------------This cd, in a word, is pure energy. From the first beat to the very last word, all you fell is the raw energy that went into the making of this cd from the start. Originally released back in the day, the one that you will find in some stores (namely Manifest), will be the re-release. It contains some new tracks, which means that the original had less than 10, which is what the new one has. In total, the cd will run about 33 minutes, which is short (almost like an EP, if you will), but you'll see why.
___As the cover says, it is "the classic solo" from Duke. As many know, he is one of the unmoveable pillars that created and still make up the Darkroom. The other original members are on here as well as a variety of new people and rapprs who are long gone from the Darkroom. Some of the people featured are Crooked, Sir Dyno, Victor E (El Enemigo), Dolla Bill, J-Loc, and Mr. Sinatra. The rapping starts off strong with the first song being "In Tha East Bay", which talks about living, obviously, in the eastern part of San Francisco Bay. It is a decent song, but it mostly gets better after here. It is a solo song that is also produced by Duke. Next up is the title song that has catchy hook and has Crooked, among others, on it. It is a pretty good song and the beats are comparable to those found on any other good Darkroom cd. Track 3, "Mashin'" chages all of that. The tight rapping from Duke is interwoven with some of the best beats I have ever heard come out of the Darkroom, courtesy of Dub. Next up, the tight beats continue with the song "CockBlockaz". Cock is another name for pussy in California, so the theme of this song and a few other songs, is playa-haters. It is a solo by Duke and arguably the fourth best song on the cd, preceded, in order, by "Mashin'", "A La Chingada Con La Policia", and "I Just Wanna Fuck Alyssa Milano".
___"A La Chingada Con La Policia" is one of the lyrical highpoints on the cd. Involving complicated bilingual rhymes and a an undeniably Darkroom sound, it is produced by J-loc, which can only mean that it is one of the new tracks. On it are Crooked and Victor E, both of which bring a new dimension of rhymes and schemes into play on this half-Spanish, half-English song. Song number 3, in all estimates, is either "I Just Wanna Fuck Alyssa Milano" or "Pure Pleasure". The former is some of the funniest shit you will hear, depicting how Duke (who both sings and produces once again) will hit up the former star of Who's the Boss and beat the shit out of Tony Danza if he stands in Duke's way. "Pure Pleasures" is talkin about hos and screwing them, but a worthy track, nevertheless.
___The cd is pretty good throughout all 30 minutes of it, but the focus, if you are going to buy it, should be quality, not quantity (although only 10 tracks for 15 or 16 bucks makes a cd a 9.8 instead of a 10). It is basically any other cd, minus any filler, half-assed, soft, or experimental tracks that could possibly bring the cd down. Like I said, it is pure energy. If it were possible to condense the top one percent of all Darkroom tracks, rewrite them, and have just a few members rap them, it would be a lot like Duke's "To Live & Die In The Bay".
