Deltron 3030 - Event 2 (2013)

Yesterday, in my Marshall Mathers LP 2 review, I wrote briefly about the risks that go into making a sequel album.  Basically, what it comes down to is an artist putting more of their reputation at stake in exchange for more hype leading up to an album's release.  I just so happen to be reviewing another sequel album today, Deltron 3030's Event 2.  Event 2 is the 2013 sequel to Deltron 3030's self-titled debut album, which came out in 2000.  The original Deltron 3030 is regarded as an underground classic.  Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I cite it as my personal favorite album.  As such, I've been waiting with bated breath for the group's second release.  Work apparently was being done on it as far back as 2004, but it was continuously delayed for any of a grab-bag's worth of reasons until 2013.

When the narrative behind an albums release is continuous delays spanning the better part of a decade, upon release, the obvious question is whether or not it was worth the wait.  If you had asked me back in October, when it was released, my answer would have been an emphatic "no". I may have even gotten a little mouth froth on you, such was my disappointment.  I even set out to write this review back then, so that I might enlighten the world to the travesty that was Event 2.  Luckily, laziness prevailed and I've come to appreciate Event 2 a bit over these last few months.

"Banjo, what got you so upset on your first listen?" you're probably asking yourself.  It was something that I touched on in yesterday's Marshall Mathers LP 2 review.  Namely, finding the sweet spot where your sequel album manages to capture the same tone or feel to the previous installment, without coming across as a copy.  My initial reaction to Event 2 was that it was just a worse version of Deltron 3030, a cheap knock-off, the Dr. Thunder to Delton's Dr. Pepper.  In retrospect, I may have overreacted.  Event 2 definitely adheres too closely to the formula of the original album, with a few tracks that are just shameless knock-offs (looking at you, "The Return") but it's a very respectable album in its own right, as well.

Del the Funky Homosapien had been floundering for ten plus years leading up the release of Event 2  Conflict with his record label kept him from releasing anything for the entire middle third of the 00's. Once that was sorted out, he put out a slew of releases to lukewarm, at best, receptions.  As somewhat of a Del fanboy, I was hoping (but not particularly optimistic) that he had just been squirreling away his best verses to use on Event 2.  After all it, it is the sequel to his most popular and most highly esteemed project.  I can't speak to how long it actually took Del to write and record his verses for Event 2, I can confidently that he sounds better here than he has on anything since Full Circle, in 2003.  The bored, monotone, drawling vocals that made so many of his 2008-2012 releases such boring chores to listen to has been greatly dialed back on Event 2.  Del actually sounds like he's enjoying himself somewhat, again.  He still doesn't carry quite the same exuberance that he once did, but rather than sounding bored or disinterested, it feels more like he's just relaxed, somewhat.  He feels comfortable.

Much like in Deltron 3030, Event 2 features the vocal talents of several others besides Del.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt catches us p on what all has happened in the universe since between the two albums on the album's introductory skit.  David Cross and Amber Tamblyn appear in a pair of skits featuring a married couple griping about all the "conveniences" that future technology has brought, while not-so-subtly taking jabs at the lifestyle and mannerisms of Millenials.  Celebrity chef, David Chang's skit is definitely the worst of the bunch.  The concept of having someone talk about the future of how food is prepared and what the tastes of the general public are was sound enough, it just sounded like it hadn't been rehearsed.

As far as musical guests, The Lonely Island get a track all to themselves smack in the middle of the album (much like Paul Barman did in the original) where they play the role of a group of old men who burst into verse about how much better it was "Back in the Day".  It's a track that would be a lot funnier were it not for the ham-fisted attempt to make it about the plight of the homeless tacked on at the end.  Other stand out musical guests were Rage Against the Machine's Zach De La Rocha, and actress, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  Winstead shows surprising singing chops on her two appearances, handling the choruses on two the album's standout tracks.

Dan The Automator is someone who I, honestly, haven't kept particular track of as of late.  I couldn't testify as to what hes been up to since the last Handsome Boy Modeling School album back in 2004.  As such, I was a bit concerned about the production coming into my first listen.  I will never again question the credentials of Automator.  Even when I completely despised and resented this album, I couldn't help but acknowledge that the production was top shelf.  A big part of what made the original Deltron 3030 such a success was the the tone set by Automator's beats.  They did more to establish the setting of the album than Del's vocal's ever could; the crowded cities, the ever-present threat of government agents, the limitless vastness of the galaxy in which the story takes place... none of it would have been nearly as engrossing if not for Automator.  No other producer could have made Deltron 3030 a more effective album than Automator did.  To put it shortly, Automator hasn't lost a step.  The environment he's portraying is a bit gloomier, and the situation our protagonists face is a bit more dire now than it once, but he captures that just as well.  Some of the beats come across as a bit Jetson-y in 2013, that is, the way people thought that the future (today) would sound in the 60's, whether or not that was a conscious choice by Automator, I can't say.

