The state of hip-hop right now is open and at a point where everyone can be themselves and not have to “sell out” to release a product. So Capone-N-Noreaga (CNN) have released “The War Report 2: Report the War”, and did not let down fans that hoped would live up to the original War Report. This independent project featuring artist such as Nas, Raekwon, & Busta Rhymes and production from The Alchemist, Tony Heathcliff, and etc has shown that certain rappers from the older generation can come back and make music that can relate to everyone despite age. The album has points where you feel like it’s a classic, but then has songs where you just feel like they’re just another rap group from New York talking about the same old thing “Money, Pussy, and Crime.”

The introduction track “Pain” includes samples that break down the concept of the whole “War Report” saga & the album takes a strong start. Noreaga sounds like his old self letting loose, and Capone just snaps on this album starting right here. “Pain” has lyrics that don’t include too many punch lines but what makes the song hot is the emotion and truth that goes with the story behind the song, production from the Alchemist of course doesn’t hurt. Then “Bodega Stories” starts and you hear a song that only people from the North East might be able to relate too, which isn’t a good or bad thing just a fact. Noreaga shows some witty lyrics, quote “They know I’m the shit, but had constipation”, and the LOX kill it, but the whole concept of the song seems to be a drop off from the intro, which makes an okay song look worse.

Next notable track from the album is “My Attribute”, which is something you have to expect from a group like CNN, basically saying respect where we come from and what we’ve done. The way the track is produced is crazy, the opera effect in the breaks make the song sound epic. “Hood Pride” is automatically a great single because of Faith Evans great singing on a slightly catchy hook, and what makes it better is the fact both Capone and Noreaga are sticking to the topic at hand, having pride in where you come from. Then there’s “With Me” featuring Nas which brings you back to the 90’s. The concept is of course something only New Yorkers would dare to do, in which they are talking about if you mess with them and their crew they’ll come after you and you’re crew. But it seems to be ok to excuse as typical black on black violence because Nas is on the track, and because they are describing the mentality of true brothers of the street.

CNN picks it up from the original War Report, with “Live On Live Long Pt. 2”, where they greatly talk about where they are at now and how far they have come and discuss what they’ve been through. This track touches a true CNN fan, as does “The Oath” which features Raekwon & Busta Rhymes where the hook is each rapper one at a time is taking an oath, repeating it from different languages. The Oath is “The family is the family, this oath is this oath, and I will die before I break it, and when we grow we grow as one”, to represent how close CNN, Raekwon, and Busta Rhymes are. And if that doesn’t do it for you the next track is “Brother From Another” where CNN is talking about how close they are to a point where they can share Noreaga’s mother.

From there the album has a couple of fall off tracks; “Thug Planet” featuring Imma Thug & Musaliny seems to be more commercial than anything. It seems very typical and gives New York hip-hop a bad name by feeding the stereotype of the same old concepts or lack thereof despite its dope production. “Scarface” is no different, but it picks up again at “The Corner” featuring Avery Storm, where the hook is murdered, and CNN ride out like soldiers talking about their hood and what they did and what people do on their block. Noreaga provides some witty lyrics once again “Today is a gift, that’s why they call it present”. Last but not least CNN gives us “Obituary” to close it out, where they are paying tribute to all the people they’ve lost and that music has lost such as J. Dilla, Michael Jackson, Jam Master Jay, Mike Beck and etc. So just as the intro was strong the ending was stronger, you feel the realness in the lyrics, with a hook that’s just talk about how it’s sad there’s so much death going on, Which of course leaves us to think.

As a whole “The War Report 2: Report the War” is a good album. As said before there are tracks that are let down,s but it equals out throughout the album. By reading the review of each track it’s easy to think a lot of songs will be talking about the same thing, but the way each song is broke down leaves you to think of the overall message behind them. To make it easier, this is real hip-hop, because it’s not CNN trying to be “hip” or “mainstream”, its CNN being CNN. You don’t hear age with this project; instead you hear music that relates to you if you’re coming from where there coming from, the bottom.