Haven't listened to this one for a while now but i think it deserves some airtime via a small review.
During an era where there weren't all that many UK groups with more than one album I remember being quite happy to see a follow-up effort from the Ruthless Rap Assassins. Whilst it doesn't quite live up to their debut there was some class on this album.
It starts off nicely with "What did you say your name was ?", an almost 8min long track which serves as a re-introduction to the crew with the two Dangerous fellas (C and Hinds) on the mic. The track is interlaced with all sorts of vocal samples from the likes of everyone from Chuck Chillout to Awesome Dre and has "that" Public Enemy whistle thing running throughout. As far as i recall DJ Dangerous C wasn't picking up the mic on the first LP as much as he does on this one and it is an added bonus to hear rhymes from him. "Killer on wax is back to attack ..."
Next up comes the awesome "Listen to the Hit". The track starts of nicely with a little section that sounds like an excerpt from a live show with Hinds ragga chatting over a sparse beat, and then the real beat kicks in with the funkiest guitar sample that you're likely to ever hear behind a beat and it wouldn't sound out of place on an Ice T album. Great classic vocal sample for the chorus (Ice Cube this time) - which seems to be a fantastic trademark of the RRA sound since the first LP. Great track. "We're gonna play another ruthless hit coz we're sick of that pop s**t" - word up!
Kermit brings us a solo effort with "Why Me?". The guy has a few things to say in this track to haters and whilst I like his mic style the track is not particularly stunning compared to others on here and is somewhat messy.
Another track of epic duration (close to 9mins) follows ie. the title track "Think". In accordance to the song-title, the song is deep on the knowledge tip and discusses the British Govt, slavery and the plight of the black man in the UK. Despite the length of the song and the all too familiar beat (Rakim's "Paid in Full") it doesn't get boring as once again there's some nice samples throughout (The D.O.C this time amongst others) and towards the end of the song you find african rhythms riding along nicely with the beat.
"Hard and Direct" greets us next. Basically this track is all about the history of RRA and how they came up through the old school UK scene with the track appropriately fuelled by old school electro beats. I'd be breakdancing to this one ...... if i could.
The rather hard to listen to "I Got No Time" shows up next. This track is basically RRA's attempt at rap/rock and this personally does nothing for me and the half-sung Hendrix attempt in the chorus just sounds terrible ! A message to all MC's - please leave the singing to the real singers !!! (Websta on X-Ray Eyes being the only exception).
Thankfully we have the "Radio" track to somewhat brings things back to normal next. Although this track ALSO adopts rock guitars they are certainly more subtle than the last track. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to guess that this track is about lack of radio airplay and selling out. Nice use of a Chuck D sample in this one.
"Down and Dirty" takes us into the minds of dirty old men and perverted types. Whilst the attempt to diss these lowlifes is admirable the track is very slow and plodding and just plain boring and I don't know if anyone would want to listen to this track repeatedly and enjoy it.
"No Tale, No Twist" brings it's mellow self to us next. It's a reflective song about ghetto life which once again has the right idea thematically but the jazzy, girl singing vibe doesn't do much for my hardcore craving ears other than making me skip to the next track ...
... which is "Pick up the Pace" and just so happens to be my favourite track on this album ! Simply a rough, rugged, braggadocious track with the guys flowing nicely and aggressively on what happens to be the shortest track on the album at 4mins 24secs, which would qualify as a long track on most other albums.
"(I try to) Flow It Out" comes next. Another message laden track which once again doesn't have an interesting enough musical composition behind it. In fact it's a painfully boring "electro meets bongo drums" beat which kinds sounds like an MC Tunes track slowed to 70BPM.
"Less Mellow" closes out the LP. I guess it's sort of a Part2/remix of their "Just Mellow" track from LP numero uno. Again the rock guitar is picked up for this one with a slightly grating on the nerves effect and 70% of the track seems to be just music without rhymes. Personally i prefer the orginal "Just Mellow" 100 times more than this.
So i guess this album is hit and miss for me - some gems, some sub-par efforts. Full marks for lyrical content and wisdom dropped but unfortunately some of the music couldn't match the quaility of the lyrical content. Great use of audio samples within and between tracks and overall not a bad follow-up effort which i probably rate 7/10. They should've left the guitars at home though .
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