R.A. the Rugged Man - Die, Rugged Man, Die (9/10)

"VH1 would never do my behind the scenes,

cause it's way too explicit for your TV screens.

I'm like 'Can't we please talk about me a little more?

And why I don't sell out and I stay hardcore,

and why I never did a video for TVs,

and never bought a beat for more than 3 g's,

and never put an album out, not one year;

I don't give a fuck about my career!'

Yeah, people talk about me like they know my ass,

but where the fuck was you when I had no cash?

Oh wait, I forgot, I still don't got none.

But my album gon' blow up, if I ever drop one!"

from Dumb

Among the bigger mysteries of life is that no aspiring filmmaker had the idea to make a documentary about R.A. the Rugged Man's career yet. I exaggerate, but being signed to Jive records in the 90's should make for an interesting story regardless of outcome- in R.A.'s case, he signed with the label in -92 and went on to record two albums that were never released due to conflicts with the label. In fact, "Die, Rugged Man, Die" marks R.A.'s album debut and that came out in 2004, a good twelve years after landing his first record deal.

The lyrical themes of the album range between this 90's deal with Jive records on "A Star Is Born"("they tried to turn the label caucasian, they signed me/whitey dawn and the insane clown posse/then they signed the backstreet boys and britney/it's a pop label, what the fuck they want with me?"), an unusual love for self-deprecation ("TLC was talking 'bout me when they wrote 'No Scrubs'") and general shit-talking on the music industry("Yeah I'm mad negative, you want positivity? Buy a Mos Def and Talib Kweli CD!"). While he is a great storyteller, it also feels like there is not always a creative vision behind the otherwise well delivered lyrics.

With how cheap studio equipment is getting, it's actually pretty unheard of to have albums come out this minimalist even from underground acts but "Die, Rugged Man, Die" manages to pull off an elegantly simplistic sound without the album just sounding particularly cheap or unfinished. At times the album does cross over into musical territory where it sounds somewhat underproduced(for example the repetitive "Da Girlz, They Luv Me") but for the most part the production is satisfying.

I can respect making a conscious decision to not overproduce an album; it obviously leaves a lot of room for R.A. to show off, and he does not disappoint. With twelve years worth of time to write lyrics, you'd expect his rhymes to be impressive and they are. In addition to the punchlines and wordplay being superb, the delivery is also stellar: Rugged Man's slow paced, grimy flow, fits perfectly with the lyrical content and the production.

Overall, the album is very strong with only minor complaints in that the production sometimes doesn't pull through and that the lyrics, while extremely well delivered, are not always terribly innovative in topic.

High point of the album: How Low

Low point of the album: Black And White ft. Timbo King

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx pt. 2 (8/10)

"Politics, pop collars and drive violent whips.

Stay fly, hungry and wise, you know the code- honor it.

Sit back, yelling 'it's nothing'- unless his buttons get pressed.

We don't stress nothing, we only get dressed.

Stretched out, moving professional, frying more fish.

I heard it in slurs, them niggas is blessed.

While we ball to the maximum, give me the floor for real-

I show off and let my money get stretched.

Take it to a new level, new bezzle, few rebels,

few wolves with medals on, you know we get test."

from About Me

Artistically speaking, sequels are a hard sell- outside of some rare exceptions it'll just be about the artist trying to make more money based on the fact that they had one work of art do much better than average and are now trying to milk that "brand". Since I've reviewed two albums recently based on the fact that they have sequels coming out this year, I figured today would be about a fairly well executed sequel of recent years.

Raekwon is, to anyone unfamiliar with him, one of the more active members of the Wu-Tang Clan- having pretty much put out a solo release or been on an album a year since his debut- the first installment of the "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" series. I'm not sure if there's even a theoretical connection between Only Built 4 Cuban Linx parts one and two, but it also doesn't really matter; the album is strong enough that it feels like a shame Raekwon decided to name it after his classic -95 release.

The themes of the album should be familiar to anyone who's listened to the Wu-Tang Clan before: Samples from Kung-Fu movies, lyrics seamlessly going back and forth between romanticizing crime and just talking about life in general, beats a bit all over the place.

Among the better things abotu the album is Raekwons dark, smooth flow and tight delivery. The beats, while thematically different, all feel like they work within the artistic framework of the album; whether it's Dre's typical brooding piano beats or Rza's collage style samples, Raekwon's style of rhyming is diverse enough that it doesn't matter- it's actually damn impressive.

The album features a large number of appearances by other artists; obviously other members of the Wu-Tang Clan are on a lot of tracks but the one that stands out is an incredibly strong appearance by Jadakiss on "Broken Safety". The biggest negative working against the album is the lack of direction it seems to have- there's no real theme tying the album together and most of the time it feels like little more than just a bunch of individual songs.

Granted, it is a bunch of very strong individual songs.

High point of the album: Black Mozart ft. Rza & Inspectah Deck

Low point of the album: Cold Outside ft. Ghostface

Bad Religion - True North (5/10)

"So hold your head up high, forgotten man.

Tomorrow's not for me and you.

And everybody's gotta try to lend a helping hand.

For god and man, there's nothing more to do."

from Dept. of False Hope

With most bands it's easy to pinpoint a three-album stretch marking the bands creative peak. With punk rock veterans Bad Religion, there is little doubt which two of the albums are; you simply have to include their second and third album releases "No Control" and "Against the Grain". The question of whether their more energetic debut "Suffer" is stronger than their very melodic fourth album "Generator" however, can certainly spark debates among fans.

While I recognize both "No Control" and "Against the Grain" as classics, I tend to view the creative direction taken on "Generator" as the start of a much more interesting path than where the group had previously been heading, and subsequent releases "Recipe for Hate" and "Stranger than Fiction" both sound like a band trying to break free from a surprisingly tiny box defined by, I'm guessing, trying to mimic the amazing success of the first two albums.

Something happened somewhere along that journey, though, and the group is now resting comfortably in that same safe zone where their songs all kind of sound the same and at the same time lack the energy of their debut album. It's a shame, but here we are.

True North delivers on the fronts you'd expect it to. The music sounds good, interesting, polished and simplistic; they have always been amazing at harmonies. The lyrics are, like always, thoughtful and intellectual. Sometimes the message will be clear, sometimes vague or cryptic but you get the jist of it most of the time. Governments are bad, religion is stuipd and all that.

Where the album falls short for me, is in that it all just feels like it's been done before. The melodies are catchy, kind of, but not really. The songs are formulaic and evoke no feelings except sour nostalgia for me, a reminder of a band I used to like that I just don't get any more. I'm biased, I know, but I just can't overcome the feeling of wondering what might have been if the band would have stuck to innovating their sound instead of this tired mess.

High point of the album: Nothing to Dismay

Low point of the album: Hello Cruel World

AZ - The Format (6/10)

"Still standing, I ain't strung on crack.

Still handle it like Pun on tracks,

so check me out y'all.

Street affili, was born willie, arms is chilly,

neck froze, fresh clothes, the specs is silly.

Adored for really, war like the lord Achilles.

I'm too illy, worth more than half a billy.

So please feel me, I'm direct effect,

and since a kid at fresh fest, I've been fresh to death."

from Make Me ft. Fresh

While the last couple of entries have been mostly been hits and misses, classics and travesties, this entry is about an album that quietly falls somewhere inbetween. The Format is not a bad album, but at the same time nowhere close to where it could have been with a greater artistic vision and/or better execution.

If the name AZ sounds familiar to you, it's probably because he was on "Life's a Bitch" from Nas' debut "Illmatic". If you're seriously into hip hop, you might have also heard of his critically acclaimed -95 album "Doe or Die" or know him from supergroup "The Firm". If you're completely unfamiliar with the name, that's probably because he's unfortunately never really made a big name for himself and remains under peoples radars despite the fact that his lyrics are always strong and his flow is superb. To call him underrated would be an understatement.

As is often the case, though, good reviews and respect from peers alone do not sell records and after getting dropped from first Virgin and later Motown, AZ decided to start a record label of his own- Quiet Money Records- to continute putting out his music. "The Format" is the second album release on Quiet Money and features notable production by DJ Premier on the title track. Overall, the sound is crisp and nice but always in a very comfortable safe zone. None of the beats are bad by any means, but they also fail to make an impression and that goes for AZ's lyrics as well.

What I feel is the real downfall of the album, though, is AZ not putting his lyrical skills to better use than to regurgiate an already tired "rags to riches"/"gangsta rapper who made it" narrative. You'd imagine getting dropped by two major record labels and being part of the 90's New York hip hop scene would provide more than enough material to draw from, but "The Format" fails to come across as anything special. Which is a shame, since I know AZ can do much better.

High point of the album: Animal

Low point of the album: Game of Life

Deltron 3030 - s/t (10/10)

"We got espers that let us bless with fresh shit,

undetected by yes men, questing for five nanoseconds of fame.

Protecting the brain from conspiracies against my cosmos,

while I flow to Neo-Tokyo with Opio

or discuss combustible rust clusters with Plus.

Evade cyber police in a computer crib, confuse the kids,

but I can make a kickin' rhyme that's sacred.

Telepathic mind that takes his greatness from the Matrix."

from 3030

Time for another review of a classic that may or may not get a sequel later this year! The late 90's and early 00's represent, among a lot of other things, a time when hip hop production was heavily inspired by mainstream music moving away from rock guitar acts and more into electronic music. At the time it seemed to be where hip hop was going as well, with producers everywhere choosing to make their own beats with synthesizers instead of samplers. As with most trends, some stuck to it while some went back and what we're left with is, if nothing else, more diverse than it was before.

Deltron 3030 came out in 2000 and is the product of MC Del tha Funkee Homo Sapien, DJ Kid Koala and producer Dan the Automator at some point sitting down and deciding they wanted to make a concept album set in the future. That may sound cheesy, and it totally is, but what has made the album stand the test of time is the near flawless execution they managed to pull off. The trio then went on to produce the Gorillaz debut album, also a great success in many ways, but then fell silent.

Kid Koala kept releasing cryptic turntable records, Del did some solo releases and Automator went about being a producer for other artists. With the first album growing in popularity, they eventually issued a statement in 2004 saying that there would be a sequel entitled "Deltron Event II" and that it would drop in 2008. To make a long story short, we're still waiting on the album(though all things point to it finally being released in 2013, since the first single is officially released).

The story is unusually vague for a concept album, but revolves around some sort of superhero called Deltron Zero. In the year 3030, hip hop is controlled by mega corporations and Deltron is on a quest to restore hip hop to it's former glory or something like that. It's not always clear to the listener exactly what's going on except for these mega corporations, mech warriors and rap battles but that's ok. Lyrically, Del is not telling a story so much as describing the conditions of this hypothetical future, and the soundscape is consistently futuristic to make it at least somewhat believable. Throughout the album, the Dels rhymes are amazing, the delivery flawless and his style is more laid back and smooth than it ever was before. That's not to take anything away from his other releases but while they are- at least in part- great, some of them have felt a bit rough around the edges lyrically.

If you are unfamiliar with Dan the Automator, his production style is unique and quirky in all the right places but never crosses over into silly or doing odd things for the sake of it. A classically trained violinist, he samples everything from classic to contemporary music and manages to find gems everywhere. As with Del, his works prior to and after Deltron have yet to pull through for me in the same way but every beat on Deltron 3030 just works and sounds like nothing else.

Every creative person has ups and downs, obviously, and maybe this album just happened to come out at a time when three creative peaks converged but judging by the tracks from "Event II" that have been released thus far this hopefully isn't the case.

High point of the album: Mastermind

Low point of the album:Things you can do

Wiz Khalifa - o.n.i.f.c. (1/10)

"I got so much money I think I should pay for all this,
they ain't down to spend how much they say, cause they ain't ballin'.

I got so much paper I just spend it like it's nothing,
ain't no way they spend how much they say, cause they just bluffin'."

from Bluffin' ft. Berner

So I had a conversation with a friend who insisted that Wiz Khalifa wasn't the same overproduced gimmick artist he was back when he first came onto the scene and that I should give him a second chance. Opinions are like assholes and all that, but I'd argue that this album is objectively bad on multiple levels.

Let's start with the title, since you might be curious- it means "only nigga in first class"- which is him, because he's really rich. So rich, in fact, that he felt the need to make an album where every single song is about this supposed wealth and how it totally didn't change him 'cause he's still keeping it real and going back to the hood and other completely humble activities. At least when he's not in the studio recording an album about how rich he is.

The production, while probably expensive, is decent at best. No tracks stand out as particularly good, it's just a blur of overdone drumloops with uncreative sampling. Some tracks("Initiation", "Medicated") have me thinking that it might not be that bad, unfortunately Khalifa's repetitive style of non-rapping comes on sooner or later and kills the track(in a bad way). Speaking of Khalifa's rapping- unfortunately he's not very good at it. I don't mind a bit of boasting, hell I don't even mind a lot of boasting- but if there's no deeper lyrical content than "I'm rich and smoke a lot of weed" then there should at least be some focus on delivery. The wordplay is at best on a level where words kind of rhyme- "good/hood", "swag/bag" or "fake/take"-type of structures and at worst where he just repeats a line over and over for a good thirty seconds.

Real talk: If you feel that autotune hasn't lost it's charm yet, this album might be for you. If you sometimes stop and think- "man, it would be awesome if hip hop sounded like it was the Jersey Shore soundtrack", this album is probably for you. If you're constantly curious about the magnitude of Wiz Khalifa's wealth and success, this album is definitely for you. If neither of these apply, then I would recommend against listening to it.

High point of the album: Got Everything ft. Courtney Noelle

Low point of the album: Fall Asleep

Redman - Muddy Waters (10/10)

"I smoked with a lot of college students,

most of 'em wasn't graduating and they knew it.

You know the weed slang? Yeah boy, I speak it fluent.

I light your college dorm with my entourage from Newark."

from Whateva Man ft. Erick Sermon

I was recently reminded that Redman is dropping the much anticipated "Muddy Waters 2" later this year and figured I would do a quick entry on the original "Muddy Waters" album in case this blog is still up and running by the time the sequel comes out.

Redman has existed on the fringe of mainstream hip hop for the entirety of his career- always a favorite among dedicated hip hop fans and fellow emcees, but lacking the mass appeal to break through to a major audience. Part of the problem, at least in my humble opinion, is the lack of dance tracks he puts on albums. The whens and whys of how hip hop went from being a genre created for it's own sake to a genre that ultimately has to compete with whatever dance music is being played in clubs at the moment is an interesting discussion that I might make an entry on at a later date, but Redman's latest releases have at least partly tried to remedy that problem.

Muddy Waters, however, came out in -96. It was a time when hip hop was all over radio and MTV, record sales were high and major labels were all looking for what might be the next big thing(which turned out to be The Fugees second album "The Score" that year). Muddy Waters is a product of this joyful experimentation with the art form and, well, drugs.

Redman's style of rapping is best described as funny, not like Weird Al-"haha joke"-funny but his punchlines tend to be("You remind me of school on a Sunday- no class").The rhyme patterns are usually overly complex yet still manage to come across as completely effortless to the listener("Funk Doctor, got your ass locked down proper/Let me next blast derelicts, binaca/I'm a Star at War, smoke blunts- don't Chew-bacca"), at the same time the album is elevating rhyming words that shouldn't to a whole new level("catch this picture of me in the mixture/so you wont forget the black Jack the Ripper").

Redman is clearly an amazing lyricist, but if you're the type of person not amused by advanced wordplay over drum machines- what are you left with? The album actually manages to deliver a very clean production with a laid back, jazzy feel to it. Songs flow into each other, the soundscape ranges between dreamy and psychedelic with Redman's superb flow fleshing out the songs even if you don't happen to be a lyrics-type-of-person.

If I were to name a negative, the constant fixation with smoking marijuana might be a bit over the top but even when taking that into consideration the album is a classic that the sequel will have a very tough time comparing favorably to.

High point of the album: Smoke Buddah

Low point of the album: Creepin

HiCoup - Silverbackcadillacslang (9/10)

"I don't spit it this way to get paid on this day,

trust when they say that the music business is risque.

If they plug two in my frame to make you miss me,

x-nay on the tears, homie, flip to next page."

from Let Em Know ft Sotu the Traveller

New Jersey based rapper HiCoup might not have the following of the MCs currently at the top of the rap game if you were to look at numbers pulled off social media. His facebook page has 67 "likes" as of this writing, he's not on twitter as far as I can tell and he last logged on to his myspace-page in May last year. At the same time, he keeps popping up in youtube videos and collaborations with other artists.

While he might seem anonymous even to a fan like myself, the exploration- scouring the internet for bits and pieces of information every now and then to see what he's up to- is a unique journey in a time when artists, aspiring and established ones alike, seem to force feed you every minor thing they do.

Silverbackcadillacslang came out in 2008, between HiCoup's first real album release "Domestic Violence" with poetry slam-artist Devinity and his last release "Guerilla Jones". While I understand that putting out tapes might be less of a burden to an artist, I also don't like the idea of saying "well, this beat has already been used by someone else so the song isn't good"- either the material is good or it's not, and this tape has some major things going for it.

Among several highlights of the tape, what stands out the most is the fact that HiCoup uses a new lyrical style on every one of them- from spitting to singing, fast paced to slow paced, he manages to go seemlessly between songs heavily packed with punchlines to songs with extremely intricate rhyme structures while his flow is always superb. Topics also vary, spanning between urban planning politics on "Good Morning, Ghetto", his relation to god on "Going Down"(apparently, he's a Christian) to straight boasting on "Ahead Of My Time". His voice is smooth and refreshingly natural compared to the oftentimes gimmicky voices of major label MC's, HiCoup stands out by the strength of his rhymes alone.

His latest album, Guerilla Jones, is as far as I can tell still unreleased by any record label, but he did upload the whole thing to his facebook page for 67 people to listen to.

High point of the album: Battle with Lucipher

Low point of the album: No Bullshit

Tape available as free download from Backwoodz Studioz

Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (6/10)

"I hit the back window, in search of any Nintendo,

DVD's, plasma screen TV's in the trunk.

We made a right, then made a left, then made a right,

then made a left- we was just circling life.

My mama called(hello, what you doing?). Kicking it.

I shoulda told her, I'm probably about to catch my first offense with the homies.

But-

they made a right, then made a left, then made a right,

then another right.

One lucky night with the homies."

from The Art of Peer Pressure

If you've missed this album with all the hype it allegedly recieved on twitter, then congratulations- you might not be a hipster! I could go on ranting about twitter but in all seriousness, let's just state that the music industry is nothing if not creative when it comes to finding marketing venues and leave it at that.

The album cover promises to be "a short film by Kendrick Lamar". Kendrick Lamar is, in case you missed it, the hot new act on Aftermath. The "short film"-stunt basically means "lots of skits" and the short version of it is basically that Kendrick grew up in Compton surrounded by drugs, bitches and gang violence. Production has been done by(among others) Dr Dre, Pharell and Just Blaze. With all the hype surrounding the album, it was destined to disappoint on some level but I'm not going to deny that there are flashes of brilliance scattered across what is mostly a fairly messy affair.

Since no expenses seem to have been spared on the production, it's only fair to go over that first- with the exception of a few songs("Swimming Pools", "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe") it's amazing, in particular on the darker sounding songs("The Art of Peer Pressure", "Sherane aka Master Splinter's Daughter").

Then there's Lamar's flow- he has the basics down, can go both fast and slow while stil delivering decent content, but unfortunately the wordplay is somewhat lackluster. At times, he's struggling to cross over from just talking slowly over the beat to actually rapping over it but he does manage to deliver some good bars here and there. He especially shines on the twelve minutes long "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst".

The album being about Lamar's upbringing, the mood is overall dark- even when partying it's described with alienation as hollow decadence, and when he's going through tough times it gets really dark. Even if the stories he tell are either exaggerated or fictional, the lyrics manage to strike a chord and creep you out as a listener. Overall, the lyrical theme along with the mostly fantastic production are the best selling points of the album and while the album certainly isn't bad it's not going to be a favorite for the die-hard rap fans out there #drakeisonasonglol.

High point of the album: Sherane aka Master Splinter's Daughter

Low point of the album: Backseat Freestyle

Professor P & DJ Akilles - The Realism (8/10)

"My goal's been the same since I was eight or nine,

haven't signed with no major, but we still on a major grind.

A creative mind, trying to find a way to shine,

hoping one day, some say I wrote their favorite rhyme."

from Sincerely Yours ft Daniel Adams-Ray

Professor P was a skinny teenager back when he won MC's Fight Night 2002, the most prestigeous rap battle in scandinavia. Rap battles being mostly about punchlines and very little about content and flow, you couldn't really be sure whether or not his staggered punchline-style of rapping could convert favorably to an actual album setting- which was reinforced by the fact that he didn't drop his debut LP until 2007(aptly named "Patience"). "The Realism" marks the second release of what is now an official duo.

While P's lyrics aren't always super advanced or exploring new topics, his flow is tight, he has a cool sounding voice- and his punchlines are obviously still great. Topics range from his love for his hometown and the state of the music business to efforts at being more insightful on songs like "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me" and "1". While there is a solid flow and great rhymes in the former("my rap's got the street writing tweets in caps lock"), the latter themes unfortunately tend to come off as somewhat cliché and forced("its hard for these young girls, both feeling unsure of who they are and unsure of who they once were").

The production oozes with 90's nostalgia, spectacular horn and string samples blend with piano loops and down to earth breakbeats. Perhaps this music belongs to a lost audience, but I find it sublime and lively.

Notable guest artists on the album are Promoe(of Looptroop Rockers) and Sadat X(of Brand Nubian). Both deliver good verses but neither manages to outshine Professor P, I'd say that's the mark of a very solid performance overall.

High point of the album: Spellbound(L-Town)

Low point of the album: #1

El-P - Cancer For Cure (7/10)

"Hollywood off the bus fucked, tender little destruct tucked

in the waist with a gold face, feed the greedy with dum dums.

You and me in the butane, supe a lame and he puffs up.

Little dragons of fad rap, suture their face the fuck up."

from Drones over BKLYN

The second track of the album, "The Full Retard", starts off with a sampled voice repeating "You should pump this shit, like they do in the future". While cocky, it may also be true. El-P came onto the scene as an innovator and has stayed that way throughout his career. The album manages to be both bouncy and avant-garde at the same time while the production stays true to his NY roots and the late 90's electronica inspired sound he was part of creating. It still manages to push his creative boundaries further into the, perhaps known, future.

Lyrically, El-P never had the strongest flow but I feel he makes up for it in other areas- the tracks paint visuals of urban desolation and loneliness. Once in a while the themes are broken for more cliché topics, but it sort of fits when that happens. Over the course of the album, he manages to rhyme both fast and slow. The tracks are unique but choesive- it's obvious that this is more than a collection of singles, and as someone who really prefers the "album" concept in general I really appreciate that some artists still go into the studio thinking more about making an album rather than record 14-20 autonomous songs.

It's no "Funcrusher Plus", and as much as that saddens me I still like the album quite a bit and I'm happy to see both that El-P did not go on hiatus along with his record label, and that he is the same creative force he was back in the 90's.

High point of the album: Oh Hail No ft. Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire & Danny Brown

Low point of the album: True Story

Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors (5/10)

"Living legend, rap scholar, art major.

Cause I make major art.

Like Beethoven, Van Gogh, or Mozart

so don't start.

Around these parts we reign supreme,

and stay Krispy Kreme clean.

Blue jeans, Jordans.

Number 3's, that's important."

from Mama Told me

I'm generally pretty jaded when it comes to misoginy in music- I know it's terrible but I generally don't mind. I understand that artists I listen to might not be in a place where that type of analysis is generally accessible or come from backgrounds where you might stop and question patterns in society and that I'm lucky to come from a home where I was taught to think critically and read books. That being said, the lyrics on this album mostly revolve around women being objects, being prostitutes, looking fine, having sex with Big Boi or some combination of these themes. If those themes bother you even slightly then just don't listen to it because it will irk you.

With that out of the way, the album has a lot of positives and a few additional negatives that I'll go over. The positives are that the production is as crisp as always, with no real deviation from the usual Atlanta/Outkast/Dungeon Family sound. The beats are varied and well thought through. Big Boi's flow is also top notch while lyrically(even disregarding the misoginy) he never quite pulls through for me, the wordplay just isn't there. In addition to the afforementioned lyrical theme, he does take the time to talk about other things- in particular a culture he sees as obsessed with consumerism and a younger generation without the proper tools to question it. Somewhat ironic, given the blatant sexism throughout the album, but not without insight.

The choice of guest artists on the album is disappointing. Not only does nearly every track feature one, but the ones on the album seem to be chosen moreso by their current popularity than actually displaying skills on the mic or having some sort of previous relation to the Dungeon Family clique- one notable exception is Ludacris, who unfortunately drops an unusually weak verse on "In the A".

When all is said and done, it's just a very average rap album in this day and age and not one that I suspect will stand the test of time like some of Outkast's previous work.

High point of the album: Apple Of My Eye

Low point of the album: Thom Pettie ft.Little Dragon & Killer Mike

Chords - Looped State of Mind (7/10)

"To all the times I doubted in my abilities,

all the qualm, all the lost possibilities,

all the pride, all the lies, all the 'Billie Jean's,

all the pies, all the fries, all the chili cheese.

I gotta say peace,

to the TV and my fetish for the pastries.

No more shopping, no more credit card on Macy's,

but you're tight- I just get it down on Jay Street."

from Into the Night

Chords solo LP debut , "The Garden Around the Mansion", was a straight shooting album about boasting, battling, romanticizing marijuana. His second album, "Things We Do for Things", was more complex- exploring consumerism and politics along with a more mature sound made it harder to grasp but solid nonetheless. On "Looped State of Mind", his third solo album, Chords has done all the production himself. The album represents an artistic growth so vast that it's hard to see how it ties in with "The Garden Around the Mansion". Is it hip hop? Kind of. Does he even rap? I guess.

