It should be the third solo for veteran AG, which can boast a couple of classics in the trophy case thanks to a stellar production by his friend Showbiz in the early nineties. To say that twenty years later he lost energy, it'd not be entirely true. Already in 2000 he seems to have completely exhausted it (check "The Dirty Version"). It can be said with a sad certainty, that here, as in "Oasis" of the past year, he hasn't found it.
Commercial errors on this disk aren't counted. Ray West aka Ray Berri produces most of the record, and as a beatmaker of jazzy rap rhythms, over the years he has proven to be quite reliable, creating pretty good soundscapes on several albums by underground artists. On this record, he realizes a decent, good production, albeit without stellar treble: he provides a light, jazzy NY, vintage sound. But the choice to put a looped soul sample so tight that it becomes disturbing is incomprehensible.
Leaving aside the musical part (nice smooth jazz intro, however) and the badly managed hooks, the delivery of AG is quite disappointing: if he goes okay, his rapping is decent or average, if he goes badly, his delivery is subdued, simplistic, light-hearted / weak, sometimes obscured by the rhythm. And often his rap goes wrong: many times it appears insignificant, it's as if AG no longer want to rapping.
"Dancin' with a Shifter" is the brightest moment here: as an aficionado of dark rap, the successful jazzy midtempo rhythm invented by Ray West, with tight looped sample, piano dope and a very rare guessed delivery of AG, could convince you that yes, it's worth listening to entirely the album. Don't be fooled. Roc Marciano should be the most interesting guest of the project, but he's relegated for a few seconds to a sort of jazzy skinny interlude, with the usual soul sample looped tight in the background. In one of the other featuring, Party Arty puts more energy in a single verse than AG in the last four albums: on a jazzy skinny, alternative boom bap, he lets the beat breathe before attacking it fiercely with his rough, tight, usually fearless flow. The Giant is always off.
"Dreams" presents the abused «it was all a dream» Biggie Smalls' "Juicy"'s opening line. In "No She Didn't", probably born for the club, AG brushes up on his mainstream flow without too much success with a jazzy skinny beat and a winking hook to the club. Personally, it doesn't work. And immediately after the track for the club, Andre the Giant go to destroy that song ("Fuck the Club": alternative, jazzy, disturbing, tight, skeletal, essential boom bap where AG delivery quite subdued, weakly), probably already knowing that the previous track wouldn't have been appreciated. Ahahahaha, I don't know. Where's his coherence? Probably together with his career, it went to be ghost, it's in the same place where he sent the club.
When, despite the brevity of the album, only forty minutes divided in seventeen cuts, you're wondering how long this havoc mixed with casual waste of decent jazzy rhythms should last, "On the Block" arrives, where Abdul Jabar (who as for 950Plus, I have no idea who he is) manages to deliver better than the main emcee. Ok, it wasn't difficult, but not even obvious; on a tight, bare and very poor jazzy rhythm, the landlord leaves him plenty of room to act, giving him two verses that the guest interprets worthily, or at least tries. "YMI Still Here" closes: only rhythm not to be produced by Ray West, being realized by Menocal, it's an accessible, decent, skeletal, tight and lucid jazzy boom bap disguised as The Giant's large middle finger, who decides for the final track to deliver not only decently, but even better than usual, leaving a bad taste in mouth with this test.
Released by Ray West label Red Apples 45 and Fat Beats Records, the effort marks the first of several collaborations between AG and Ray West.
Music vibes: 6.5/10.
AG energy: 1.5/10.
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