Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bay Area Slapper, May 6, 2008
Yuk mouth is at it again. This is one of his best albums in years. He finally went back to his old style. Some of the songs on this album are simalar to the songs on the albulation. For real, he get on niggas helmets on this one. Do your thug thing my nigga, this album is the S@*t.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Yuk's best album - 4.5 stars, October 3, 2008
It's been a few years since Yuk has put out a solo, and this is his last on Rap-A-lot. Over the past 5 years of no solo albums he has put out 2 Thug Lordz albums, 2 United Ghettos... albums and an album with Messy Marv. Over the last few years I've come to like his work less, but he rebounds back definitely into the right direction on this one, as this may be my fvorite of his solo albums (close with "Thug Lord: The New Testament"). With 17 songs, you get 1 classic, 1 almost classic, 5 ok songs, and the other 10 are good, a few being real good. Guests aren't too heavy, on 10 songs, but only rapping on 6 and doing the hook on the others. Production is pretty good as well and handled by some better producers. Slapboyz do 3 songs, Traxamillion does 2, Mike Dean, Young L, Nan dogg, Baby C-Style, Mr. Lee, Enigma, P Killer Trackz, Cozmo, Delinquents, S Dog, Scoop Dezel all do 1 song. A nice album for his fans and some of his better work over the past few years.
#2 - 10 (CLASSIC - -great beat)
#3 - 7.5
#4 - 8.5 (f/ Matt Blaque -- nice beat)
#5 - 8.5
#6 - 8.5 (f/ Crooked I)
#7 - 9 (nice beat)
#8 - 8.5 (f/ Danica -- good beat)
#9 - 9 (f/ Matt Blaque -- good beat)
#10 - 8.5 (f/ Too $hort, Richie Rich, Devin the Dude & Danica)
#11 - 8.5
#12 - 7.5 (f/ C-Bo, Glasses Malone & Jayo Felony)
#13 - 9 (f/ Devin the Dude)
#14 - 9.5 (f/ MC Eiht & Trae -- nice beat)
#15 - 6.5 (f/ Tuffy the Goon, Kafani, Bart, Tajai, Dru Down, Teeda Weeda, Delinquents, Richie Rich)
#16 - 7.5
#17 - 7
#18 - 8 (f/ Tha Realest, Tech N9ne, Gov Matic, Monsta Ganjah, Dorasel, mad Max)
J. Ellis -- b.~1975 -- Oakland, CA
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Yukmouth is capable of much much better!, March 7, 2008
If this were any other rapper, I'd say "Million Dollar Mouthpiece" is a very good album. However, it's Yukmouth we're talking about here. To me, ever since he started his solo career, he is one of West Coast best rappers. After signing with the great Rap-A-Lot Records, he released two classic albums - "Thugged Out" was a double-CD masterpiece and "Thug Lord" wasn't that far behind. In 2003 he released Godzilla, which wasn't on the same lever as his previous work, but was still a great album, with a lot of bangers. However, after 2003, things changed. Yukmouth started doing his independent thing, releasing a lot of mixtapes, DVDs and whatever. While many of them weren't bad at all, you can't put out so much material without risking releasing some weak projects/songs here and there (unless you are the late 2Pac). And the result of all that, in my opinion, was the Yuk spent less time and effort working on his Rap-A-Lot album. He could blame them for pushing the album's release date for many years (and be right about that!), but he cannot blame them for the final result and some of the weak and mediocre songs that were on "Million Dollar Mouthpiece" after it finally came out. And that's the problem with this album. Unlike his previous work, this album suffers from a lot of ups and downs. You get some great songs, next to quite a few weak or very mediocre ones. It's not a solid or consistent album, and that's not what we're used to hearing from Yukmouth. So, let's get to the album itself. Usually I don't do track by track reviews, but it this case, the album is so inconsistent that I feel obliged to. Let's go.
1. Intro - An awful intro, with Yuk using a weird voice, sounding like a retard. This isn't an intro that fits a high profile album. And actually it was the intro to his City of Dope mixtape.
2. Drug Dealer - A nice way to start the album, with Yukmouth rapping over an OK Traxmillion beat. I know he's one of the upcoming producers in the Bay, but I still wasn't blown away by the beat. Right away, the Down South influence is obvious (like on many songs on this album). To me, it sounds like the beats TI uses on his albums, and this style just is not Yuk. Lyrically, nothing special about the song either. Avarege.
3. Shine like me - The first wack song on the album. Another Dirty South beat (and not it a good way, and not the typical dope Rap A Lot beats), with Yuk just rapping about the things he owns, flossing etc. Nothing good about this song.
