Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel includes: Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Daz, Jay-Z, Freeway, Lil Chris, Kurupt, Sparks, Scarface, Rell. | | Producers include: Kanye West, Just Blaze, Rick Rock, 88 Keys, Bernard "Big Demi" Parker. | | Recorded at Baseline Studios, New York, New York. | | This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. | | Personnel: St. Nick (vocals); DJ Scratch (scratches). | | Audio Mixers: Doug Wilson; Gimel Keaton; Joe Quinde; Just Blaze. | | Recording information: Baseline Studios, New York, NY. | | Photographer: Jonathan Mannion. | | Arguably the hottest thing to come outta Philly since the Roots, Beanie Sigel had hip-hop heads from coast to coast bobbing along to the infectious beats and dark inner-city tales of his impressive debut, The Truth. But while emotional songs like "Mom Praying" make The Reason a solid enough follow-up, it essentially boils down to more of the same ol', same ol'. Sigel's familiar streetwise persona shines through on cuts that are more concerned with hustling and hanging out than glitz and glamour, but the repetitive tales of thug life and gangsterisms grow a bit redundant by album's end. The production is consistently banging, and songs like "Tales of a Hustla" and "Think It's a Game" (featuring Jay-Z) more than live up to the promise first glimpsed on The Truth. But ultimately, Sigel's sophomore effort isn't so much an artistic step forward as it is a step sideways. ~ Bret Love |
Engineer: Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton; Kamel Abdo; Gimel Keaton |
Musical Guests | | Memphis Bleek | | Daz | | Kurupt | | Freeway | | Jay-Z | | Sparks | | Rell | | Scarface | | Lil' Chris |
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| Entertainment Weekly (7/13/01, p.86)
- "...Smarter-than-average gangsta lyrics and eclectic hip-hop beats..." - Rating: BQ (9/01, p.117)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...Sigel backs his braggadocio with crisp funk beats and expertly-judged samples of Funkadelic, James Brown and sundry blaxploitation..." CMJ (8/13/01, p.20)
- "...Street anthems and gangster confessionals...that will sound good booming in your ride..." NME (Magazine)
(12/29/01, p.59)
- Ranked #36 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001". NME (Magazine)
(6/30/01, p.40)
- 8 out of 10 - "...One of the best hardcore rap records of the year 2001..." |
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