All songs except the title track featured guest artists, including Fred Durst, Stephan Jenkins, Sugar Ray, Everlast, Kid Rock, Nas, Prodigy, Fat Joe and Method Man.

Entertainment Weekly (4/6/01, p. 120) note that "on this hip-hop roast, new schoolers Nas and Fat Joe pay their respects with sparkling grooves... Run's rhymes are still limber."

But as on Down With the King, Run-DMC prove their old-school mastery without adding anything new to it; the tracks sink or swim depending on what the guest artist felt like bringing to the studio that day.

"[27] However, AllMusic rated the album only one and a half stars out of five: "Crown Royal spirals so recklessly into contrasting segments that it's easy to forget you are even listening to a Run-D.M.C.

Lacking any discernible sense of direction or continuity, the once cutting-edge trio has seemingly lost touch with its original fan base.