Balance and Big Rich are at it again with this new album called "Good As Money". Balance has been hard grinding the last few years, he had a very good debut album, dropped some great mixtapes, been in the studio with Dr.Dre working on Dre's new album and now here dropping this new colab album with Big Rich.
The first thing that needs to be said about this album is that it sounds
very professional, its been mastered and edited extremely well.
The beats are great and the recording quality sounds very well done.
The album starts off with the fantastic, head nodding "Bay Loco", which has
Balance and Big Rich spittin nothing but fire over a slappin beat, great way to
start off the album.hehe,
"On My Shit" is one of the years best tracks with production that sounds like a Dr.Dre type of beat with its well placed drums and is extremely addicting. Glasses Malone also does a great job of teaming up with Balance and Big Rich on this song and shows why hes one of the best upcoming rappers in the game at the moment.
"Yay'd out" is a track about the bay area, which features CMT on the beat and The Teams Ka Kyzah on the mic and doesnt dissapoint at all. Another amazing beat that sounds like it was meant for a 50 cent or Dr.Dre album.
Balance steals the show on this song with lines like:
"Catch me in LA with Bishop and Doc Dre/Catch me on the ave with dope, I got Yay/
Talkin cds, you cant fuck with me/Every single city I go the bay with me!"
and
"Im buzzin in La and im good in teh streets/I rock a A's fitted, Im in your city/
I hop off a plane lookin fresh like Ditty".
"Im Back" is another great track and its Big Rich on this song that shines the most, yet another very good beat with a very well done hook that is enjoyable instead of annoyign like alot of rap hooks these days.
"In These Streets" features Sik Wit It vet Turf Talk and is straight bay area perfection. Great lyrics, amazing beat and yet again a great hook. Balance spits slick lines like "Im the bays quick sand yall sinkin beneath".
Another addicting song is "Friday Night" which will have you wishing it was Friday Night and pay day. This song needs a video for it ASAP. Messy Marv is featured and comes with his usual gangster flow and street lyrics, Balance and Big Rich also bring there A game on this track aswell. This is a song that really has the potential to be BIG.
"Fresh" is another extremely good song that has a hard beat and features Ya Boy. This is that gangster/mob shit that the old bay is known for. On this dboy anthem Big Rich spits
"I can make a million dollars making rap songs/Or I can hit the fuckin block and get my trap on"
After hearing this song a few times you will either wanna go cop some new kicks and get ya fresh on or knock someone the fuck out because of the hard beat.
An odd combination yes, but this song is nothing but slap.
As Ya Boy says: "Bout to slide thru the Rich and pick up my Bay work/ All in a days work/Nigga i feind for bucks been on teh move since I was 2 and still I havnt seen enough/
Just left LA, shut the whole strip down, fresh out the toilet, Ya boy is the shit clown"
Yukmouth joins the action on "Why You Mad At Me" and like usual he brings heat on the mic. The beat is another slapper and has more of a down south type of feel to it. This is another stand out track on an overall very special album.
"Switchin Lanes" has up and coming westcoast monster Nio The GIft spitin fire over a good beat. Not the best song on the album, but still very good, as Balance and Big Rich really mesh well with Nio The Gift on the mic, hope to hear more from these 3 together in the future.
Overall this is an extremely good album, with 12 out of the 13 songs being top notch bay area slap. The only song that I could do without is Runaway girl, which isnt terrible by any means, but just feels a little out of place when played after the other songs which could be classics downt the road.
This is a cd that really surprised me, I know both these mcs got heat and that they work well together from past work. But the quality of the beats and especially the recording/engineering/mixing is top notch and a thing of beauty.
The hooks are also very well done aswell, it just goes to show that you can have someone singing on a hook and make it good and noy annoying. With all the Autotune and Akon type of artists doing annoying hooks these days, its good to hear an album that does all of its hooks well, on some Mike Marshall type stuff instead of another Akon or T-Pain clone.
Not only one of the top 3 cds from the bay this year, but one of the years best cds from any coast and any genre. No skits, no filler, just great music from front to back. GO COP THIS ASAP!
SCORE = 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment