This album was released on May 3rd this year. I recently came to the conclusion that Styles P is the best member of The LOX. I know a lot of people say that Jadakiss is one of the greatest rappers of all time, but it’s not really close to me. In terms of just actual rapping ability, I’d say Jadakiss & Styles P are pretty much on par with each other. However, when discussing the actual quality of their music, Styles P really blows Jada out of the water. Jadakiss has never put out a good solo album. Even Sheek Louch had a good project with After Taxes. Jadakiss is much better with mixtapes; I don’t know why actual albums are so difficult for him. It’s like he thinks he has to make generic mainstream friendly songs that every other rapper is making. I don’t think people have ever wanted that from him though. It took a while for Styles P to get it right as well; I don’t think he put out a good album until 2010’s collaborative album with DJ Green Lantern, but he’s been doing really well this decade. He also just seems like one of those dudes who could rap in his sleep. He’s super prolific. I remember there was one year where he was dropping like two or three freestyles every week. He’s really a rapper’s rapper. Despite all this praise, this new album somehow surpassed my expectations. I was expecting this one to be on par with Dime Bag, which came out later in 2018. When I reviewed that project, I had only heard a couple projects from him in the past, but I went back and listened to most of his other work before checking this one out. I think the main reason I enjoyed this one so much more is because the production is actually pretty goddamn good here. Dime Bag’s beats were solid, but nothing to write home about. These beats are legitimately really good though. I usually like to start off with positive thoughts, and then get to my criticisms towards the end of the review. However, there’s really only one song on this project that I didn’t like, so I’m just gonna get it out of the way. The one song I didn’t care for was Filthy. The feature is labeled as “D-Block Europe.” I guess it’s the European division of The LOX’s D-Block label. I think it’s led by Young Adz & Dirtbike LB. I’m not sure which one of them performed on this song. I’m assuming it was Young Adz, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I don’t think the song is bad. There are actually a lot of aspects of the song that I think are pretty dope. Styles P’s rapping was great, and I really liked the ominous production from Termanology. I really only have one issue with the song; that autotuned hook from who I assume is Young Adz is absolute trash. It ruins the entire track. It’s very unfortunate. I’m not too familiar with Young Adz, but this wasn’t a good impression. Hopefully in the future I’m not as disgusted by his performances as I was here. The rest of the album is pretty dope though. It starts off with Push the Line, which features Sheek Louch & Whispers, as well as production from Vinny Idol.
I really liked the dark beat, and I think S.P. sounded great over it. His first verse was nice, and he killed that second verse. The hook from Whispers was also pretty solid. Sheek Louch’s verse was cool, but I wasn’t crazy about his melodic delivery at first. It kinda grew on me after a while though. The music video was pretty generic, but it was cool to see cameos from people like Chris Rivers. I also never realized how fucking gigantic Sheek Louch was. That dude looks like he could really whip some ass in the video. Anyway, So Much to Say is one of my favorite tracks on the album. I really love the production from Dayzel the Machine, and Styles P killed that first verse. The hook is great too. I love how he told me to “get a bag full of cocks, sit down, and eat ’em.” That was great. When I first heard this track, I was really surprised by how great this album is. It starts off really strong, and the high quality continues with the following track, Give n’ Take. I’m not exactly sure who the producer of this track was. Genius has the producer listed as “W,” but I’m not sure if that’s uh… I mean… Is there a producer who’s stage name is literally just the letter W? That’s interesting I guess… I’m assuming it was just some incompetent user who meant to type out a full name that starts with W. Whatever. I guess it’s not that big of a deal. The beat itself is really good to me. It sounds kinda like something that should have more emotional or sincere content. I enjoyed what Styles P did over it though. All the verses are great, and I liked the hook as well. Deadman had yet another great beat. This time it came from Fortes. It has kind of a dreamy atmosphere to it, which was really nice. Styles P killed that first verse, and I thought the hook from Nino Man was pretty solid too. Jadakiss‘ verse was awesome. He sounded raspier than ever on this track. I swear his voice gets grittier every single year. If you compare this verse to his verses on the first LOX album, he sounds like a completely different dude. I wonder what caused his voice to start sounding like that. The final verse from Styles P was really great too. The song is really dope. I was pretty impressed by Noah Styles‘ production on Raw Dreams. It maintained that dreamy aesthetic that the preceding track had. I think this was my first time hearing a beat from Noah, and I thought it was pretty dope. My only gripe is that it’s pretty repetitive. It gets a little old by the time the track is over. Styles P’s performance over it is great though. He killed it. The hook is nothing special, but it serves its purpose. Oh, by the way if you didn’t know, Noah Styles is Styles P’s son. So yeah. They actually released a collaborative extended play in June, which I’ll be talking about next week inshallah. The 7th track, The Professionals, ended up being another standout track for me.
I thought the production from Trip SP 1200 was pretty good, and I really loved Lil Fame’s feature on this track. He sounds like a beast on that hook, which I guess is usually the case for him. Styles P’s verses were great. The beat break during the final verse was a nice touch too. The beat gets a little repetitive after a while, and a verse from Lil Fame would’ve been cool, but overall I still think it’s very good. The music video was thankfully actually kinda cool too. What’s Up Boy was definitely one of the weaker tracks in my opinion, but I still enjoyed it overall. I liked the relatively uptempo production, but the actual beat itself was just kind of a generic Trap beat. The way Styles P & Nino Man were trading quatrains on this song was pretty cool. The hook wasn’t anything special, but I was impressed by Nino Man’s performance on this track. It’s a good song. I fuck with it. I really loved the production from Noc on Change. Honestly it probably would’ve ended up being one of my favorite tracks on the album if it wasn’t for that autotuned hook from Cris Streetz. That shit was rough. It thankfully wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the hook on Filthy though. So yeah, I wasn’t crazy about Cris Streetz’s performance, but I thought Styles P killed this track. The way the production was slightly altered for the second verse was really cool too. It’s a dope song. Out in the Jungle was dope too. The production from Ron Don was great, and Styles P killed it. Especially that second verse. That was great. The simplistic hook wasn’t anything special, but it was fine. I really like the song. The final two tracks were some of my favorites on the album. I thought they had two of the best beats on the project. The beat on Really Us was fucking awesome to me. The first verse from Styles P was great. I’m not exactly sure who the featured rapper is, but I’m just assuming it’s the same guy who produced the song, J. Rhodes. He did a nice job with the hook, and I thought he killed the second verse. The final verse from Styles P was really nice too. I feel like Benny the Butcher or Conway the Machine would sound amazing on this track. A remix would be a dream come true. The song’s dope af. However, the final track actually ended up being my favorite song on the whole album. That beat from Vinny Idol is fucking insane. It’s so fucking gritty, and Styles P sounds perfect over it. I feel like Pusha T or Jadakiss would sound amazing over that beat too. The hook is nothing special, but Styles P really murdered this track. I think it has some of the best rapping on the whole album, especially on that first verse. It’s amazing.
This album is great. Honestly, I think this is one of the best projects I’ve ever heard from Styles P. I can always have faith that Styles P is gonna kill every verse he spits, so it’s mostly up to the producers and features to help him craft a great song, and they all came through for the most part. I really don’t think there are any consistent flaws on this project. Some of the hooks aren’t that great, and I guess if you aren’t into traditional Hip Hop you won’t dig this project that much, but for people who are really into no bullshit MCs that focus primarily on rapping really well, this is perfect for you. I think these are some of the best beats Styles P has rapped over in a while. This shit is really dope. Don’t sleep on it.
Favorite Song: I Ain’t Shit
Least Favorite Song: Filthy
80
Focus Hip Hop 