In 2008, Lord Finesse drops a sequel to his previous compilation released one year ago. The disk is published by Underboss Entertainment and No Sleep Recordings. Robert Hall Jr. is the sole producer and main rapper, flanked by Big L, Grand Puba, AG, Marquee, Roy Yaers, Caron Wheeler, Kirk, Trends of Culture, God Sunz, Pitch Black, DITC and Sheek Louch.
The production keeps this jazzy compilation afloat, because from the lyrical point of view there is much to be desired. This record's opened by the umpteenth version of "Isn't He Something" — necessary? No — jazzy, funky, quick, decent rhythm that Finesse fails to follow, must slow down after trying, nice jazzy bridge on the hook.
Then Big L with the "Unexpected Flava" gem, then again the jazzy rhythm of Finesse (ft. Marquee) and Grand Puba, with the first jazzy beat animated by xmas bells. Two Finesse classic joints follow, a successful soulful jazzy remix and Kirk (I don't know who he is) over a good skeletal and heavy jazzy mix where the xmas bells remain silently in the background.
To be a Finesse comp, the Lord leaves a lot of space for artists that we could generously define «off-off-underground»: they sound more or less worthily on these jazzy rhythms — even "Sub Sidewalkers" recalls the timeless jazzy rhythm of "Dead Presidents"... hold on: Lord Finesse samples from Lonnie Liston Smith right "A Garden of Peace", the sample that the genius of Ski Beatz made famous in hip hop — but it's hard to remember any of them.
Finesse returns with some good jazzy funky/soulful mixes and touches one of his peak [here] in "Awakenings Interlude": a beautiful purely jazzy tear, wonderfully packaged by Finesse who delivers along with Marquee, a masterpiece. Still scope for the youngstaz, then DITC, a weird duet between Big L & Sheek Louch, and a deadly, simple jazzy boom bap, where Marquee closes the work started by Finesse, perfect mix.
Rating: 6/10.
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