In summer 2000, New York-based crew DITC release this effort only for Japanese market through Next Level Recordings. Unlike their debut studio album released a few months earlier, this sees a production entirely built by beatmakers within the collective, except for a remix by DJ Premier. Guests are DITC affiliates The Ghetto Dwellas, Molecules and Terror Tongue.
A.G., Diamond D, Lord Finesse, O.C. and even Fat Joe flow quite favorably on these jazzy and funky soundscapes, on skeletal and essential musical carpets, but Big L is basically always ahead of everyone: he's effortlessly in "Internationally Known", devastating in "All Love" despite Joe kills his verse. Buckwild brings out the Christmas bells for the background of "A Different World", a light and essential jazzy beat born in 1998, on which AG unleashes a solid cut. Showbiz offers us a splendid dark jazzy boom bap among his best in his career, Molecules by Legion (unknown to me) provides a punctual and relaxed rapping in "Revenge", a nice undervalued cut that deserves a listen.
There is also "Lyrical Threat" among the best packaged tracks of the record, with Terror Tongue of 1994 on a fatal production by Buckwild: boom bap jazzy sick, background downtempo jazzy with regular and skeletal case and snare drum, adequate delivery of the group. This eleventh choice is a hidden gem. When Ghetto Dwellas ("Feel the Beat", "Make It Official", "Style Is All") arrives — despite Party Arty sounds fit with his raw flow on dark and skeletal jazzy rhythms like the one created by Diamond D for "Make It Official" — quality slows down, almost kills it with three mediocre tracks lurking around the corners of the neighborhoods of this record, ready to rob the listener.
Show remixes (last three songs) restore justice to the project, with some successful rhythms: the dark touch in "Day One" further enhances the technical and clean delivery of Big L, pretty well Omar Credle. Not bad his version of "All Love" — but I don't feel like calling it superior to the original by Finesse; same speech for "Internationally Known", to which Showbiz gives a more underground vision with an essential soulful jazzy production.
Rating: 7/10.
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