HOLLA! What’s up folks? It’s your boy Emm coming back at cha with a review after a long-lasting hiatus. And I’ve got something in my pocket that I was looking forward to for some time: It’s Sigel’s latest, “The B.Coming”. Musically, Sigel’s held it down for years, making nothing but the realest type of music not compromising with the billboard requirements. And now he went to jail: his music has to be real. Often though, the realest music in the game does not necessarily make one’s record the best. “The B. Coming” has to be put to the test.

Sigel is still not willing to compromise – the first disappointment of reading that Snoop is featured on the record and that the Neptunes produced one beat has gone after listening to the song: After all, it’s not that typical obligatory Neptunes joint featuring Snoop that nowadays everybody wants just to go top 10. And from that song on downwards, shit gets realer and realer. Just Blaze with his deep sampling and synthesizer stuff and all the other cats (such as Ty Fyffe, D. Dot, Bink etc.) provide Sigel with a quite dark musical carpet which matches his lyrics. The record, therefore, gives you that typica l street vibe. Not only the aggression of the streets, but also the struggle, the sadness, the pain.

Obviously, Sigel’s lyrics didn’t really change the subject – it’s still guns, drugs, hustle. But then again, Sigel manages to go deep by adding some feelings to that. His raps becoming more storytelling than bragging about 22s in his shoes. The subject matter in general is quite dark anyway: mainly, Sigel’s incarceration is the topic on the record, paired with similar emotions about women (“Bread & Butter”) or loyalty in the game (“I can’t go on this way”). Sigel’s flow is still sick and on point, therefore there’s not that much that might keep someone from listening to it. Sigel’s own life story lined up with his latest experiences form part of a man telling his life, the way he sees it, seldom glorifying, often agonizing about what ghetto life is like. Unfortunately sometimes, one of the way too many featured artists comes in and does not manage to keep up with Sigel’s own deepness. Several MCs talking about gangster shit, somehow, become not necessarily less authentic, but less believable. Sigel on his own could hold it down – with the other rappers it gets closer to typical rap records.

Nevertheless, I warmly recommend “the B. Coming” to everyone that is willing and able to listen to a record and nod his head at the same time instead of engaging in some stupid Saturday night bootyshaking. If you wanna do that, then you’re wrong with Sigel. But that was never his piece of the cake anyway. And with less featured artists, Sigel’s record would have done even better.

Rating: 5 out of 6 Shots.

Those you gotta check: Bread and Butter, Lord Have Mercy, Look At Me Now.

Keep away from: Nothing actually. Except for "Don't Stop" with Snoop, that one doesn't fit in.