Honorable Mention: Big K.R.I.T. - King Remembered In Time
I'll start this out my saying, this shit should have been a fucking album. The whole thing has an album feel to it and I almost want to be able to give him ten dollars. We didn't review this when it came out, mostly because I just now got to listen to the thing. It's been buried in my hard drive for the last month until I finally worked up enough courage to listen to it. As you can see, I really liked it. It's honestly been one of the only things on my Ipod for the past week. eXquire sound more focused than ever on here and actually throws in a few concept songs for good measure. There's a few lyrical missteps, but he's giving some really interesting stories about some of his past relationships, or maybe just the same one over again.The beats are outstanding, providing more than a few neck breakers and the cover also rivals Albert Einstein for best artwork of the year.
- LH
Well Radioactive sucked... a lot. It sucked so much that it turned all of his fans off. The only person who hated Radioactive more than the general public; Yelawolf himself. He hated it so much that he made an awesome mixtape to make up for it. Yela sounds hungry, and makes every beat his own. If this is a Yelawolf we can get used to, then I could become a huge fan. One extraordinary aspect of Yelawolf on this tape is his ability to chop, and flow quickly, on a very slow beat. The song Fame is a definite highlight, in which he explains the Defjam situation. This track is able to go deep, without getting corny. He holds his own on Rap Room with established Mcs Raekwon, and Killer Mike. He proves himself as a real rapper and not a pop artist, which is all I needed from Yela.
Well here we have a man with more integrity than everyone you know combined. He is a guy with easily enough skill to become famous and make millions of dollars, yet he stuck to his roots, and made some dope ass music. He can go from offensive in songs like, Shoot Me in the Head, deep in songs like, Legends Never Die, and a dope ass rapper on the track, Dangerous Three. He has so many skills, and you will want to listen to this album five more times after you hear I once. He is a complex wordsmith, and can effortlessly flow on a beat. I love this album for its originality, and will look att any work R.A. puts out in the future.
This is a concept album about a mafia dispute between two families. The way Ghost paints the story for you is impecable. I have never heard a concept album that is so strict to the story. This is simply about a mafia dispute as if it were Ghostface's real life story. The production is incredible, and the rhyming from Ghost and friends is second to none. This album is a little short, but every song is amazing, so it makes up for the length. We have a review for this album if you want to check out a more in depth reason to listen to this, just know you won't regret a listen.
Joey is in my opinion the hungriest young rapper in the game today. 1999 was a sick mixtape, and this was a substantial improvement. This album is full of great lyricism, that sounds as if I was sent in a time machine back to the and was hearing a hot new album. On the tracks that were produced by more reputable producers, Joey shredded the beats, such as on the song, Unorthodox, which was a Primo beat. The replay value on this is what I really love, and I can see my self rocking this tape into the coming years.
This to me, is the best album I have heard in years. The experimental beats of El-P are absolutely banging, and Killer Mike on the mic is always dope as fuck. This is like a Death Grips album with classic hardcore emceeing. I love everything about this album from top to bottom. The beats truly make the album, and I am a true fan of lyricism. While Killer Mike and El kill their respective verses, nothing compares to El's work on the boards. I have little to say about this album, except that it fucking bangs.
Okay guys so im not very experienced in writing reviews and im nowhere near as musically traveled as the lukes but i figure ill give this a shot. My top 5 will be from a common guy's point of view. Love music but just dont know enough hip hop to be considered an expert. But here we go.
Im a pretty big A$AP fan, but this isn't his best work. It's a good album, but there are a lot of forgettable songs on it. Personally my favorites on the tape are 1Train, Wild For the Night, Goldie, and the title track. Aside from those four, the rest of the tracks are forgettable. Not bad, but forgettable. 1Train is probably my favorite, just because of the features. Kendrick, Action Bronson, Bada$$, and Rocky himself all lay down really nice verses. The other three songs mentioned are awesome hype songs, which i enjoy quite a bit.
This album is really weird, but its Tyler so its kind of to be expected. There are a few standout tracks--IFHY, Domo 23, and Trashwang being my personal favorites. I really enjoyed Rusty as well, Hodgy and Earl have great guest verses on that one. But there are a good amount of songs on this album that i dont even fucking remember. 3/4 of the album, whatta doin Tyler. I know its supposed to be conceptual and whatnot but its just boring. Theres no story to the album that i can find but it was good enough to outdo A$AP.
Now we're getting to the actual good albums. WMWTSO is one of the 5 albums that were released on June 18. I had no expectations for it, being that i hated Mac previous to this project. After hearing everyone raving about it though, i decided to give it a listen. I was not disappointed. Mac has really listened to his critics, and fixed a lot of the problems with his previous music. The one thing here though--the man cant sing worth a shit. But he tries. Repeatedly. Its terrible. But otherwise its a great album. Matches is probably my favorite track, with Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes close behind. If you can though, i recommend getting the deluxe version. Goosebumpz and OK are two of the best songs on the entire album.
God i love this album. Out of the 15(20 counting the deluxe version tracks), i only disliked two of them--Crooked Smile and Chaining Day. Otherwise its amazing. Forbidden Fruit, Miss America, Trouble, Aint That Some Shit, the list of great songs goes on. The only complaint i have is that some of the best lyrics and instrumentals on the album are used up on interludes. Cmon Jermaine. Throw one more verse on that shit. Again, i strongly recommend getting the deluxe version. 4 of those 5 songs are well worth the extra few dollars.
The first time i heard of any chance, one of my friends was trying to convince me that he was good while showing me some of his stuff on youtube. I was not convinced at all. But i decided to give him another try a few days later, and i thank god i did. A big shout out to Clay Devlin for showing me this masterpiece. There isnt a bad track on this entire tape. Half of the songs are upbeat and absolutely awesome and the other half are deep and insightful as shit. The best part is that chance actually wrote and recorded every track while high out of his mind on acid. Thats just funny. Chance also did an amazing job managing his guest features, getting Action Bronson and Childish Gambino to lay down some great verses. Pretty easily the best project of the year in my opinion.