4. Hey Boy - Finally, the first great song of the album. A mellow beat and a GREAT hook make this song a good listen. Yuk's verses are once again unimpressive (mostly about shining etc) but over such a beat it doesn't really matter. By the way, this song (as well as other ones on the album) suffers from bad mixing, and Yuk's voice isn't very clear over the dominant beat. However, a very good song!
5. My Turf - Good beat, and a more street oriented track (finally), and Yuk does an OK job I guess. The chorus is weak. This song was released previously on one of his mixtape. Overall an ok track.
6. Wake they game up - Many people were all hyped up about this song, because of Crooked I's guest spot, but I gotta say it could've come out much better. Piano Dr. Dre style beat, kinda boring and both rappers drop some nice lyrical performances (Crooked I being the better). Hook isn't good so overall a mediocre track.
7. Hate Me - Great great song!! Vintage Yukmouth, and the first song with some actual interesting content. Yuk addresses his haters over an awesome beat and reminds you of his old self in terms of lyrical skills, delivery and overall creativity. Love this song!...
8. Playboi - Easilly the worst song on the album. I don't ever get into it. Skip it!
9. Corner Store - A good song, production is solid, and I like the sung hook as well.
10. The best thing going - Another one of the album's (few) highlights. GREAT west coast beat, the hook by Devin and Danica is just so perfect and so are the verses by Yuk and his guests (Too Short and Richie Rich, proving it doesn't get better than the vets from the 90's no matter how old they are!). This song is about pimpin' and is one of the album's best ones.
11. I'm doin' my thang - another good song, and like #2 it's produced by Traximillion. Unfortunately It sounds very much like it, so it's about the same in every single way. OK song I guess, but nothing stands out about it, avarege.
12. West Side - I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling this one. Neither the beat, nor the wack hook do it for me. Even C-Bo couldn't save this one, since he sounds like he didn't put a lot of effort in his verse. Wack.
13. Star in the Sky - WOW!! That's what we've been waiting for! An incredible song, one of Yukmouth's best songs ever. Finally, a personal, and deep song. It's a sad, and heart-felt song, where Yukmouth tells about growing up in poverty, and the struggles he had to face, growing up, with his mother suffering from a crack addiction and his father being a drug dealer. Awesome beat and so is the chorus sungs by, who else, Devin (makes you wonder how come weak-a## singers like Akon or T-Pain make so much money when a HUGE talent like Devin is so underrated!). Masterpiece.
14. Can't sell dope forever - Finally, some consistency! Antother GREAT song, LOVE everything about this song, which also has actual substance and subject. Eberything works here - the beat, the tight chorus and some great appearances by MC Eiht and Trae (too bad they couldn't add Z-Ro as well). It is about coming up, leaving the dope game for better things if life.
15. East Oakland - I don't know what the hell were they thinking putting this song on an actual album. It's supposed to be the hyphy song, and I'm sorry but Droop-E's beat isn't good (and that's an understatement), and giving every rapper (there are about 15 of them) only 4 bars (!) each was a bad idea. VERY Wack song.
16. Moe Money - A song produced by Mike Dean can't be weak, but this one still doesn't impress. Lyrically Yuk goes back to his weaker ways, like the beginning of the album.
17. Make it Rain - Not your typical Yukmoth song, yet I like the final result. Yukmouth flows perfectly over this strip-club oriented song.
18. Mobsta Mobsta - WOW!! What a way to finish this album!! It was almost worth the wait. One of best Regime posse songs EVER (if not the best). The beat is untouchable, and every Regime rapper rips the song apart (especially Technine and Realest), with Yukmouth coming out to finish the song with the last verse, which is also one of his best verses on the album. He's really on fire on this one, damn!
And that's it. You get an album with some mixed results. It's last album on Rap A Lot on an interview I heard with Yuk, it was obvious the parts didn't separate on the best terms, it was some bad blood, and that might be one of the reasons this album wasn't a typical solid Yukmouth album, since both parts didn't put in enough efforts (although I doubt it's the main reason). Another thing that bothers a good listener is the poor mixing on some songs, which is NOT typical for RAL (and that shows that maybe this album WAS indeed rushed). Nevertheless, it IS one of the best albums to come out the West this year, and even the 6 or 7 great songs make it an album worth buying. The rest is either weak or mediocre. It doesn't fit Yukmouth as he still Is one of the West Coast best rappers, and we're only left to hope that his next album will be as good as the highlights of "Million Dollar Mouthpiece".
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