Onyx- Revenge of those who’ve been here
What does Onyx mean to guys of nowadays? To younger homes, it perhaps means nothing but a new record from a crew they never heard of, however, to older heads, it means a lot more than that: Back in the (good ol’ (?)) days, Onyx meant at least three things: grimy, gutter, rough. Eventually, we should add the term old school for guys who listen to their older records nowadays. And again, old school becomes new school. Onyx are back with “Bacdafucup Part II” in straight reminiscence to their last record “Bacdafucup”. So do it…

Sticky, Fredro and Sonsee relied on a newer formula than we are used to hear from them: A lot of producers first of all, and then, after-the-current-formula beats: Dudes such as DR Period is never meant to be clubbish, but still a producer who does production for 2002. So, the Onyx formula of nowadays has to be: grimy, gutter, rough with today’s production. You hear everything: A chick singin’ the hook on “Onyx Is Back”, which consists of a clubbish beat done by the CoStars, Havoc’s down-to-earth hard basslines on “Hold Up” as well as Scott Torch’s sample and synthie plays with a more freaky drumset. The album definitely has it all: The hard beginning on “Onyx is…” is supported by a classic sample and hard-as-hell beat, “Bring ‘Em Out Dead” switches gears for the freeway and uplifts tempo, “Slam Harder” comes with a super chilly John Sebastian sample and then suddenly changes into another burst of flamin’ rhymes. On the whole, the album goes in a more c ommercial, more moving (ass-shakin’) direction as far as the production is concerned, but the rhymes are still the same.

Well, this is definitely more than just a good comeback, Onyx managed to also persuade in the year 2K2 due to a formula update which still features their rhyme style but is able to keep up with nowadays’ beats: Something the 30-year-old Onyx might not like as much as the 10-year-old kid… A more clubbish direction is certainly fact of the album, but still, Onyx are back, and they’re still grimy, gutter, rough. As a fan, you should get this one, everyone else better listens to it, ‘cause Onyx ain’t dead, for real. (Emm)

And it gets ****3/4 out of SIX SHOTS.