Personnel: Richie Davis (guitar); Neil Artwick, K Tone Caston (keyboards); Abel Garabaldi (programming); Paris Cole (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Manny Marroquin; Ken "Supa Engineer" Duro; Jeff Lane; No I.D. Recording information: Chicago Recording Company, Chicago, IL; Ocean Way Recording, Inc., Los Angeles, CA; Pressure Point Studios, Chicago, IL; Recording Plant, Los Angeles, CA; The Chocolate Factory, Chicago, IL; The Legendary Traxster, Inc. Recording, Chicago, IL; The Sound Villa, Miami, FL; United Technic Recordings, Chicago, IL. Photographer: Vincent Soyez. Chicago, Illinois possesses a rich gangster history and the pimp-touting trio Do or Die has chronicled its connection to this fabled city, peppering its sound with the swirling Rap-a-Lot flavor. With its 2004 album, D.O.D., Do or Die sever ties with its label of nearly a decade and team up with its hometown's wunderkind Kanye West, among others, for the group's most colorful album yet. Do or Die opens the record with a furious energy, an anger that hits its peak when the act lays down some ground rules on "Chain of Command." After an interlude noting Do or Die's important place in the hardcore-rap world, the threesome slow down the tempo, with singer Remy Ma dropping by for the mellow-yet-sinister "U Already Know." "Higher" thrives on its Kanye West hook, while "Magic Chick" combines R. Kelly's honeyed soul with rugged rap. Do or Die subsequently shifts from a reggae beat back to another great West line, before launching into some Twista-assisted craziness on "If Only You Knew." With D.O.D., the trio's most exciting record to date, Do or Die switches up its style just enough to give it an intoxicating effect.
