LYRICIST LOUNGE VOL. 2
Rawkus

Rather than taming the hards, the compilation respects their quote-unquote reality: the politically circumspect Talib Kweli and Dead Prez are the ones who lay out the limits of gun control in "Sharp Shooters," though it's M.O.P.'s Billy Danze who promises to "spit fire from the heavy metal." Scary stuff, but convincing. Maybe in California, where gangsta should only be as funny as the cartoon it is, undergrounders need to preach peace and love. In Rudy Giuliani's and RZA's New York, with Amadou Diallo and Patrick Dorismund haunting the collective unconscious, other truths hold sway.

Rolling Stone, Apr. 12, 2001