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Stillmatic
Barnes and Noble
Stillmatic
Current price: $7.99
Barnes and Noble
Stillmatic
Current price: $7.99
Size: CD
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Back on the hardcore block and with plenty to prove after two years without a record under his own name,
designed
as a response: to the
cognoscenti who thought he'd become a relic, and most of all to
, the East Coast kingpin who wounded his pride and largely replaced him as the best rapper in
. The saga started back in the summer of 2001 with the mixtape "Stillmatic,"
' answer track to an on-stage dis by
. A few months after
countered with the devastating
dropped the comeback single
and the full album
; tellingly,
had already released his response to
(titled
) before
even came out. Dropping many of the mainstream hooks and featured performers in order to focus his rapping,
proves he's still a world-class rhymer, but he does sound out of touch in the process of defending his honor.
relies on a deep-throat vocal repeating the phrase, "F*ck
," while
hits the heights of arrogance with a looped vocal sample repeating the title over and over.
is a solid defense of his Queensbridge home, and
is an outstanding track, the best here, complete with chant-along chorus. Despite the many highlights, a few of these tracks (most were produced by either
or
himself) just end up weighing him down:
one of the worst, is an odd
track that would've sounded dated years before its release.
certainly isn't as commercial as past
output, but it places him squarely behind the times. Facts are facts: he's not the best rapper in the business anymore. ~ John Bush