Well, we may not be churning these things out, but in very steady fashion, this site is once again becoming a prominent fixture in my life. Anyone still reading these may question why I bother, and the simple answer is because I love talking about music. With that out of the way, today's review should be a lot of fun. Seattle born rapper, Macklemore has accidentally become the most vilified personality in recent hip-hop history. Ever since his ludicrous Grammy victory over beloved emcee Kendrick Lamar, the Internet has loathed Macklemore in a way that no human deserves, but it's pretty damn funny. His mediocre release in 2012 named, The Heist, was not nearly the album it's Kendrick Lamar counterpart GKMC was, but this is the Grammys we are talking about. A bunch of out of touch old white dudes judging African American culture is never going to yield favorable results, but this was a bit too far. Macklemore is the most popularly hated rapper in the world, next to Iggt Azalea of course, and lost in the mix during all of this was the fact that he really did nothing wrong. Yeah, he made an album that wasn't great, but he didn't rig the awards for himself. He doesn't come off as arrogant or anything, in fact he went on record as saying Kendrick deserved the win. Somehow none of that made him even slightly more likeable. The dude is just plain fun to hate, and after over a year of being baraded with hatred, Macklemore had all but faded from the spotlight. (what I find possibly most funny is people's absolute apathy towards Ryan Lewis. No one has ever taken to Twitter to shit on Ryan Lewis or curse his name. Despite being 50% responsible for The Heist he received none of the backlash. I wonder how he feels about the situation. Is he jealous that no one ever cares to say, "fuck you Ryan Lewis, Kendrick was better." Or does he scroll through his timeline and laugh along as the whole world tells his partner in crime that he is murdering hip-hop)

Macklemore's last commercial release relied almost entirely on the success of the singles. Preteens all over the country went ballistic over songs like Thift Shop and Can't Hold Us. And the entire culture was rocked when Macklemore delivered the 2012 theme song to tolerance with Same Love. For his reliance on radio songs some people resented him, but casual listeners chose to enjoy his music. I was somewhere in the middle. I thought that the first two songs I mentioned were decent at best, and clearly made for the radio, and the latter had a positive message, but set a precedent in corniness that even Hopsin would be proud of. I wasn't ever offended by Macklemore's quality of music, but I was also never impressed. Had it not been for the award show debacle I probably would've never given him a second thought. Love him or hate him,, though, Macklemore was the most successful rapper of the year, and dominated radio play. I'm not saying that makes his music good, but it has to be worth something.

When I heard Macklemore was making a new album, I have to admit part of me was excited. I love when the entire internet can come together to collectively hate one human so much that the negative energy is palpable. But to my surprise, almost nothing happened. He released his first single, Downtown to very little reception, and even preformed it at the VMAs, and no one really seemed to care. It wasn't until months later that the second single White Privledge 2 was released, and while I will touch on the songs content later, it still generated very little buzz in the hip-hop and general music community. Macklemore was wildly famous due to the polarizing nature of his act, but this complete apathy had to be frightening. How can you make headlines or sell records when no one fucking cares about you? There was very little in the realm of promotion put into this album, and almost none of what I had heard from the singles left me even remotely interested, but we are still talking about Macklemore here. Completely relevant or not, this is still on if the biggest artists of the 2010s, and I can't just not talk about this album. So despite my better judgement, I got the album, I listened to it a few times, and for better or for worse, I will now proceed to type my thoughts on this blog post.

(I don't really want to include this as part of the review, but as an aside I have to mention the promotional release of a song that did not make the cut entitled Spoons. It is quite possibly the very worst musical happening in the history of organized sound. I don't have any further elaboration, I just thought you should know of its existence)

1. Light Tunnels (ft. Mike Slap)
Well this song was certainly interesting, and did a good job of immediately addressing the elephant in the room... Well somewhat. The record talks about his feelings towards the Grammys, but he doesn't tackle in the way many people may have wanted him too, and I'm glad. Making a song about the Kendrick situation some three years later would have seemed like a cheap way to generate heat. Instead he gives a somewhat interesting view on the Grammys. He's critical of the behavior of the celebrities, and really the whole business aspect of the Grammys. I found a good chunk of the lyrical content to be interesting, but it was by no means a terrific song. This wasn't a bad way to open the album, as it ended feeling like and intro, but the opening instrumentation made the song feel like it was bigger than it was. Ryan Lewis is undoubtedly a talented producer, but the orchastraic opening seemed a bit over the top.

