Mix CD / Compilation; No Rating Given

        The Purple City Byrd Gang, consisting of underground veteran Agallah, Shiest Bub and Un Kasa, is an offshoot of Harlem’s super group The Diplomats.  For the past two years, Purple City has flooded the scene with eight mixtapes, selling close to 80,000 copies.  Road To Riches is a culmination of their hard work over the years, as the album features the best material from their eight mixtapes.  However, unlike their counterparts, The Diplomats, Purple City lacks the charisma and catchy song making that has made Dipset a nationwide street movement. 

       Going into a Diplomats or Purple City album and expecting to hear great lyricism is foolish.  Even though the Diplomats lack lyrical dexterity, their unique flare, style, and charisma ooze out of every track.  Not to mention their outstanding beat selection, which always helps their cause.  However, Purple City lacks any of those traits.  Road To Riches is a generic gathering of various mixtape joints that fail to be entertaining.  The production aspect also disappoints, as Agallah and other in house producers handle most of the album’s beats. 

       These shortcomings are seen throughout Road To Riches, as the majority of the mixtape is plagued by mistakes.  With his amateur rhyme scheme, the irritating and squeaky voiced Shiest Bub sounds misplaced over the Latin influenced horns of “Broadway”.  Un Kasa does not fare any better with “Copz Iz Coming”, a simplistic synthesizer production effort that suffers from a case of the lame hooks disease.  The generic ladies anthem of “Late Night” by Un Kasa is another forced effort that sounds completely contrived.  In addition, the group collaborations of “Real Niggaz”, “Roll It Up, Light It Up” and “Come 2 Get Ya” all fail to offer any replay value and are simply dull street efforts.

      Mistakes and all, Road To Riches does manage to sneak in a few vintage cuts that succeed due to spectacular production.  The edgy guitar riffs and hypnotizing vocal sample of “It Ain’t Easy” takes a bite out of the Diplomats style, as the production elevates each emcee to a bearable level.  Not surprisingly, the album’s best songs come from similar production efforts.  “Winning” is a prime example, as Un Kasa and Bathgate blend well over the combination of a melodic vocal sample and light piano keys.  The mixtape classic “Purple City Byrd Gang” also makes its way onto Road To Riches, as the track’s hard-hitting drums and creepy chanting ends up as Purple City’s best track to date. 

      Even for diehard Dipset fans, Road To Riches is a below average release that does little to prove the trio’s worth.  The group lacks the necessary chemistry and charisma needed to make them stand apart from their Diplomat counterparts.  Purple City can be entertaining when they are on the receiving end of some great production.  However, those attempts are far and few in between, making Road To Riches just another mixtape.