------------When you first pop this CD in and start listening from the beginning, it sounds very promising. It's got the feeling of a classic right off the bat. But then things go down hill from there. The first 5 songs are excellent, arguably the best song on the track is the first. Though it is short, this song titled "Shall we begin" hits it off from the beginning with a strong, heavy beat combined with great lyrics and an all-right flow. The song stays strong all the way through. The next four songs: "Murda made a man of me", "Sweet dreams", "Siccness", and "Multiply" all live up to the first with heavy beats, good lyrics, and smooth flows. "Sweet Dreams" has a particularly interesting refrain, which caught my attention. While "Siccness" had a just plain sucky refrain that got annoyingly repetitive, the lyrics and flow made up for that.
___Once you hit track 6, titled "Respect", it's as if you are listening to a totally different album. The beat sounds ok, but then the lyrics and refrain are just awful. It totally disrupts the entire flow of the record. The seventh song, "Pray 4 me", is a little better, but not much. It has excellent flow and alright lyrics, but they are slow and the refrain isn't too impressive. It certainly doesn't live up to be a song after which the album should be named. Then, with track number 8 titled "Dawn 2 dawn", the album picks up again. This song has an awesome beat with great lyrics, a great flow, and an excellent refrain. The next song, "40's callin" is a slower song, which reminds me much of some of 2 Pac's softer stuff (since I love Pac's music, I found this one to be a decent song) but it doesn't carry on the hard flow of the beginning of the album.
___I found the rest of the album to be very weak except maybe the last song, "Mealticket" which has a nice beat, respectable lyrics and a pretty good refrain. The rest of them were all soft and pretty much sucked, not at all living up to the beginning of the CD. All in all, this CD is half excellent and half crappy. This wouldn't be the top pick on my list to run out and buy, but it certainly is worth getting at some point or another. If you are looking for some hot shit to roll to, tracks 1-5, 8, and 16 on the CD are definitely a prime choice which should not be overlooked.
Rating: 6/10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don Mega
