Brand Nubian continues to suffer excessively without Grand Puba, whose absence is felt more strongly on the third LP, released almost two years after the previous one.
The production is done entirely by Lord Jamar, aided by some live instrumentation, with a rhythm provided by Buckwild, while Sadat X is occasionally credited as co-producer. Lyrically, Lord Jamar and Sadat X don't re-propose a militant record and present socio-political and partly violent lyrics, spitting bars on a boom bap production composed of hard midtempo and downtempo drums, and quite remarkable samples, taken from soul, jazz and hip -hop: among the best, Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years" provides amazing support for the classic "Hold On" ending, excellent boom bap, drum midtempo, the duo deliver one of their most inspired lyrics with smooth and slow delivery.
It's a very strong moment, nevertheless, for most of the album, Lord Jamar and Sadat X perform calm, relaxed, slow, with an almost listless style: you could wait for Puba to arrive at any moment. other to bring back freshness and vitality to this project, but that moment never comes. Lord Jamar does an honest job behind the keyboards and creates a somber, not excellent production: in "Alladat", the only beat produced by Buckwild, there's Busta Rhymes, but his role is criminally contained in executing the hook, when he could have easily killed the cut. Distributed by Elektra, the tape of Brand Nubian doesn't climb the charts, stopping at the top 15 among rap CDs and is lukewarmly received by critics.
Rating: 7/10.
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