Third LP in three years for one of the best hip-hop duos of the nineties, the one formed in Memphis by 8Ball & MJG.
Production is handled exclusively by Smoke O aka Smoke One Productions aka T-Mix, while guests are E-40, Mac Mall, Big Mike, Rodney Ellis, Nuckle Heads, South Circle, and Nina Creque. The disc consists of 15 tracks between four and six minutes, for a total of almost 75 minutes. The whole project is both a lyrical and musical evolution from the efforts of past years, and presents the two performers at their peak, this is their definitive document.
The lyrics mix conscious, social and political topics with others that are more violent and close to gangsta themes, including crime, drugs, pimping, with a good variety and a clear, confident, inspired, flowing execution. The production of Smoke One is very rich and flawless, it's founded on g-funk, on raw and deep bass lines and on accessible synthesizers that permeate and cloud the tracks, accompanied by bare downtempo drums and melodic samples. The songs have a cinematic feel, returning vibes here obscure here cheerful, positive, mobb, lounge, often relaxed, and blessed with unexpected appearances of guitars or strings. The rapping of the two performers is fantastic, hardcore and crisp, and fits the music, creating some of the best songs of the decade in the southern scene.
Released by Suave House and Relativity, it's their first major sales hit, peaking the top ten on the Billboard 200, the number two box in hip-hop records and gold certification in four months. Trivially, one of the best albums of the nineties. 9/10.
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