The War Report 2: Before the War in Bloomington, MN

The sequel to their debut album,
The War Report 2
, finds
Capone-N-Noreaga
catching that debut fire again some 13 years later and righting the ship after a decade of lackluster full-lengths. The opening
"Pain"
puts the excitement right up front with the veteran duo furiously trading rhymes over a sample of the
Exorcist
theme, and dropping that twisted bit of humor that has always made them more than just grim ("My homie got cancer/And just found out that his wife is a dancer"). Singer
Faith Evans
adds a sweet hook to the hardcore anthem
"Hood Pride,"
and when the guest shots from
Nas
,
Busta Rhymes
, and
Raekwon
play out like it was 1997 all over again, the album becomes a throwback lover's dream. They should be sitting down for the closing
"Obituary,"
which delivers a painfully long list hip-hop's fallen soldiers over the coldest of
DJ Green Lantern
productions. Producers
Alchemist
Scram Jones
Buckwild
also contribute prime beats, but it's the lesser-known
Dreddy K. Amarae
who steals the show with the crooked
Kraftwerk
-like construction he throws under
"My Attribute."
~ David Jeffries