Flipmode Squad - Imperial Album [Clean] (CD)

All Music Guide

Busta Rhymes' rap posse Flipmode Squad (which includes newcomers Rampage, Lord Have Mercy, Spliff Star, Rah Digga and Baby Sham, as well as Busta himself) bust out the jams on this audacious debut, which mixes Busta's typically tight beats and surrealistic words with a wiseass street savvy usually reserved for his best singles. The Imperial Album fills its 73 minutes with partial track ideas (including the prerequisite betweensong skits) and lyric and melodic fragments that seem to have no beginning or end unsurprisingly, it's not unlike Busta's solo work. Still, Busta has always dropped some decent cuts per album, and The Imperial is no exception: "Everybody on the Line Outside" (a sortof sequel to Busta's own "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See"), "Cha Cha Cha" and "Everything" are lightningquick attacks of hiphop aptitude.

- Michael Gallucci, All Music Guide