E.Ness & 9th Wonder & Friends In The W.ide W.orld Of W.rap

Seems like 9th has been on his grind lately, first droppin that "Back 2 The Feature" tape with D.C. native Wale, now he's linking with Philly lyrical force E.Ness. Unlike the Wale tape however, I heard what sounds like a lot more up to date beats from 9th on here rather than joints he just plucked out of his instrumental catalog.....

All of you lil' MTV heads should remember Ness well from the second season of "Making The Band"....LOL, I actually am ashamed to admit it, but I watched that whole season, mainly because it was Diddy putting together a semi-decent collection of MC's for a group. Hey, at least it wasn't The "White Rapper Show" or the other VH1 Hip-Hop themed atrocity with all them garbage ass femcee's. At that point Diddy still had a small shred of defendability left....

Okay, we all know that Dylan cat was an idiot and Chopper and the other lil' guy from down south that Ness actually boxed with, were only marginally skilled, but the reason I looked in was to see the genuinely adept talents of E.Ness, baps and the hopelessly out of place Sara Stokes.

After an impromptu and rugged battle with Jae Millz on the show where he displayed a bevy of poise, Ness's spot as a legit artist was cemented and he went on to actually survive the initial drops from Bad Boy along with Baps and Chopper....Since then (2003-2004) however his career has been in a bit of limbo. I mean we all expected him to leave Bad Boy, everyone that's worthwhile does, and really all that club hit stuff Diddy was tryin' to convince him to chase fit worse than a pair of over sized Timbs.

These days it's a pretty slim shot that you return to prominence after you say adios to a label, and even despite a few mixtape appearances here and there Ness's future seemed all but forsaken.... That's why it's so pleasing to say that "The W.ide W.orld Of W.rap" is a tremendously strong shot from outta nowhere...If gratification really can come in the form of music, Ness should relish this moment...

Keeping his flow and lyrics finely tuned over the past 7 years has proven to pay off heavily as he sounds perfectly in-step here. No easy task, even for those that record constantly. He also did a great job selecting beats, and while 9th has a tendency to make that type of thing pretty easy, don't overlook the contributions from Khrysis, who's beats are always up to snuff. Newcomer Fatin, who's lone offering is a head nodding gem that re-works a familiar sample also adds a great tweak to a sweeping 12 track release....

To sum things up I'm happy Ness is travelling this route man....He's too skilled to dumb it down and too street to go to the club...This tape is full of his unique style and is an instant Philly classic. By keeping the features to a minimum (only Justus League familiars Keisha Shontelle and Big Pooh guest) and utilizing original music "The W.ide W.orld Of W.rap" sounds much more like a 4 Mic solo LP rather than a mixtape....

-BIG D O








01. Floww On (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
02. Can't Do What I Did (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
03. Temptation feat. Big Pooh (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
04. Return Of Da Mack (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
05. I Wanna (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
06. I See You feat. Keisha Shontelle (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
07. Number In Da Phone (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
08. Think It Over (Prod. By Fatin)
09. Talk Dirty (Prod. By Khrysis)
10. Get Ur Paper Out (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
11. Too Ill (Prod. By 9th Wonder)
12. Khrysis (Prod. By Khrysis)

http://www.mediafire.com/?nntmft21mmj