Third EP in three years for Andre Hicks. It's historically essential, I believe it's the first hip hop effort entirely recorded in prison: Mac Dre is in the Fresno one when he records these six cuts with his cell phone, the production is entrusted to Khayree, who publishes the product through his Strictly Business label, while scratches are performed by DJ Cee. The EP has a duration of about twenty minutes, although on youtube you can find the posthumous version of 2005 published by Thizz, a label founded by the rapper himself, and containing the additional songs "I'm N Motion" and "Young Mac Dre" who lengthen the listening to half an hour, in a similar tracklist.
The whole project concerns the rapper's personal themes and his life in the Fresno prison, on typical rhythms of the West Coast scene. The title track opens the EP with a simple and skinny funky rhythm, good slow syncopated delivery of Mac Dre and functional chorus with good jazzy bridge and synth dope in the background. "93" is a good tune, it has the usual light slow syncopated delivery on a simple and jazzy rhythm, slow syncopated and slow drum and eccentric piano.
The piece has some g-funk element and synth dope in the background. A skit anticipates "Love Dat Monkey" boasts a fresh and funky production and the presence of the only guest of the tape, The Mac, which offers a crazy cheerful light-hearted delivery. "My Chevy" is the shortest song of the record, positive mobb rhythm, usual drum, funky West Coast vibes, the rapper is still in shape. Closes "It Don't Stop", a song that has a darker rhythm than usual.
In the 2005 edition, the skit of the third song is eliminated and replaced with two tracks at the end, both borrowed from his first studio album of the 1993. In "I'm N Motion", the Bay Area MC continues to deliver slow and minimal, flowing, on a meager rhythm with a sample from the Beastie Boys classic "Slow and Low", while "Young Mac Dre" has an excellent simple and minimal rhythm, funky mobb, with a good delivery. Overall, it's an honest tape, straight from prison, by a still hungry Mac Dre.
Rating: 7/10.
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