On paper, Magnificent City should have been a knockout. Freestyle Fellowship member Aceyalone collaborating with top-notch beat maker RJD2 over an entire full-length album? This had the all the promise of an instant Hip-Hop classic in the vein of super pairings like Madvillain or Dangerdoom.

Unfortunately Magnificent City is anything but magnificent even though it does start out that way. Opener "All 4 U" with its horn-laden samples and Acey's smooth rhymes is the best track by far, even though next track "Fire" with its 70's Soul sound is a close second. After that however, Magnificent City takes a total swan dive. Not that Magnificent City is total garbage - but after such an opening one-two punch it really hits the skids. For the most part it's just tedious, lazy and plain devoid of inspiration on both ends. "Mooore" and "Supahero" are some of Aceyalone's most grating rhymes to date; their repetitive nature show just what little effort Acey put forth on this project. And I'm not even sure "effort" is the right word for RJD2's beat making and production contribution. After the first two tracks, just about everything else on Magnificent City starts to sound the same. Even the one instrumental track, "A Sunday Mystery," sounds inspired by a major Sunday hangover.

Call it musical wallpaper if you'd like. Who knows, maybe RJ's saving all his good beats for that Soul Position collabo with Blueprint coming out later this year. I would like nothing more than to say that this Aceyalone/RJD2 pairing is anywhere near the sum of it's parts, but there's just nothing special about it. It sounds like as random a tandem as you could throw together. My vote for biggest disappointment so far in 2006.