The second time around, we got a more focused, aggressive, and inspired Lox, and you almost get the impression that they were held back a little bit during their Bad Boy tenure, because they let loose on all levels here (along with completely burying the "shiny suits" throughout this album, lol). I'm not sure what I was thinking, but it took me quite some time to change my mind, because their debut simply does not hold a candle to album number two. Believe it or not, there was a point in time when I felt "Money, Power, & Respect" was better than "We Are The Streets" (please don't ask me why, lol). Can you imagine these two albums indirectly going "head to head"? Wow.)īefore I offer my thoughts on this album, I want to bring their debut back into the picture. Release date: Janu(Sidenote: Ghostface Killah's second album "Supreme Clientele" was scheduled to be released on this same day, but was wisely pushed up to a February 8th release date. As you would imagine, the buzz for this album was a little bit bigger than the first time around, and with ALL this being said, let's continue on to the year 2000! They quickly linked up with Ruff Ryders (by way of Interscope Records), which turned out to be a great fit for them, now going by Sheek Louch and Styles P for maximum effect (the Jadakiss named remained). The mounting pressure was too much for Bad Boy, so they literally had no choice but to release them, truly a historic moment in hip hop, for the right and/or wrong reasons depending on your perspective. But seriously, they were not happy and they set out to do something about it.When working things out directly with the label didn't work, they truly took things to the next level, starting a "Let The LOX Go" campaign to be released from their contract.
When you take into account the buzz they had before their first album dropped, the multiple guest appearances, in and outside of Bad Boy (including the classic "It's All About The Benjamins Remix), and the response to the "Money, Power, & Respect" album (shooting to #1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums" chart and sitting at #3 on the Billboard 200), their tenure at Bad Boy was largely a success in my book, however, the crew was apparently not happy with the label or the direction of their careers, and that includes the "shiny suits", lol. As I mentioned up top, going into this album, things had drastically changed for Lox, so let's continue with 98 and 99 heading into the year 2000.