This album is a collaboration between of DJ Muggs, the DJ and producer for Cypress Hill, and Ill Bill, an emcee from the group Non Phixion. It continues in the path of one-off collaborations that Muggs has been doing with artists such as GZA and Planet Asia. I have to admit that I’m out of my element, in that it’s a more hard-core New York gangsta than I normally listen to, but I’m going to do my best to be objective. My biggest complaint up front is that there are a few slips of homophobic language, mostly from guest artists.

There are times when Muggs production is too murky and droning for my tastes, such as the opening track, “Cult Assassin.”” It’s not bad, but the lack of variety and syncopation in the beats wears on the listener and puts more pressure on the emcee to carry the track. This becomes more apparent as we reach the tracks that flow more naturally, which happens more as the album progresses.

The only track that I feel absolutely doesn’t work musically is “Giant’s Stadium,” which has a really cheap and awkward sounding keyboard riff with a syncopated drum beat that doesn’t quite match up. At first I thought it might be pretty interesting, but upon multiple listens, it falls short of doing anything interesting. My favorite track is “Chase Manhattan,” with its great use of a horn samples that sound like it’s taken from a Blaxploitation film. “Ill Bill TV” also works quite well, with its eerie organ line and repeated use of a howl that I suspect might be Janis Joplin. The menacing piano line in “Kill Devil Hills” is also quite effective. If the whole album captured the spirit of these tracks, I’d be more into it.

Ill Bill is a talented emcee, and I appreciate that while drugs and violence are two of the main subject matters addressed on the album, he doesn’t glorify anything. Bill’s delivery is hard and direct, which brings a sense of urgency to the album that is very effective. Most of my beef comes with the guest artists, who aren’t always on his level, such as O.C., Slaine, Sean Price, or Vinnie Paz. They are the ones who fall into the trappings of gangsta rap and bring the album down. However, Raekwon does come dangerously close to stealing the whole album with his verse on “Chase Manhattan.” Asking the Chef to come up with a rhyme about a crime story is an easy set up, though. It’s like asking Scorsese to guest direct an episode of a TV show about the Mafia.

When the album is clicking, I certainly appreciate it, even though it’s not my preferred style. However, there are certainly chunks of this album with uninteresting beats and trite problematic rhymes that also highlight a lot of my problems with gangsta rap. In this way, the album is a wash for me.