Therein lies the biggest fault in Event 2.  Where Deltron 3030 told the story of a scrappy group of freedom fighters and their adventures through a futuristic dystopia, Event 2 throws all of its eggs squarely into the social commentary basket.  Yes, Deltron featured a hefty helping of social criticism, but it was a side dish to the journey, itself.  The commentary was interwoven so that it was a part of the story, it wasn't intrusive.  Event 2 tackles social issues in a much more heavy-handed way.  With the story taking a back seat to the message, Event 2 loses a major part of what made Deltron 3030 so successful, the fun.  Yeah, there are a handful of chuckle-worthy skits dispersed throughout the whole affair, but they feel out of place when wedged between tracks about the loss of childhood innocence and the Earth being reduced to a barren wasteland largely due to corporate greed.

So, that brings us back to our original question.  Was Event 2 worth the wait?  Not in my opinion.  It just doesn't hold up to their first release.  Does that make it a bad album?  Absolutely not.  The biggest mistake that Deltron 3030 made with Event 2 was billing it as a sequel.  They tasked themselves with having to pick up a story where they left off 13 years beforehand.  That story shifting in tone somewhat and coming off a little disjointed was inevitable.  Event 2 remains an atmospheric album featuring some of the best production I've heard in years, and a legendary MC in his best form in over a decade.  This album didn't deserve nearly the hate that I, and many others gave it on release.  Unfortunately, first impressions are hard to forget, so Event 2 will likely wind up being an album that never gets the appreciation that it deserves.

Best Tracks: Nobody Can, Melding of the Minds, The Agony, Look Across the Sky, Do You Remember

Overall: 82/100

Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

For artists, sequel albums are a double-edged sword.  On one hand, billing an album as a sequel to a critical or fan favorite generates more hype for a release than it otherwise would have gotten.  On the other hand, you're basically challenging your listeners to compare it to the previous release.  If the album holds up to those comparisons, it can be a huge boon for the artists career.  Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2, and Nas's Stillmatic both stand out as cases where sequel albums gave a much needed bump to their respective artist's faltering careers.  However, if a sequel isn't well received, it only functions as a shining example of how far an artist has fallen since their peak.  It can be a death sentence for a career.  Warren G, and Twista come to mind as artists who have fallen into irrelevance following a poorly executed sequel album.  Eminem decided to throw his hat into the sequel ring with 2013's Marshall Mathers LP 2 (MMLP2).

One of the hardest parts of creating a good sequel album is managing to capture the tone and sound of the original without coming across as a just a knock-off, there's a relatively narrow sweet spot that needs to be hit in order to be successful.  Stray too far from the original, and fans will accuse you of just using the name as a cash grab and resent you for it.  Stick too close to the formula and your album will be regarded as just a worse version of the original and panned by fans, if not necessarily critics.  Em treads dangerously close to the former issue with MMLP2.

Were it not for the track "Bad Guy" and the album being named Marshall Mathers LP 2, I may have never caught on that it was supposed to be a sequel.  There's a few nods to the original scattered throughout, but the overall sound doesn't come across as being any more influenced by the original than Em's previous couple of albums.  It uses the same garbage rock influenced beats that plagued Recovery and, once again,  inexplicably features a healthy serving of Eminem trying to sing.  The presence of someone like Rihanna as a featured artist also strikes me as something that the Eminem of 2000 wouldn't have done.

The one saving grace to MMLP2 in the "hitting the sweet spot" department is that it's a noticeable throw-back to the original Marshall Mathers LP (MMLP) as far as subject matter, when compared to his previous few releases.  He finally moves on past the mopey recovering drug addict narrative, and goes back to the topics that made him famous in the first place: self-depreciation, ridiculing of the entertainment industry, and his shitty childhood.  After having his last album be primarily about how much he's changed and how hes trying to be a better person, reverting back to his old subject matter comes across as somewhat insincere, though.  What used to come across as exorcising personal demons or just venting frustrations now feels more like shock value for shock value's sake.  That being said, Em's rhymes are on point from a technical standpoint.  The fact that he is still able to impress with his verses this far into his career, is really a testament to his credentials as one of the greatest to ever pick up the mic.  Even if his flow is awkward, even clumsy at times, his wordplay is as good as it's ever been... even if he does get shown up by Kendrick Lamar on "Love Game".

The thing that weighs this album down isn't Eminem, it's everything around him.  MMLP2 is an album that is desperately trying to adhere to the current pop culture conventions while pretending to resent them.  For whatever reason they decided it would be a good idea to bring in Rick Rubin, who apparently thought that the best way to capture the sound of the original MMLP was to use a bunch of very recognizable samples from thirty to fifty year old rock songs, despite MMLP featuring nothing of the sort.  Whoever keeps telling Eminem that he's a good singer needs to go away.  Songs like "Stronger Than I Was" are borderline unlistenable.  Even the tracks where he just sings the hooks become instantly worse for it.

In short, Marshall Mathers LP 2 still has many of the same issues that held back his previous couple releases.  Looking back at the Recovery review I wrote a few years ago, most of those same criticisms are still very valid. Em is still a horrible singer.  The presence of major pop artists still feels like a betrayal (even if his Rihanna collabs are pretty good).  His pop culture references are still outdated.  His choice of samples is still questionable.  He's still showing flashes of greatness with his verses, though and it still gives me hope that Em has another great album in him, if he can ever manage to get the right people around him.  MMLP2 just isn't that album.

Best Tracks: Rap God, Monster, Bad Guy

Overall: 70/100

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein (2001)

For my millions of fans out there that closely follow Review Hip-Hop, you may have noticed that this album has been mentioned in a handful of my posts.  The Cold Vein is one of those albums that most will hear mentioned very early on in their trek through the underground hip-hop world.  It's frequently cited as one of the most influential underground albums ever, as well as the best album that the Def Jux camp put out during their run as the most prominent underground label, in the early 00's.  I'm always wary of albums that get called "the best" of anything.  Nine time out of ten, those albums are a disappointment.  Still, there's that one time, where an album unquestionably lives up to the hype surrounding it.  The Cold Vein is one of, if not the best, not only Def Jux album, but hip-hop album of the last fifteen years.

When I initially heard The Cold Vein I wasn't particularly impressed.  I was something of lyrics snob at the time, and the abstract verses of Vast Aire and Vordul Mega didn't quite rub me the right way.  I felt as though they were using a too many non-sequiturs, to the point of just spouting a bunch of rambling nonsense.  It's an album that gets better every subsequent listen, though.  Every time I spin The Cold Vein, I find some new line that I finally understand, or see in a different way.  What I had initially thought were Ghostface Killah style non-sequiturs, were actually heavy social commentary about the state of American race relations and a vivid imagery of the poverty found in our cities.  It's a portrait of violence, desperation, and hopelessness that can, at times, leave the listener, himself feeling distressed.  There isn't another album that I've heard that can come close to putting me on the same emotional roller-coaster as The Cold Vein.  From the inconsolable hopelessness of "Iron Galaxy," to the anger and frustration of "Pigeon," and cautious optimism of "Scream Phoenix," every track sticks its message perfectly.

Between the two emcees present, Vast has easily more memorable and impactful verses.  That's not to say Vordul doesn't carry his own weight, quite the contrary, the album would undoubtedly be worse without his contribution.  During my own personal listen, his more energized, easily digestible verses serve mostly as breaks to Vast's more dense and weighty verses, giving me a moment to breath and take in what I've just listened to.  Treating him as such is a tremendous disservice, though.  While his verses don't have nearly as many memorable lines, they're just as, if not more clever and complicated once you figure out what you're listening to.  His verse on "Pigeon" is a great example,  it legitimately took me years to figure out that half of his lines in that verse weren't just there to continue the rhyme.

It can't be overstated how important El-P was in the success of The Cold Vein.  On release, he called it his best work, and he has yet to surpass it.  As I said, this is an album that takes at least a handful of listens to truly enjoy, and the thing that kept getting me to re-listen time and time again, even when I wasn't really feeling Vast and Vordul, was the beats.  Even if The Cold Vein was just an instrumental album, it would still be an essential listen for any self-respecting hip-hop head (in fact, there is an instrumental version called Cannibal Oxtrumentals).  They go a long ways towards establishing the mood for the album on their own, and never come anywhere near boring or redundant.  We're given ambiance, we're given bangers,  but they all maintain a certain futuristic, or industrial tinge, that assures the listener that this isn't any mere collection of tracks, this is an album, and is meant to be listened to as such.  There's a message here, and one track can't be fully understood without understanding the entire set.  Ultimately, rather than individual beats, this cohesion was El-P's greatest contribution to The Cold Vein.  

One benefit I get to enjoy in reviewing primarily older albums is that there are always at least a few other reviews already written by the time I get around to them.  I always take the time to read a few of these before I do my own.  One thing I noticed in a handful of these other reviews was that, where I saw production that aided in creating a cohesive message for the album, others saw beats that were similar to the point of being forgettable.  This isn't wrong.  You're probably not ever going to have any of these beats stuck in your head.  Many of them do sound very similar.  Many of them are relatively arrhythmic.  There isn't a single one that I could honestly call "catchy."  However, I can't stress enough how little this matters.  This was never an album that was supposed to be about the beats, the message is what matters.

The Cold Vein is an album that rose up from the dark underbelly of New York City.  It was born of poverty, violence, hopelessness, frustration, and anger.  It can be weighty, and even upsetting, at times.  Don't take that to mean it's all doom and gloom, though.  It's not merely Vast Aire and Vordul Mega expounding upon their disgust for the world in which they grew up.  It's an album meant to change that world for the better.  It's pointing out problems and their causes not out of disgust, but so that steps can be taken towards correcting them.  Rather than treating the urban poor like something shameful that needs to be hidden away from society, The Cold Vein treats them like people; people who are doing the best they can with the opportunities they've been given.  In the albums opening track, "Iron Galaxy", Vast raps:

"What you figure

That chalky outline on the ground is a father figure?

So he steps to the next stencil, that's a hustler

Infested with money and diamond clusters"

That line sums up The Cold Vein better than any other.  How can conditions be expected to improve when children are growing up in a situation where the richest, most successful people around them are hustlers, especially if those children are already lacking strong authority figures?  That's only going to start over the same cycle that lead to the aforementioned chalky outline.

Best Tracks:

Iron Galaxy, Atom, Real Earth, Pigeon, Scream Phoenix 

Overall:

96/100

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - Lost in Translation (2011)

I'll be honest with you, folks.  I'm having a hell of a time figuring out where to start with this one.  I guess the cover art(?) is as good a place as any to kick this off.  It features a fairly voluptuous, blue-haired woman, throwing back a .40, while sitting on the toilet.  Meanwhile, our protagonist, Mr. Muthafuckin' (don't forget the Muthafuckin') eXquire,  is in the background bent over the bathtub, presumably vomiting.  If the cover piques your interest, the first track you're treated to is "Triple F," eXquire's preemptive warning to those who would try to leach off the income his music career will inevitably land him.  For a guy who was working in a parking garage this time two years ago, he shows impressive confidence in his ability to build his rapping into a real career.  Oh, and "Triple F" features the word "fuck" approximately eighty times in three and a half minutes.

If you're even semi-familiar with New York underground hip-hop, you'll immediately recognize a few of the beats eXquire uses here.  He recycles a number of old El-P beats, notably "Vein" and "Pigeon" off of The Cold Vein on "Chicken Spot Rock" and "Build-a-Bitch," respectively.  Esoteric, Jake One, and Necro beats also make appearances.  Some of the mixing, specifically early in the album, sounds pretty muddy.  I can't tell if it's intentional, or not.  It would fit the whole mystique that eXquire seems to be aiming for, but the production values are noticeably better on tracks towards the end.  I can't really give eXquire too much credit for the beats, though.  It was a very good selection, but most of them were almost directly ripped from other tracks.

Using classic, recognizable beats can be a double-edged sword.  Yeah, you get to ensure that your tape is going to have great beats, but you're also going to inevitably draw comparisons to the original track, as Fashawn learned when he released Ode to Illmatic a few years back.  eXquire manages to separate himself from the original tracks by dramatically shifting the tone and subject matter.  For example, as I mentioned above, "Chicken Spot Rock" uses a beat originally from Cannibal Ox's "Vein." "Vein," is a track about how stereotypical portrayals of blacks can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and how people need to embrace what makes them unique and transcend those stereotypes before they are destroyed by them.  eXquire transformed it into an ode to fried chicken and liquor (I'm going to go ahead and assume/hope the irony there is intentional).  The result is that you have two tracks with the same beat, but the intent is so different that it's impossible to really compare them against one another.

Seeing a guy throw a nod to the underground scene with his beats is refreshing, and was a definite treat for an El-P fan, such as myself, but what really makes Lost in Translation is eXquire, himself.  I can't tell how much of eXquire is real, and how much is just stage persona, but I really don't care.  Even if it's all an act, it's believable.  He doesn't have any delusions of being a thug, he's just a struggling guy from the hood with an affinity for chicken, malt liquor, and good head.  The general unimpressiveness of his life makes it seem that much more real.  If it wasn't so funny, it might even be depressing.  What does he have to gain by writing a track about urinating in public?  It doesn't make him seem any more hardcore, it certainly doesn't make his life seem glamorous.  It's the same type of uncomfortable honesty that propelled Danny Brown to fame.

Most of the tracks that will end up being remembered from Lost in Translation will be the ones with eXquire flaunting his over the top hood ruggedness.  Spread throughout, though are tracks with a very different tone; a softer, more introspective tone.  Tracks like "I Should Be Sleeping," "Weight of Water," and "Nuthin Even Matters (Regrets)" show a level of desperation and guilt not even hinted at in the other tracks.  I feel like "Build-a-Bitch" was supposed to have a similarly serious tone.  The track ultimately falls flat, though.  He is clearly uncomfortable on it, and it ends up being one of the funnier tracks on a tape fully of chuckle-worthy tracks, as a result.

 As a whole, the first half of the tape far outclasses the second half.  Much of the energy found at the beginning of the album disappears after "Lou Ferigno's Mad." Both of the skits are barely smirk-worthy the first time you hear them, and become something you'll find yourself skipping on subsequent listens.  "Lovesponge" represents the low point, though.  It's a track that was supposed to be jokingly misogynistic, but ends up just being uncomfortable. "Galactus Redux" provides a much needed injection of energy, but has eXquire adopting a harder tone, which is unbecoming for him.

The final track, however, makes waiting through the previous six well worth it.  Like many of you reading this, it's the track that first brought Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire to my attention.  "The Last Huzzah!" is an inarguably great track.  eXquire's affinity for El-P beats paid off for him in spectacular fashion. He score an El-P feature, and with El-P comes fellow underground notables, Das Racist, Danny Brown, and Despot.  El-P drops what might be the best verse of 2011 and Danny Brown sounds as good as he ever has.  While eXquire's verse doesn't necessarily stand out among the crowd, he didn't exactly feel like he didn't fit among such company.  I can only hope that more collaborations between this group will come in the future.

Ultimately, the highs of Lost in Translation, far overshadow the lows.  It's a tape that could have done with having a few tracks left of the floor, but you can't really fault a guy for experimenting a bit on a free mixtape.  Were this a studio album, I might be a little less inclined to give tracks like "Lovesponge" a pass, but for free?  I'm glad to see a guy with a burgeoning career step out of his comfort zone a bit.  It gives me faith that he's going to keep expanding his repertoire and not get stale like so many rappers do after their first handful of releases.

Best Tracks: "Huzzah!", "Chicken Spot Rock", "I Should Be Sleepin", "Nuthin Really Matters (Regrets)", "The Last Huzzah"

Overall: 82/100

Nas - Life is Good (2012)

Nas is the best example I can think of of how having a great debut album can both make and ruin a career.  Nas’ debut, Illmatic, is not only his crowning achievement, but arguably the greatest hip-hop album ever recorded.  That’s something to put on a résumé; there aren’t many who can claim such an achievement.  However, having such a highly regarded album in his discography has, unfortunately, meant that many of his subsequent albums have been widely considered disappointments at the time of release, regardless of quality.  His second album, It Was Written, for example, received very mixed reviews, but is commonly regarded as a classic now. His 2001 album, Stillmatic, was similarly maligned by critics during its time, but has since been embraced as a classic.  More recently, Nas seems to have escaped from Illmatic’s shadow, somewhat.  Whether it be due to Nas’ greater consistency on the mic, or a growing population of listeners looking to hear and rain praises upon any and all things “non-commercial,” Nas’ more recent efforts have been largely well received.  That includes Grammy nominations for both Hip-Hop is Dead and Untitled.  I wasn’t surprised to see Life is Good be released to similar accolades.  That being said, Life is Good is better than anything Nas has released since God’s Son in 2002.

Any Nas album is going to begin and end with the vocals.  Nas is almost universally considered to be a top 5 MC of all time.  One Nas’ biggest struggles, however has been finding topics that he really seems to care enough about to write passionate verses.  He has historically been his best when facing some sort of adversity in his life or career.  Illmatic was his debut, It Was Written had him facing the prospect of following up such a widely acclaimed album as Illmatic, Stillmatic was motivated by his feud with Jay-Z and God’s Son was motivated by the death of his mother.  Since God’s Son, Nas has been dabbling in politically motivated tracks, mafioso type stuff and, of course, a fair amount (like an entire album’s worth) of tracks about the good ole days of hip-hop.  Frankly, most of it sounded kind of half-hearted.  As I said above, Life is Good is Nas’ best release since God’s Son, so what is motivating Nas this time, around?  A few things, it turns out.  The most prominent one is his extremely messy, not to mention extremely public divorce from singer, Kelis (of “Milkshake” fame).  He pays homage to this on the album cover, which features Nas sitting with a dress that is unmistakably similar to Kelis’ wedding dress.  One of the standout tracks of the album, “Daughters” has Nas musing about the responsibilities of fatherhood and how his celebrity status has effected his ability to be a father.  It comes in the wake of another public incident in Nas’ life, in which his 17 year old daughter posted a picture on Twitter of  her condom-filled jewelry box that she keeps on her nightstand.  For those of you who aren’t interested in hearing about Nas’ lady troubles, rest assured, there is plenty more here to keep you interested.  This is still Nas, so of course he can’t resist staying completely away from talking about the past.  He appropriately dedicates “Loco-Motive,” a track that sounds like it was ripped straight out of 1996, to his “trapped in the 90′s niggas.”

In a refreshing change of pace for Nas, Life is Good  happens to feature actually interesting production, compliments of No I.D. and Salaam Remi.  I might go so far as to say these are the best beats we’ve heard Nas over since Illmatic if it weren’t for the few inexplicable missteps.  ”Reach Out,” while featuring Nas at his best, treads dangerously close to 80′s boy band territory.  ”Summer On Smash” is kind of catchy, but dedicates far too much time to hooks, leaving us with probably a minute worth of verses in an over 4 minute song.  ”You Wouldn’t Understand” sounds like a pop track that got released 20 years too late.  Those missteps are easily overshadowed by a cornucopia of interesting, if not necessarily innovative beats.  ”Accident Murderers” makes better use of the organ than any track I’ve heard since “Pigeon” off of Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein.  ”Loco-Motive,” “Cherry Wine,” and “Nasty” all stand out as having better beats than almost anything we’ve heard Nas over lately, as well.

I can’t see Life is Good ever being considered to be in the same echelon as Illmatic, or even Stillmatic and It Was Written, but that’s not to say it isn’t still a very good album, deserving of all the acclaim it has gotten.  It’s definitely an album of the year candidate.  The only real flaw is that it tries too hard at times to pander to mainstream listeners.  Tracks like “Summer On Smash” not only don’t live up to the high standards that I’ve come to hold Nas to, but seem out of place in the album as a whole, somewhat derailing the ambiance that tracks leading up to it establish.  Not to harp on “Summer On Smash” in particular, but it’s presence is all the more baffling due to it not being released as a single.  I could understand if it was just a track made to get radio play, but that’s not the case.  In the long run, people tend to forget about such tracks though, this is going to be remembered as an album borne of heartache and adversity.  It’s unfortunate for Nas that he seems to need that in order to produce good music.  Whether coming out with a good album is worth everything that has happened to him over the last couple years is something only he can decide.  At least he’ll probably get another Grammy nomination.

Best Tracks: No Introduction, Loco-Motive, Accident Murderers, Cherry Wine, Nasty (iTunes bonus track)

Overall: 87/100

Danny Brown - XXX (2011)

There probably wasn’t an album or mixtape to come out in 2011 that was as polarizing as XXX by Danny Brown.  Between Danny’s yelping bleat of a voice, abrasive content and… unusual style, there is plenty here for traditional hip-hop fans to hate.  Whether you like it or not, though, Danny Brown is going to make you experience his world.

Danny steals the show on this album, but the production shouldn’t be underestimated, either.  The beats were handled by a mish-mash of relatively unknown young producers and they provide a great backdrop for Danny’s tales of drug and excess.  SKYWLKR’s beats, specifically, really bring out the best in Danny.  The grimy electronic samples on tracks like “Bruiser Brigade”  immediately remind the listener of drug fueled depravity in a poorly lit, trashy club.  There is enough variety in the production to give XXX a lot of replay value, as well.  Featuring electronic samples, as well as brass, pianos and the traditional drum machines, pretty much everybody is going to be able to find at least a beat or two that they really like.

While the beats are interesting and do a great job setting the tone of the album, Danny himself is what makes XXX.  From the first track, we’re introduced to the concept as well as our anti-hero protagonist.  It’s a (hopefully) dramatized version of Danny himself.  He’s a melting pot of anger, depression, debauchery, and insanity.  He’s on the brink of successful music career and the pressure to succeed has pushed him consume any kind of mind altering substance he can get his hands on.  Tracks like “Die Like a Rockstar” show that he’s fully aware that his lifestyle is destructive, but establish that he really doesn’t care.  Danny spends the majority of the album riding the line between hardcore gangsta and sketchy crackhead, using pitching changes to tilt his persona one way or another as he sees fit.  As the album progresses, he tones down the sexual explicitness and sheds his persona that he establishes for the first 12 tracks and we’re introduced to a little bit deeper look at Danny’s life.  ”DNA” and “Scrap or Die” tell of the hardships he went through before his rap career, from having drug-addicted parents to living in poverty and stealing to survive.  He shows a maturity at the end of the album that isn’t there in the beginning.  It almost sounds like a completely different album.  It’s nice to have a little bit of change of pace, but the transition was too sudden and too drastic, in my opinion, especially for a concept that was working extremely well.

Overall, XXX is an album that you are either going to absolutely love or absolutely hate.  Danny’s delivery and lyrics are extremely polarizing.  If you take it too seriously, you’re going to be horrified by some of the explicitly violent or sexual (often both) things Danny says here.  I think the reason for the sudden change in pace halfway through the album is to establish that he’s not really the person that he pretends to be for the first half, though.  While I think the transition from part 1 to part 2 could have been done more smoothly, the shift was probably necessary.  It puts a relate-able human face on Danny.  It’s hard to sympathize with a character whose primary concerns are doing drugs caving girls’ faces in with his penis, but give him drug addicted parents and a rough upbringing and suddenly he’s less of a villain than a tragic, cautionary tale.  XXX is going to be remembered for the persona Danny adopts in the first half, rather than the introspection we see in the second, though.  He’s crude, he’s abrasive, he’s annoying, he’s just an overall awful person, and I loved it.

Best Tracks: XXX, Die Like a Rockstar, Monopoly, Blunt after Blunt, 30

Overall: 89/100

Ta-Ku - 24 (2011)

Perth, Australia based producer Ta-Ku had been on the outskirts of my radar for the past two years, steadily releasing quality beat tapes and instrumental EP’s, but never really making me sit up and notice him amongst the high influx of talented beat smiths flooding the internet in the last decade.  Perhaps best known for his J Dilla Tribute series, I didn't get hooked on his work until I listened to his beat tape ’24′, just over a month ago.  Yes, I'm late.

Like many beat tapes, 24 is a collaboration project.  The idea came from Ta-Ku’s friendship with Soulection co-founder Joe Kay, and the premise was simple. Create one beat, fit to be aired on Soulection Radio, in 24 hours.  What came from the experiment was 13 crazy dope beats created by Ta-Ku over 13 days.

The idea was bold and challenging.  At risk of churning out half-assed beats to stay within the timeframe, Ta-Ku instead created 13 beautifully polished tracks, with each beat displaying Ta-Ku’s ability to make a robust sound without sacrificing for the sake of timeliness.  The intricacies on tracks like Hard to Imagine and 1, 2, 3, 4 make it hard to believe they were signed, sealed and delivered in 24 hours.  I don’t know the first thing about producing, but I’ve heard enough beats to know that it’s a time-intensive art and incredibly hard to select cohesive sounds and blend them together without it sounding like sonic pollution.  So for a producer to undertake a challenge like 24, and have each and every beat come out sounding so put together and fresh, is surely a testament to Ta-Ku’s finesse with digital audio gear and mad time-management skills.  Add to this his ear for choosing smooth samples and what you come away with is a sweet little beat tape with an impressive concept that would make even the most prolific producers sweat a little bit.

While there’s no throw away beats on here, there are one or two tracks that make you think he was having an uninspired day.  The track ’Another Day’ comes off feeling dull and bland.  One thinks the title was chosen in exasperation.  ‘I Love You’ lacks any heart and veers on annoying, with the looped vocal grating on the nerves. Lastly, the ‘Donut Interlude’ with its obvious Dilla salute lacks any type of charm or beauty it should have had with its link to one of the greatest to ever touch an MPC.

Last Word:  The entire concept of creating one beat a day for 13 consecutive days, and have most of the beats come out so well-executed, truly showcases Ta-Ku’s skills and cements him in the group of newer beat smiths to watch out for.  Oh and it’s completely free!

Overall:  82/100

Del the Funky Homosapien & Parallel Thought - Attractive Sin (2012)

My my, Del has been busy these last few years.  If he manages to put out all the releases he has scheduled for 2012, he will have put out seventeen releases in four years.  To put that in perspective, he only had ten releases in the first seventeen years of his career, most of which were group collaborations.  Unfortunately, none of those seventeen (that have been released so far) have been more than just pretty good.  His 2012 collaboration with production team Parallel Thought, Attractive Sin, fits into that category.  It’s a pretty good album that, in all honesty, probably isn’t going to be remembered 5 years from now.

While it doesn’t exactly have the stiffest of competition, Attractive Sin features arguably the best production we’ve heard Del rap over since Full Circle as a member of Hieroglyphics in 2002.  I’m always a fan of brass in hip-hop and this album features plenty of it. “Ownership” and “Different Guidelines,” specifically, feature very well executed, brass driven beats.  As a whole the production is notably more jazz influenced than what we’re used to hearing on a Del album.  Unfortunately, the beats border on monotonous by the end of the album.  The album is organized so that it starts relatively upbeat and gets progressively less so as it progresses, leaving the listener waiting for a grand finale that just never comes.  Ending the album with a catchy banger, or a particularly deep, moving song, or even just a song that really showed Del flexing his lyrical muscles a little bit would have done this album a world of good.  Instead, it ends with a total throw away track in “Front Like You Know.”  In an album all but devoid of choruses, organization is of the utmost importance, and I seems like Del and PT dropped the ball here.  It’s an album that is just hard to pay attention to for the full duration.

Almost no choruses means we’re treated to 40 minutes of straight Del verses.  He sounds very MF DOOM like here, spitting his verses with an endearing monotone laziness that is only enhanced by his signature drawl.  He takes advantage of all this time dedicated to verses by… rapping about how awesome he is.  Braggadocio has always been a staple of Del’s repertoire, but I can’t help but feel like he went a little overboard here.  As impressive as it is to be able to come up with enough rhyming compliments of yourself to fill 40 minutes of time, the shtick wears a bit thin after a while.  The stand out exception is “1520 Sedgwick.”  Named for the most widely accepted “birthplace” of hip-hop, Del gives his opinion of what exactly is “hip-hop,” as well as a healthy dose of hating on the media and record industry (another staple subject of Del’s).  Repetitive subject matter aside, I gotta say that Del is very impressive from a technical standpoint.  Despite the beats being, at times, very complicated, he manages to ride them all perfectly while maintaining very complicated, almost haphazard sounding, rhyme schemes.  That alone leaves me very optimistic for the upcoming Deltron 3030 sequel, Event II.

