AZ, Pieces of a Man (1998)

A sophmore album, but what AZ puts forth is far from a sophmore effort. With this project, AZ has surely solidified himself as a master of lyrical composition. The biggest part of this album is how masterful AZ's lyrics are. I can't stress this enough; lyrics, lyrics and lyrics. Some of the beats are excellent, some are mediocre, and some are eh. But AZ saves almost every last song with lyrics.

This album thrives off of words like "Born a Baptist but moved on to higher practice/ my fire ashes, only macks I interact with/we all dons, strong arm, along calm/ but if it's war we on, I'm coming for niggas who cross me wrong/ select features, sit back connect the pieces, inject the thesis/ spoke to my pops and left him speechless/ he saw me sprout, going through worlds that wore me out/ never call me out, bitches and money, that's what we all about/ through all the routes landed here/ beach house with the chandliers/ me and my crew, mad cans of beer..." from the banging How Ya Livin' featuring Nas. Other album highlights include a banger by AZ, Half A Mil and Nature called Love is Love, and a lyrical masterpiece that features the Rza called Whatever Happened (The Birth). On it, the Rza says "heart is bleeding, stress has got my hairline receding/ God degree feeding, leading my seeds back to Eden/ and stay suspicious of promiscuous bitches, who don't wash and do dishes, too big for your britches/ lusting riches, fucking the next man, mistress/ you wonder why your pussy itches?/ fat ass, sample without the glitches."

All in all, maybe the worst songs are Betcha Don't Know, and Trial of the Century, featuring Foxy Brown and both of these songs are way better than most albums' best songs.

Rating: 8 Platinum Teefs
Buy or Copy: Buy it, 'nuff said.