Review by Steve 'Flash' Juon

Artist: 9th Wonder & Buckshot f/ Talib Kweli
Title: Hold it Down
Label: Duck Down Records

As if I wasn't already amped up for a 9th Wonder & Buckshot album when "Go All Out" was released, the all-star producer and MC team come back with even more fire on "Hold it Down." Ever since the Black Moon days Buckshot has been an MC's emcee, with a laid back flow and unique syllabalic emphasis to his delivery that captures the ear, and the latest single is no exception. "Time fly byyyy/Guess how many people tryin to make it in the world, so am I!/I can't lie, I be on the side like yeah/Anything movin, I'm theah/Soon as I hear, money callin I'm pick up a cell/Cautious, cause my little man in a cell." The only way this New York native could be outshined over a bouncy 9th Wonder beat is if a Brooklynite named Kweli jumped in the mix. "I don't want to ask a/question with no answer but I still fight for the chance/to right the killer cancer/wipe poverty off the map/with a verse and a 9th Wonder track." HELL FUCKIN' YEAH. Could "The Formula" be the album of the year? It's awfully early in 2008 and I haven't even heard the full-length yet, but two hot singles hint at a level of dopeness never previously imagined. "Let's get to heaven cause we hellbound man!"