Brooklyn, New York emcee Billy Danze dropping his highly anticipated sophomore effort. Known for being 1/2 of M.O.P alongside Lil’ Fame, he would put out a 6 Pack in 2019 & following it up with the full-length solo debut The Listening Session entirely produced by TooBusy & his 2nd extended play Top 5 respectively. All of which were moderately received, but each had songs that I appreciate. He’s been teasing The Answer for a couple years already & it’s finally arrived fresh off a handful of singles.
After the intro, the soulful title track sets it all off talking about showing y’all how to move when catching Ws whereas “Got Time” featuring Jadakiss finds the 2 teaming up to explain that they’re ready to give us what we need. “Brooklyn Confidential” goes for a luxurious trap vibe instrumentally talking representing what Gang Starr referred to as “The Planet” while “Let It Be” featuring B-Real shows off both of their O.G. statuses.
“Gotham 2” featuring Ghostface Killah links up for an ode to all the real believers of their home state just before “Beginnings” featuring Busta Rhymes talks about nothing changing with either of them other than the vision. “Blessing & Prayers” ends the 1st half explaining that things would be easier for people if they believed in themselves while “What If” featuring Conway the Machine passionately brings both of them to talk about their own individual family members who they obviously cherish.
Pharoahe Monch & Styles P both appear on the gospel-influenced “For You” passionately boasting that you can’t find anyone who’s lyrically better than either of them while “Hope” featuring Evidence soulfully dismisses the false narrative that hip hop’s dead when that correctly couldn’t be any further from the truth. I applaud the concept of “Maverick” featuring Inspectah Deck for talking about both of them showing independent thoughts & actions while “The Fix” makes it know that he’s done with the cookie cutter bullshit.
“In Case You Forgot” reunites M.O.P to wind down The Answer’s final moments responding to all the dumbasses who think they’ve broken up when by confirming that they’re still very much still friends to this very day & that not ever changing but once “Win or Lose” featuring Redman talks about putting in the work until the wheels fall off, “No Losses” finishes up the LP coming to the realization of there being no love lost when it didn’t even exist since the beginning.
It’s been said that Fizzy Womack’s long-awaited solo debut Walk of Fame is close to being done after being teased in 2018, so I completely understand why Billy Danze ran it back with TooBusy on The Answer in preparation for it & hopefully an M.O.P album entirely produced by DJ Premier now that he did Light-Years with Nas last winter. The guests all feel unparalleled to Billy’s mature subject matter & most importantly, I’d consider the production to be an improvement above it’s predecessor.
Score: 8/10
