There isn't a lot of brilliant material here, but it's mostly a nice smooth gangsta rap album featuring two of my favourite rappers from the west, Daz and Kurupt, who don't quite have the distinctive voices they developed as they got older, but Daz has always been a great producer and he shows some of his skills here. A borderline 4/5, with the opening track being a classic banga, but it just needed to transform 2-3 of the weak songs into better ones. Also, as other reviewers mention, the album drops off considerably in the second half, and also has a few tracks are a tad too long. 6-minute hip hop tracks are hard to pull off, and they do it fairly well with a few, but 'Reality', in particular, is one that should have been shortened. Best Tracks: Dogg Pound Gangstaz, Respect, Cyco-Lic-No

From what I can tell from listening to this and the few producer credits I have seen, Daz didn't produce the songs. My question is "Why the hell not?" As he has on his recent solo efforts, Daz has just been the rapper. Surely the market for a DPG album isn't new fans. It's the old fans who would rather have Daz's bangin' west coast production as opposed to most of what we have here. Speaking on the production, the songs' volumes haven't even been equalised. On Spotify, listen to 'Let's Roll', followed by 'Hood Girl'. Your ears will ring. 'Baby I Want U Bac' also sounds like 64kps or something and other tracks sound unpolished as well. Is this due to recording in different places cause of COVID? I don't know, but it is staggering when I can record better quality music on a computer. The biggest issue with this is the amount of softer beats and topically chick tracks. On a Dogg Pound album, you'd expect the majority to be bangin' gansgta rap and the minority to be chick tunes, but here it's the opposite. I wasn't expecting a heap when I heard the singles like 'Used 2' and 'Bottom Bitch' from this on YouTube, but it's weaker than expected.It takes a while to heat up. It has a 6 year old song in the middle of the album as its best song, and then finishes with a decent run of songs towards its conclusion. Best Tracks: Nice & Slow, Skip Skip, It Ain't Nuthin, Im on It Songs: Ghetto - A bit conscious lyrically but the production is boring. We Rollin - Better. Vibey/laid-back beat. It features a nicely sung chorus. Dissolution of Marriage - About cheating/relationships. Another beat that isn't amazing. Used 2 / Bottom Bitch / Nice & Slow - Ehh. Again, far from bangin' production. Nice & Slow is the best of them. Skip Skip - This is what most people probably want on a DPG album. I felt like I had heard the song before and I had. It's about 6 years old. It's far and away the best thing. It's funky and bangin'. Kurupt sounds energetic unlike much of these sex themed tracks where he sounds half a sleep. Baby I Want U Bac - As mentioned above, the mastering sounds really off here. It Ain’t Nuthin / Im on It - These are more of what I want from Daz and Kurupt. Harder production that leads into a strong tail to finish the album. Let's Roll - Another chick track but the chorus is catchy and vibey. Hood Girl - Very similarly themed to Bottom Bitch but this is better. Harder production. LA Here's to U - To finish the album we have an LA shout out track. We haven't had enough of them... Again, the production is decent.

I hadn't heard of Kate before I heard about this and gave it a go and since then I ended up listening to this album non-stop for weeks. It's hip hop/spoken word with minimalist beats at times that play second fiddle to the lyrics. Her flow is unique and her word choice, on occasions using alteration, works brilliantly and you can tell more thought was put into this than most lyrics. Those features add to the force and impact of the lyrics on songs like 'Tunnel Vision'. Many topics are covered including climate change, poverty, corruption, alcoholism and immigration/war among others. As a side note, 'Whoops' reminds me of something 'The Streets' would make. I don't love everything but when it works it's unique and compelling. Beats: ★★★☆ Bars: ★★★★★ Best Tracks: Lionmouth Door Knocker, Europe Is Lost, Perfect Coffee, Tunnel Vision.

I gave this 3/5 stars at first but all I've done is listen to it, mainly the songs mentioned below, so I thought it deserved a bit extra. The album is a concept album of sorts about a relationship and it works pretty well from start to finish. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at #2 and along with some recent R&B albums like Joe's, Brian McKnight's, Bobby Valentino's & Ne-Yo's it's solid. And if you like those artists mentioned, this is worth a try. Best Tracks: I'm Coming Home, Please Don't Go, I Hate U, Who Dat.

Some of this is very R. Kellyesque, particularly track three 'One Man' - feels almost identical to an R. Kelly song I can't put my finger on at the moment. Like other Tank albums, there is some quality but it is spread around, and you have to find it, and as this is his longest album to date, this intensifies those comments. Some of the beats are more hip hop influenced than we've seen on his most recent albums. Tracks such as 'I Wanna Be That', 'Club', and 'Let Me Live' go for something more club orientated, but with producers like Irv Gotti, Mannie Fresh, Rodney Jerkins providing beats it isn't a surprise that has happened. A lot of the ballads lack that build up needed as well to make you want to listen for four minutes. The most interesting thing in the beats is the Minnie Riperton's 'Lovin' You' sample in 'Make Me Wanna Sing'. Not bad, but not enough of these sixteen tracks stand out. Best Tracks: One Man, Make Me Wanna Sing, Let Me Live, Better Man, I Still Believe