Schoolly D's sixth studio album, ten years after his debut, the Philadelphia pioneer continues his musical career in rap. The guest-free record boasts a production mostly done by the rapper himself, while DJ Code Money performs a couple of beats and scratches, alongside DJ T-Ski Flash and DJ Eric. There are several live instrumentalists to enrich the rhythms: Scott Storch on keyboards with Schoolly D, Chuck Treece and Doug Grigsby on bass, Andy Kravitz and Mary Harris on drums and Mike Tyler on guitar and keyboards.
The boy tries, but from the very first moment of the intro you can understand how uninspired he really is, performing a few spoken word bars on a messy jazzy boom bap and essential drum, while the boys enjoy placing random scratches. Track number two is a bit of a confirmation of the previous sensations: the rapper makes a relaxed boom bap, placing a dirty and dusty midtempo drum that is good on paper, however, ends up sounding sluggish, with decent samples. On this soundscape, he delivers with a lazy, listless, energy less style. The record continues with a similar sound and few variations: the MC alternates energetic and lazy rhythms, often decent and generic, composed of a tight and pounding minimal slow drum machines and dark, gloomy, melodic, annoying and bad samples. In the middle of the tape and on the final cut, Schoolly D proposes rhythms close to rap rock, insisting on simplistic electric guitar riffs, on which his performances are acceptable, but not good. The rapping is almost functional to the rhythms themselves, mainly he spits with a slow and lazy style, he rarely finds the hardcore energy of the past at some random moment in the course of the record.
Released by Sony / Columbia via Ruffhouse Records, the tape is well received by critics, but audiences completely ignore it: the production is honest, it recalls the minimal East Coast sound of the early nineties, even if probably at the time of its release it's not the most current sound in the hip-hop scene, while the lyricism of the MC is centered on hardcore and gangsta themes, which aren't adequately supported by the performance adopted. Schoolly D made better albums, not recommended.
Rating: 5/10.
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