Back when we last heard from Beanie Sigel, he was going through a multitude of personal issues, including a short stint in jail as well as the highly publicized split between Roc-a-fella founders, Jay-Z and Dame Dash, who Beans had worked under since his first album, The Truth, was released in 2000. Around the same time, he released The B. Coming, which is arguably one of his most impressive albums. The B. Coming clearly exhibited Sigel’s emotions and even his vulnerability at times, which was clearly the case with the hit song, “Feel It In The Air.” Critics and fans agreed that the raw emotion that Beanie Sigel showed throughout the album was one of the things that really drove The B. Coming.

It’s been over two years since The B. Coming was released, and since then, Sigel has again been forced to deal with some difficult issues, including a botched robbery which left him shot twice, the death of his stepfather, and falling behind in child support payments. With Beanie, personally, it doesn’t seem like much has changed, but artistically, he seems like he’s changed quite a bit. Before the release of The Solution, Beanie took shots at one-time collaborators, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West, saying that they “might as well come out of the closet.” Most saw this as just another rapper taking shots at people who didn’t want to work with him on his new album, The Solution. I saw it as a strange and sad attempt at publicity.

If I could use one word to describe Beanie Sigel’s new album, it’d probably be confusing. The first thing you’ll notice about The Solution, particularly from the lead single, “All of the Above” with R. Kelly, is that there are quite a few pop-sounding records on here, which is strange coming from a rapper who used to talk about taking Xanax and shooting people. The first two songs on the album are produced by The Runners and Cool & Dre, who in my opinion really don’t exemplify the sound of hardcore east coast hip-hop, which we’ve been used to hearing from Beans in the past. Instead they create R&B infused pop records, and typically bring in someone like Dre, R. Kelly, or god forbid, T-Pain, to sing on the hook.

Granted, the second track on the album, “Bout That,” is much better than that garbage lead single, but Cool & Dre’s production and sing-songy hooks really don’t compliment Beans’ formerly hardcore lyrics. Notice I said formerly, because the lyrics really aren’t that hardcore on this album. The majority of the subject matter consists of your typical fare of “money, cars, and clothes,” but that’s not to say that there aren’t some impressive songs on The Solution, where we catch a glimpse of the Beanie Sigel of yesteryear. “You Ain’t Ready For Me” pits Beanie Sigel and Styles P against each other, trading complex lines back and forth for just over 3 minutes and ends just when the momentum and energy of the song are at their height. The production from Dame Grease on this track is pretty incredible as well.

You can’t really say the same for the rest of the album, as far as production is concerned. The beat on “What They Gon’ Say To Me” is a solid, hardcore east coast sounding beat, but Dre & Vidal are kind of a letdown throughout the rest of the disc. One would think that you would want to have one of the best beats possible for a Jay-Z feature, but on the uninspiring “Gutted,” the beat is just boring and incredibly basic. Jay-Z rips it regardless and Beanie keeps up with him pretty well with rhymes like “You rock Gucci this and that, but your kids bummy / You let strangers claim em for income tax money.” Beans and Hov target broke MCs and scandalous ladies on this track, which admittedly turns out to be pretty hilarious.

The Solution takes a familiar turn towards the end, where Beans turns to his manic side and comes with 3 somber and introspective tracks in a row. “Rain” with Scarface and Raheem DeVaughn is a banger as expected, but “Dear Self” features a schizophrenic Beanie Sigel talking to himself in the third person. It’s an interesting track and an impressive concept to say the least, but the weak beat and corny sped up vocals on the hook detract from the overall feel of the song. Needless to say, it could have been done much better.

Overall, The Solution is a good album, but really isn’t anything spectacular and will surely be of no benefit to Def Jam’s fourth quarter sales report, especially when you consider the lack of promotion that The Solution has received, compared to a project like Free At Last, which had something like 4 videos out the first week it was available. The second single and one of the most impressive tracks on the album is “What They Gon’ Say To Me,” which should definitely impress longtime fans of Beanie Sigel. They will, however, be disappointed when they go get The Solution and hear these pop records and pseudo-collaborations. The production is also pretty weak on this album, but the features from Jay-Z, Scarface, and Ghostface are all pretty solid, which provides somewhat of a balance, but ultimately leaves the listener wanting much more.