Customer Reviews

Recipe, The

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mack 10, "The Recipe", is an all out phat album. Although he makes it mighty clear he does this "gangsta s**t" only for the money, how can we argue? Okay, okay, so the lyrics arent the "realest", they are "gangsterish", and lets face it, Gangsta Rap, I mean good gangsta rap is hard to come by since the death of N.W.A, alot of groups emerging putting out wack stuff trying to make money, and fail, but, Mack 10 does a very good job. Keeping it gangsta lyrics, yet without the same gansta beats, he is mixing funk with gangsta rap, which to me is, just, great. The most surprising thing to me was the track Mack did with New York goodies, Fat Joe and Big Punisher. It is obvious the crap between coasts is over, especially after the freestyle Mack and Cube kick on Funkmaster Flex Volume Three. Combining East and West is unbeleivable. Why they bothered arguing in the first time, I dont know, but together, they are unstoppable. A few other tracks, such as "You Aint Seen Nothin" with Jermaine Dupri and Foxy Brown, and "For The Money" featuring the ODB and Buckshot kill it. They are funky, dope and just the sh*t. Another goodie is when Mack and Mc Eight do a song with the late, and the greatest Eazy E. It is a gangsta stuff at its best, well, its best in a long while! But for me, the best song on the album is "LBC with the ING", featuring Snoop Dogg. What can I say? A funky beat, a sing along chorus and just dope rhymes, and lets face it, Snoop is the king. Overall, The Recipe by Mack 10 is perhaps one of the best releases to me in 1998, along with Funk Flex 3, Tribe and a few other goodies. Nothing else to say, but BUY IT.

Mack 10's third album "The Recipe" is nothing special for this reviewer. On this album I find Mack 10's gangsta style lyrics to become repetitive and brings nothing new with this album, not to mention a guest appearance on almost every track. A lot of this album has a lot of skip that flows throughout. The first song that stood out was "Money Just A Touch Away" featuring Gerald Levart (R.I.P.), as he rhymes about him comming up in the rap game. Another dope track would be "Ghetto Horror Show" with Ice Cube and Jayo Felony. Mack 10 teams up with Snoop Dogg over an old school beat for the song "Long Beach & Inglewood". Mack 10 teams up with a lot of guests. Many East Coast and Down South, as well as some West Coast rappers who hit (Big Pun, Buckshot Shorty, ODB, MC Eiht), and some who miss (Jermaine Dupri, Foxy Brown, Master P, CJ Mac (sorry I can't stand him)). That can really cause an imbalance on the album and have some filler tracks like "Made ******" and "You Ain't Seen ****". Mack 10 closes the album with him addressing the critics on "The Letter", followed by a rock sounding track "Should I Stay, Or Should I Go" featuring Korn and Ice Cube. I enjoy Mack 10, but personally believe that he lacks charisma of carring an album by himself, and find it better when he is either rhyming in a group (Westside Connection), or being a guest on someone else's album (which might explain the high amount of tracks that feature guests). This album has your average dated topics and common material that might have sounded good back in 1998, but years later is dated. There are a few tracks here and there, but not enough to keep the album togeher. I find that this album is more suited for east coast listeners than it is for west. I understand the unity that was going on back then due to the circumstances of recent events, but this album pulls too far from it's west coast sound that makes the music sound the way it should. Unless you're a hardcore fan of Mack 10, I recommend that you find this album at a used price. Peace.

Lyrics: C+
Production: B
Guest Appearances: C-
Musical Vibes: C

Top 5 Favorite Tracks:
1. Long Beach & Inglewood (LBC and the ING) (featuring Snoop Dogg)
2. The Letter
3. Money Just A Touch Away (featuring Gerald Levert)
4. Ghetto Horror Show (feauring Ice Cube and Jayo Felony)
5. Get Your Ride On (featuring Eazy E and MC Eiht)

Mack 10's 3rd solo album is pretty good. Out of the 14 songs, there is only 1 with no guests, and it's the 2nd best one on here (one song has a guest doing the hook). The guestare from his Hoo Bangin camp, other Cali rapper, some from down south, and a few more from the east. Production is pretty good and done by 7 people. Young Trey does 3, Binky Mack, Slice & Rhythm D, DJ Uneek, and Dutch all do 2 songs, and Payback & KLC each do 1 song. It has 1 classic, 1 near classic, 2 that I skip, 2 that are ok, and the other 8 are good. As usual the main concept is gangsta themes, hustling, and a dirty sdong or 2. A good album to have for Mack 10 fans and west coast fans alike.

