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Hits: Gladiator, Inhale

Strikes: Universal Mind Control (ft Pharell, Punch Drunk Love (ft Kanye West), Sex For Sugar, What A World (ft Chester French), Everywhere

Balls: Make My Day (ft Cee-lo), Announcement (ft Pharell), Changes (ft Muhsinah)

New Common albums are usually a reason for celebration. I like to consider myself a pretty big fan of the man, and I loved everything he’s released (yes, I thought Electric Circus was a blast). Well, everything up until 2007’s Finding Forever. Common albums are usually automatic top 10 of the year material for me and I was surprised that while I liked Finding Forever, there were moments where I was actually bored. I wrote it off as a fluke and figured that by his next album, he’ll be back in top form. And then, he proved me wrong by dropping this steaming pile of shit.

Seriously, what the fuck is the man thinking? I mean, I’m all for artistic growth, and I appreciate when artists go towards new directions, but when that direction is in direct opposition to what that artist normally represents, that calls for a huge what the fuck moment. Thematically, this album plays like Common was listening to “Go” on repeat throughout when he was recording this. Which, wouldn’t be all that bad if he had his usually rhymes to back it up, but on most of these songs it’s like he completely forgot about the lyrics. Bad lyrics + generic topics always, always equals bad songs. Sex For Sugar is a prime example of this. Fuck it, I’ll go so far as to say, this is probably the single worst song Common has ever made in his career.

Well, even the worst albums usually have one or two redeeming songs in it, and in this case those songs are Gladiator and Inhale. Gladiator is the one song on this album that sees Common back to his usual self. As for Inhale, all I can say is it’s an enjoyable song, and it’s short, so it ends before you start thinking otherwise. Announcement and Changes are both honorable mentions but each screwed it up somehow. When Announcement first came on, it was great. There was so much energy and Common’s lyrics weren’t nearly as bad as they were on the rest of this album. And then, I hear Pharell’s verse and prayed that this song wouldn’t end with that. And then Common came back on for one more verse and the song ended with a shitty Common verse instead of a shitty ass Pharell one. Changes also came close to working pretty nicely, with its message that seemingly has no place at all in this album and its Panacea-esque beat. Besides, I’m a fan of Muhsinah. But unfortunately for all of us, Common just sounded really uninspired throughout and the end result was just alright.

Honestly, I never thought I would say this but, stay the hell away from this album. No beating around the bush, it sucks. I would say just download Gladiator and Inhale, and maybe check out the solid songs. As for the rest of the album, fuck it. Forget it ever happened. Now excuse me while I go drown out the memories of this shit by listening to Like Water For Chocolate a million times straight through.

Hits: I Say Peace (J-Live), Live The Life (ft J.Sands), The City (ft J-Live and Surreal), Stress (ft Quenns Connex and Termanology), Long Life (ft Talib Kweli), Veuillez Veiller Sur Vos Reves (ft Les Nubians and John Banzai), The Plan (ft Dynas and Lucian), It Is What It Is (ft Naledge), Chill (ft Large Professor and Meeme Nelzy), Changes Of Atmosphere (ft Supastition), Live The Life (Original Mix), Chill (Lark Chillout Mix) (ft Large Professor),

Strikes: How To Fish (ft Reach)

Balls: Changes Of Atmosphere (ft Liza Garza), Won’t Do (ft Miles Bonny), Vibrate (ft Blu),

Well, I’m a bit short on time today, so I’ll get right to the point. I love this album.

Dela is a rising producer from France whose 2008 album I’ve been bumping since I first got it. Seriously, I loved his 2007 effort, Atmosphere Airlines, but he’s really outdone himself this time. Dela’s a jazz hip hop producer and he’s one of the best post 2000 producers to do it. His beats provide the perfect backdrop for emcees to just dumb out over. And dumb out is exactly what this lineup of rappers does throughout. I found myself listening to Chill (Lark Chillout Mix) and The City over and over again on repeat for weeks after giving this a spin. The one track I really wasn’t feeling was How To Fish, which actually was also featured on Atmosphere Airlines as well. I guess Dela loves the track, but truthfully I thought it was pretty boring.

Great beats + great rhymes = great album. And there’s no exception here. So do yourself a favor and listen to this right now. In fact, with this being an import and all, I’ll even provide a link. Enjoy

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0CZAA8F0

Due to finals and such, this week is one hell of a week for me to go through. As such, I’ll begin posting again after this Friday, when things have calmed down a bit. I apologize for the lack of entries as of late, but I promise to post more regularly when I get back. For now, here’s what you can expect once the blog is back up.

Long Overdue Reviews of:

Dela - Changes In Atmosphere
Jake One - White Van Music
Mighty Underdogs - Droppin Science Fiction
Blue Sky Black Death and Jean Grae - Evil Jeanius
Raashan Ahmad - Push
Knonam - Length Of The Blade

Reviews of:

Common - Universal Mind Control
EPMD - We Mean Business
Scarface - Emeritus
Ludacris - Theater of the Mind

Completion of  Tribe Called Quest Discography review (freaking just one more album to go) and probably the Phife and Tip solos.

Start of reviews of the discogs of The Roots, De La Soul, Talib Kweli, etc.

More reviews of underground artists (I’m talking really underground, not like MF Doom).

Best albums of 2008 Countdown!

Uploads of unreleased/rare shit

and more!

Hits: Voyagers, Mudgreen, L.A.V.A., Sirens, Chrono Trigger, Lunar Illusion, Treasure Hunt, A Mind On A Ship Through Time

Strikes: Mustard Seed Celebration

Balls: Introlude, Speak-O-Vision, Vandalism, Orange Penicillin

Last year, Panacea, which is comprised of Raw Poetic and K-Murdock, dropped what I consider to be one of the finest releases of 2007. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one that thought so, since blogworld was full of praise for this underground duo from DC. As such, I was surprised that this album dropped as quietly as it did. No promotion whatsoever and one day it was just there. But that’s beside the point because, quiet release or not, what we have is a new Panacea album on our hands and that’s always something to be grateful for.

