Hip Hop Album Reviews: The Beatnuts - Take it or Squeeze it

December 31st, 2007

Ever since the early 90’s, The Beatnuts, Psycho Les and Ju Ju, have amazed hip-hop heads with their incredible beat-constructing abilities. Though never really impressing anyone with their lyrical ability, their production skills have remained some of the most consistent in the rap game today. Thankfully, The ‘Nuts haven’t stopped diggin in the crates and have just released their fourth full length album to the masses, Take It Or Squeeze It.

The Nuts come with the same shit that they’ve been known to come with on their past releases and really shine in the production aspect. Of course, critics are quick to say that “there wont be any lyrical gems found on the album”, but thats really doing the Nuts some injustice. Their lyrics, while not overtly deep or thought-provoking, are far from terrible. In today’s rap game, there are a great number of artists who are inferior to Les and Ju Ju. The lyrics definitely don’t ruin this exceptional album, which is one of the most solid releases of that year.

The guest appearance squad on the album is almost perfect. Greg Nice has been rolling with the Nuts since their last release, Musical Massacre, and fits in nicely with the crew. His style still sounds fresh today, especially when dropped over a Nuts track. Al Tariq, aka Fashion to the old school heads, returns to the crew on “Hammer Time,” and “It’s Da Nuts”. Other notable appearance’s are Tony Toca (Tony Touch) on the Spanish-flavored “Prendelo,” a Tupac-esque Triple Seis on “U Don’t Want It,” and Method Man on the dope remix for “Se Acabo.” The guests aren’t superstars, but they sound as if they really get down with the Nuts on the regular, which makes for some smooth sounding tracks that come off without a hitch.

One thing that is often overlooked on most records is song order. Take It Or Squeeze It is one of the finest examples of how the song order effects the flow of the whole album. One word that comes to mind is seamless.
For fans of the Nuts, this album is a must have. For anyone else, well, it’s a thoroughly put together piece, that will definately be bumping in the streets for awhile. Hopefully, people will take it for what it is - another solid release from The Beatnuts.

Buy Take It Or Squeeze It Now!