Sophomore album for the man with one-ring-less-than-Kobe, on his second effort in the world of rap music. O'Neal is supported by the production of RZA, Erick Sermon, Redman, Warren G, Chyskillz, The LG Experience and LoRider, while the guests on the album are some of the best rappers of the period, Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray, Warren G, Prince Rakeem The RZA and Method Man, as well as Ill Al Skratch, General Sha and Mr. Ruffneck.
The production sounds mainly East Coast, except for some g-funk tracks at the beginning of the LP ("Biological Didn't Bother" and "My Dear"): boys make simple boom baps, composed of hard pounding and slow, rough and metallic drums, and easy generic samples, xmas bells, random horns, cheerful and fresh sounds that release relaxed vibes. On this accessible landscape, this improvised rapper delivers decent performance, with a calm, slow, syncopated, flowing, all-too-relaxed delivery style, albeit better than the one in the early days.
Distributed by Jive, the album sells well and is gold in two months, hitting the top 20 among rap records and also going well among the pop chart: while the debut has an intimidating cover, here's a "female cover", to boost sales of the product. Made up of 11 songs and 43 minutes of listening, Shaq improves flow, rapping and rhythms, but he's not yet an MC: bringing in level performers such as Wu-Tang, EPMD and affiliates (Redman is curiously close to both groups), the boy relaxes thinking they can pull the whole album. However, they are featured in 3 of 11 tracks, enough to save the record, but few to be good: in fact, for the rest of the project, Shaq struggles, with tired and sweaty rapping, monotonous, weak and mediocre lyrics. The few strong points are worthy of a mention, listening is not essential.
Highlights: "No Hook". Boom bap by RZA, extravagant and dark samples combined with a hard and pounding drum, dirty and dusty, tight. Shaq confronts the Wu-Tang Clan at their peak: raw and syncopated dirty aggressive slow delivery of Prince Rakeem, slaughtering the cut, "we don't need no hooks" is the hook. Yes, the title is "No Hook", but it's not a "Rakim track". The hook is there. Then Shaq: he attacks with a slow, smooth, calm, confident, hardcore, spectacular flow. It closes Method Man, effortless flow, calm, dope.
"Newark to C.I.". Keith Murray makes a track almost on the same level as the previous one, if not quite on par: haunting dark loop, hard and pounding midtempo drum machine, good samples provided by Redman, Shaq intro, then Keith Murray hardcore slow delivery, O'Neal closes. "Biological Didn't Bother". Warren G behind the keyboards with a g-funk rhythm, synths, great relaxed samples and accessible downtempo drum to support the rapper's slow style. "My Dear" has interesting mobb vibes, featuring Warren G. "My Style, My Stelo". Discreet boom bap by Erick Sermon, slow lazy pounding drum, decent sample, weak functional hook. Sermon, then Redman, with cheerful but focused, confident, smooth, hardcore rapping, he kills the beat. It closes Shaq, with tributes to Nas and ODB, among others.
Rating: 6/10.
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