2. Downtown
Holy fucking shit, Macklemore actually made this a song. After a three or so hear break from making music, the lead single for his comeback album is a song about mopeds. I will say that the beat is extremely nice and gives the song a very fun vibe, and the vocals on the chorus are also very interesting, but why oh why did he write this fucking song. I find it hilarious, but not for the way Macklemore meant for it to be hilarious. The moped centric bars that end up trailing into a topicless song are at times just goofy, and others straight up corny. What makes me laugh is that this was the song Macklemore thought would get people talking again. I understand that Thrift Shop, a similarly goofy song, was what got his brand on the radio, but this son lacks a vital component of what made Thrift Shop work: a decent fucking topic. Thrift shopping is something the Macklemore audience can easily latch on to, but no one actually drives a moped. Combine that with the lack of lyrical cohesion on this track, and you get a hilarious mess, but not a very good one.

3. Brad Pitt's Cousin (ft. XP)
Something Macklemore does incessantly that annoys the absolute shut out of me is overplay how lame he is. He rarely gets past the, "look at me I'm a famous rapper but I'm also a quirky white dude," act and it wears thin quickly. That's most of this song in a nutshell. I don't mind some of the braggadocio lines like when he talks about every white kid in the country getting his hair cut, and how he has accumulated international fame. These are both real talking points. What bothers me is the talk about his cat and going places with his parents. We get it man, you're lame. It stops being endearing when we have to hear about it all the time. The hook on the song, that inspires the title is ok. Macklemore has drawn comparisons to an ugly Brad Pitt, so thematically it makes enough sense, but I surely didn't need to hear a song about it.

4. Buckshot (ft. KRS-One, & DJ Premier)
For some reason, while the features on this song are both awesome, the song didn't seem like it had any business being good. In fact, it was one of the songs I circled on the track list as being a bust before even getting around to listening to it. Weirdly enough, I could not have been any more wrong. The old-school flavor of the beat accompanied the topic very well, and just flat out sounded awesome. Maybe it will only appeal to nostalgic Primo fans, but I really like the beat. On top of that both Macklemore and KRS sounded very good, and flowed seamlessly on the beat while talking about graffiti. While I have a hard time believing Macklemore was ever a tag artist, this song serves as an early highlight.

5. Growing Up (ft. Ed Sheeran)
At this point I will have to draw a line between subjectivity and objectivity. I know this is a subjective review, but there comes a point when I can't deny the objective appeal of this song. Do I like this song? Not even a microscopic portion in the smallest part of my brain finds this song enjoyable. I would rather listen to Downtown on repeat while Ryan Lewis called me a loser, but people will like this song. It has the same appeal as Eminem's Hailee's Song, but not nearly as raw, and I didn't much like that song in the first place. I think people will love this song for two reasons though, the first and most obvious being Ed Sheeran. For some reason that ginger bastard has gotten a label that exceeds pop garbage, and that is a fact I will never quite understand.The other reason is that people love when an artist is vulnerable. The cheapest way to get fans to like you is to "be yourself" even if it requires little to no talent at all. After this review I will try my damnest to never hear this song again, but don't be surprised if you hear it on the radio.

6. Kevin (ft. Leon Bridges)
If you have been following Macklemore for as long as I unfortunately have, you have heard all the stories of his past drug use and a friend of his who died via overdose. This story is taken to the next level when the friend is given the name Kevin. Please don't crucify me for calling a song about a dead kid fucking awful. Is it emotional, somewhat. The emotion feels kind of cheap even though it is derived from real pain. It also feels like we are beating a dead horse with this story, and really milking it dry. Do I agree with some of Macklemore's claims about the war on drugs? Of course I do, but that doesn't mean it makes for engaging music. Maybe awful was an overstatement, but this song is not by any means as good or powerful as it should have been.

7. St Ides
After tearing down back to back tracks that were cheap attempts at pathos, the third one here kind of even got me. The main reason being the instrumental I think. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are able to capture a real emotion on this track, being that of nostalgia. This is the only one off the last three songs that made me feel what I was supposed to feel. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, and this song turned it into a sound, so for whatever that is worth, congrats.

