Mack 10 has rapping skills, unfortunately his production skills aren't nearly as refined. Mack 10, a member of the Westside Connection, is yet another producer who is trying to swamp the market with low-level rap songs and minutely-skilled rappers. This double album anthem to the movie 'Thicker Than Water' features a barrage of west coast rappers, mainly those from Mack 10's record label, Hoo Bangin' Records. Among notable artists featured on this album are Westside Connection, Mack 10, Fat Joe, Memphis Bleek, WC, Noreaga and MC Eiht. This album's tracks have a predominant west coast feel, although several East Coast rappers play a part in this double album.

Despite being a pretty crappy album, there were 3 amazing songs: Westside Connection's "Let It Reign", Road Dawgs' "Gang Bang Shit" which featured Mack 10, and "Flagrant" by Choclair. All three of these songs are definite contenders for my next rap mix. There were also three other good songs, but not amazing, in particular CJ Mac's "King Of L.A.", MC Eiht's "Me & My Bitch" and Tech N9ne's "Planet Rock".

This double album is a weak album. Mack 10 does not have very much talent to work with and certainly isn't able to pull miracle beats out of his hat for every track. There are 28 tracks between the two discs of this album, and when only 6 are worthy of note, it means that the double album isn't very good. "Thicker Than Water Soundtrack" isn't worth the money that it's gonna cost. If the double album had been cut down to one album, this definitely could've been a great album, but there are too many boring songs with between the two discs.

www.brockwayent.com

(Originally posted on HipHopCanada.com)

This review was written October 16, 1999