If Crooked I isn’t a household name by now, then he surely will be after him and the rest of Slaughterhouse release their Shady Records debut. On In None We Trust: The Prelude EP, Crooked I continues to lay the foundation for his solo career and his COB brand. At the end of the day, it’s just another teaser from one of the West Coast’s illest artists.
“Some of these old West rappers they fear him/ Take your cosign and shove it up your rear end.” When you have a Shady Record deal in tow and are routinely considered one of the dopest rappers out, cosigns are no longer needed, and Crooked I understands this. In None We Trust is just another step as the lyricist attempts to establish himself as The One on the West Coast. With stand out tracks like the contagious “Ssuutt X2” and the catchy “Pocket Full of Money” Crooked I shows that he has the ability to make commercially successful music. “Money In my Pocket” features production that sounds like AraabMUZIK and a simple hook that catapulted artists like 50 Cent into the mainstream. Yet Crooked’s multi-syllable delivery and ridiculous word play annihilates any comparison past that. While “No Competition” 
was essentially released as the street single of the project, “Money in My Pocket” is the type of record that could make Crooked a household name. The EP’s aforementioned lead single (“No Competition”) arrived just in time and will be heard on basketball warm up mixes around the country. Never short on confidence, Crooked drops line like “I got 99 problems but one ain’t competition” and delivers an inspired anthem over production that recalls Jeezy’s Thug Motivation.
Unfortunately, the album seldom varies from this tone. Tracks like the disappointing “Goin’ Bad” suffer from an annoying hook and unfortunate production, while posse cuts like “Roll Call” and “Drum Murder” seem too crowded for any one of the dope emcees to shine. Even more unfortunate is that the EP fails to deliver anything with depth such as the haunting “Villain” featured on Million Dollar Story. With the clout Crooked’s received from “Villain” along with his verses on “Move On” and “Raindrops,” the failure to include a track of that depth ultimately feels like a missed opportunity to showcase arguably his greatest skill set.
In None We Trust: The Prelude EP gives us pieces of what to expect on the LP. When the album thrives, the listener can’t help but feel that Crooked I will get embraced by a wider audience. Yet the EP ultimately highlights only a small side of what and who Crooked I is as an artist. The album unquestionably shows growth from Mr. Pigface Weapon Waist but still doesn’t prove that Crooked I has mastered making an album the same way he has mastered murdering a microphone.
I don’t see how this got a 3.5?
I don’t want to hear Crooked I’s name anymore until he stops pushing out this weed carier bullshit and makes a real studio album. It’s played out.
you got a link
He had real Albums but they are unreleased.. some of the tracks are on the Internet. He was signed to Death Row but they many problems so they weren’t released. He has three unreleased studio Albums.
yo dipshit, I don’t need a history on Crooked I. I been a fan since ’96. However, nothing changes the fact that your mom can’t take you to Best Buy (or anywhere else for that matter) and buy you an album, cause there isn’t one.
you clearly have no clue in the music industry..
he’s building his buzz right up with some EPs and features (which are ILL AS FUCK btw) but boy you better watch out cos crooked is one of the best lyricists to date, and when he’s ready to explode, all the kings horses and all the kings men won’t be able to put the industry together again.
LOOK, I’m a fan… but MFers been saying this since 1999. ACTIONS > words.
You shouldn’t have to build a buzz for 15 years… just saying. Crook is dope but he doesn’t have the versatility and dexterity to carry a solo w/o a bunch of features. He’s got his bus with slaughter, run w/ that
Stop with the ep’s make an album
fav lryical artist in the game
Damn, now yall dropping reviews before the shit has even leaked? lol
Go buy the album at http://www.planetcob.com this is hip hop at its finest.
Dude is 11 years in the game and didnt release one proper album. he just cant make albums and will never drop a classic.
Skillz are not enough you got to have knowledge about how to make an album.
Crooked concentrate on slaughterhouse and not on solo albums
What’s a “proper” album in your “opinion”?
Probably playing Carter IV right now, thinking “man Lil Wayne’s dope.”
why are you so offended. its not a conspiracy that crooked i never had an album out..he cant make good music. wtf u talking bout lil wayne
CROOKED GOES HAM AS FUCK DAM
weak! This cat is just not good enough. Solo he really sucks.
3 1/2 X from hiphop dx =above average album
lol just cause it doesn’t have a rating of xxxxx doesnt mean it sucks
If that’s weak then what isn’t?