8. Need To Know (ft. Chance The Rapper)
​ Every bit of this song screams Chance The Rapper. It sounds a lot more like a Chance song featuring Macklemore than the other way around. I actually like this song quite a bit. Maybe it just seems good when being compared to all the shit that has led to this point, but I guess that doesn't really matter. Chance continues to gain favor in my eyes, and is actually becoming an artist that excites me, which is far off from how I felt during the Acid Rap era. My biggest complaint is how much Macklemore sounds like a guest on his own song, but I can't really blame Chance for having exponentially stronger presence. All in all this is actually a very good song and one of them saving graces of the album.

9. Dance Off (ft. Idris Elba, & Anderson .Paak)
What the fuck am I listening to? This at times is just goofy enough to work, and at others it just seems like a bad Lonely Island song. Yeah, some lines are amusing, and even I laughed the first time the hook hit, but how did this make the cut for a major album? Some people tell me I take music to seriously, and maybe I do, but I at least want an artist to sound like they care a little bit. The silver lining is Anderson .Paak who continues to wow with his terrific and unique vocal styling. If you haven't heard his album Malibu I strongly suggest giving that the time it deserves, but this song is only good for a giggle. Macklemore seems to be struggling with his own identity at this point. He's making an album that contains a very strange balance of melodrama and comedy that just isn't working.

​10. Let's Eat
One thing I have yet to touch on is Macklemore's ability to tackle a topic. When he wants to, he can make an entire song based around one idea unlike anyone else. He does that here, but the song just sucks. I refuse to put it any more eloquently. At one point he says, "my girl is shaped like a bottle of coke, I'm shaped like a bottle of nope," and if he expects me to hear that and take it seriously, then no I don't respect this song enough to say anything more than, this sucks.

11. Bolo Tie (ft. YG)  
If you're anything like me, seeing the name YG appear on this album was not only shocking, but relieving. Shocking because the two artists could not be more different, and relieving because no song with YG is going to be complete trash. Not only was this song not trash, but it was pretty damn good. Both rappers approach the song in a similar way, and end up coming out pretty even in terms of quality. Both are introspective, and YG is especially interesting when detailing how he feels the media purposefully paints him in a negative manner, and neglects all of the good deeds he does for the community. Both artists give an interesting take on their lives, and we get one of the most intriguing cuts on the album. Thank God for YG.

12. The Train
This song is more broad than the other emotional tracks earlier in the album, but it does manage to capture more emotion than Growing Up or Kevin. Dealing with detachment and departure, Macklemore actually comes off as a mess of a person who can't gather his thoughts, and truly regrets some decisions he has made. I don't love this song, given this type of track simply isn't my cup of tea, but I couldn't blame someone for liking it.

13. White Privilege II
Reviewing this as a song seems asinine. It hardly feels like a song, but a series of soliloquies separated by skits all dealing with the central topic seen in the title of the track. A lot of these ideas are powerful, and I don't really disagree with anything Macklemore is saying, but I disagree with the way he said it. Macklemore is one of the most famous rappers in the world, and could have used his platform to make a hit song, in a similar way he did same love, about this topi. Instead he made an experimental half spoken word track that has no chance of getting that level of exposure. Not only that, but this song also contains the line,"maybe I should actually read an article," which is corny enough to make our friend Hopsin cringe. The lyrical content of this song is good, and I'm glad Macklemore is as self aware as he is, but this should have been so much more.

Rating: 2/5
This could have just as easily been a 2.5, but in this case, there were enough things I didn't like about this album to justify rounding the score down.What Macklemore did with his last album was mix fun, radio songs with his emotional ballads to create a nice balance of songs. This does the same thing, but lacks the tastefulness found on The Heist. The songs that were supposed to be fun weren't nearly as catchy or playable as Thrift Shop, and the emotional songs lacked in a certain power that drove the songs on the last album. Ryan Lewis is the silver lining on this album as his production, while sometimes can be overdone, is mostly extremely appropriate, well done, and fun. What surprised me the most here is the lack of impact this album had on me personally, and has had on the public. Macklemore was a game changing rapper who seemed to be poised for a rap game takeover, and has somewhat squandered his opportunity. This album won't plunge him into obscurity, but it certainly won't propel him, or even match the success of of his last album. This album lacked in entertainment and power, and made for a mediocre overall listening experience. 
​

For the three people that read these things, you can relax: Kanye West's The Life of Pablo has finally dropped and my review is finally hear. Now obviously this review comes in the midst of a year long hiatus, and I'm not saying we're going to get back to the regularly scheduled program, but I'm not saying we're not either. Y'know.

