Sheek Louch: After Taxes : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Sheek Louch may have been the third banana in Lox, the esteemed Puffy-pimped trio that called it quits in 2000 after two albums. But he's still got plenty of street-level appeal, which counts for something on his second solo album. After Taxes is nineteen tracks of alternately murky and brassy-hot beats and guest spots from Ghostface, Redman and Sheek's Lox cohorts Jadakiss and Styles P. Though the guests sometimes outshine him, Sheek narrates his struggles with a mix of quick-tongued grit and wizened honesty: On "45 Minutes to Broadway" he asks a one-night stand if she'd mind him snapping a Polaroid to send to his homeboy in the joint, and "Maybe If I Sing" is a gunshot-laden banger in which Sheek wonders if selling out will make him as rich as "that 50 bitch." It won't, probably. But if he keeps up this steady grind, his fan base won't complain.