The fourth album of the Queensbridge duo C-N-N is the sequel of their debut. To provide rhythms there are guys who have already worked in the past with the two rappers, including Alchemist, Scram Jones, Buckwild, Hazardis Sounz, Kyze, Araabmuzik, DJ Green Lantern, Just Blaze, Neo da Matrix, Tha Bizness and Spk. Raekwon is the main guest of the LP. The other guests are Faith Evans, envelope Rhymes, Nas, The LOX, Musolini, Imam Thug and Avery Storm. Tracklist is tight.
The album is opened by The Alchemist, which provides a solid dark boom bap to support hardcore delivery of Capone-N-Noreaga. "Bodega Stories" is one posse with LOX, they are all three with short stanzas between the initial of Noreaga and the final of Capone on a rhythm of Scram Jones which is similar to the previous, dark. Rappers spit hardcore, but not as good as before. The number three track is the second produced by Scram Jones, which with two rhythms on fifteen is the best committed beatmaker in the disc: the rhythm is dark, disturbing, simplistic, the interpreters deliver bars with a slow style that feeds the claustrophobic feeling of production, Raekwon easily better than others. Dreddy K. Amarae realizes a heavy and confused rhythm for the next track, while BT presents the worst rim of the disc: totally annoying boom bap, the sample would also be good perhaps, but not flipped to overtake the rap of the CNN.
"Hood Pride" boasts Faith Evans in the hook on a musical carpet of Neo da Matrix who pays homage to "Still D.R.E.", Capone-N-Noreaga are obsessed with this song: hardcore delivery of rappers, good energetic chorus by Evans, but at the track is missing something to rise among the best of the LP. The Chef raised up "The Reserves", on a maliciously simplistic production of Tha Bizness in which CNN deliver in a bland way. "With me" it's quite interesting: Buckwild light jazzy beat, Nas hardcore intro, it opens Noreaga with lots of energy and Escobar continues with the second verse, then Capone. This CNN track is produced by Buckwild and presents Nas as a guest. It should be one of the best songs of the duo, instead, it's one of the worst of the album, everything goes wrong.
The track is so confused that Nasty NaS contribution seems simplistic and elementary, faltering, excessively simple: the metric scheme of him is elementary and weak, it doesn't seem realized by him. After it arrives Capone, but the track deserves at least another listening to understanding what really happened. In fact, Buckwild's rhythm isn't incredible as it seems initially to be, it's not at its level, But Nas delivers one of the most embarrassing verses he has ever recorded, I refuse to believe that that stuff is wrote by him. The next track is bouncy, with synthesized elements and the typical sad beats mood performed by SPK: the duo spits worthily, the track isn't memorable.
In "The Oath" something curious happens that is more in positioning the interpreters than in music or in lyricism: the boom bap of Hazardis Soundz is heavy, jazz, glossy, good, Noreaga and Capone hardcore, then Shallah Raekwon and Busta Rhymes to tear the song, which is certainly among the best of the disc. There are four skits in different languages before the respective stanzas, what is curious is putting the verse of Chef Raekwon after the skit in French and not after the skit in Italian: it's pretty strange, because the legend of the Wu-Tang Clan has based most of its discography on music inspired by the world of Italian-American organized crime. Not only that skit is in Italian, is in Sicilian dialect, if I'm not mistaken. It's disorienting to listen to Capone after a skit in Sicilian and not Lex Diamonds. Having said that, it's one of the best songs in the discography of Capone and Noreaga, so, I don't have much to complain. Perhaps, it's also the best cuts of the disc.
"Brother From Another" has a bouncy and cheap beat of Kyze, the boys aren't particularly inspired on this rhythm. "Thug Planet" is plagued by a heavy musical carpet by Tony Heathciff, the rappers spit average, Imam Thug doesn't stand out, Musaliny, as usual, isn't good over a distinctly cheerful beat, preferring most melancholy background. "Scarface" is one of the few tracks without guests, CNN are without energy and provide a ridiculous hook on a heavy and bad production of Araabmuzik. M3 is the beatmaker of "The Corner", he doesn't do a good job in his choice, creating a heavy and ugly rhythm based on a whistle in the background, this is a sort of bad ballad. The album is closed by a decent and light piece produced by Green Lantern, C-N-N deliver in a grey way.
There's not a lot of imagination. Look at the cover, it's an identical copy of the debut, only the title changes. Look at the title. The texts are thug and brag, street, there's not much material, but it's offset by a raw hardcore delivery. There's a good production, for some reason, it sounds better than usual, and Capone-N-Noreaga are accompanied by different competent performers that fill the numerous gaps normally present in the duo albums. The final project is irregular and inconsistent, for once, after ten years, is decent: Nore and Capone, together, manage to do what they had failed to do alone in recent years, that is, a good album. Many give credit to Raekwon: the Wu MC comes from the success of the public and criticism that has found its "Only Built" sequel and now also CNN tries to make a debut sequel. Lex Diamonds is the executive producer of the disc and publishes it through its H2O, that has an EMI distribution: at the time of this writing is the one and only album released by Rae label that isn't a record by him. There's a good audience response, the tape arrives among the top ten between the independent outputs and in the top 20 of the rap discs. For some reason, also Busta Rhymes is credited among executive producers, I can't capacity. I don't want to know. There are good tracks, curiously the one with Nas isn't among the highlights, and overall, the album isn't essential for the random listener. 6/10.
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