Back and better than ever, we have one of the least talked about Wu Tang members with his partner in Crime who got his start on John Cena's debut album You Can't See Me (that's not even a joke, they both grew up in Massachusetts and Eso was apparently very desperate in 2005).  That's right, rappers Inspectah Deck and Esoteric join up with Eso's long time producer 7L to once again become the three headed monster known as Czarface. The self titled Czarface debut album was one of my favorites of 2013, and after taking a year off, they seem even more focused on making good music. You can tell by the artwork alone that nothing about this project was done half assed. Every Hero Needs A Villain is an exciting release to entertain hip hop traditionalists. You won't be in store for anything terribly inventive or brand new, but you will hear good lyrics and some dope boom bap inspired beats. At least that's what these artists stand for, and what the debut would lead us to expect.

Some people may have soured on Inspectah Deck after the last WuTang release, but if history holds true, that should not steer listeners away from this project. INS' lack of drive and inspiration stemmed more from a dissatisfaction with the creative direction of the RZA. It's not that he can't rap any more, but rather he wasn't inspired to lay some of his more quality verses on a project that he didn't fully believe in. What Czarface seems to do for Deck is give him an outlet to flex creatively. Both him and Eso are often placed and Echelon or two below the greats. I'm not saying they are top 15 rappers of all time, but they are some of the more underrated rappers of the last 20 years. Most of the most iconic Wu Tang songs have featured great verses from Deck, and while hisbsolo career never reached the heights of Ghost, Raekwon, or GZA, he did put out a few good albums, as well as his work with Czarface. Don't think of this as the jaded member of the Wu Tang Clan, but rather the still very fresh member of Czarface and you should be fine.

Like I said, this album should deliver on a few key components, good old school production, and great lyrics. 7L and Eso especially have a formula that has worked wonders for them throughout their lengthy career, and I can't imagine being terribly caught off guard by anything I hear on this album. Sometimes, as I believe in this case, predictability can be good, and you can expect to sit back and enjoy this project without having to think about it too much.

1. Don The Armor
This serves as an intro to the title, and general idea of the album. Nothing more than a simple intro, with that Saturday morning superhero cartoon sound to it. Nothing too special, but only about forty five seconds long.

2. Czartacus
With this track we have the first awesome "czar" pun. This song gets going as soon as it begins with Deck immediately coming on the mic with a braggadocios tone and bravado that he was lacking on the last Wu Tang album. The beat has an awesome guitar riff loop, and the same banging drums that 7L blessed us with on the first album. Esoteric handles the second verse in the very same way Deck handled the first. Both rappers sound incredibly fresh, and the wrestling promo samples on the hook add to the gimmick they built on the last album.

3. Lumberjack Match
Yet another wrestling reference, which in case you hadn't noticed is something that I always welcome. This song has a pretty similar instrumental to the first, but that is welcome given the nature of the production. The rapping on this track is done at a faster pace, as the two trade off with really no breaks. The two rattle off boasts and obscure references that consistently entertain.

4. Nightcrawler (ft. Method Man)
I absolutely love the boom bap feel on this track. The sample on the hook adds an element of soul, that is naturally complimented by the organs on the beat, which also fucking knock. Little more can be said about how incredible the two star emcees are on this track that I didn't mention in the last two songs. The only difference here is that we have Method Man tearing it up like only he can. This served as the lead single, and with good reason. It showcases the best qualities of all the involved artists. A definite must listen for a hip-hop fan.

5. World Premier (ft. Large Professor)
The second feature on the album weirdly enough works just as well as the first. Large Professor has a throwback feel without sounding dated at all, and given the insane throwback production, he sounds right at home. The bass on this track is insane if listening in the car is your thing. Deck really shines on this track with everything from a Ultramagnetic MCs nod, to a shout out to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Eso verse at the end is then the icing on the cake. The man seriously had the balls to call himself Ric Flair mixed with MC Ren. Mad respect Esoteric. 

