Armed with beats from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, and Easy Mo Bee, and cameos from Bun B, Freeway, and Prodigy, Termanology’s Politics as Usual has all the makings of a great album in the classic East Coast boom-bap tradition. The problem? Termanology, with his mediocre flow and lack of gravitas, is not capable of holding his own next to his time-tested heroes. His shortcomings as an MC are particularly apparent on the Premier-produced, Bun-aided “How We Rock.” Despite the fact that Term’s Big Pun-invoking verse is his best performance on the album it’s Premo’s beat and Bun’s verse that really make the track pop.