His vocal style on the album is one which switches seamlessly between slow paced rhyming and straight up singing. The beats shift between classic east coast drum loops and a more esoteric style of electronic sounding traditional music. It's a sound fairly unique to him, and it sounds good.

Lyrically the album deals with artistry in general, and pursuing what might be a pipe dream of making it big in the music industry specifically. Coping with being constantly broke and anonymous. Living in New York. His wordplay is overall solid, while still conveying an honest artistic message.

Where the album falls short for me is that the mellow theme is never broken, the album starts out slow paced and never really shifts gears. I know Chords has a wider range as far as his rhyming is concerned, and it kills me that he never delivers any fast paced bars. That's his choice I guess, but unfortunately it leaves the album sounding a bit over the top monotonous.

High point of the album: One Man Show

Low point of the album: Walk Away

Aesop Rock – Skelethon (3/10)

"Okay, magpies, hoarders, and allied forces

who lick zig-zags being dragged by horses.
Transcribe stories in patterns of pins dropping,
skinned boars and exaggerated limb-lopping
Slow Mozart, no, I've never heard of knocking.
Might've burst in on it, splits or skin popping."

from Tetra

Aesop represents two things to me: One- the indisputable classic that his first album "Labor Days" was, and two- the consecutive let downs that his following releases have been. Labor Days was an album about labor and the dream of the artist to break free from 9-5 jobs, about love and alienation. Aesop's flow wasn't the best back then, but he had a unique voice and lyrical style. Over the course of what is now three more albums, it is safe to say that Aesop has at least grown immensely as a rapper. On "Skelethon", his vocals are always in touch with the beats, his flow more crisp and his rhymes more complex. Despite that, the album fails to deliver on many fronts.

The production is gritty, pretentious, tries to be cool but isn't. Songs blending into each other, a dragged out guitar chord ties them all together from start to finish of the album. Does it have an audience? Perhaps, but probably not.

The saving grace of the album is that he still has a cool voice and tries to explore different lyrical themes. Unfortunately, the lyrics feel forced around intentionally impossible to interpret titles which, again, try to be cool but aren't. Perhaps this stale, forced, misanthropy appeals to someone- again, probably not. What is he trying to prove?

As I listen to the album for the tenth time or so, I am still left curious whether this is Aesops natural evolution as an artist or if this blatant attempt at not being understood is backlash from his bluntly honest debut. Skelethon tells me nothing, and I suspect that's exactly what Aesop was aiming for; perhaps a younger, brooding audience can bond around pretending to "get it" but to me, the emperor wears no clothes.

High point of the album: Cycles to Gehenna

Low point of the album: Homemade Mummy

De La Soul's Plug 1 and Plug 2 present: First Serve (10/10)

"They're like: more pain, problems, more stress.
But I'm like: more lanes, albums, more bless.

They're like: not cheering it, not even hearing it.

What I'm talking 'bout, I'm trying to be a pioneer in it.

They're like: It's not the real job to fall on.

I'm like: It's what my soul seems to call on.

I wanna hear 'em say J, we support you.

But still in all I gotta do what I gotta do."

from Pushin' Aside, Pushin' Along

I will make no secret of the fact that I am a huge fan of De La Soul, and while Maseo is not on this album, it comes close enough in sound and feel for me to love it.

The album is a hip hop "opera" closely resembling classics like The Who's "Tommy" in that it tells a story from start to finish, using the tracks to represent certain events. The storyline is a bit cheesy, telling the tale of two young rappers trying to make it big in the rap game(Pushin' Aside, Pushin' Along), landing a record deal with ficticious label "Goon Time"(Looks Like We Made It) , the release of their first single(Must B The Music), eventually splitting up due to conflicts(Clash Sypmphony) and finally getting back together and finding their roots(Move 'Em In, Move 'Em Out).

Oh, that section contains spoilers. My bad.

With Maseo absent, the production is done by a french duo, DJs Chokolate and Khalid, that I was previously unaware of but thuroughly impressed with. The beats sound fresh, with a heavy emphasis on string sampling and fairly toned down drum loops it comes across airy and minimalist. Hardly a far stretch from Maseo's production as of late, and since this was my first encounter with their production I can't say whether or not it is intentional but the beats function as a pleasant vehicle for Dave's and Pos' rhymes allowing for them to take up as much space as they need to, never weighing down the tracks.

