[11] Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone likened it to a hip hop version of Nine Inch Nail's 1994 album The Downward Spiral because of its downbeat, existential theme.

[17] Omar Burgess of HipHopDX said that although the music is occasionally discordant, it is also "depressingly good, which makes it a bit of a confusing product in a Hip Hop landscape bifurcated by Golden Era romanticists and the turnt-up set.

"[21] Robert Christgau wrote in Cuepoint that it is more consistent musically than Undun and is "a touching, upsetting meditation in which a sketchy gangsta wannabe embodies the limits of all striving.

Club said, "With their 11th effort, The Roots have managed yet another album individualistic like little else in hip-hop, but unlike their best work this one's more interested in scholastic provocation than genuine pathos.

"[12] Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine said, "A depiction of disorder and chaos, ... the album's approach [integrates] neatly into an overall sense of claustrophobic dread.