#2 - 8 (f/ cj mac, binky mack, boo kapone, techniec)
#3 - 7.5 (upbeat song f/ jermaine dupri, foxy brown)
#4 - 6.5 (f/ master p, mystikal)
#5 - 8.5 (f/ eazy e {R.I.P.}, MC Eiht)
#6 - 9 ( Great relaxing song about money -- f/ gerald levert)
#8 - 8.5 (dirty song - f/ cj mac, techniec, binky mack, boo kapone)
#9 - 8 (f/ ol dirty bastard {R.I.P.} and buckshot)
#10 - 7 (f/ ice cube and jayo felony)
#11 - 8.5 (f/ snoop doggy dogg)
#13 - 8 (f/ fat joe & Big Pun {R.I.P.})
#14 - 10 (CLASSIC gangsta song -- f/ WC, MC Eiht, K Mac, CJ Mac, Binky Mack, Boo Kapone, Techniec, Thump, Roadawgs)
#15 - 9 (f/ Tray Deee and squeek Ru -- relaxing beat)
#16 - 9.5 (letter to rap critics)
#17 - 6.5 (rock beat by Korn -- f/ Ice Cube)

D.Rolison --b. 8/9/71 -- Inglewood, CA
Check all my reviews

This Mack 10 album is a must have.The beats is some of the best I've heard,and of course Mack 10 makes them gangsta songs which is the best.It's so many appearances on here I'm not even gonna try to name any.(...)even some of them eastcoast rappers was fittin in good on there songs cause I don't even like eastcoast rap like dat.It's so many tight songs on here,so the people that always have a favorite song can't even pick one on this joint.The only and only song Mack 10 didn't need on here is that song wit Jd and Foxy Brown.But it's still all good and if you don't got this album go get this joint and his other albums to for real.If you wanna convince someone who don't like Mack 10 like that, just play "Gangsta (...) like A Drug" ,like I said I don't have a favorite song on here but that song just haves that flavor that can make anybody like it.So go get this joint right now......Go!

Probably Mack 10's best, The recipe offers straight,hardcore gangsta rap

Anyone who could possibly dis this album for the guest appearences is mad. The collaberations are unbeatable. Mack 10, taking Gangsta Rap to a new level and crossing the East/West boundaries. The funkiest and most widley appealing album to come out of Rap/Hip Hop for a long time!

I was very disappointed with Mac 10's new album because as many people have commented there are just too many guest appearances. If I wanted a compilation album, I'll buy Flex's album or Ant Bank's joint. I consider myself to be a hard core Mac 10 fan and find myself wondering why the sudden change in his approach. I understand artists want to make as much money as possible in a short time but I think Mac 10 is going about it the wrong way. Stay true to the game as his mentor Cube talked about on Death Certificate. It doesn't come fast and easy, ask E-40, he's been in the game for a while and he's just now getting the props he deserves but he didn't do it by changing his style up. He stayed true to his hard core fan base which is what MAC ONE-O needs to do.

Mack 10 is the shizznit! If you like hip hop and rap you better get this album. It features just about everyone who is hot right now. Mack sounds better than ever on this one, but he shouldn't have tried to get down with Buckshot and ODB cuz they stole the show. The Terror Squad also represents on another fat track. You can't say they didn't get down on that song.

Mack 10 will allways dominate the Rap scene in my view. I look up to him as a role model, and one day I wanna be like da Chicken Hawk. Based On a True Story was down! But the Recipe will be even better I bet, I hope Mack 10 da best and may allah bless him for giving him this great talent to entertain us wit' his Rap!!!

-J Dub A!

The recipe on this album is pretty easy to figure out, first you gather MC's from just about every where, have them drop sh*t on your album, and expect it to sell millions, which it might do, considering the amount of guest appearances there are on this joint. Let's be real for a few, we all know Mack 10 ain't writing his own lyrics, it's obvious Ice Cube penned every word he says on this album. I will give him props for just coming right out and saying he's only in it for the money, cause this doesn't offer anything new or creative to hiphop, just your typical west siiiiide sound. The title joint, "The Recipe" is pretty dope, when I first started listening, I was into it, then came the massive guest appearances. I mean really, this should have been a compilation, not a Mack 10 record, but as I said before, he's only in it for the money, so it's a no brainer why there's so many guest's. All in all, I'd have to say just pass this joint by, unless you just wanna peep the guest appearances.