Str8 Off Tha Streetz Of Muthaphu**in Compton [PA]

The Source - 3.5 Mics - Dope - "...eerie descent into the cryptic underworld is one of the major themes on STR8 OFF THA STREETZ OF MUTHAPHUKKIN' COMPTON, a collection of songs recorded before Eazy died....more celebratory than substance..." Entertainment Weekly - "...Sadly, it's his most musically varied and enjoyable album....On STR8 OFF THA STREETZ, he leaves our consciousness the same way he entered--rough, raunchy, embattled, and utterly unapologetic." - Rating: B Melody Maker - "...fairly dope; nice thunking beats, smoky crepuscular loops, suggesting that even the West Coast can't ignore the Wu-Tang forever..." Melody Maker - "...fairly dope; nice thunking beats, smoky crepuscular loops, suggesting that even the West Coast can't ignore the Wu-Tang forever..." Entertainment Weekly - "...Sadly, it's his most musically varied and enjoyable album....On STR8 OFF THA STREETZ, he leaves our consciousness the same way he entered--rough, raunchy, embattled, and utterly unapologetic." - Rating: B

At the time of his death, Eazy-E was completing a comeback album that was intended to restore his street credibility, which had taken a savage beating in the early '90s. Str8 Off tha Streetz of Muthaphu**in Compton, the album he left unfinished, does show more ambition than his previous It's On. Collaborating with his former N.W.A partners MC Ren and Yella, Eazy-E sounds revitalized, but the music treads over familiar gangsta territory. Although the majority of Str8 Off tha Streetz is by the book, occasional tracks like the surrealistic "Tha Mutha******in Real" and the menacing "Ole School ***t" illustrate Eazy-E's greater potential. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine|