One of them is a legend and one of them is well on his way. Freestyle
Fellowship/Project Blowed luminary Aceyalone has been
representing the left coasts alternative movement (read: not gangsta rap), for
over 15 years now. After teaming up with Def Jux production
phenom Rjd2 on Love & Hate for mind blowing
tracks such as “Moonlit
Skies,” the Los Angeles and Columbus natives decided to hook up for
a full-length effort. Considering the track records of each artist, the
expectations are pretty damn high.

Unfortunately, as least for me, Magnificent
City fails to meet
those expectations. It isn’t as if this album is wack, but it is just
shockingly average. It’s strange, both Acey and Rj
seem to be on their games, all their usual elements are there. But for both of
them, something I can’t quite put my finger on is missing. Take the song “Disconnected.”
Rj laces it with his usual blaring horn sample but where
normally a beat like this from him would leave your jaw on the floor this one
just leaves me saying “that’s a nice beat.” This happens quite a bit as tracks
like “Supahero”or“Cornbread,”
“Eddy and Me” all boast his trademark sounds but lack the usual
flare that has him considered a premier producer. Don’t get me wrong, he still
produces some dope results (“All For U,” “Fire,” “Solomon Jones”), but I just don’t hear
his usual brilliance.

As said, Acey is pretty much in the same boat. Sure his
story-telling on “Solomon
Jones” and “Junior” is everything I’ve come to expect, as is his loving
ode to the sticky on “High Lights.” Razor sharp rhymes such as this one are too
few and far between; “The legislation
wants regulation/they want to interfere with my cultivation/my personal usage
for meditation/and medication to help the patients/cancer, asthma,
emphysema/migraines, back pains, grass is greener/glaucoma, arthritis,
epileptic seizures/medicine man made me a believer.” It just seems as if he
doesn’t quite have his usual edge.

Supporting my feelings on this album – at least from the production side – the
advance of Rj’s latest collaboration with Blueprint
has since come out and he blows the doors down with an LP full of incredible
production. It isn’t as if he’s lost his touch, he just doesn’t quite have it
here. This is a good album, despite all the criticism here. I just wanted and
expected to love it, and I don’t, I like it…it just isn’t as magnificent as its
billing.