-- Four Stars-- All Music Guide
"Though it's just his first album, Devino Fortunato is already celebrating the high life with a set of player tracks and unapologetic hip-hop, from the alcohol serenade "Licqa Sto" to the booty anthem "Dance for Me" to the no-explanation-necessary "Ghetto Soliloquoy." No matter that it's not the freshest style, Cognac Loungin is full of great productions, with the West Coast blueprint of syrupy G-funk given a good airbrushing of synths and samples. The rapping is just as solid, especially from Fortunato, but his guests too: Xeno, Ebony Black, Tazz. A great independent production that puts to shame most major-label rap product." - John Bush (All Music Guide)
-- Four Stars-- All Music Guide.......Again!
"Devino Fortunato was an Oakland-area rapper who burst onto the scene with 2002's Cognac Loungin' for the upstart Bay Area label Real Smooth. While his work as an EMT kept him busy by day, by night it was the G-funk world of liquor, cars, women, and hustling. It was the latter that informed the content of his debut, an independent album that nevertheless boasted high-quality West Coast-style production and Fortunato's own boast-filled flow, which at times suggested the unadorned honesty of 2Pac. After his spectacular debut, Fortunato appeared at numerous Real Smooth events with labelmates Xeno and Tazz." - Johnny Loftus (All Music Guide)
"If this album is a glimpse of what we're going to continue to see from Mr. Fortunato, it's best advised to keep an eye out for upcoming shows, and your finger on the pulse."
- PIMPING.COM
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