As much as I hate to say it, the majority of this album was an effort to listen to. The opener "How To Emcee", like the rest of the album, could have probably been a lot better with a harder, stronger sound. Not to say that Ra don't go hard, but he could have gone harder, we've heard him go harder. And he didn't. Sounds like he's just coasting on lyrical skill, his rhymes don't convince me.
The Maino feature - actually wasn't that bad. He's one of the only featuring artists on the album and drops a respectable guest verse on "Walk These Streets" which leaked awhile back. But why Maino? and only Maino. He's the only (semi-)big name in terms of features. It just seems weird that Rakim (remember who we're talking about here) would choose to spotlight a dude that made his career on a song like "Hi Hater".
Two tracks that stood out were "Holy Are You" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed". The prior has pretty good production and Ra spits rhymes about spirituality and superiority. If the rest of the album had sounded like that, I wouldn't be yearning so much for him to "go harder". The latter, although I'm not feeling the beat at all (no shots Neo), is dope in it's lyrical content. Rakim spits as if his music is Hip Hop's dope and he is merely a dealer who's "got what we need". Worth a listen.
I came away from this album pretty damn unimpressed. Wouldn't recommend copping this one, unless your a Rakim fan - and even then.
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