Recently, the slogan in Hip-Hop has been “Me, myself, and I” but every now and then you’ll come across a few artists that don’t mind playing nice with each other. In this case the duo in question is Buckshot from Black Moon fame, and North Carolina producer 9th Wonder. You might remember them joining forces for 2005’s solid effort, Chemistry and three years later they’ve returned with The Formula.

Basically The Formula is a continuance of what they accomplished together with their first go-around, and they managed to out do themselves this time. The Formula starts off with an intro track explaining the meaning of the word formula followed by the signature lyricism of Buckshot: “Look I don’t preach/but I do teach/my little homies in the ‘hood how to out reach/and how to move your mouth piece/cause a closed mouth never gets invited to the feast.”

9th Wonder is at his best on “Ready (Brand New Day).” Over the base line, and a sped-up voice sample of a female saying how she’s ready for a brand new day in between Buckshot’s lines, he still manages to squeeze out a few of his own; “No more searchin’ for mines/no more nickels and dimes/9th makes the beat/that’s why I work with the lines.”

The repeat button on your CD player might need to be re placed after “No Future” invades your eardrums. By far the best song on the album, it includes the trademark drum patterns and snares that are consistent with a 9th Wonder production, and the soulful voice sample that goes right with the theme of song about how some people have no future in Hip-Hop, Buckshot: “I know the rest is redundant/some of your LP’s stand for Long Punishment.”

 “Hold It Down” features Talib Kweli and Tyler Woods and the production keeps on rolling in, but this time 9th Wonder goes more with a jazzy type back drop for the two Brooklynites to rock to. “Just Display” has that authentic on-and-off tempo type flow that 9th sometimes plays around with, but Buckshot still rides the track into the ground without being thrown for a loop, as he explains how some females are literally just for display and not for personal use. “Here We Go” is probably the most simplest song on the project, it’s not the fanciest produced song on the album, but Buckshot still makes a good contribution with his veteran wordplay.

One of the standout tracks on the album is “Man Listen (Cause Ummm).” The song is filled with soulful blends, old school voice samples, and content to match. In an interview earlier this year, Buckshot touched on the subject of trying to promote adult contemporary Hip-Hop, and The Formula is a testament to what he and 9th Wonder consider Hip-Hop to be like for people in their late 20’s, to early or mid-30’s.

The rest of the album is packed with songs like the valid Hip-Hop sounds of “Shinin’ Yall” (feat. Arafat Yates & Big Chops), the relationship drama-filled “Be Cool” (feat. Swan), “Whassup With U?,” (feat. Keisha Shontelle) “Throwin’ Shade,” and “Go All Out (No Doubt!!!)” featuring Carlitta Durand. This album proves that there is life for an MC after his 20’s as Buckshot brings his A-game. And even though he’s not a teenager anymore, the vibrant energy he brings to the project might make people think other wise. As for 9th Wonder, this album just proves the ‘fine wine theory’ because he keeps getting better as the years go by. With 9th Wonder being from the South, there’s probably a lot of people who are happy that his influences don’t come from snap music, and whoever knows his work, or listens to this album will be thinking the same exact thing.