First and only studio album released by the Houston group South Circle, consisting of Mike "Mr. Mike" Walls & Rex "Thorough" Robeson. The production is made by Smoke One Productions which mixes typical drums of the southern scene with the g-funk sounds of the West Coast: the soundscape he paints is less mundane than usual, and is the main reason a g-funk fan should give this project a couple of spins. He puts on the table beats composed by a drum that is often dry and poor, falls downtempo, by squeaky and raw synths, and by very solid samples: the vibe of the record is much more soulful than you might expect from a common southern gangsta rap album, and the music comes close to ballad, although it also features some funky and dark loops.
The flow of the Texas boys is facilitated by this melodic sound carpet, their bars come out sharp and fluid. There are no particularly memorable songs, however, when the guests arrive, they turn on the record: 8Ball brings a lot of energy in "Unsolved Mysteries", light melodic production, affordable downtempo drum machine, great samples, velvety hardcore delivery from the Memphis MC, the other guest of Bluff City Tela also did well, providing bars with a smooth, effortless and relaxed flow, before the performance of Mr. Mike. Released by Suave Records, it's distributed by Relativity and achieves considerable success in the Billboard charts, entering the top ten rap albums and becoming one of the best-selling hip-hop records of the year. Solid tape, certainly among the best of the season in the south.
Rating: 7/10.
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