Album Review: D-Block- No Security

15 years ago view-show 1,520,739

block-1_phixrWith Jadakiss’ The Last Kiss [Click for review] still making the rounds, Sheek Louch [Click for Sheek interview], Styles P, and Kiss [Click for Jadakiss interview] himself give the fans another dose of Y.O. with the D-Block compilation, No Security.

Featuring a D-Block line up of Large Amount, AP, Bully, Straw, TY, S.I., and Snype Life, The LOX manage to shed some light on their supporting cast without hogging the whole stage for themselves…

Besides the aforementioned, The LOX/D-Block also reaches out to artists like Beanie Sigel, Red Café, [DJ] Webstar, and OJ Da Juiceman for the album as well…

The project kicks off with ‘So Much Trouble,featuring Sheek Louch, Styles P, Bucky, and Beanie Sigel.

Sheek has two tours of duty, as he mans the hook, while dropping lines like, “Black on black, I’m pushin’ that American muscle/recession’s here, y’all boys better learn how to hustle/I’m Y.O., Brooklyn, Queens/I don’t Autotune, or skinny ass jeans.”

Not to be out done, the Broad Street Bully also uses the hard drums and trumpets provided by Vinny Idol to get his point across, “Come get it, if you can stand it/big ass 3-5-7, no Hammer/bullets make you dance, but the gun ain’t jammin.’”

From there, Sheek Louch and Styles P help to anchor songs like ‘Thrilla,‘That’s D-Block,and the quirky production of ‘From The Block.

Jadakiss doesn’t take top billing on the album, but he does drop in on contributions like ‘Get That Paper, which also features Sheek Louch, Styles P, and S.I. On ‘My Brother’s Keeper, (feat. Bully), The LOX utilize a piano loop to spearhead the whole operation, with Styles P on the hook.

Discussing how they would ride and die for each other, Jadakiss uses one of his few appearances to share his thoughts, “Let it off without question/bail money without stressin’/always in my prayers and my blessings/traditional thugs with unconditional love/on the mission to gettin’ rich as a mug/went from Pop Warner football to pitchin’ them drugs/to runnin’ gangstas/on a freak b*tch in the club.”

One of the best-produced songs on the album comes in on ‘Hello’ featuring Sheek Louch, Large Amount, TY, and Red Café. Using melodic Arabian overtones, producer Scram Jones supplies all MC’s involved with the perfect backdrop to let their tough talk material run rampant.

D-Block closes up shop with other Y.O. anthems like ‘Get Ya Bounce On’ (feat. Large Amount, AP, Bully, and [DJ] Webstar), ‘Show Em’ (feat. Don D, TY, and OJ Da Juiceman), and ‘Like That Y’all’ (feat. The LOX, AP, Straw, and Snype Life).

Clearly, No Security isn’t the official LOX album that the entire Hip-Hop nation has been salivating over since the release of We Are The Streets back in 2000—because it serves more as a platform to give their artists some recognition, while assuring the world that Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P are still one cohesive unit after all these years.

True fans of D-Block and The LOX can consider this record to be more of an appetizer before the main course comes out, which is ultimately their third studio album tentatively titled The New L.O.X. Order. So until that time comes, hopefully No Security will serve as a good “go-between” for their fans…

Rating: 3.0

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