The new Ummah sound is one that suits an acquired taste, this is not the same as the funky jazz sounds we got on 'The low end theory' (one of my favourite albums of all time) and neither does it have the simplicity of what we heard on 'Midnight marauders' but that's not to say its no good. The point is with every Quest album you have to take time to digest it, it won't be listened to a couple of times then lay on the CD rack for the rest of the year, they always end up in heavy rotation later on.

If there's one thing that disappointed me about the album is the choice of cameos, although Busta Rhymes puts in a brilliant appearance, I've seen him work with quest a lot better in the past. The choice of Redman and Noreaga is the type of thing we need more of here, being on 'Steppin' it up' and 'Give me' respectively gives a chance for different genres of hip hop to mix with the quest vibe and although i had my reservations about Nore being on here I think he pulled it off well. As it is the final album i would have liked to have seen more collabos like this, just to go out with a bang and as the excellent consistent Q-tip plays this album virtually alone i think it would have been better to see more cameos to change things up a bit.

The universal love theme is one that sees them coming full circle and returning to their roots of instinctive travels, the vibe is positive and on 'Common Ground' and 'Find A Way' we get the love for women, something quest can do well without being too slushy a skill in itself. Phife has been playing low key since album number one but on here he's almost non-existent, a shame as he ain't as good as Q-tip but he ain't bad either.

Pick this album up purely for the sake of gaining some real hip hop before its gone, there won't be another group like this in a hurry.