Das EFX never quite recovered from the perception that their hyperspeed rhyming style was little more than a novelty. Not only were they written off in some quarters, but their hard-edged, rhyme-centric style was overshadowed by the moked-out gangsta funk coming from the West Coast.
Hold It Down, their third album, suffered not only from these problems, but the fact that it wasn't very good. On the other hand, its follow-up,
Generation EFX, is a hard-hitting return to form. Enlisting a number of guest artists and producers -- including
EPMD, Tumblin' Dice Productions, Angel "8-Off" Aguilar,
Nocturnal,
Miss Jones, and
Redman -- the group revamps their trademark sound; it's still recognizably
EFX, but it's harder and hipper than before. Like all their albums,
Generation EFX relies more on style than substance -- not all of the hooks hold, some of the grooves just lie there -- but on the whole, it's their best album since
Straight Up Sewaside. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine