Well... It could be better...but's it dope if you are a hardcore fan... The disc opens up with an opening act, Cormega walks out after an introduction and does a hardcore song called "Dead Man Walking". He's got a good flow and a rough voice. Foxy Brown comes out for the next two songs: "Affirmative Action" and "Slow Down". The first song, originally of of Nas "It Was Written" is cut off. The voices are kind of muffled and Foxy Brown's voice is yelled and scratchy.. not smooth and sexy. They try to amp the crowd up by Foxy saying "F*ck these can't even eat my p*ssy, can't even eat my ass, ass n*ggas!". Cormega continues to make fun of the fake nail wearing chicken heads as they battle each sex against the other. It's an interesting a crude scene but it does get the crowd amped.

Onyx comes out and does a very short version of "Throw Ya Gunz". Sticky steals it like always. Even worse, they do only one chorus and that's it of "Raze It Up". No rhyme, nothing. Just the chorus and the beat once. It can't be longer than a minute. "Shut Em Down" is dope. You can hear the crowd go insane during the chorus. DMX is not in this but Sticky rips his verse from the "Shut Em Down" remix which is ill! "Slam" is shortened dramatically too. Only Sticky Fingaz does his "I'm a B-boy, standing in my b-boy stance, hurry up and give the microphone before I bust in my pants!" He obviously has the strongest energy and respect from the audience out of all the members.  "Last Dayz" is from "All We Got Iz Us". Sticky does a dope version about killing himself.... "but they might not sell weed in hell!" The Onyx set ends with "React". They do the whole song and there is no woman saying "Welcome to Afficial Nast Airlines" The better version is from the album. Overall, Onyx has a sick energy and can amp a crowd if they know their songs or not.

This crowd did... Def Squad was next but they only do ONE Def Squad song!!!! Erik Sermon starts it off with his opening rhyme on Too Short's "Buy You Some" aka "Fat Gold Chain" by here, it's labeled as "Freestyle". Redman and Keith Murry do help out yelling "Ah-Ah- Aaaahhh-Ah-ah, ah-ah word iz bond! word is bond!" Erik rhymes but Murray and Reggie Noble say the rhymes with him like all 3 of them are rhyming the song. Of course, it's shortened right before Too Short would have rapped. Keith Murray does his part from "I Shot Ya" which is from L.L. Cool J. This is short and sweet. Then, "The Most Beautifullist Thing In The World" is performed by Keith Murray. He rhymes, does the chorus once and that's it! It's over! "Whateva Man" by Redman is next and it's the same thing. He rhymes, does the chorus and that's it! The crowd is amped though. They know the songs and it's true hip-hop! They rock the crowd. "Pick It Up" is performed by Redman next and cut short like the previous two songs. "Get Lifted" is performed by Keith Murray where they all yell "Say Roll that sh*t! (Roll that sh*t!) Say, light that sh*t! (Light that sh*t!)" Once again, shortened... aggh! The highlight of this section of the disc is "How High" where Method Man walks out on stage. They do the whole song. Some of the lyrics are muffled and there is no sample scratched singing "Up-up to the sky!". Instead, they change the chorus: "How high? So high that I can kiss the sky! How sick? So sick that you can suck my d*ck!" The crowd picks up on it and they are shouting it like they've known it for years. "Full Cooperation" is in its complete form too. They do a great job. Once again, the lyrics are muffled and the beat's not too clear but it is live...

