With a cast list lengthy enough to compete with that of a small movie,
The Album is an auditory trip into the lives of a handful of nefarious individuals living a gangsta lifestyle. Major players on this project include
Nas ("Escobar"),
Foxy Brown,
AZ ("Sosa"), and
Nature, although tracks are peppered with additional and less popular MCs such as Pretty Boy ("Firm All Stars"), Wizard ("Untouchable"),
Canibus ("Desperados"), Noreaga ("I'm Leaving"), and
Half-A-Mil ("Throw Your Guns").
Dr. Dre and
the Trackmasters share equal billing as supervising producers.
Dre's production is atypically diverse from track to track and lacks any samples or arrangements reminiscent of his work with
N.W.A.,
Snoop Dogg, or his own solo projects. This diversity may be the result of the collaboration with
Chris "The Glove" Taylor on the production tasks for five of the six tracks for which
Dre is responsible. The teamwork production of
the Trackmasters is orchestrated by
Poke, Tone,
Kurt Gowdy, and
L.E.S., and provides the instrumentation for the remaining seven of 13 songs. ~ Qa'id Jacobs