‘Me‘ finds Erykah bearing her soul over a smoothed-out backdrop provided by Sa-Ra. On ‘My People‘, Erykah works Eddie Kendricks’ “My People (Hold On)” into her own unique version over another crazy Madlib production. Another frequent Dilla cohort, Karieem Riggins provides Badu with what is most certainly the album’s hardest groove on my personal favorite ‘Soldier’, as Erykah sings about Iraqi fields and dirty cops, among other things.

‘The Cell‘ and ‘Twinkle‘ (both produced by Sa-Ra) are the album’s low points in my opinion, but still not bad. Things pick back up in a major way, however, on the reflective ‘Master Teacher‘ featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow and Bilal on background vocals. This track also contains powerful lyrics with Badu and Muldrow wondering “what if there were no niggas, only master teachers” over a sample of Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead” provided by Sa-Ra.

‘That Hump‘ is a classic jam-session style song, as Erykah wonders what it will take to get by over rolling guitars, keys, and drums. The album then comes to a dramatic climax with the Questlove and James Poyser assisted Telephone’, on which Erykah recalls a conversation with Dilla’s mom on the day after his passing where she told Badu that during his last few days, Dilla would drift in and out of conciousness, often having conversations with fictional and/or dead people. This song centers around one of those, a conversation Dilla had with the late, great Ol’ Dirty Bastard in which Dirty was giving Dilla directions to heaven. This cut pays tribute to Dilla in a way that only Badu could and is certain to leave you with chills. The album then closes on a much lighter note with the 9th Wonder produced single ‘Honey‘ featuring Badu crooning over a smooth, feel-good track from 9th.

All in all, this album is very solid and provides the listener with a great feeling, though one that is different from any of her previous releases. Aside from a few sleepy tracks, this album is full of energy and spirit and can easily be considered amongst her best work.

Ever since the release of Mecca and the Soul Brother with CL Smooth way back in 1992, Pete Rock has been carving out his own unique nitche in the hip-hop game. His laid-back, jazzy sound propelled by his trademark horns, pianos, basslines, and hard-hitting drums were the backdrop for CL in the early 90′s until their split in 1994 and this sound helped Pete maintain in the game, producing numerous classics for artists such as Nas, RUN-DMC, Redman, Ghostface, AZ, Freddie Foxxx and many more over the past 15 years.

Pete was also able to establish himself as a solo artist during this time with 1998′s masterpiece Soul Survivor and 2004′s somewhat dissapointing follow-up Soul Survivor II. Now in 2008, Pete returns with his third official solo album NY’s Finest.

The album starts with what is, in my opinion, a very poor pairing as Pete trades verses with Dipset’s Jim Jones and Jones’ boy Max B on “We Roll”. While the smoothed-out synth sounds and horns provide a very dope beat, the verses from Jones and Max B sound out-of-place, as does Max B’s annoying hook. Personally, I think MF DOOM (who was rumoured to have a verse on the album but is nowhere to be found) would have provided a much doper feature here, but then again it’s not my album.
“914″ featuring Styles P and Sheek Louch of The Lox is one of the album’s more raw offerings, combing the oft-used ESG “UFO” sample with some horns over the oft-used Skullsnaps drums.
“Questions” with Royal Flush is one of the album’s better offerings with Flush giving brutal answers to fictional fan’s questions over Pete’s flutes and slamming drums. This leads into another of my favorites, “Best Believe” featuring Redman and LD, as Pete freaks The Impressions’ “Preacher Man” to perfection, providing Red with a perfect backdrop to do his thing, which he does with a monster verse.

“Ready Fe War” featuring Chip Fu is a nice attempt at a true reggae song, but leaves something to be desired. “Bring Ya’ll Back” with Little Brother and Joe Scudda is another of the album’s harder joints, as the emcees flow very nicely over the raw horns and strings from Pete. “The Best Secret” with Lords Of The Underground sounds straight out of the mid-90′s, featuring a classic laid-back offering with a rolling bassline that the Lords sound right at home over.

The album then hits a weak spot with the up-tempo, R&B-sounding “That’s What I Am Talking About” featuring Rell but picks back up with “The PJ’s” featuring Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and Masta Killa spitting hard over a creative freaking of the popular David Matthew’s “Sandworms” sample.
“Made Man” is the best of Pete’s solo offerings on the album, as Pete sounds good over the smooth, piano-laden backdrop, though I still would have rather seen him give this beat to a doper emcee (perhaps the also-rumoured but absent Talib Kweli?). “Let’s Go” with DJ Doo Wop (this dude raps?) is average at best, but the album ends on strong note as Papoose sounds right at home over Pete’s piano melody and hard bassline on “Comprehend”.

While there are plenty of dope tracks on this record, I would say the main problem is Pete’s solo joints, as each “Till I Retire,” “Don’t Be Mad,” and “That’s What I Am Talking About” are lacking in both the lyric and beat department. Pete has never been the greatest of emcees (though I would say that he was at his lyrical peak on Soul Survivor) and it doesn’t help when the beat is flawed as well.

Overall, the album is fairly strong and a step above Soul Survivor II in terms of consistency but nowhere near the classic that is Soul Survivor. Pete’s definitely still got it, but I think that sticking to the beats and a better guest list would have provided a better opportunity for total success.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Favorite Tracks: “Questions,” “Best Believe,” “Bring Ya’ll Back,” “The Best Secret,” “Comprehend”