Lyrically, Dave and Pos are doing their unique conversational style of rapping throughout the album. Where other groups might get comfortable doing their own bars, Plugs 1 and 2 have always been superb at bouncing rhymes off each other mid-bar. The rhymes stay relevant to the narrative of the album all the way and even seem to consciously mature in nature as the fictional characters "Pop" and "Deen" go through the various hardships of the rap game.

If I was forced to pick a negative, it would be the excessive use of skits between songs and their length. While they were cool to listen to the first couple of times, I can't imagine listening to this album on a non-digital format is very fun. Thankfully the skits are tracks of their own in the digital versions of the album and are easily avoidable.

Lastly, De La are allegedly in the studio to record with Prince Paul again(they worked together for their -88 debut "3ft High and Rising") and I can't wait to hear whatever comes from that.

High point of the album: Must B The Music

Low point of the album: Tennis

Sean Price – Mic Tyson (8/10)

"I sell white rock and clap cannons,

I'm old school like white rock soda and backgammon.

Rap famine, Sean is a starving artist,

I gain a lot of weight 'cause a nigga eating regardless."

from By The Way

Sean Price made his name in the 90's as part of Heltah Skeltah, and later the supergroup Boot Camp Clik. Since Heltah Skeltah broke up and BCC was dropped in the early 2000's he has released three solo albums that all mimic the 90's hiphop sound that he's familiar with, this being the latest release.

Price's lyrical style is tight, his wordplay is mostly excellent, sometimes great and never poor. I find that he especially shines when he goes for cynical and funny at the same time and that his best rhymes tie in to this seemingly dark sense of humour("due to my weight gain I had to double the dosage/of the drugs that I do- a nigga stay toasted", "wake up, all that 'crack in the street' talk/is made up like jack and the beanstalk"). The lyrics are tightly packed with punchlines that mostly revolve around Price's greatness on the mic, his prowess with firearms and the depressing state of the music industry. Classic themes for sure, and not ones that bother me in particular, but admittedly where one might feel a little innovation could be a positive.

The beats are minimalistic, sometimes reminiscent of classic east coast jazz sampling, sometimes more eclectic and on one track("By the Way") a real throwback to late 80's boom bap. Overall the album sounds great and manages to sound as a nostalgic throwback to a golden era of hiphop production while at the same time being clearly contemporary.

There might be one or two too many guest artists for my taste- especially since Price tends to outshine them anyway(notably an unusually weak effort by Pharoahe Monch on "BBQ Sauce") and that the beats often times will be too slow paced for Price's high tempo rhyming. The album, while solid, is also yet to impress me in the same way Price's last solo album "Jesus Price Superstar" once did.

High point: Price & Shining Armor ft. Ruste Juxx

Low point: STFU Pt. 2

Dead Prez – Information Age (4/10)

"I aint fuckin' with Virginia Slims, cancer stick.
She no good for me, bitch makes me sick.
No I'm not the one, I'm not the trick.
I need a sister soldier, not a Dixie Chick.
No Dairy Queen, no Lindsay Lohan.
What that mean?
I ain't with the program."

from "Dirty White Girl"

Information Age is the third(or fourth, depending on how you count) full length album by hiphop artists Dead Prez, who most of my friends relate to as "that-it's-bigger-than-hip-hop-hip-hop-group".

The album starts off with "A New Beginning" a bouncy track about revolutions which pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album and should feel familiar to anyone who has heard their older material. Production-wise, the style is fairly current but has managed to still stay in touch with their 2000 debut. The beats are electronica-based, but never grimy and the whole album has a very crisp sound to it.

The lyrical theme is mostly political left-wing stuff bordering on conspiracy theories. Some of it is tongue-in-cheek, but I suspect some of it is not and while that might be a different blog post alltogether I still feel I should mention that it bothers me at times to hear about how "the illuminati" or whoever are "working hard to remove vitamins from food" and whatnot. I am aware that it is their art and they might really believe this to be true, but I can't help but feel disappointed in the at times rather naive analysis.

While the first couple of songs are very good, the material suffers from a distinct drop-off in quality about half way through the album. After a couple of really weak tracks, the album actually ends quite abruptly as you realize that it was only nine songs long(of which one was a "bonus track" lol).

The two tracks that I keep coming back to the album for, "Dirty White Girl" and "No Way As The Way" unfortunately fall short of making up for the fact that the other songs simply are not up to par and leaves me disappointed.

And while I don't have anything against singing as such, it gets pretty old that every track on the album has an RnB style chorus.

High point of the album: Dirty White Girl

Low point of the album: Time Travel