Track List:
01 - Intro
02 - Homicide
03 - It Is What It Is (feat. Spider Loc)
04 - Tattle Teller
05 - So Seductive (feat. 50 Cent)
06 - Eastside Westside
07 - Drama Setter (feat. Eminem/Obie Trice)
08 - We Don't Give A Fuck (feat. 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Olivia)
09 - Pimpin
10 - Curious (feat. Joe)
11 - I'm So High
12 - Love My Style
13 - Project Princess (feat. Jagged Edge)
14 - G-Shit
15 - I Know You Don't Love Me (feat. G-Unit)
16 - Dear Suzie
17 - Live By The Gun
So here we have it, "Thoughts of a Predicate Felon," the last debut album to drop from the original G-Unit roster. There was a lot of hype surrounding Tony Yayo prior to this release and anticipation was rife following the mixtapes releases and Yayo’s incarceration. Fans could barley wait to get their hands on an entire album from the so called "Talk of New York" and his grizzly voice. With 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck all enjoying huge sales of their solo albums and the G-Unit group album, released while Yayo was incarcerated, getting a decent reception, Yayo looked certain to be a big hit regardless of the quality of the album.
Unfortunately as soon as you pop the CD into the player you soon realise there is little justification behind the hype. The predictable content, weak lyrics, monotonous rhymes and dull beat selection separate this release from other G-Unit release making Yayo seem like the runt of the litter and unluckily for Yayo, Dr. Dre does not provide one beat for the album.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate G-Unit, I am just not impressed with this release, although perhaps I am being a bit unfair as the album does have some redeeming qualities, for example "So Seductive," the big single from the album, might not have the most impressive beat, but it does have the club banger vibe and is actually quite catchy. Meanwhile "Drama Setter" featuring Eminem and Obie Trice, has Eminem going back to his old style rhyme and content, and Obie putting in an above average performance. However, there is nothing else like this on the album.
On tracks like "Homicide," "G-Shit" and "Live by the Gun" Yayo really does deliver the thoughts of a predicate felon, its just a shame there are so many R&B collaboration tracks on the album that stray away from the album's theme, such as "Pimpin," the obligatory track about mistreating women, which doesn't take a genius to predict the content of the track and "Curious" that sees G-unit hooking up with Joe again hoping to recreate their past hits, although, there is no magic in the collaboration.
Noticeably the weakest G-Unit release "Thoughts of a Predicate Felon" fails to live up to the fans expectations. Yayo has produced a fairly standard generic rap album with no real killer tracks, in fact, it seems as though all the best beats were kept back for The Game and 50 Cent albums, depriving Yayo of quality production that could have saved the album. The album is worthy of a couple of spins, but it gets real tired real soon and for the most part has little replay value. On the whole it is a near average album; there are a few decent tracks, but nothing outstanding. It is a matter of personal opinion whether an album is worth buying based on the artists gutter charisma as opposed to lyrical content. This album may keep the die hard fans happy for a while, but not for long.
Artist: Tony Yayo