Full-length R.A. projects are few and far between, and the quality is always worth the wait, especially on this new offering, only his third LP in a career that now spans three decades. There is no question that Rugged Man lives and loves the culture and the craft of hip hop, and there isn’t a single second of superficiality audible across 22 tracks that include welcome appearances from the likes of Ghostface, Slug, M.O.P. and A.F.R.O., among others. Rugged remains absolutely vicious with his pen, and meticulous with his arsenal of flow patterns and word play, swinging deftly from introspection and wisdom to battle bars and insult comedy, sometimes combining all four with the wit of a that back-of-classroom bonehead reading porn and comics open while simultaneously burning the teacher with sharp answers and mocking arrogance. His heroes may be dead but his victims are alive to feel the wrath.
