This is the sophomore effort from Detroit, Michigan quartet the Eastside Ninjas comprised of Jamie Madrox, Monoxide, Blaze Ya Dead Homie & Anybody Killa. All 4 of whom broke out after the Insane Clown Posse signed them to Psychopathic Records in the late 90s/early 2000s, they would eventually form a Pact of the 4 following the formation of their own labels Majik Ninja Entertainment, Grundy Entertainment & Native World Inc. respectively. A Return of the Lotus was announced this summer & was highly skeptical because 2 of the most important petals being missing.
After the intro, the opening track “Shadow” combines trap & rock so they can spit the wicked shit talking about death still following them whereas “Eradicate” embraces a darker atmosphere instrumentally admitting to being no good. “Wolves” discusses being left to die only for them to survive an encounter with a pack of carnivorous mammals just before “All of My Words” continues from there finding the Ninjas pleading for the universe to lift this curse off their intestines.
“Resilience” reaching the midway point of the LP showing strength of spirit in their characters when being spoken down upon leading into “Mummified” turning the rap rock influences up so they talk about not being free as long as their corpses are hanging on. “Thoughts Lethal” keeps the guitars in tact breaking down their individually fatal minds while the only single “I Kill ‘Em Better” produced by Fritz the Cat & Grady Finch decently talks about the animalistic monster living within every single one of us.
The song “More Like Control” speaks of never giving up regardless of all the nonsense people would like to try sellin’ ‘em while the rap rock-tinged “Down 4 Life” poses the question of whether or not people would still support them after the situation with Majik Ninja’s ties to Psychopathic being severed almost a decade ago & as much as some would like to say yes, this album has caused reasonably more alienation than their 2020 attempt at reviving the Psychopathic Rydas. “Walking Disaster” spends the last 4 minutes talking about things not going their way with those they used to follow.
I really hope neither Twiztid or Drive-By take my criticisms of The Return of the Lotus personally because as someone who’s always stuck by them after leaving Psychopathic over a decade ago, this feels like an Eastside Ninjas sophomore effort that’s more wicked than the Pact of the 4 since it truly isn’t Dark Lotus without ICP hence why it could likely become the worst entry in MNE’s catalog. Outside of excluding Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) Commissioner Violent J & the shortest reigning JCW World Juggalo Heavyweight Champion Shaggy 2 Dope’s crucial roles for obvious reasons or even the tolerable production, it’s simply no different than when D-Loc dropped that 25 to Life solo album under the Kottonmouth Kings name.
Score: 3/10