Don’t feel this guy.
But guys feel you!
Butt gays fill you hehe…..
It’s just an EP and it’s dope. stop hating.
BEST CROOKED I EP!
Hi Hop DX gave Yelawolf’s Radioactive the same review 3 1/2 and this is just an EP. Ssuutt C.O.B.
The last track is dope what u talking about LUKE GIBSON bad review.
DOPE
SH needs to take the time away from their solo careers and give us the Shady debut already.
Crooked NEVER Disappoints!! Cant wait for The Slaughterhouse album & MD$!! #Ssuutt2X #COB
Go to Itunes and preview the tracks.. you will rate this 5 stars like i did.. #COB
This might be the worst review I’ve ever read.
People seem incapable of accepting the fact that some people just don’t have “it”…Papoose, and some very notable others, are tragic characters because they have it in their heads that they’re suppossed to be “stars”…but it just won’t ever happen…and realistically they shouldn’t even be wasting their times trying…all these cats getting signed, flopping or not getting an debut out at all, getting dropped, blaming the label… SUCK.
(S)Laughterhouse is fucking TERRIBLE!!!
Honestly man, these guys can obviously rap a lil bit but has there ever been a goofier group of faggits assembled in hip hop, or even just music, history?
Joe Budden. Team captain. A guy who has took more shots to the face than pinky, tera patrik and jenna jameson combined. A human punchbag who got anihilated in a battle by a guy who went on to drop an album entitled “I’m gay”. SMH at this fukkin bum.
Royce Da 5’9”. A horrendous forcer of horrible Punchlines who got destroyed by…..Mistah F.A.B. Not even Fabolous, nah. Mr. F.A.B. Yep, mr fuckin’ FAB destroyed him.
Crooked I. Possibly the worst emcee in the world. Will spit absolutely ANYTHING that rhymes and horribly change tempos and flows with all his might just to try and get his drivel to fit into the bar. Couldn’t even spell his fuckin name right. If canibus was born retarded on the West Coast he would sound exactly like this Idiot. Total fuckin bum who isn’t able to drop a debut in over a decade.
Joell Ortiz. Decent enough emcee on a technical level, but he has the voice of a spanish tranny and seems to think by eating everything and anything he can find he will somehow metamorphasise into big pun. you will NEVER be pun. sit the fuck down and have a long hard look at yourself son.
When will these untalented faggots learn to make music? Everybody can rap. They will flop fucking terribly and never become more than some nerd rappers who appeal to a small group of retarded people.
You couldn’t possibly get a wacker group of rappers. Actually the point of their banding (besides huddling up outta mutual famine) was ”let’s see if 4 trash rappers = one average act”.
LAME!!!
You got some issues dawg, go suck a soulja dick and dont come round here no more
Slaughterhouse ran a train on your mama, didn’t they
you can tell me
Joe budden is a bum? haha i can’t even take you seriously
wow you actually took sometime outta your shitty ass life to make the worst comment ever go back to living in your moms basement and go play some WoW and keep listening to Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, Gucci and Waka fuckin fag
Wow u talk like u know hip hop but dont cus how the fuck can u call slaughterhouse wack are u serious or is someone paying u to write that shit..i hate this new wave of faggot hip hop and slaughterhouse is as real and lyrical as it gets dog wtf u hearing???
U MUST BE 17 YEARS OLD WITH TIGHT ASS JEANS ON.. GO LISTEN TO WAYNE THEN U HOMO.. BET SHADY CYPHER: CASE CLOSED, NOW GO GET UR F—– SHINEBOX…FAGGOT
^ the most typical response a nigga could think of.
mention skinny jeand = check
drop the word faggot = check
tell them to go listen to lil wayne, drake, or lil b = check
could a nigga be anymore cliche.
i didnt take this seriously..its obviously one sided. i actually found it funny. whats more funny is that there will always be a group of dumb niggas who will respond defensively to a troll without fail. human stupidity is indeed infinite.
i hope u fuking die u battle them thean
Haha you took all that time to talk about people you know fuck all about, you a funny motherfucker for real!
If you don’t like him don’t listen to him, you must have knowen you didn’t like his music before commenting he been around long enough.
You just made because you’re a rent boy for you mom and your dad takes shots in th ass n face JUST to pay the bills! Only JUST!!
will be buying
Haha you took all that time to talk about people you know fuck all about, you a funny motherfucker for real!
