"The Lox," another Bad Boys Entertainment production, with Jacobs, Phillips and Styles, put out 15 tracks, an intro and four interludes called "Money, Power & Respect." Well, "What about the Benjamins?" "The Lox" introduce themselves with an album, Yonkers style. Looks like Puff Daddy continues to up his ante, as he continues to provide outlets for the talent without the income to get started. "The Lox's" two big songs seem to be "Livin' the Life" and "Can't Stop, Won't Stop," but they need the help of Puff Daddy. The issue is "Can the Lox stand on their own?" There are some bonafide hits on the album, but I'm not impressed when Puff Daddy must pave the way. There's a difference between a team effort and a group trying to make a name for themselves. The underground seems to be overlapping themselves, as Puff Daddy gets a piece of everyone. Everybody wins, there's lots of paper to go around, but as far as "Money, Power & Respect," one of three is not good. Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie seems to be a producer under Puff Daddy's reign, and the key to sound of "The Lox," bringing the quality up another level.

My personal favorite is "If You Think I'm Jiggy," a pumping track, definetely upbeat and a reminder of, "The Benjamins" - a club rhythm with a backstreet funk. The bass raps around your hips and throws them from side to side. "Money, Power, & Respect," the title track, is large and scores high. Lil' Kim has always been a favorite of mine - aggressive and hard, as in body and style, and Feat with his pit bull bite, raps with a vengeance.

There are many tracks that totally count on the rapping talent of the Lox
boys. The sounds are funky and definitely hold the ear. "Get This $," "Gonna Be Some Shit," "Got To Be Fucked With," "All For Love" and "Everbody Wanna Rat," all seem to have a slow paced funky beat and smooth rhythms, while "The Lox" swing some street-honed lyrics, talking about the rise and fall of fellow homeboys. I hate to say it, but I could really do without the interludes which are kind of tacky and pointless.

"The Heist" and "Bitches From Eastwick" are realistic, and really create a vision of what happened, with the music to back it up. More evidence of paranoia created by society and the consequences of crime. No matter how rich, money can't always buy security - mental, emotional or physical. I enjoyed these two stories transformed into musical sagas.

Lox (Living On Experience) needs to gain more experience before then can survive on their own. The Puff Daddy umbrella is large, and the memory of Notorious B.I.G. is slowly fading. "The Lox' definitely have some raw talent, and display some potential in "Money, Power & Respect." The Family is great, but you know the saying about family working with family - eventually some choose to reap all the benefits of their talents for themselves and disrupt the family, and then they must survive on their own. This may be the only way "The Lox" can truly gain, "Money, Power & Respect."