Queens, New York duo Onyx consisting of Sticky Fingaz & Fredro Starr dropping their 14th studio LP. Their debut Bacdafucup followed by All We Got Iz Us & Shut ‘Em Down under Def Jam Recordings are rightfully considered by many to be East Coast classics, releasing 2 mediocre albums in the early 2000s returning in 2014 with the Snowgoons produced #WAKEDAFUCUP. The sequel Snowmads was great & I also enjoyed Onyx vs. Everybody more than others, coming off the subpar reception ofWorld Takeover as well as Blood on da X & Lower Eastside to the remind everyone It All Started in Brooklyn.
After the “Go Brooklyn” intro, “Get Live” featuring Ayoo Bigz produced by Fredro Starr finds the trio over a clunky boom bap instrumental talking about looking to hype the crowds whereas “How U Like Me Now?” aggressively talks about going from the barbershop to coppin’ different whips even though the beat isn’t much better. “Around My Way” menacingly cautions to show no fear around them although it instrumentally feels run-of-the-mill just before “Lift Off” talks about nobody being able to terrorize a club like them.
“It’s on U” continues from there hopping over a cavernous boom bap beat asking if one’s gonna take the charge or go out blastin’ while “The Goonies” likens themselves to thugs who be waitin’ for muhfuckas in the alley carrying baseball bats. “Hear Dem Knocking” talks about paying attention to the feds tryna come inside the spot leading into “Body Ya”, which was the ONLY single from the rollout that I didn’t mind since Fredro’s instrumental was less clunky albeit still AI.
We get an underwhelming “Last Dayz” sequel with “Still Last Dayz” mainly because of the beat dragging it down while “Up Dat” aggressively suggests for opponents to upgrade their arsenals. “Lordz of Flatbush” was actually a cool representation of the Brooklyn neighborhood that I can appreciate but once “Fuck Love” tepidly shows a more romantic side to Onyx, the title track concludes It All Started in Brooklyn taking everyone back to where it all began for both of it’s remaining members.
The last time I enjoyed a project from Onyx was when Onyx vs. Everybody initially came out 4 years earlier & considering the mediocrity of the singles, I wasn’t anticipating It All Started in Brooklyn to change that & it surely enough joins Triggernometry in becoming one of the pairing’s weakest collection of material in their entire discography. Sticky Fingaz & Fredro Starr can still very much rap, but I wish Fredro would handle the production the same way he did Onyx vs. Everybody because these AI generated beats are absolutely hideous.
Score: 3/10