The Reason

1	Nothing Like It 3:22
2	Beanie (Mack B****) 4:13
3	So What You Saying / Memphis Bleek 5:06
4	Get Down 4:58
5	I Don't Do Much 4:40
6	For Mi Ni**** 4:12
7	Watch Your B****** 3:46
8	Think It's a Game / Freeway 5:33
9	Man's World 3:50
10	Gangsta, Gangsta / Kurupt 3:41
11	Tales of a Hustler 3:55
12	Mom Praying 4:40
13	Still Got Love for You 4:21
14	What Your Life Like, Pt. 2 4:23

Barnes & Noble

He may be a charter member of Jay-Z's New York City crew, Roc La Familia, but Beanie Sigel remains true to his Philadelphia roots when he gets behind the mic. On his sophomore disc, The Reason, Beanie picks up where his acclaimed debut, The Truth, left off and once again unloads a round of tales from the dark side of the city of brotherly love. Featuring classic Soul-and-funk production (courtesy of producers Rick Rock, Just Blaze, and 88 Keys), Beanie puts a hip-hop spin on James Brown's "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World" ("Man's World") and Isaac Hayes's "Ike's Mood" ("Still Got Love for You," featuring Jay-Z and Rell). He even offers a respectable update of the EPMD anthem "So What Cha Sayin'" with his labelmate Memphis Bleek. Though he comes off with the same bravado that made The Truth a classic, this time around Beanie seems to have lost some of that unbridled fury, instead getting pensive with Mr. Scarface on "Mom Praying" and the raw ghetto commentary "What Your Life Like 2." Cuts such as the weed anthem "I Don't Do Much" and "Gangsta, Gangsta," an unoriginal collaboration with Kurupt, find Beans more concerned with his credibility as a baller than his rep as a feral street preacher. But the disc boasts more than enough entertaining street tales to please Rockefella camp fans -- and maybe even win over a few new ones. Ron Hart

All Music Guide

Arguably the hottest thing to come outta Philly since the Roots, Beanie Sigel had hip-hop heads from coast to coast bobbing along to the infectious beats and dark inner-city tales of his impressive debut, The Truth. But while emotional songs like "Mom Praying" make The Reason a solid enough follow-up, it essentially boils down to more of the same ol', same ol'. Sigel's familiar streetwise persona shines through on cuts that are more concerned with hustling and hanging out than glitz and glamour, but the repetitive tales of thug life and gangsterisms grow a bit redundant by album's end. The production is consistently banging, and songs like "Tales of a Hustla" and "Think It's a Game" (featuring Jay-Z) more than live up to the promise first glimpsed on The Truth. But ultimately, Sigel's sophomore effort isn't so much an artistic step forward as it is a step sideways. ~ Bret Love, All Music Guide