People gave Oasis a hard time, but not this album? It fitfully tries to run the gamut of emotions, but at the end of the day, Puff doesn't get the substance, or even the heart - on this record, he's simply on a mission for attention. Good, bad, ugly, whatever. That's entertaining in spots, but anything remotely past the chart hits severely pushes this listener's patience. "If it ain't about the money, I just don't care" - Mase's deadpan response to the line "broken glass everywhere" in the Grandmaster Flash-sampling "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" neatly sums up this star-crossed effort.

The title track and "Bad Mutha" exemplify the duo's approach - conversational, off-the-cuff, yet never-fail clear and concise. The intent was a looser take on Eric B & Rakim, and similarly, Finesse can't help but dominate. He's willingly aided by D.I.T.C. and DJ Premier of Gang Starr on the technical side of things. Yes, it's underrated.

The title track was a great single but the rest of the record doesn’t nearly gel as well. Styles P and Jadakiss went onto solo success, and that's part of the problem here. The group concept doesn't feel totally solidified, and often like a mere offshoot of "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy stable.

It sounds like Nas, but with two rappers, and the music is a bit more meandering. In my mind, Nas by himself is far more interesting to listen to than these guys, but it generally works. Not sure why a decent mid-90's East Coast rap record received such an immense amount of critical attention.

Now this was a moderate stunner – the super group that was only supposed to be a one-off came back for a follow-up, and surprise of surprises – it branches off from the template of the first disc. The only real change was Rex Brown from Pantera was now playing bass for the group. Down II is a different animal than the first edition. Unlike the tight, heavy, tension-laden passages of the debut, this CD is a haze-filled, vaguely experimental monolith that does grow on you the more chances you give it. Anselmo, for the most part, drops his normal double-tracked metal growls and sings here – and you know what, he does not sound half bad. Meanwhile, the group doesn’t just play the Southern rock-heavy sludge-metal card straightaway, and takes on different genres – like a flashy, organ-driven blues rocker for “Stained Glass Cross”, psychedelic folk on “Landing on the Mountains of Meggido”, and all sorts of kooky little tangents with these cut-in tracks (“Doobinterlude” sounds a bit like Stereolab, for example). Tracks like “Beautifully Depressed”, “There’s Something on my Side”, and “Ghosts Along the Mississippi” take an irreverent, yet rather detached view of society in general, which is pretty different than the normal in-your-face approach of most Anselmo-connected music. Even the so-called shocking music like “New Orleans is a Dying Whore” feels strangely subdued next to earlier, tougher exercises. The tone is set from the opener “Lysergik Funeral Procession”, which has an angry, Sabbath-like vibe, but it does hint at that there may be surprises peeking around the corner. The biggest one – as I earlier mentioned – has to be “Stained Glass Cross”, which is a full-blown bluesy jam featuring prominent organ work. The prevailing thought was the first Down disc was the one they would be known for, but after further listening, I find myself liking this one more.