DMX obviously has a huge following since he sold so many records so fast...He starts his set with his "Intro". It's pretty much the same as the album... The crowd really gets wild when he does "F'n' Wit D".This fast, crazy song has the crowd amped. When Dmx yells "I don't give a f*ck about y'all n*ggaz cuz you..." , the crowd yells "Ain't killing nothin'!" Next, he does "Stop Being Greedy" which feels much better on the album. The crowd knows the song by heart and yells the title when it should be yelled. It's tru call-response hip-hop and you realize, DMX knows how to rock a show. "Money, Power, Respect" has The Lox on it. Lil Kim is not on it though. The first verse is missing and it starts off with "Only time can tell how the clock tick..."  When the second verse is rapped, you can hear the ticking of the clock from the instrumental...hehe.. There's much more energy since it is live. The Lox aren't laid back. They are trying to amp the crowd and their yelling at the top of their lungs. It doesn't matter, DMX steals it... "4,3,2,1" is really cool since L.L. Cool J is not in it! Redman and Method Man comes out and rips it up. The chorus is only at the begining and the end. I never did like L.L. but the song is so much better without him! The crowd knows the track as they yell :"Blaze the hot tris-ack, shine like heaven!" Next, DMX does "X-Is Coming". He starts off the chorus a capella and when the beat comes in, you can hear him and his crew going "Yo-yo!" It's almost hypnotic for the first couple of seconds. Since the song is just average in my opinion, I was glad it was cut short after the first verse. "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" gets the crowd amped like crazy. Everyone sings "Stop! Drop! Shut em down, closing up shop!" This is not the remix version.. It's the same on the album but the crowd overpowers the chorus. Finally,  "Get At Me Dog" is another call-response hip-hop classic. In it's complete form and more, the crowd is mezmorized into a frenzy. When the song ends, the beat continues and the dj scratches brilliantly! It's the best scratching on the album and DMX yells "I Love you".... which kind of stands out of place. The disc ends with "Poem" which is actually "Prayer" off his debut album. This is false advertising since the wild DMX fan may think it's a freestyle when it's the same ol' stuff. Nothing different.

Overall, the album is dope if you are a hardcore Def Jam survival of the illest fan. Everyone does a good job, everyone has talent and the guests,(especially Method Man) are wonderful attractions! The sound quality is poor compared to studio sessions and the voices are muffled. Everyone screams as they try to get the crowd amped. There are tons of call-response hip-hop techniques used by everyone. From "Say hell yeah!" to "Say I don't give a f*ck!" Cormega's three song section on the cd is too short to be boring. I would have liked to hear other songs without Foxy Brown but she was thrown in to sell records... Onyx rips it up but the songs are all cut off short. At least, Sticky Fingaz rhymes is almost all of them. Def Squad only does ONE Def Sqaud song! The rest are from their solo projects! They should have at least did "Rapper's Delight" or "Check N Me Out". It is a nice surprise that they did "How High" with Method Man. That's a hip-hop classic! DMX steals the show with the crowd only because he sold more records. I personally like him the least out of the other performers but the crowd loves him. The highlight of his section is "Get At Me Dog", "Money, Power, Respect", & "4,3,2,1". The rest of the songs are basically the same on the album. Not one lyric is changed... The beats are all muffled as well as the lyrics. The only new song is by Cormega.... To keep it much more exciting, there should have been at least one new song by each artist. The crowd reaction makes the cd more interesting due to the chemistry of the Apollo. Only Def Squad and Onyx change any lyrics in their songs to fit the situation. Lyrically, they are the most powerful. The production of the album is somewhat poor due to the muffled quality of the lyrics and beats. It's only the fauly of the performers when they don't rap directly in the mic. (Silence does happen sometimes when lyrics should have been rapped). The album flows pretty quick because most of the songs are cut short...real short.... too short! Between acts, there's an annoying fade-in/fade out but what can you do? The orginality and creativity only goes to Def Squad and Onyx for their crowd call-response sayings. DMX relies on his songs while the others use classic and new call-response sayings. This is completely hardcore! Lyric wise, all of them rap about murder, cash, ass, street life and weed. The call-response sayings are hardcore too especially on "How High". I would only recommend this to a die hard hip-hop Survival of the illest fan and only if you like all of the artists. Tru hip-hop heads will hear how all of the artists rock the crowd in their unique way.. Hell, I wish I was there in the crowd. I really hope that the concert was much longer than the cd and had more songs. If it weren't, I would have been pissed if I was there. Still, this is a rough and rugged live partyn of artists who are back home and ready to tear it up. Onyx shuts em down, Def Squad picks it up and gets lifted while DMX stops being greedy and recites a poem... Live, they will survive because they truly are the illest...
Beats: 6.5/10,
Lyrics: 9/10,
Production: 5/10,
Originality/Creativity: 6/10,
Album Flow: 7/10.
Hardcore Rating: 9/10
[ Overall Rating: 7/10 ]