By Dante' Maddox

9th Wonder of Little Brother fame and Buckshot of Black Moon and the Boot Camp Clik have come together for their second collaboration, The Formula.

The first thing that springs to mind when I think about The Formula is how tight the sound is. The pairing of Buckshot and 9th Wonder seems like destiny when I hear the offering they produced. The Formula is solid from beginning to end. Is it perfect? Not really but they the duo didn’t fall too short with an LP that is just a little on the short side. The bright side is that I feel that way because I didn’t want the album to end, I just wanted one more smooth joint.

The beats are what you would expect from 9th, smooth and easy, each song puts you right where 9th wants you to be. Buckshot takes advantage of the infectious beats in every song, never wasting a single bar. The rhymes are topical and the beats support him, what more could you ask for. The only thing that seems missing are radio friendly hooks, because of that this album feels very underground which is not a bad thing.

It saddens me to know that these tracks won’t get much radio play on the west coast; this is the kind of music that speaks for Hip Hop. Buckshot delivers smooth and confident, using very little curses but still coming across how he wants to. It was also great to hear Talib Kweli make an appearance on what might be my favorite track ‘Hold it Down’. The guest list is limited outside of a few tracks which is really cool since Buckshot doesn’t need any help carrying the listener from one track to the next.

The strange thing about the album is that no one song really stands out. ‘Go All Out’ and the afore mentioned ‘Hold it Down’ are definite bangers, but all the tracks blend into such a smooth experience there is no need to skip ahead for your song, after a couple of spins they’ll all be your song, trust this album is worth your hard earned cash. If you find yourself out this weekend, stop by a record store and cop this.

Crave Online Rating: 9 out of 10