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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, But Formulaic, 25 Oct 2002
Here we go again with "The world's most talented music label" (according to JA Rule at the start of Ashanti's Happy video anyway), it's another collaboration album from Murder Inc, after the mostly average "The Murderers".This time however, the Inc has grown to almost So Solid proportions, taking on a multitude of new rappers and producers, and this, is partially the problem. The original lineup of Irv Gotti, Ja Rule, Tah Murdah, Black Child, Vita, Ronnie Bumps, O-1, Chris Black and Dave Bing seemed fresh and actually promising, apart from Black Child anyway, but this time, there are just far too many of them. Of the new recruits, only Charli Baltimore, Chink Santana and the heavenly voiced Ashanti are worth listening to, leaving the rest of them to fight it out in anonymity. As with the previous Murder Inc album, the majority of the tracks focus around murder, drugs and sex, which quickly becomes repetitive, especially when the dubiously talented Black Child keeps blurting out "We the Murderers" at every inopportune moment. However, where this album shines is in the music production, as Irv Gotti, 7even and Chink Santana create some truly memorable beats. The standout tracks on the album are the smooth (but perhaps pointless) intro, Gangstafied, which features a cool laidback melody and some superb rapping from Tah Murdah, Down 4 U, with Ashantis beautiful vocals, Ride Wit Us, which has an impossibly funky bassline and Hold On, the albums best track by far and a really soulful, chilled track. The rest of the tracks rarely rise above average, covering the same cliche'd ground as before. So overall, this is a good album to listen to if you are driving or doing something else as well, as it does feature some class rapping from Tah Murdah, Ja Rule, Charli Baltimore and Chink Santana, but it also takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously and does sound very similar to the previous album and a lot of the production by Gotti is samey. Therefore if you like Ja Rule and liked the previous Murder Inc album, then it's worth a listen.
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