Link: Official Tony Yayo Site
The Inside Pulse:
It’s been about a year and a half since Tony Yayo was released from prison and finally able to capitalize on his considerable industry buzz. He and lifelong friend, 50 Cent, did some damage on the mixtape circuit for a minute, before Yayo did a bid for various illegal weapons charges and a bit of bail jumping. With the release of his highly-anticipated debut effort, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon, Yayo looks to continue the inexplicable alchemy of G-Unit album sales. To that end, this album pretty much is what it is. The subject matter never strays from drugs n’ women and thuggin’, but, surprisingly, Yayo shows signs that his hype may indeed be deserved. This isn’t a great album, and you’d be hard pressed to give in to “good” as a description, but it has the occasional moment or three of lyrical cleverness, mixed with the right mood to shroud some of Yayo’s obvious shortcomings.
Positives:
The album’s overall feel is grimy and unpolished. And, even though this muck is mostly manufactured”¦damned if it doesn’t sometimes work. It Is What It Is features new labelmate Spider Loc, who tears up the second verse. R&B staple, Joe, pops in for the admittedly cloying Curious, which is a harmless n’ listenable made-for-radio effort. Drama Setter features one of Eminem’s better beats and an all-star guest effort from Em and Obie Trice.
Negatives:
If you’ve heard one G-Unit affiliated album, then you’ve pretty much heard them all. Yayo borrows very heavily from the intro to Ice Cube’s Predator album on the intro here, which leads into the flat opening track, Homicide. The anti-snitch anthem, Tattle Teller, is terrible from start to finish and especially on the hook. Project Princess drags in Jagged Edge, but the end result is one trip too many down “radio single street”. And, Olivia, G-Unit’s version of Ashanti, is borderline laughable on We Don’t Give A F*ck.
Cross-Breed:
Take Lloyd Banks mixed with a little more charisma and the Interscope beat-making assembly line.
Reason to Buy:
This is probably going to be the peak of Tony Yayo’s career, kids. Unless he leaves G-Unit, every other album he does under their umbrella will sound exactly like this one. So, why wait another year or two for his next CD to drop, when you can have the same sound right now?
