Tony Yayo : Thoughts of a predicate felon

Rating: 4/5

The latest offering from G-Unit is definitely a breath
of fresh air in the corrupted hip hop atmosphere. Tony
Yayo is a hustler's dream. If your lamenting
the prospect of hearing 50-cent like R&B hip hop,
you'll be pleasantly suprised. Thoughts of a
Predicate Felon is the hardest G-unit album yet.

With heavy bass lines and grinding gritty snares and
riffs, Tony Yayo lays aggressive
straight-from-the-street lyrics. He spits with the
same hunger that most rappers first have when they're
still doing underground mix tapes.

Tony Yayo makes his pain of being in jail felt. The
intro is a stark reminder of the humiliation he faced when
taken to jail. In tracks like Tattle Teller he
lets bullets fly through the chest of the snitches
responsible for him taking a short stretch in the box.

At times, his bitterness or effort to sound street is
so extreme it seems exagerated and threatens to dilute
the potency of his lyrics. In spite of that,
he manages to tell a convincing story. The fact that
almost none of the tracks feature other G-Unit members
seems to be his effort to stand on his own two feet and
proclaim himself the hardest of the hardest in the G-Unit.

Personally, I'm convinced. Tony Yayo is the hardest
and realist spitter in G-Unit. That being said, it
took a while for his style to grow on me. I
expect that anyone else will initially be put of.
After a couple of spins, though, the album begins to
sound like a certified classic.

A few tracks just don't fit into the album and seem
forced. The Eminem produced Drama Setter is one
of these tracks. Eminem sticks out like a sore thumb
as he sings the chorus. Fortunately Obie Trice saves
the track with his flaming hot lyrics.

It's also interesting to note that Tony Yayo didn't
completely abandon the commercial side of rap. Tracks
like So Seductive, Love My Style ,
Project Princess (featuring Jagged Edge) and
Curious (featuring Joe) will guarantee that he
appeals to the mainstream crowd without alienating the
hard core hip hop afficionado.