Two years after the lukewarm reception given to his
Murderers various-artists album,
Irv Gotti unleashed his second,
Irv Gotti Presents: The Inc. During the two-year intermission,
Gotti's label, Murder Inc, grew enormously. In particular,
Ja Rule and
Ashanti scored huge hits, and
Gotti himself moved further toward
Dr. Dre-size proportions as a producer. Given all the success for
Gotti and his label, it's understandable that he'd return with a hard-hitting follow-up to his
Murderers collection.
Gotti first diversified his roster, adding
Charli Baltimore in hopes of duplicating the success of
Ashanti. Similarly, he integrated more R&B into his songs, often juxtaposing his male gangstas with his hook-singing females just as he'd done on so many hits for
Ja. Besides the vocals, he changed his production style a bit -- actually, to be more accurate, that of his co-producers -- moving closer toward the sound
Dre and
the Neptunes popularized in the early 2000s: real instruments and tight rhythms. Finally, he expanded his roster, bringing in yet more thugs to complement
Ja,
Caddillac Tah, and
Black Child. The result seems great in concept and works well on songs like "Down 4 U" and "Ain't It Funny." The non-singles aren't quite as memorable, often weighed down by excessive thuggishness. Still, there's a wealth of music here, everything from girly melodies ("No One Does It Better") to brute swaggering ("We Still Don't Give a F**k"). It's important to keep in mind, however, that
Gotti didn't intend this album to play seamlessly but rather more like a sampler. And as a label sampler,
The Inc. surely succeeds, giving you a taste of everything, from the girly stuff to the brute swaggering. ~ Jason Birchmeier