6. The Great (Czar Guitar)
This is the point in the review where I may get overly redundant. With no deeper content here at all, both rappers manage to entertain beyond belief with nothing but pure boast raps. Another dope beat, which almost goes without saying at this point. Nothing new to the album here, but far from digression. I could listen to a thousand songs that sound exactly like this. 

7. Red Alert
This song has a drastic change in pace and tone. The drums bang much harder, and there is a noticeable lack of intense guitar. Eso begins the song by almost half assing his verse, while acknowledging he is doing so. That's right, Esoteric goes half speed and says that he is "taking this verse off" and it still manages to be awesome. Deck also slows it down, but brings a little more intensity. Despite being one of the more relaxed songs this duo has ever made, it is one of my favorites. What I can't make sense of is the skit at the end. Two kids are going on and on about something but I can't tell that it contains anything relevant.

8. Junkyard Dogs (ft. Juju of the Beatnuts)
This is another slower, more relaxed song, but still contains nothing but flexing. I don't mean to take anything away from Juju, but his feature is easily the weakest on the album so far. He sounds far from the quality of the other rappers on the song, specifically so in this case. His line about Gilbert Arenas is brilliantly hilarious. I generally don't love punchline rap, but Esoteric really makes it work here. Deck also makes a killer appearance, but almost comes off as an afterthought.

9. Sgt. Slaughter
Rebel must have taken that afterthought comment to heart because he absolutely murders this track. His sports references makes the track an extremely fun listen for a sports nerd like myself. The militant drums and hard guitar riffs accompany the title of the track (yet another wrestling nod) very well. Esoteric rides the beat like only he can, and the song comes to a close after only two minutes.

10. When The Gods Go Mad (ft. The Gza)
This is another very high quality rap song for all of the same reasons that the rest have been. It works on every level, and The Gza sounds incredible. It is hard for me to imagine that two of the rappers contributed to an album last year that was as bad as the recent Wu Tang release was. Esoteric was also hilarious on this song with his Groot, Coach K, and Agents of SHIELD lines. This is a real treat for old Wu Tang fans.

11. Ka-Bang (ft. MF DOOM)
First and foremost, whoever did the credits for this album forgot that it was all caps when you spell the name, but I won't dare make that mistake. MF DOOM begins this track on a beat that sounds like they made it specifically for him, and he rides it well. If you like MF DOOM you will like this verse. However, his rhymes are much more esoteric (unintended) than that of his partners in crime on this track. While all three kill their verses, this is far from a cohesive song, and if that is something that will bug you, you won't love this song. It is still worth noting that all three verses are great, and this may contain Eso's best verse on the entire project.

12. Deadly Class (ft. Meyhem Lauren)
This may just be a personal gripe, but I don't love the feature on this track. The AOTP affiliate can obviously rap, but he reminds me of Nas a little too much, and in 2015 Nas does not interest me at all. Like I said, that may just be personal, but it starts the song off on a sour note. By the end of it, Deck and Eso have made me forget all about his verse, so the song isn't bad, but in such a positive review, I have to reach for a few negatives.

13. Escape From Czarkham Asylum
My personal favorite pun of the album also produces what may be my favorite track, but if I were to give a breakdown of everything that happens here, I may have to start a new review. This eight minute monster is more like five songs jammed into one, that still manages to be oddly cohesive. This song contains some of the best rapping I have heard all year, which is something I haven't heard that much of. The song making may not be brilliant, but the flat out rapping more than makes up for it. Everything works here to the point that I have no problem with casually throwing this on, even given the eight minute run time. I think the highlight for me is the last portion when it is just Esoteric killing shit for the last minute of the song, but Deck has his fair share of highlights. Once again, any hip-hop traditionalists will love this, and should at least listen to this song. You'll thank me.

14. Sinister
Serving as a comedown for me personally, this is a very good song. This was another single that serves to showcase the abilities of all three components of Czarface. Nothing terribly inventive here in terms of the album, just more of the same high quality music we have become accustom to on this album. The humor on the post track skit is also worth noting.

15. Good Villains Go Last (ft. RA The Rugged Man)
This is the last song on the standard issue of the album, and will be the last I talk about, because it ends the album with an absolute bang. At first this seems like more of the same, if not a little better in terms of quality  of the song. Both Deck and Eso bring their A Game, but the real story here is the verse that RA brings at the end. He blows the whole shit out of the water, and closes the album in the best way I could have imagined. His verse was the tits.

