Debut album by Domingo "Dom Pachino" Del Valle, rapper of Puerto Rican descent, native of Manhattan, raised in Stapleton, Staten Island. He meets 9th Prince, with whom he later forms Killarmy. In 2002 he made his debut as independent with his first solo album released under its Napalm Recordings.
The rhythms are produced by Dom Pachino, Rebel Dainja, 4th Disciple, Mathematics, Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Seven Wounds, Falling Down, Ev Price, Suki, and Aasaan. Ninth Prince of Killarmy is the main guest, the others are Killa Sin of Killarmy, Rubberbandz of GP Wu, Shyheim, Chi Chi, Mateo and TMF (Trife and No Smiles aka Tommy Whispers). Killarmy are credited as guests on "Roll with the Rush", however, only 9th Prince participates in the posse track.
In general, as a studio album, it doesn't go a long way to stand out in one of hip-hop's lean periods. The underground scene is still heavily influenced by Capone-N-Noreaga and their thug rap and this is an almost entirely thug rap product. There's a lot of bragging, battle rap and confusing lyrics that revolve around violence, crime, women, money, materialism, weapons. The rapping is decent in these fifty minutes, even if there's no talent for hooks in sight. The music is the most generic the East Coast can offer in the early 2000s, the beats are cheap and simplistic, without inventiveness. There's a Mathematics beat, a 4th Disciple beat, both below average. 4th Disciple is credited two more times, but they're for Dom Pachino excerpts borrowed from Killarmy tracks. Nobody seems to try hard in this effort.
It's not essential to the w-symbol stans, and it's not totally bad, the first part is honest, then it staggers into the second half. Among the few positive notes, Killa Sin in "Pete Rock / Marley Marl Freestyle" brings out a verse with a flow worthy of one of the top ten rap albums of the year. 5/10.
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