Raekwon The Chef spits alongside Parrish Smith and Erick Sermon on the album’s opening effort “Puttin Work In” as the three show and prove the value of their veteran statuses in the rap game. The Havoc assisted “What You Talkin” falls right in tune with the album’s gritty New York opener. The two go at it alone on “Roc Da Spot” as they create a nostalgic sound and feeling almost eerily similar to their earlier days in the game. The veteran hook ups continue as KRS-One lends his wisdom on the pretty average sounding “Run It.” Redman comes with his usual off the wall ass lyrics over the classic Erick Sermon vibes on “Yo.”

Erick and Parrish reach back to the early 90’s to dust off a fresh and energized Teddy Riley for the upbeat and favorable “Listen Up.” Method Man shows his ass alongside the duo on the tastefully hater proof “Never Defeat Em.” Erick and Parrish trade bars over the old school flavored “Jane.” North Carolina’s 9th Wonder makes the albums only outside production credit with his work on “Left For Dead.” On the Keith Murray assisted “Left For Dead” Erick Sermon spits, “same thing happened to Mary and Mariah / they both came back with fire, fuck retirin” as he speaks on the purpose of this latest album. The comeback album ends with the extra gritty “Actin Up.”

In a year where Lil Wayne has all but demolished the charts with pop friendly rap songs its admittedly nice to hear something so close to the essence of how this all started. Unfortunately sales will not be an indication of how good this album really is due to the current market’s infatuation with fad music. True fans of EPMD should be thoroughly impressed with the high quality of rap music that Parrish Smith and Erick Sermon are able to process in
these very uncreative times.

VERDICT – 14 / 20
LYRICS: 3
PRODUCTION: 4
DELIVERY: 4
CONSISTENCY: 3