Production was dope. The problems were
People here produced by dre(the first rumors most people assumed he was doing most of the album) everyone before the album came out was likeshyts about to be a chronic 2001 New York style
Dres production was fire but not what people wanted. People ( myself included ) were likeit sounds dope but it doesn't blow me away
Jay has shining moments (prelude, lost ones )and always drops gems here and there but it's filled with corny lyrics. First of all, 30 was never the new 20 and your 40. Wasted a classic dre beat. To many more corny lines to name but you get the picture.
Young guru fukked up the mixing hard on this project. I don't know if he just tried to get everything to sound and clean like the mixes dre sent, but my god half that album makes my ears bleed. look at the wave lengths and everything is just boosted to the max
Seems like Pharrell hated jay z at this point in time because he gave them trash and those songs don't fit at all
Yeah KC had it's moments but like you said, mixing wise it didn't sound right. Shyt, Hov didn't sound right. I recall in an interview with Young Guru, he said Hov recorded most of KC after most of his shows when he was on his World Tour at the time. He said that's why Hov's vocals sounded
. Idk, as a Hov fan I was disappointed when this dropped. The Intro, Lost Ones, Beach Chair, KC, Minority Report, OH My God and Do you wanna ride, were my favorite joints but even some of those were underwhelming. 
