Good lord that Black Sheep album is a textbook case of a sophomore slump. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing is a classic (I'd almost give it 5 stars is they remove La Menage), so there was bound to be some letdown, but very little worked on their follow up for me. 3 songs max, and one of them was the remix to 'Without a Doubt', which should have been on the album.

Don't Sweat The Technique was like listening to 2 different Rakims. Either that or you could hear where he was losing a step. Tracks like 'Know The Ledge' or 'What's On Your Mind' were still raw, but those were written earlier for movies (between Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em and Don't Sweat The Technique). 'Casualties of War' had that same feel, but may have been left off the prior album in place of 'In The Ghetto'. Then you have songs like 'The Punisher' or 'Relax With Pep' that just didn't quite work (I swear The Punisher sounds like something Prime Minister Pete Nice would have written). As much as I still love the title track, you could hear something was just slightly missing in Ra's wordplay.