Again dissatisfied with the lack of promotion he received for his album from Caroline/EMI, the Bronx rapper Fat Joe goes on the hunt for a new record company to release his music with and finds it by signing an agreement with independent label E1 Music in early 2010. After the commercial and critical flop of his previous album, which also contributed to alienating part of his niche of most loyal fans, the champion from the Bronx returns with a new "serious", hardcore and non-mainstream album in order to win back his fans and consolidate his musical legacy by returning to his hip-hop roots.
In order to accomplish such a noble and arduous task, you need to find the right rhythms from the right people. Cool & Dre is the main producer, flanked by DJ Premier, Scram Jones, Just Blaze, Infamous, Laurent "Slick" Cohen, Scoop DeVille, Zeferiah, Raw Uncut, I.L.O., Dope Boyz and Streetrunner. The guests are Clipse, Cam'ron, Lil Wayne, R. Kelly, Busta Rhymes, Too Short, Rico Love, Young Jeezy and Trey Songz.
On productions often dystopian, gloomy and obscure, Joey Crack delivers hardcore in his tenth effort. Sometimes with good results ("Valley of Death", "I'm Gone"), but often in the average. Producers and guests offer variations in the monotonous g-theme chosen by Joe for this record, the rhythm becomes more rock/metal ("I Am Crack"), electronic ("How Did We Get Here", among the finest tracks here) or jazzy (thanks to Premier) without giving up the club ("Slow Down" and "If It Ain't About Money") despite the previews given on the eve of this effort, while guests — even Lil Wayne's confined to the chorus, always with the not so subliminal aim of almost desperately finding a new hit with the same formula as "Make It Rain", already attempted with failure in his two previous LPs with "The Crackhouse" ("Elephant in the Room") and "Winding on Me" ("JOSE 2"), where Weezy gains a verse in a Fat Joe track and the hook is reserved to Ron Browz — try to mask what is a vain attempt to return to his hardcore origins by looking at New York from Miami.
Cool & Dre guessed the rhythm in "Valley of Death", honoring J Dilla with a beautiful tribute to the Pharcyde ("Runnin'") and the Junior MAFIA ("Get Money"), great soul samples, dusty and hard drum, rocking bassline, the former rapper of DITC matches it with one of his sharpest flows, the result is dope. DJ Premier crush the competition by placing the best track of the album (and possibly of the decade) at least from a musical point of view for Fat Joe, giving him a highlight in his entire career: sample form JVC Force's "Strong Island", excellent dark and sad jazzy boom bap by Preemo, as underlined by the first two bars of Joe's verse it doesn't seem a Primo one, coming from the recent loss of Guru. Splendid, elegant, sad piano loop, bass that remains respectfully in background, dirty and muddy drum, Joey Crack with his silkiest flow, flies over this wonderful soundscape.
Pushed by a couple of singles ("[Ha Ha] Slow Down", "If It Ain't About Money"), released by Terror Squad Production and E1, the tape is warmly welcomed by critics, who rediscover Don Cartagena as a true hardcore rapper who returns to dirty his pants in the dust of the streets and spits straight on hip-hop rhythms. The public also appreciates Joe's artistic decision and the album achieves better sales numbers than the previous one, reaching the top ten among rnb albums and peaking second among independents. After having vainly chased success to the point of almost having the illusion of having almost achieved it like a young Gatsby, the boy sadly retreats to West Egg and brings out what is in reality little more than a well-made mixtape, easily and clearly his best project of the decade, trying to restore his reputation.
Rating: 7/10.
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