This tape is a mixed bag, there are some legitimate Big L hits on it like "American Dream", "Devil Son", "Furious Anger", "Ebonics" and his freestyle with Jay-Z, tracks already heard in previous tapes and discarded songs that are lifted and placed here to fill holes and lengthen the disc.
It deserves half a point less for not being original and ending up being a quite weak half-compilation. Among the novelties, none remains truly imprinted. "Don't Sleep" is a well executed heavy dark jazzy piece by the Children of the Corn and sees uncredited Cam'ron and Bloodshed here, Mase is not credited in the gloomy "Hell Up in Harlem", Cam'ron is not credited in "Harlem Nights" that maintains the atmosphere of the previous track. After the classic "American Dream", Big L adjusts "Nigga Please" which sees a mediocre delivery of Stan Spit and a decent OC. Others three classics, then "Queen's Most", still with Cam'ron not accredited. Closes the weak "Danger Sequel" that suffers from the only failed production of the disc.
The intro deserves a quote: it's a freestyle in 1995 together with Jay-Z on the real classic beat of Miilkbone's "Keep It Real", which samples "Life's a Bitch", a perfectly jazzy boom bap excellently realized with a sad piano. Lord Finesse changes it for this show: Big L delivers smooth, fast, technical, ever dope for several minutes, then Jay-Z does his thing but isn't comparable to what happened before his bars.
Rating: 5/10.
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