At its core, Showtime is a classic sophomore album in the hip-hop sense: puffy with bluster, brimming with indignation.
The album naturally lacks the shock of the new, the jolt of Boy in Da Corner-- instead, it's a consolidation of his strengths, lyrically and sonically, and a more satisfying listen than its predecessor.
Ironically, the impact and success of his debut guaranteed that the follow-up would be quite different. As might be expected there are a few more overtly commercial songs, and layer of gloss and polish is applied across some of the production. But, whilst he has never been that technically proficient an MC, he really does make an effort with the songwriting to craft some effective tracks. Never likely to have the impact that his debut did, this does actually see improvement in some aspects of ... read more
1 | Showtime 2:12 | 77 |
2 | Stand Up Tall 3:09 | 78 |
3 | Everywhere 3:46 | 70 |
4 | Graftin' 3:25 | 77 |
5 | Learn 3:20 | 83 |
6 | Hype Talk 3:05 | 78 |
7 | Face 3:39 | 74 |
8 | Respect Me 4:45 | 85 |
9 | Get By 3:24 | 87 |
10 | Knock, Knock 3:27 | 78 |
11 | Dream 3:18 | 75 |
12 | Girls 3:32 feat. Marga Man | 70 |
13 | Imagine 2:54 | 83 |
14 | Flyin' 3:26 | 85 |
15 | Fickle 4:01 | 88 |