Most of you will remember MC Eiht as a ruthless greasy Jerry curl sporting thug from the infamous Hughes Brothers directed hood classic Menace II Society, some gaming fanatics may be familiar with his character Ryder from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, or maybe you’re familiar with one of the greatest songs in rap history “Str8 Up Menace”. Whatever your case one can’t sleep on the relevance and impact that Aaron Tyler has had on the face of West Coast music over the past two decades. Though he never reached the heights of Dr. Dre and Snoop, Eiht still has an impressive resume which includes 23 albums total. He and his CMW collective terrorized the streets in the 90’s with their crip life ethics, now in 2007 the collective return with there latest Represent.

MC Eiht and his crew CMW give love to one of America’s most infamous hoods on the album’s opening effort “This Is Compton”. On “Then You Gone” Eiht uses a famous Rick James sample to almost cinematically detail the death traps in the hood alongside his CMW brethren. Tracks like “What You Like It Like” and “All Around The Hood” take major weight away from the album due to their mushy subject matter and weak production.

“So Don’t Go There” features a less than average hook, but the soulful backdrop is rather attractive. The album’s title track has a relaxed yet menacing retro feel to it making it one of the album’s highlight flashes. Eiht makes one for the Crips to bounce to over grooves reminiscent of ’94 on “Like Me”. On the aforementioned  track Eiht instructs the young OG how to be a G just like himself. Eiht takes it back to the days of 1985 as he reminisces about his early days of movin dope on “Slang My Keys”.  The album closes out with an unnecessary bonus feature of one of the standout tracks from Eiht’s 2004 album Veteran’s Day.

Representin falls right in line with the string of releases from MC Eiht and CMW. Though its not as gritty and entertaining as it would have been if it had been released in the early to mid 90’s. Representin still features that gangsterism that America once loved so much. At nearly 40 years old  Eiht proves he still has an inside track on what continues to go down on the West coast streets. With an increase in the production budget MC Eiht and CMW could very well find themselves at the forefront of the West once again. Maybe!

VERDICT – 11 / 20
LYRICS: 2
PRODUCTION: 3
DELIVERY: 3
CONSISTENCY: 3