It's easy to forgive for putting his solo career on the back burner during the late '90s; after all, he'd been incredibly busy, lending his track-master skills to some of 's biggest hitters: , , and , as well as old friend . Three years after 's most distinctive producer finally returned with another project, co-billed with right-hand man . Though it finds him caught between providing an outlet for his more experimental productions and trying to hit on his own, still succeeds on most counts. True, it starts off with the uninventive but then moves into a set of productions certainly stranger than anything else in the world of commercial . airs out one of the oddest vocal treatments ever heard on the languorous gets in touch with his roots by replaying an early track ( ) for and pumps up the beats to match and 's excellent rhyme-trading on both spin the blueprint into new dimensions, the former with a quirky love jam and the latter with an infectious, inane chorus. Stuck at the end of the LP is the most eagerly awaited track -- -- featuring one of the last performances from protege . (Alt-powerhouse was originally slated to duet.) It's not an exciting track and comes as a bit of a letdown (the closest a conscientious producer would ever get to dripping the syrup of ), but it doesn't sink the album. Fans of the major-label game looking for more than scary strings and tedious celebrities will find it an intriguing diversion. ~ John Bush