Shanté — The Bitch is Back

Three years after her debut, Shanté renounces her name and publishes her sophomore. The excellent team of producers, including Kool G Rap, Mister Cee, Large Professor, Grand Daddy IU, Grandmaster Flash and yes, even the Trakmasterz can't build a cohesive and good soundscape: the music is just decent, with simple, light, lo-fi funky-jazzy rhythms. The Queensbridge legend's lyricism is aggressive, spitting bars with a decent slow syncopated style, and attacking her female rivals for the title of best MC in the game. There's some commercial attempt (the soulful chorus in "Gotta Be Free", the extravagant reggae-sque hook in "Dance to This") badly done, and in the finale Shanté accelerates the delivery on frantic rhythms. The only track that stands out from the others is the initial one, with G Rap opening the record to a frenetic, lean and simple production, with a lean tight syncopated and minimal drum: the back and forth delivery of Kool G Rap and Shanté is smooth and good, but the rest of the project suffers from this initial supremacy. 6/10.