which due to rush-hour traffic in route home & then to the Kendrick DJ Skee live show broadcast, was in the car for in its entirety.

I gotta say, Pete Rock brought some HEAT with him on this one.

Camp Lo sounds cool in spots as long as you can do what I've been doing since Uptown Saturday Night & not really concentrate too hard on what they're actually saying because it's usually pretty empty.

But vocally they sound good & complement each other while not messing up the superior production end too much.

I can't help but think that some better rap veterans or the right young-hungry MC's could have made this shit a true late-career home run for Soul Brother #1.

This is the best shit I've heard him do behind the boards since the Clinton Administration.

Sidenote: I find myself amazed that I ever actually liked Talib Kweli.

He's on that one joint here (managing to sound vastly inferior on a track compared to a mid-90's also-ran like Geechee Dan) with that typical weak-ass voice, corny-cadence, overstuffed bars except nowadays he ain't even saying anything at all.

Haven't listened to an album from dude since Eardrum (which The Lesson hyped as a return to form which was just 'eh' to me) but anytime I hear him on a record here or there with somebody I get that Common-playing-TI's-dad-in-American-Gangster cringe of embarrassment.

I can't take either of those two remotely serious anymore.

Thought & Mos still sound good to my ears, the other I can't fuck with even a little bit & haven't been able to for awhile.