Tony D, best known to hip-hop heads for producing an instrumental strikingly similar to Naughty By Nature’s O.P.P. before O.P.P. even dropped (though Naughty’s producer insists he never heard Tony’s track), steps out from behind the boards on this one. Typically focused on production and beat tapes, Tony tries his hand at rapping here, delivering conscious bars that occasionally veer into the corny territory. He’s not winning any best-spitter awards, but his performance isn’t anything near unlistenable either. The real highlight, however, is the production—packed with sample-heavy, boom-bap beats that showcase his talent behind the boards. It's all quite likeable making this an easy album to spin. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★☆ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Check the Elevation, Buggin' on the Line, Droppin' Funky Verses, Listen to Me Brother

I’m not familiar enough with all of these originals to say for sure whether these versions improve on them, but from what I do know, there isn’t much difference. Most of the time, it’s just other rappers added in. As he mentions in the intro and interlude, Diddy seems to think that makes him a genius of the remix. The most altered track is the closer, 'You Gets No Love', which modifies the instrumental with Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'. The best moment here is Carl Thomas’ 'Woke Up This Morning', but that’s only because it already used Biggie’s superior 'My Downfall' instrumentation—this version just tacks Biggie onto an already solid song. The weakest track is 'So Complete', which is just dull. Diddy’s ad-libs and weak lyrics don’t help either. Take 'I Need a Girl' as an example: "At first we were friends, then became lovers (Oh) / You was more than my girl, we was like brothers (Oh) / All night we would play fight under covers." … I get what he's trying to say but it just wounds weird. Overall, I’m not a fan of the late '90s/early '00s Bad Boy sound. Very little here rises above mediocrity. If you want to hear someone who actually remixed great songs, made them sound different, and in some cases even better, check out R. Kelly’s discography. Best Tracks: Unfoolish, Notorious B.I.G., Woke Up This Morning 1 P. Diddy–Intro 2 G. Dep*– Special Delivery (Remix) 60 3 P. Diddy–I Need a Girl (Part 2) 54 4 P. Diddy–Bad Boy For Life (Remix) 63 5 P. Diddy–I Need a Girl (Part 1) 67 6 P. Diddy–The Remix Phenomenon (Interlude) 7 Ashanti–Unfoolish 68 8 112–Dance With Me (Remix) / Peaches & Cream (Remix) 60 9 Mary J. Blige– No More Drama (Remix) 61 10 P. Diddy & Cheri Dennis–So Complete (Remix) 20 11 The Notorious B.I.G.–Notorious B.I.G. (Remix) 70 12 P. Diddy–That's Crazy (Remix) 50 13 Carl Thomas–Woke Up In The Morning (Remix) 72 14 Faith Evans–You Gets No Love (Remix) 50

I checked this out for the Nas features, and they’re both among the best tracks, though on 'Thugs Calm Down', Nas brings that weak singing he leaned on too much in the late '90s. As expected from the credits, the sound is straight boom bap. 'Ain't Got a Clue' flips the same Aguaviva sample (Poetas Andaluces) used on Nas/The Firm’s 'Affirmative Action' or just uses 'Affirmative Action'. At just 35 minutes, it’s an easy listen, but it won’t blow anyone away, and unfortunately doesn't sound mixed and mastered well. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Ain't Got a Clue, Want It, Thugs Calm Down

The cover art looks like someone surprised him with a photo. This release features three songs and a shout-out track, built on familiar G-funk samples. There’s nothing particularly standout here, and the vocals sound as if they were recorded with low-quality equipment.

This was a decent way for BDK to bow out. It follows from his last couple that are mostly just boom bap This one has decent highs, but too many average songs. Everything is decent or better but some of the decent ones just needed to have something extra for the album to be an overall higher standard. Id say too that this has the least creative experiments. There's nothing like a song with Dolemite, Barry White, bluesy moments etc that his previous albums have. If you like east coast boom bap with a hint of the late 90s sound, you'll get something out of this one. Best Tracks: Uncut Pure, La-La Land, Earth, Wind & Fire 1. Intro 2. Uncut, Pure 90 3. Entaprizin' 84 4. Girl Talk 5. Change the Game Around 60 6. La-La Land 90 7. Ole Tyme Bluez 8. 2 Da Good Timz 66 9. Fish Tandoori 10. Terra N Ya Era 70 11. Hold It Down 70 12. Daddy's Theme 13. Earth, Wind & Fire 80 14. Do U Really Know? 60 15. Shame - Prelude 16. Shame! 66 17. Last Night Episode 67 18. Definitely 64 19. Unda Presha 70 20. Outro 21. Uncut, Pure - Remix 74