There’s only one man who can “officially” state that he has gotten the upper hand on Eminem lyrically. The man’s name is JUICE, who will forever be entangled with the name Eminem until the day he rests eternally. But as his name resounds thoroughly amongst the walls of every hip hop head, JUICE would rather separate his name from Slim Shady and achieve success on wax like his ’97 Rap Olympics silver medalist. So with that, comes the attempt to separate the man from the legend, an opportunity to let his story continue to write itself instead of being a footnote in the Eminem biography. That attempt by JUICE is titled All Bets Off.

     What separates emcees like Supernatural from artists like Eminem is their ability to make songs. Some emcees understand that battling does little but make them a legend amongst a small circle of hip hop heads, while an artist that can actually make a decent song expands their listening audience tenfold. Is JUICE a one trick pony or an artist that can breathe amongst the waves of rappers being slung from record labels? The answer, sadly, is that JUICE isn’t quite cut out for longevity in the game. The evidence is All Bets Off. While JUICE no doubt is a talented battle emcee, from his under the radar albums and mixtapes to the Scribble Jam battles, he unfortunately can’t find himself to make a song relevant and distinguishable amongst his hip hop brethren. The one word that comes to mind with All Bets Off is “cliche”.

    The album just doesn’t seem like it is something that JUICE wanted to do. From the exasperating G-G-G-Unit-esque shouting out of his Conglomerate crew on “Conglomerate Music” to the chick recipe “Weekend Girl” down to the happy go lucky “we made it” song-aptly title “We made it” this album seems like an out-and-out attempt at radio airplay. It even seems as if he has to reaffirm himself with several freestyle interludes that appear to remind only him of his past lure. Not to say that there aren’t moments that are solid. Take “Black” for instance where JUICE flips it like we know he can. Rifling off tales of black pride and self worth amongst a 70′s backdrop will make a few JUICE fans crack a smile. But moments like that are drowned out by lame efforts like “Money” where JUICE articulates the power of the dollar (something new) amongst sloppy production. Production is another topic altogether. The production team assigned to this precious project are a far cry from Chi-town brethren Kanye West, NO ID, or even Dug Infinite.

    All Bets Off is an album that should be avoided by newcomers that have never heard of JUICE, as it is an inaccurate portrayal of an otherwise skillful artist. It wouldn’t be as disappointing if nobody knew of JUICE and hadn’t been waiting years for an official album. One has to wonder who was in the studio at the time that this was being mastered and gave it the thumbs up. It possibly could be pressure from other angles which hurt another talented artist (Royce 5’9″). But hopefully JUICE realizes this and comes back extra hard with an album his fans can appreciate.