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    Make room for the Eastside Riderz yall. Na, it’s not Snoop, Goldie Loc, and Tray Dee. It’s Bullet and Shaolin reppin’ Bellevue and the whole Eastside. In Small Town Livin’ Big City Game, Bullet and Shaolin aim to put the Eastside on the map in the Northwest hip hop scene.
The album begins on a good note with the title track as Bullet and Shaolin show you how they do it on the Eastside over a funk-laced beat provided by Torrey Ward. After the first joint, the album loses momentum steadily. On tracks like “U Ain’t Done Shit”, Shaolin spits weak lines like “I gotta be rude, and make sure that it’s all understood/If it aint Eastside, then it aint all good”.
However, the album does have its bright spots. Bullet and R&B crooner Arjay team up for the slow jam “For So Long”, a joint that’s sure to get love from the ladies. Other guest spots by N2Deep’s JayTee (“What I’m Lookin’ For” and “Soakin Up My Game”) help add some much-needed flavor to the album. On “I Want You”, Seattle’s Funk Daddy drops a bass-heavy beat that provides the backdrop for the album’s best song as Bullet questions whether or not groupies are into him for “me, or is it my 3 CD’s?”
The Northwest duo show more promise with joints like “Ur Bad” and “Let Me Ride”, which features a pimped-out hook sung by Mad Ro. However, most of the 17-track CD just touches on typical topics like chronic, women, and ballin’. While there’s nothing wrong with that, these cats need to expand their subject matter a little bit more if they plan on getting any kind of exposure outside the region. Bullet and Shaolin do hold it down for the Northwest, shoutin’ out everywhere from Tri-Cities to Tacoma to Seattle.


-Nate Money