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Despite the overwrought production and excessive use of trite catch phrases that typifies the output of today's corporate rap elite, Dark Man's innate raw power can't be masked. Had he fallen off, The Great Depression would be considered an amazing comeback, but since X's reputation is intact and it's hip-hop as a genre that's floundering, the album serves as an antidote to the flood of insipid hip-hop/R&B combinations and "Oochie Wally"-isms that clog the airwaves. Standout tracks include the riot-inducing "Who We Be" and the dead-on "Shorty Was Da Bomb." Even the lesser tunes are dope. On first listen, Depression's most accessible song, "We Right Here," comes off as mindless radio fodder, but its blunt chorus quickly grows on you. The album's centerpiece, "I Miss You," is a genuinely personal composition built around a universal theme. Here, DMX's lyrics and delivery invite the same favorable comparisons to Tupac Shakur that he received earlier in his career. --Rebecca Levine