Reviewed by Steve Hayes

In a commercial hip-hop era where dirty-south sounds have come to predominate, it is so refreshing to have Grits faithfully creating and shaping real, outstanding spiritual hip-hop music. In this album, Grits cover a lot of hip-hop territory in what feels like their most rounded album yet. We start with a deep sub bass southern party track, as Grits spit smooth, tight rhymes as they point that they are blessed and changed. They also lace smooth and catchy vocal hook-laden tracks, such as "Holla @ Ya" with its clean break and sound, and "You Said" (the broken promise of a couple "always being together") featuring the outstanding Pigeon John and BTwice, with a cruising beat and tune. In tracks like "Heyyy" we have a downtempo crunk contemporary sound. This contrasts with the thought provoking "Soul Cry" talking about how so many souls are crying out "help me" - Grits commenting they cannot standby and do nothing. "Ambition" has a more regular hip-hop beat (as has "Memories"), over which Grits bring some great lines together, with Canibus bringing an aggressive flow in contrast to the laid back beat. "Open Bar" is a more lively, standout track featuring a rasping synth sound, mixing up a dirty south and west coast vibe. "Right Back", the end track, has a piano-riff (almost '80s-sounding track!) with a tight vocal hook from Brittany Waddell and more smooth flows from Bonafide and Coffee. Nice ending to a great album.

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