If you don’t like him don’t listen to him, you must have knowen you didn’t like his music before commenting he been around long enough.
You just made because you’re a rent boy for you mom and your dad takes shots in th ass n face JUST to pay the bills! Only JUST!!
Ment for comment below! Fucking PC! lol
@ “Whack” : just kill yourself..
Always been one of the most skilled rappers of all time, but sadly, he’s incapable of making worthwile music on his own. This EP is another testament to that.
Cob Dam!!!! SSUT2X COB CRIP OR BLOOD!
Best $30 spent w/ the camo shirt! Ooooh yeah! #cob
dope shit, can’t wait for the album
Slaughterhouse!!!!!!!!
Now some of these MF’s on here got some low ball hating comments. This EP is crazy, and when your favorite and the most highest selling rapper co-signs and defines him as one of the biggest problems in SH then thats enough said. I See MF’s hate when they gotta think they are so use to this bubble gum bull sh*t thats being forced down the radio’s throat. Reading is fundamental lames
Good ish
the posse cuts were sick. everyone showed up and the beats were beastly.
Dopest in the game cob my religion but cob needs a white dude comparable to Mac miller in a way that can reach suburbs… This is the only way to expand cob
LOL. Slaughterhouse only appeal to white hipsters.
^True. Want some proof? Go outside.
young money ass niggas ^^ slaughterhouse appeals to hip hop fans an people who aren’t illiderate
^you fucked up
I love how you bitches act like you have to be black to like rap. Your skin tone doesn’t mean shit.
White hipsters??? lol I disagree.
@Young King – I Think it’s funny that you can’t spell illiterate.
Dope as fuck, icing on the cake would’ve been a Elzhi feature though. Maybe on the next project.
@whack !He was paid by birdman for shittin on slaughterhouse!!!FUCK HIM!!
Dopeica
Your a bitch, wheres your shady deal dumbass , put your music on dx so we can hear it to see if its half as good , COB bitch.
0.25/5
crooked i is one of the biggest bums still floating in the music industry. he’s in his late 40’s and has been age 34 for 4 years running.
alternate reality: eminem overdoses and dies
slaughterhouse gets together records one wack album and has a falling out
dead eminem can’t save royce’s gay ass crew like a sober gay eminem
these guys will be jimmy iovines biggest failure and he will punish mr.mathers for it. get ready for more sad eminem stroke face shady stans. jimmy gonna have him performing in his 50’s to make up for slaughterhouse and yelasuck.
crooked i was tupacs OG and he still never wrote one lyric worth repeating.
i lied about crook being tupacs OG. he was just some older guy rolling 2pacs weed on one occassion.
slaughterhouse is for faggot white nerd shady stans and would be limp bizkit fanatics.
this bullshit release won’t sell 100 copies and shady stans will say you’re jealous and hating on crooked i.
life hates on crooked i more than me.
man been in the industry for 20 plus years and he still hasn’t pressed an album.
if crooked i wasn’t on shady records, this release would be purchased by no more than 7 people.
Stfu you troll
EXACTLY!!! This is rap for small white faggots. Nobody of these lames will ever make it in the industry. None of them had an impact and all their names could be another word for loser. See how furious their stans react? They KNOW all that shit is true deep down. It BURNS slowly.
See what happens when people can’t deny facts and refute to accept the truth? They call you a troll.
Love how people like this always have to drop white nerds or white faggots in shit all the time. This is directly for you, if you (the Anonymous blogger) are black and you say this shit FUCK YOU! YOU PUSSY MOTHER FUCKERS racist pricks.
I just dont understand how the hell you can say this is for white people… Crooked I is one of the most lyrical gangsta rappper’s still in the business. I know everyone has a valid OPINION but my god your just a hating ass faggot. Go listen to some gucci or lil gayne then.. why come on here just to spread your pointless hate? You really have nothing better to do then say “im going to go on hiphopdx tonight and talk shit about crooked i, yeah thats what im going to do tonight.” You obviously dont know what hip hop is because your favorite rapper (who ever the fuck that may be ) gives crooked I credit and wouldn’t even dare drop 1 bar down talking him because they know he would lyrically rip them a brand spankin new ass hole. GTFO.
Crooked I is arguably the most Gangster of any rapper alive, period. This dude is a legend at this point. Listen to more Crooked I is all I can say.
