Second studio album by South Central Cartel, LA collective consisting of Cary "Havoc" Calvin, Austin "Prodeje" Patterson, Brian "Havikk the Rhime Son" West, Christian "Jam-O-Rama" Johnson, Gregory "DJ Kaos" Scott, Larry "LV" Sanders, Patrick "Young Prodeje" Pitts (making his debut in the group), Perry "DJ Gripp" Rayson and Richard "DJ Ace" Ascencio. The production is made exclusively by Prodeje and Havikk the Rhime Son, along with some co-products and live instrumentalists.
The record opens with a mediocre cut, featuring Murder Squad: tight cheap drum, mediocre samples, probably annoying synths and tight xmas bells in the background. The beat is just noise on which the boys spit something. A musically better track follows, jazzy boom bap with honest samples and pounding drum, slow and tight, lively syncopated delivery of the performers. The third choice has a mediocre production, preceding "Gang Stories", piece with Big Mike of Geto Boys & Tre-Duce: the first guest is clearly one of the best on this LP, with a good style over a funky boom bap more melodic than usual, tight drum machine and mediocre samples, the other rappers are decent.
"Seventeen Switches" is one of the worst cuts: horribly cheap and annoying synths, poor drum pounding, weak samples, the guys' quick syncopated delivery doesn't improve the sound. The sixth song is still bad, a sort of ballad with mobb rhythm and rnb hook. "Do It SC Style" is generic, followed by a skit leading to "Had to Be Loc'd": good rapping by the group on an honest funky beat. The 10th choice remains gangsta and features a pounding midtempo drum and generic rhythm.
The following track boasts great samples and quality g-funk / mobb rhythm, with tight, pounding, yet light and accessible drum, rnb hook, and a calm, smooth and relaxed delivery of performers. The music improves in this section, with two more solid pieces, "Stay Out da Hood" is another relaxed joint with accessible and slow drum pounding, samples mobb and a flowing rap, while the following track is more robust. Track number fourteen is lean with a metallic downtempo drum, precedes "Gangsta Team", the highlight of the edition: boom bap funky, honest samples, frantic drum pounding skeletal and tight, Prodeje opens a battle rap with 2Pac, Ice-T, MC Eiht and Spice 1.
Havoc makes intro, hook and outro, then, after Prodeje's opening verse, Tupac arrives and delivers bars closer to the socio-political, with a smooth and rapid style. Ice-T maintains an immaculate, dope flow, followed by Compton's Most Wanted MC, which boasts slower and smoother rapping. It closes Spice 1, inspired, quick, good style. Great cut. The thanks on downtempo drum close the disc before two bonus tracks, the first on samples mobb and skeletal downtempo drum, on which the guys deliver in a relaxed style, the second on funky production with cheerful samples and tight metallic drum, greeted by light-hearted bars.
The production is funky, minimal and forgettable, while the rapping is decent and lies on generic gangsta themes, including guns, drugs, sex, murder and gangsterism. This record isn't far off your bland and mediocre gangsta CD, but it's hard not to see the improvement the crew has made over their shoddy early debut. At 18 pieces and 70 minutes, the LP is too long and has a few cracks filled with carefree tracks. Def Jam wakes up late and realizes that they're making good money on the West Coast, starting a branch for the other coast, DJ West (Def Jam West), and focusing on secondary artists: South Central Cartel is one of the first acts to sign with the label, probably the fourth after Boss, Mel-low and Shug. The record is released by the group's label, GWK, and by Rush Associated Label, being distributed by Polygram: it gets a good commercial success, reaching the top 40 among pop records and fourth in the rap chart, before the group disappeared from mainstream hip-hop radars. It's not an essential listen for gangsta rap fans either.
Rating: 6/10.
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