Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 09/26/2000
The long-awaited debut by
Notorious B.I.G.'s successor on
Puff Daddy's
Bad Boy label,
Shyne, follows through on its promise to present a thuggish, hardcore equivalent to the seemingly irreplaceable, deceased gangsta superstar. From the opening monologue ("Dear America, I'm only what you made me/Young, black, and f*cking crazy/Maybe if all you niggas were building schools instead of prisons, I'd stop living the way I'm living/Probably not/I'm so used to serving rocks and burning blocks"), there's little denying that
Shyne is trying to be what his audience wants him to be: the hardest rapper yet, harder than
2Pac,
Biggie, and
DMX. Although this is merely on a par with other here-today, gone-tomorrow post-
Biggie Bad Boy releases like
Black Rob's
Life Story (1999) and
G. Dep's
Child of the Ghetto (2001),
Shyne's efforts here are indeed commendable, particularly considering the precedent he's following.
~Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
;)
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