Knoc-Turn’Al – Return of the Hustler

Knoc-Turn'Al - Return of the Hustler1. Return Of The Hustler(Feat Soup, Tree Dog, & Jazmine)
Basic beat, but it atleast has some bounce to it. Knocturnal’s hardly on the track, but that’s okay, since it’s a compilation. These guys try, but they’re about as basic as it gets. Average stuff. Avergae

2. Gansta Ways(Feat LiL T & Lord Lucky)
Terrible beat here, it’s just ugly heavy bouncy with a standard drum loop. Again, these guys aren’t that exciting as rappers, I mean atleast do something to distinguish yourselves from the bunch. These guys come off sounding like some low rent YA rejects. How does a guy like Knocturnal, who has only released one full length album, have a bunch of artists signed? That just boggles my mind. The song is just terrble. Wack

3. You A Bopper(Feat Aziz & Macguiness)
This track is just like the album title: Uninspired & bland. Knocturnal raps on this track and shows why he’s so generic. Has a rapper ever fallen off as bad as Knocturnal? That’s not a knock against the guy, but really, has a rapper fallen off as bad? The beat sounds like a cheap rip off of Beanie Sigel’s “The Truth”. Bad track. Wack

4. I Stay Swerning(J-Peace & Macguiness)
Sloppy accordian style beat. It sounds like what you’d hear a “Greasy Abe’s Italian Eatery” at 7:00PM. The rapping is just amature hour, and uninspired. Man, this was pretty bad. Wack

5. Up In L.A.(Maintain & Krown City)
Really sloppy techno style party beat here. You know, if you’re not going to even try to make good music, then don’t do it. Go be a chef, or a chiropractor. This is the epitome of train wreck here. Just offkey rapping, & horrible lyrics. Train Wreck

6. Four Season’s(Soup, Tree Dog, Wes, & Lord Lucky)
Easily the best track on the album. Nice soulful beat, it’s a little sloppy with the piano thrown in there, but it works. Everyone does a pretty good job. Good

7. Dirty Money(Lord Lucky & John)
Nothing says “Gangsta Rap” like the name John. “OG Killa” I can understand. Hell, even “The Bum From RedRum” would work, but…..John? John’s like the guy who deliver’s your pizza, or the guy who works the cash register at Best Buy. Anyway, bad bouncy beat that sounds like it’d be played during the credits of that old Super Mario Brothers movie. Horrible singing as well. Just an all around horrible track. Wack

8. The Donkey Donk(Macguiness)
Bad pimp type beat here, but with bounce added. “Big Ol Butt” is said during the chorus. I haven’t heard that since 5th grade. Bad rapping by Macguiness. Wow, this guy doesn’t have any talent at all, and sounds like “Pops” from the Wayan’s Brothers Show. This is horrible. Wack

9. Get Up On It(Lord Lucky & LiL T)
Futuristic type beat, and it’s not that bad actually. Ok rapping, but again, why should I care about any of these people? What do they do that others don’t? The beat was good, but the rest bores me. Average(Yea, I liked the beat)

10. My Dream
Pretty standard track here. Nothing really excited, nothing really horrible. Just average. Average.

11. Inspiration(Maintain, Krown City, & Jessica)
Knocturnal makes a joke about not being on Maury Povich, and that’s about the only entertaining thing about the track. Gospel type sound filled with bad singing and bad rapping. Not a very good way to end this, but atleast it’s over. Wack

All in all this gets a Wack rating. When the best thing about the album is the hilarious album cover, then you know you’re listening to a bad album. Skip this.

Knoc-Turn’al – LA Confidential Presents Knoc-Turn’al

Knoc-Turn'al - LA Confidential Presents Knoc-Turn'al2002/ Elektra Entertainment / LA Confidential

1. The Knoc ft Dr Dre, Missy Elliot Produced by Producers Coalition Of America/ Wallace Sibley Jr 

Its a favour for a favour from Dr Dre as he he duets on “The Knoc” also featuring Missy Elliot. After appearing on Dre’s “Bad Intentions” he helps out Knoc. This was the first single of the EP with a very flash Missy-influenced video featuring 100s of Knocs, one Dre and three Missys! Unlike the heavily censored video version of the song, this version got the cut-no-corners explicit chorus and verses. Upon first hearing this I thought Dre produced it. Beat is pretty playful and upbeat but slower than I thought it was when i heard it first time round

2. Muzic Produced by Kayne West 

A hip-hop first: “Muzic” was the first rap song to feature a cleared Beatles (Paul McCartney) sample- who better for samples than Kayne West productions?! This is one of Knoc’s finest pieces of work to date. It was on a soundtrack to the film “The Transporters” and featured a blockbuster-action packed video with it. Very simple lyrics but they cause alot of mic-drama and the hook sounds great

3. Str8 West Coast (Remix) ft Warren G, Shade Sheist, Nate Dogg and Xzibit Produced by Dr Dre 

This is a RMX of the song Knoc did for “The Wash” soundtrack. Rather than sounding like a decent RMX its more of a WestCoast party mix where each emcee drops their verse and leaves. That said, Nate’s voice makes a welcome appearance in the middle and the verses are quite hot.

4. Let’s All Roll ft Slip Capone, Timebomb, Jay O Fellony, Butch Cassidy Produced by Fredwreck 

Another hot track. Timebomb drops some classy lyrics. The smooth voice of Butch Cassidy takes the hook, whose voice is perfect for this type of beat. This is a hot WestCoast joint. Knoc drops pure style.

