I think they were very, very smart dropping this out of the blue. It didn't give anyone a chance to build up their own expectations.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good album and it is, for the most part, vintage LB.


But...lets be honest, its a little repetitive. Doesn't every track but the last song have a singin ass hook? And over-the-top cheesey singing most of the time too, which makes it even worse.

Some of these hooks sounds like their past skits, which I thought were jokes at the time but maybe not...

I kept waiting for a classic back and forth hook (Listening title track as an example) or something like Hiding Place to shake things up a little.

They've always had a lot of singing and skits, but I think both could have been trimmed here.

Some of these beats sound...cheap. Not all, there is some dope shit here. But some of these sound cheap. Like Phonte's solos do in spots. Between that and the amount of over-the-top-cheesy hooks? I dunno.

Don't get me wrong, its a good album. I just think people are so hyped to have them back (out of the blue at that) that its being over-rated a little.

So yeah, I miss 9th.


That said, Phonte is a special fucking rapper, man. I don't really keep a personal top 15 or whatever, but he's gotta be high up. Dude is incredible.


And Pooh is keeping up here. I think this is the best Pooh has done outside of Minstrel Show- at least to me. He's spitting. Good for him.

Not trying to rain on the parade by any means. Its a good album and I'm very happy they are back and did it out of the blue like this.