Rating 4/5
This is a very strong four. As close as an album can possibly get to 4.5 without being there. This album is an improvement in every facet from the debut of this group. If you are well versed in the history of this blog you will see that it did, however, receive the exact same rating. Two things contribute to that: retrospectively, I was a little kind to the original album, and sometimes albums of different quality can receive the same score. This isn't an exact science by any means, but trust me when I tell you that this album is more than worth your time. The tracks fly by, as not a single one is less than entertaining, and that is really all you can ask for from an album. If every single track is sonically pleasing, I have no choice but to call this a great album. 
  

If you have a general knowledge of music history, there's a pretty decent chance that you recognize the cover art of Vince Staples' Summertime '06 as a take on Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures. This is, apparently, no coincidence. Joy Division's cover is one of the most iconic in music, and Vince Staples' design only slightly tweaks it, substituting waves in for the wavforms, so it's not like he's trying to pull a fast one on us. When Vince officially revealed the album cover via Instagram, he included a paragraph-long caption stating, “Love tore us all apart. Love for self, love for separation, love for the little we all had, love for each other, where we came from… Summer of 2006, the beginning of the end of everything I though I knew. Youth was stolen from my city that Summer and Im left alone to tell the story. This might not make sense but that’s because none of it does, we’re stuck. Love tore us all apart. Summertime ’06, June 30th.” More than a song reference, the sentence "Love will tear us apart" captures the essence of the album's title and themes. Summertime '06 is when Staples feels his innocence was lost, and when he realized that the things and people we love usually end up causing the most damage. It's a great connection, and the thought of one of hip hop's most promising talents being influenced by one of my all-time favorite bands basically sold me from the get-go, but the Joy Division comparison goes further. Summertime '06, though conceptual to a degree, doesn't follow any Kendrick/YG-like coming of age narrative. Vince's story isn't one of growth; he's stuck in one place, completely engulfed by the darkness of his youth. It goes without saying that the struggle that Vince Staples and Ian Curtis dealt with are completely different, but they lead to a similar mind-state, and similar effect on the music. Curtis, 21 when Unknown Pleasures was released, was a flat-out musical genius, and Staples, currently 20, is precocious in terms of rapping and the way he views world issues, and both share a commonality: their voices are fucking lifeless. 

Before you get your hopes up, I have to let you all know that this group has nothing to do with the rapper Father, the mastermind behind new Internet trendy hit "Wrist." What you're getting here rather is the Scottish based experimental hip-hop, LO-FY noise pop, grimy soul collective known as Young Fathers. Young Fathers really took off in 2013 with the release of Tape Two, which garnered enough hype in the underground community to get them a record deal. They followed that up with their label debut entitled Dead which was subject to a lot of criticism and collectively seen as a step in the wrong direction. While I would agree that it was not quite up to par with Tape Two, I very much enjoyed Dead, and have since continued to keep up with the progress of the group, which has led us to this point. 

To discuss this album at any length whatsoever, I'd be remissed to not first discuss the cover. In a way, I think it sums up my feelings towards Action Bronson's career thus far being, "did this even really have to happen?" What I've decided, and will from this point on treat as fact, is that Mr. Wonderful is an alter ego of a Mr. Bronson that resides somewhere in the Tibetan mountain ranges, and has mastered the art of obtaining absolute nothingness. He sits atop his golden throne in the split position with seldom a thought in his brain. This is what led to the ridiculous lack of grooming and weight gain. The weird thing is, that really isn't much weirder than the actual person in question. Action Bronson is someone who can obviously rap, but is really known for putting out mediocre projects, and sounding way too much like Ghostface Killah. Over the years, rather than becoming a more interesting artist, he has just become a weirder personality, and consequently his music has suffered from a complete lack of growth or evolution. This cover is really a metaphor for his career. He put a giant fat likeness of himself shirtless on a golden slab doing the splits, because it is funny and slightly surprising, and that's all his music has ever been to me. I have gotten a few chuckles, and a few moments where I was slightly shocked by something he said, or something he did, but I have never really been impressed. I just realized I've spent a huge paragraph talking about nothing, so let me move on.