5. LA Nite-N-Day Produced by Knoc-Turn’Al and S-Dog 

True to the Knoc style. Probably because he produced it. A love song dedicated to LA, home of all the big stars. Knoc raps about what he sees. A great laid back track. Smoke a joint to this

6. Cash Sniffin’ Noses ft Too $hort and Slip Capone Produced by Budda 

Its time to drop some pimp sh*t here. Why can’t all hoez be California hoez? Now you’re probably why you’re hearing dope sounds in your ears? That’s because Budda produced this tune, the same producer of Ice Cube’s “Greed” and alot more hot tracks. Sounds are great. All the players drop some pimp. I love it, it sounds great!

CD Extras 
Put the CD in your CD-ROM and you get a few additional extras Watch the video for “The Knoc” – hot vid! Watch a Knoc-umentary following Knoc around (BThere With Knoc) – Filmed on location in NYC. Knoc talks about his promotions, marketing, the bootlegging of his music and then then-forthcoming “Knoc’s Landing,” getting high, Knoc on the drums! Music spots… alot packed into a 5 minute “Knoc-umentary” Weblinks – to his official site

I was lucky to see this CD cheap, on import one day so I picked it up. I HAVE been amused with what I purchased. If you see it around I suggest you pick it up for some hot joints and extras. As its an EP the and about 4 of the tracks are really hot PLUS the extras to raise the score to 4 out of 5! Look it up!

Knoc-Turn’Al – The Way I Am

Knoc-Turn'Al - The Way I Am01.) “Intro” (feat. Old LeRoy and Nelson Brown) Produced by Knoc-Turn’Al 

02.) “War” (feat. Slip Capone) (4.2 out of 5) Produced by Blaq Rose, Knoc-Turn’Al and Padrone 

I’m not too sure if a politically-driven track was the best way to kick-off Knoc’s debut album. But never-the-less… It bangs. Knoc-Turn’Al and fellow L.A. Confidential MC Slip Capone trade dope verses over a suprisingly bangin’ instrumental courtesy of Blaq Rose, Knoc-Turn’Al and Padrone.

03.) “Love L.A.” (4 out of 5) Produced by Hannon

Knoc-Turn’Al spits a few nice verses over a very nice production courtesy of new-comer Hannon. I’m very impressed with the production of this track. Knoc-Turn’Al has done the Golden State justice with this one. It’s simple… Yet effective.

04.) “The Way I Am” (feat. Snoop Dogg) (4.8 out of 5) Produced by Scott Storch 

The albums title-track features a couple hot verses from Knoc and a rather impressive verse courtesy of West Coast legend Snoop Dogg. The production of Scott Storch is on another level on this track. This was a great choice for the lead single. I’m still suprised that this track didn’t recieve a better reception from radio.

05.) “Watch Out” (feat. Hittman) (3 out of 5) Produced by Mel-Man 

This is the skipper-track of the first-half of the album. The production of this track sounds especially dated. Eventhough Hittman comes-through with two nice verses it’s still very hard to ignore Mel-Man’s rather annoying instrumental. I’m even annoyed by the hook on this one.

06.) “Radio” (interlude) (feat. Old LeRoy and Nelson Brown) Produced by Knoc-Turn’Al 

07.) “Peepin’ Tom” (3.8 out of 5) Produced by Precision 

This is the type of lyricism I’ve been expecting from Knoc-Turn’Al. Knoc-Turn’Al manages to weave together various classic punch-lines from various West Coast classics to create his own classic LYRICAL performance. What taints “Peepin’ Tom” is the rather simple production of Precision. Needless-to-say… this track could have been a lot better had Knoc-Turn’Al recruited the proper producer for this track. It’s still well-worth the listen. The perfect word to describe the lyrical performance on this track is… BRILLIANT!

08.) “Click-Click” (feat. Slip Capone and Yykkes) (3.5 out of 5) Produced by Padrone

This may be the first time I’ve ever been dissapointed with a verse from Slip Capone. Knoc-Turn’Al seems to be MILES ahead of his L.A. Confidential counter-parts on this track. If you ask me… “Click-Click” would have been just fine as a Knoc-Turn’Al solo cut. Eventhough the theme of the record is becoming rather played-out in today’s Hip-Hop scene.

09.) “Love Slave” (4.8 out of 5) Produced by DJ Quik 

DJ Quik LACES Knoc-Turn’Al with this outstanding production. It doesn’t get much better than a dope production courtesy of the legendary DJ Quik. Knoc-Turn’Al proves that he’s worthy of rhyming over such an outstanding production with his outstanding lyrical performance. I’m sure that in a matter of week’s I’ll re-read this track breakdown and be pissed-off when I realize that I didn’t give this track a “5”. “Love Slave” is clearly the albums stand-out track.

10.) “What We Do” (feat. Nate Dogg, Warren G and Xzibit) (4.2 out of 5) Produced by Warren G 

The bass-driven production of Warren G is rather simple on this track. I’m feelin’ it though. The timing to put-out this track is almost perfect with summer coming right around the corner. Knoc-Turn’Al drops the hottest verse on “What We Do”. I must say that I’m pretty dissapointed with the lyrical performance of Xzibit on this track… never thought I’d be saying that.

11.) “I Like” (feat. Yero Brock) (4 out of 5) Produced by Dr. Dre 

Knoc-Turn’Al rides the rather average production of Dr. Dre damn-near perfectly. Knoc-Turn’Al did his part on this track by dropping a couple outstanding verses… it’s just too bad that Dr. Dre didn’t match the lyrical performance with the production