to be fair, im listening right now

first; i'll address the "uneven" nature of the album.
i personally cant find this element anywhere. this album is what i would call "steady". there arent any drastic changes in terms of production, only movement and evolution throughout, and reaches it's apex with the obvious "you got me" and "act too", noth of hich are excruciatingly beautiful.

lyrically? yeah, its a battle record. its a straight hip hop record. if you listen intently, this is the life of a pure hip hop head. you got the b boy bravado of without a doubt, you got the ode to the art form itself in act too, and you got the emotional tugs of teh spark and you got me, you got the calling out of wackness in nothin new, you got hip hop 101 in double trouble, in terms of lyric and music-i mean, has there been a better flip of nautilus? this is a pure old school nod right here.

IMO, dices appearances were all on point. once again-look at this record as the ultimate "i'm a hip hop head" record

and really, much as i like topical rhymes and great songwriting.. i love this hip hop shit. and really, this is justa raw hip hop record. no orld changing rhymes. it's a fun record. Dynamite! might have been dillas best beat ever. but it's a hip hop record. it makes me want to do windmills and brak out my art book for some piece sketches. it makes me forget abuot how real life is outside of these headphones and just zone out on hip hop's rawest and most innocent form-rhyming for the sake of rhyming. saying some fly shit, or at least TRYING to say some fly shit to some dope beats. thats IT. there isnt a better new school representative of "the good old days" then this.

now, seeing as ho it's strength in my eyes are also the weaknesses you percieve, this is where we part ways and agree to disagree. i simply think you are looking at it the wrong way; it IS a battle record. its a straight hip hop record, just exceptionally well done beats and rhymes. all killer, no filler. and i love it for that quality.