[2] As of August 11, 2006, the album became a certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling 500,000 copies in the United States.

Rating the album "L" (in its five-level clothing size rating system from "S" to "XXL"), XXL praised "Dope Boy Magic" as having "endless head-turning punch lines...with different sequential number combinations" but panned other tracks as "go[ing] in cliché circles" with "[c]orny brand-name drops.

"[7] In a three-star (out of five) review, David Jeffries of AllMusic described the album as having an "identity crisis" due to tracks that he found "less convincing" than the "safe and tested surroundings" of "It's Goin' Down" and "I Know You See It.

"[1] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, based in Yung Joc's hometown, graded the album "C+", calling lead single "It's Goin' Down" "simple...[but] infectious" while finding a lack of "a new, exciting reserve of wordplay and delivery.

[6] For HipHopDX, Brian Sims rated New Joc City two out of five ("aluminum") due to what he called "reused lines" and a "dull mood plaguing most of the album.