These gay EPs need to stop, Hip Hop.
I wish Crooked would just drop an album. Nevertheless this is a good EP.
That album will NEVER happen. He’s too scared to see the sales.
The guy above is retarded.
oh you can smell the hate on this page.
yelawolf best in slaughterhouse
Yelawolf not in Slaughterhouse, newbie..smh.
^^ lol.
^^ ahaha.
“the hate” the “haters” shut up with 5th grade bullshit.
Anyways, I like Crooked I but I mean come on, “I got 99 problems but one aint competition” is a really corny line.
derp way to take that line out of context. noobs like you shouldn’t be allowed to critic rap lines.
I know what the line refers to you you idiot.
Some hot lines and nothing else. This guy would be unemployed without the internet. Hip Hop has to be at it’s absolute worst when untalented guys like him get a pass for the bullshit they label as ”music”. And some people cheer him just to be ”underground”.
Millions of people would be unemployed without the internet. thats a straight up ignorant comment.
Without the internet, people would have to actually BUY CDs, and less Emcees would be “unemployed”.
I remember when Silkk the Shocker went platinum. Shut your young ass up.
you know how many whack ass rappers sold millions of copies pre-internet?
I’m pretty sure Vanilla Ice went at least 10 times platinum. Nastradamus went platinum.
GTFOH
this editor or writer who wrote this article is high! CRooked I murders Goin Bad some of the hardest verses ive ever heard..Hands Down Crooked I is the hArdest rapper breathin!!!
Yeah, even though I’m holdin’ hot burners
This killer is colder than hyperthermia
A single round spin’ll you like sit you down like hernia
Me and Rihanna, we got a seperate for definition for ‘disturbia’
I’m mentally disturbed, nigga, I murder ya
That prrrat put a peephole in your flesh
A keyhole in your chest
Then I open up your torso
Just like a door, so
Death can walk in
Negro, I’m depressed, please know, I’m a mess
Send you right upstairs
Gun treat you like them Billie Jean sidewalks, the way the light up saures
Yeah, kill kickdrums, tie up snares
Wanna describe my flow? Try ‘unfair’
Tireless nighs, I spit fire into wireless mics
Til’ I expired it’s life, until my life expired, I’m fly as kite
And I’m firin’ iron that’ll turn any Iron Mike into Brian McKnight
Mmmwaaaa, good night
This is why I put Crook over any other rapper out there.
Absolutely unbelievable.
hands down
Sickkkk shittt
DAMN!!! Crooked MURDERED that freestyle session on Flex. Never heard so much skill before. He will demolish that album.
The same faggots hatin on Game on this forum also postin their hatin bullshit on Crooked I only because he is from the Westcoast !!!!Corporate Bullshit since 1996!!FUCK ALLYA!!
I dunno how far up Crooked I’s butthole you have to be to actually find this piece of shit of an EP any sort of good.
This dude had some potential last decade but with every release it’s gotten worse lyrics wise. This has to be rock bottom, I think, or maybe he saved up his worst for the Slaughterhouse album. I really hope that’s not the case.Anyway, if you have been a Crooked I fan for the last decade like I’ve been and you’re really honest to yourself you know that any Crooked I verse from any 90s song he recorded tops this whole farce of an album an that is just fucking sad. But hey, maybe that just means that Crooked I has finally reached the mainstream level of crappiness. This EP seems to indicate just that.
wowwwwwwwwwwww thats a hater if i ever seen one. crook is a goat in my opinion
I agree crooked was one of the illest , hes hiphop weekly thing killed it, but these days hes speaking to a broader audience
so he has to dumb down for the less smarter
cuz at the end of the day this is business anything to feed ur self even if it means sellin ur soul
dumb down for the “less smarter” ?
yeah. anyway…
Crookeds dope, not always lyrically or conceptually or whatever, but his word play and the way he packs sometimes like 14 complex rhymes into one bar has me on the rewind button.
Didnt listen to this EP yet, ill get to it at some point… but to say he fell off is short sighted in my opinion. He’s showing out on the slaughterhouse tracks ive heard. Liked his verse on “Monsters in my head” especially.
hands down one of the best youre ‘favorite rapper’ could take notes
This EP’s the bomb…if you’re mentally retarded.
0/5
r u high?
catch the game on BI week LOOOOOOL
This is crazy good!