Everyonce in a while, hip hop peeks out of the gaudy chains, shiny teeth, money stacks, and big rims to say, FUCKAS I’m still here!!! 9th Wonder has been behind more of those peeks than most. With production that sky rocketed with Little Brother but includes Jean Grae, Jay-Z (Black Album no less), De La Soul and Mos Def, just to name a few, 9th Wonder makes sure that we continue to have some phenomenal tracks to support some legendary artists.
With that, this will be probably the shortest review ever on this site. I love my job. 🙂
Usually, we do a track by track review. Let me do something a little out of the ordinary. I will give you the tracklist first.
- “Mr. Dream Merchant Intro”
- “Shots (Featuring Big Dho and Sean Price)”
- “Merchant Of Dreams (Featuring The Embassy, Skyzoo, and Torae)”
- “Brooklyn In My Mind (Crooklyn Dodgers 3) (Featuring Mos Def, Jean Grae, and Memphis Bleek)”
- “Sunday (Featuring Keisha Shontelle and Chaundon)”
- “Baking Soda (Featuring Big Treal)”
- “Reminisce (Take Time) (Featuring Big Remo and The Great Novej of the A.L.L.I.E.S.)”
- “No Time To Chill (Featuring Little Brother)”
- “It Aint Over (Featuring Jozee Mo and Tyler Woods)”
- “The Last Time (The D, The Chi, and The Lou) (Featuring Royce da 5’9″, Naledge, and Vandalyzm of the Midwest Wreckin’ Crew)”
- “Saved (Featuring Saigon and Joe Scudda)”
- “Milky Lowa (Featuring Camp Lo)”
- “Backlash (Featuring Sean Boog and Buckshot)”
- “Thank You (Featuring D.O.X and O-Dash)”
- “Let It Bang (Featuring Ness and Skyzoo)”
- “What Makes A Man (Featuring Rapper Big Pooh and Buddy Klein)”
- “(Bonus) Special Remix (Featuring Strange Fruit Project and Median)”
- “(Bonus) You Wanna (Featuring NBS)”
So, let me paraphrase even that list. It features, Royce da 5’9”, Little Brother, Mos Def, Jean Grae, Strange Fruit Project, Camp Lo, Joe Scudda, Naledge, Chaundon, Bleek, Ness (Bad Boy), and Big Pooh making another appearance. It is 18 tracks of solid hip hop. 18 MUTHAFUCKIN’ TRACKS, no skits. It even has snippets at the end of the songs from other projects. Yes, he somehow leaves you wanting more with samples of other shit at the end of the 18 MUTHAFUCKIN’ TRACKS already on the album.
Bottom Line:
Quite simply put, if you love REAL hip hop, if you love that underground feel but crave flawless production, and being real honest, if you have ears, you NEED this damn CD. This is THE best CD of its kind I have ever heard, and one of the best hip hop albums to drop to date.
nappy Picks: “Brooklyn In My Mind”, “No Time To Chill”, “ Merchant of Dreams”, “ Let It Bang”, & “What Makes A Man”
Download: “Merchant OF Dreams” (feat. The Embassy, Skyzoo, and Torae)
Bonus Download: “Brooklyn In My Mind” (Crooklyn Dodgers 3) (feat. Mos Def, Jean Grae, & Memphis Bleek)
