Craig G is a 51 year old MC from Queens, New York who started out as a member of the Juice Crewcollective. His full-length debut The Kingpin produced by Marley Marl & the sophomore effort Now, That’s More Like It came out in the late 80s/early 90s through Atlantic Records & returned over a decade later with This is Now!!! like he never left. Marley Marl went on to produce Operation: Take Back Hip Hop, which resulted in Craig signing to Soulspazm Records for his last couple albums Ramblings of an Angry Old Man and I Rap & Go Home. 8 years later, he’s back for his 7th full-length LP.

After the “Few Words from tha Teacha” intro, the first song “The Okey Doke” fuses rap rock & boom bap telling everyone to hold themselves accountable for what they fell for whereas the sample-driven “Dumb Down” featuring B-Real talks about this era that we’re entering. “America’s Dumbest Criminals” vividly tells the story of a couple criminals who later got arrested the same night just before the chipmunk soul title track discusses the current state of the world.

“Fortitude” flips an organ representing hard work & after the Chuck D interlude, “Gossip Sites” disses everyone who posts online for attention. “Expand Ya Mind” featuring Chubb Rock sets out to exactly that over a boom bap instrumental while “Reconsidered” tells a sad tale for 3-minutes. “Smartest 1 in the Room” featuring Freeway takes us back in the basement tryna inspire & making the community legitimate while “Wise Words” ends by telling everyone to go for theirs.

Craig has always been a bit underappreciated when it comes to members of the Juice Crew & although I don’t think it’s one of the best albums that he’s ever done per se, I did enjoy the half hour listening experience. The production is prominently based around the traditional east coast boom bap sound & Craig observes the cons of our world today.

Score: 7/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com