As far as Raw Poetic goes, his rhymes are what you would come to expect from him by now. I wouldn’t put him near the greatest, but he gets the job done and he has one of the more enjoyable flows of any rapper out today (IMHO). However, as good of a rapper as he is, he does need a captivating beat to be engaging to the listening audience. This of course, is where K-Murdock’s production comes in. Before I say anything else, I will say this. K-Murdock’s beats are absolutely beautiful. They have a futuristic sound, with touches of jazz here and there and the resulting sound calms the mind and takes it into another plane. Genius.

However it is also in the production where this album’s minor problems lie. The beat may be fantastic and the rhymes may be on point, but sometimes it feels like the two are completely out of synch. There are some songs (Mustard Seed Celebration in particular) in which the beat totally overpowers the rapper. Then there are songs such as Speak-O-Vision in which the Raw Poetic’s energy doesn’t match with the calm soundscape of the production (although the beat does pick up in the end). Individually, the two artists comprising this duo are very talented and more than capable of creating great music. However, when together, they do need to work around each other and do need to fix their chemistry on a couple of songs.

All in all though, I did enjoy listening to A Mind On A Ship Through Time. Its calming sounds are very different from most hip hop coming out these days, and it provides for a refreshing 46 minutes. If you enjoyed their 2007 release, there’s really no excuse no to give this one a try. I look forward to future releases from this group.

Hits: Welcome To Heartbreak (ft Kid Cudi), Heartless, Paranoid (ft Mr Hudson), Street Lights, Coldest Winter

Strikes: Love Lockdown, Robocop, Bad News, See You In My Knightmares (ft Lil Wayne)

Balls: Say You Will, Amazing (ft Young Jeezy)

Note: I’m aware that there’s a bonus track on this, but I’ve decided that bonus tracks aren’t actually tracks that contribute to the body of the album and will from now on only give such tracks a mention if they deserve it. This one really doesn’t.

When Kanye West first made it known that he would be recording an album entirely in auto tune, I was shocked, to say the least. I expected that shit from Lil fucking Wayne (who consequently appears on this album) but from Kanye? When I heard this, I immediately wrote this album off as a complete failure in the making. After listening to this album from start to finish, was I right or was I being close minded?

Well, I’ll start by saying this. 808s and Heartbreaks really isn’t a hip hop album (and it isn’t The Love Below). Also, the Kanye West you’ll hear on this album isn’t the usual egotistical man you hear rapping about how great his production (which admittedly it is) and his lyrical prowess (pshhh) are. In fact, since Kanye doesn’t rap on this you should probably consider this not as a Kanye album but a side project by his alter ego, Kanye Pain (or T-West, whichever you prefer). Recognizing this will be crucial to whether or not you can actually enjoy this album.

As for the actual contents, I was half right when I dismissed 808s as a complete failure since half of its tracks were in fact, a total mess. Love Lockdown was probably reworked a gajillion times before it was put on this album and you know what? I still can’t stand it. But the real killer here is Robocop, which is without a doubt, the worst track on this album and probably in Kanye’s whole catalogue. On the flipside, there were several tracks on this album that I found myself liking and could even see myself enjoying the shit out of on a later day. Street Lights for one, is a beauty of a track, and Paranoid is also one hell of a song.

The production on 808s, as one can expect from a Kanye album by now (even a Kanye Pain album), is fucking magnificent, albeit a bit similar. The problem with the bad tracks is surprisingly not the auto-tune, which, after the first couple of tracks really wasn’t nearly as distracting as I thought it would be (except on Love Lockdown for some odd reason). No, the problem is that Kanye the singer has the most simplistic lyrics I’ve heard in a very long time. It also doesn’t help that his better collaborators behind the mic aka Common, GLC, Talib, etc. are nowhere to be found on this album and we’re instead presented with the simple raps of Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy. To be fair, sometimes, simple works. But other times, it turns otherwise heartfelt tracks into repetitious, boring as shit material.

Speaking of heartfelt, another thing that you should be aware of going into this album is that the subject matter isn’t your typical Kanye West fare (remember the how great his production and lyrical prowess are thing?)). On the contrary, the subject matter is depressing as hell and really fucking emo. Which is understandable I suppose, considering his mother recently passed away and that he broke off his long term engagement with his fiancée. For the most part, this was actually a welcome change from the Mr. Ego Kanye was becoming and reminded me more of the lyrics on The College Dropout. It was when he started complaining about the problems his success brought him that I couldn’t really feel it anymore. First off, that subject is beaten to death in the rap game. Second, fuck all that. I mean I understand it’s your life and all and you got your problems but really? You got a problem with having too much money? But….I digress once again. That’s really more of a topic for a blog I should start one day entitled “What’s Wrong With the World Today.”

So…what’s my final word on 808s and Heartbreaks? It’s not as bad as I expected it too be (how could it have been?) and it’s definitely not as bad as some people are saying it is (close though). Like I said, don’t expect Kanye the rapper and it puts this project all into perspective for the most part. However, keep in mind that since this is basically an experimental thing as Kanye usually is a rapper (well, he’s usually a producer I guess, but whatever) and not an auto tune singer, it’s not as good as it could’ve been. Of course, the fact that I prefer this album to T-Pain’s last one, who’s day job in fact is auto tune singing, speaks miles about how bad he is. Anyways, there are a few good fucking tracks to be heard on this album so just track those songs down. I won’t guarantee that you’ll like the whole package though and to be quite frank, you probably won’t.