M.O.P.

The rabble-rousing Brownsville, Brooklyn crew's fourth release is a heavy machete cutting through the forest of clones of the hip-hop field. A Molotov cocktail of an album featuring M.O.P.'s brand of harmonious high-energy thuggery. The Mash Out Posse deals strictly with street life themes and is not for the weak of heart or ear but the musical element is always varied and flavorful. DJ Premier has always supported these underground soldiers and on this album he exercises his darker side on five tracks. While his influence and sound run throughout, for his own tracks Primo digs deep in his bag of tricks, deftly looping a swatch from Hendrix's "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" on "Follow Instructions" and testing out new sequencing patterns on "Everyday" and "On the Front Line." Billy Dance and Lil' Fame (Fizzy Womack) have never strayed from their military mind set and rhyme format and Warriorz recapitulates the staples of their hardcore sound. Fizzy also applies his well-trained ear in the sound booth on tracks like the gangster jitterbug "Nig-gotiate" or lifting a segment from Foreigner's "Cold as Ice" for a track of the same title. Though the tone rarely changes and the lyrical content gets repetitive, musically the album hits enough high notes to make this a nice release. ~ M.F. DiBella, All Music Guide