ras Kass and Canibus — with the latter two and Kurupt, Killah Priest in the same period forms the supergroup The Four Horsemen.
The absence of Wu on the second album of what is believed to be the most important affiliate of the New York supergroup, may not even be noticed by casual listeners and go unnoticed even among fans, being effectively overshadowed by the various problems that plague this project. In an impartial way, you can find the same obstacles that drowned all the other sophomores distributed by the boys of the Wu-Tang Clan during the second wave, between 1997 and 2000, in which this release of Killah Priest is fully part of.
The production chosen by the rapper is cheap, scarce and imprecise, pseudo-experimental, from this bad selection only a few rhythms are saved (some of Just Blaze and Daddy Rose). Lyrically, the Brooklyn MC spits out both religious bars with constant biblical references and violent lines, approaching gangsta rap: Masada boasts good rap and has a decent style, however, his lyrics aren't very inspired and everything in here screams "lazy" at every minute, over messy and incoherent music.
The singles "What Part of the Game", in which Ras Kass participates, and "I'm Wit That" are extracted from the LP, and they don't get a good response from the public. None of the tracks chosen to make this sophomore jinx manage to capture the listener's attention. The horrible cover chosen for this project doesn't help to push the sales, Killah Priest is also one of the first affiliates to give up the Wu-Tang Clan logo on his records.
Released by the MCA, this is Killah Priest's latest album to hit the Billboard charts, entering the top 20 hip-hop releases, and it's a heavy fall in style (not like that of Raekwon with the second album, closer to that of GZA or Gravediggaz), marking the end of his short period in the mainstream circuit and the beginning of a phase of decline for him. Following the flop of this album, MCA broke the agreement with the artist and Killah Priest founded his own independent label, Proverbs Music. 5/10.
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