When split from after the group's seminal album changed the world forever, expectations were high, too high to ever be met by anyone but the most talented of artists, and at his most inspired. At the time was just that. With the rapper expanded upon , making a more full-bodied album that helped boost the role of the individual in . Save the dramatic intro where a mythical is fried in the electric chair, his debut is filled with eye-level views of the inner city that are always vivid, generally frightening, generally personal, and sometimes humorous in the gallows style. Ripping it quickly over a loop from 's asks the question that would be central to his early career, "Why there more niggas in the pen than in college?," while sticking with the mutual distrust and scare tactics used to wipe away any hopes of reconciliation ("They all scared of the /And what I say what I portray and all that/And ain't even seen the gat"). "What I'm kicking to you won't get rotation/Nowhere in the nation" he spits on the classic which when coupled with the intoxicating production and 's cocksure delivery that's just below a shout, makes one think he's the only radio the inner city needs. 's amazing work on the album proves they've been overly associated with , since their ability to adapt to 's more violent and quick revolution is underappreciated. Their high point is the intense a "live by the trigger" song that offers "It's a shame, that niggas die young/But to the light side it don't matter none." This street knowledge venom with ultra fast works splendidly throughout the album, with every track hitting home, although the joyless has alienated many a listener since kicking a possibly pregnant woman in the stomach is a very hard one to take. Just to be as confusing as the world he lives in, the supposedly misogynistic introduces female protege with before exiting with a perfectly unforgiving and visceral closer. Save a couple disses, is a timeless, riveting exercise in anger, honesty, and the sociopolitical possibilities of . ~ David Jeffries