Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil, Pt. 5

Recording information: The Orange Room.
After launching the series in March of 2012 with The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil, Pts. 1-3, E-40 continues to blow up his discography with The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil, Pts. 4-6, available in a three-album box set or three individual parts. Hardcore fans should just go for the full set since none of these parts towers over the others, but the dark and nasty Pt. 5 has its strong and unique points, pulling the listener in with three solid examples of E-40 slinging slang and schooling fools on his lonesome. Blingy hedonist 2 Chainz then pumps the disc up with "Countdown," while later there's Gucci Mane being wonderfully strange ("Project Building"), Z-Ro with Big K.R.I.T. pleasing the gangsters with a trunk-rumbling cut ("In Dat Cup"), and both B-Legit ("A Breath of Fresh Air") and Too $hort ("When You Gone Let Me") convincing E-40 that throwback is the way to go. Still, it's Danny Brown and ScHoolboy Q who win Pt. 5's prize with the twitchy and thoroughly modern monster dubbed "All of My N*ggaz." ~ David Jeffries