Hiero should have gone back to the drawing board on this one, as the only thing "building" with this album is concern. Even 9th wonder couldn't save the crew with the remix of "Make Your Move," the first track to introduce the rest of this lazy attempt at a compilation. Such high hopes were surrounding this album; how could it all go so wrong with such experienced and talented emcees like casual, Tajai, Pep Love, Del, A Plus, etc? The beats are really lame and the lyrical content is kind of weak. Casual is the second emcee up to bat and he drops this laid back crunk hail to Oakland, as the track is boringly called "Oakland." Encore comes in with "Real Talk," a terrible hip-hop/R&B joint with Ladybug Mecca talking about her shoes in the chorus! After all this time, she could have been a lot fresher than that. And what's up with Z Man? What's he talking about? "No Cure for Sugar" should just be taken off this album. The only decent tracks are from Tajai with somewhat respectable beats, but he needs to lose the chorus on "Do Not Touch," which is remixed by Del and contains such an irritating loop it almost ruins the song. Del makes an appearance with "Funk Em," which is alright buy nothing spectacular. The deepest track on this album is "Family and Friends" from Pep Love, but again the beats do not complement. Overall the The Building is forgettable, boring and disappointing. It's like Hiero released this just to put it out there, so people will remember them when they start dropping their solo joints in the very near future.
(Hiero Imperium)Hiero Imperium
The Building
BY Dalia CohenPublished May 1, 2005