The biggest thing holding this album back from being truly good, or even great, is monotony.  I was folding clothes the first time I listened to it (i.e. not giving it my full attention) and didn’t notice the tracks switch from “Activated Sludge” (the 5th track) until I realized that I had been listening to what I though was the same song for ages only to find that I was already at the 9th track, “Blow Your Mind.”  This is a product of not only sameness in production staring in the middle of the album, but Del’s delivery.  He doesn’t add any cadence to his voice for the entirety of the album, delivering every verse in the same monotone drone.  Even Del sounds like he was bored with this by the end.  This is a great album to listen to closely to once and then relegate to background music while working or doing chores (felt like that laundry I was folding just flew by).

Best Tracks: On Momma’s House, Ownership, 1520 Sedgewick, Blow Your Mind

Overall: 77/100

Hus - Cognac Fruit (2011)

No frills, no foreplay, Cognac Fruit starts on a remix and gets straight to the point, delivering ten songs in just under 27 minutes.  You won’t get any shout outs, no drawn out intro/outro, no concept, no skits, no stems, no seeds.  This is unadulterated rapping over ravaged soul beats, aimed at listeners who like their hip hop served neat.

Hus is one half of Tha Connection, a duo out of Hempstead, NY.  Together with his partner SmooVth, they have released four true albums, each considered to be under appreciated 21st century gems.  Their style borrows heavily from a 90’s sensibility but manages to stay fresh thanks to their inclination for choosing soulful, contemporary beats.  If you want to get a feel for Hus’ origins then try Tha Connection albums Moon Water and Trapeze.

It’s a stripped down album to say the least.  There are no legendary producers and certainly no big name guests, in fact there’s only one guest, Mok Vurban.  Who?  Exactly.  This album is all Hus.  It serves to showcase Hus’ solo skills and reminds one of what solo albums actually meant, back before it was normal to have a guest on each track.  This is the common thread that runs throughout the whole album; it adheres to a 90’s mentality without stagnating in corny ‘I’m bringing the 90’s back yo!’ attitude.  You could easily picture Hus spitting over a 90’s Premo beat but the lush production pulls the album back from being a played out history lesson and instead creates a modern environment for Hus’ gritty delivery.  Yes, it’s got the boom bap drums but it’s layered with fluttering strings and jazzed out piano strokes instead of sampled loops and vocal scratching.  The bones are ’97 but the substance is thoroughly here and now.

You want a rugged NY rapper you get one.  If you want grand beats you get that too.  You just won’t get much of it.  With most songs clocking in at less than 3 minutes apiece, the shortness of the album is obvious.  Add to that the fact that three of the ten tracks are remixes from previous Tha Connection albums, you might feel like you are listening to a fan made compilation.  Short albums always have the safety of never growing tiresome but Cognac Fruit falters on the edge of being too sparse, you wonder why Hus was so thrifty, especially when you take into account that Tha Connection album Trapeze comes in with a staggering 27 songs.  Capable of building a robust album with SmooVth, but chose the short ‘n’ sweet route on his solo, it’s a bit puzzling.  What little we do get is incredible however and does make one excited for his future releases.

If you’re looking for a track list breakdown, you won’t find it on this review.  Come on now.  The album is only 27 minutes long.  No hand holding here.  Go listen to it and decide for yourself.



88/100

Atomic Farmhouse - Fortune Cookie LP (2012)

One of the members of Atomic Farmhouse described this tape to me as “Nas’s Illmatic, Notorious B.I.G’s Ready To Die, and Wu Tang Clan’s Enter the 36 Chambers running a train on MF Doom’s Operation Doomsday.”  I agreed to review this, assuming it would be another wack indie tape (I’ve had a few acts ask for reviews)and I’d be able to rip it to pieces as punishment for being so brash.  Turns out, in a pleasant surprise, that wasn’t the case.

While it’s not going to shake the foundations of hip-hop, by any means, The Fortune Cookie LP is a couple levels above what you would expect from the debut (as far as I can tell) of an unknown indie act.  The beats and general production is minimalistic, but serviceable.  It never “wow’s” the listener, but aside from a few annoying effects here and there, makes listening an easy experience.  I really enjoyed the use of vocal samples, such as at the end of “Rat Poison” and in “English Muffin.”

Braggadocio seems to be where the MCs of Atomic Farmhouse are most comfortable, specifically rubbing the fact that they have an LP in the faces of their doubters.  The attempts at deeper subject matter feel somewhat lackluster.  The lyrics don’t see a real drop off, but all of the MCs, other than MAD SYNTST, seem to have trouble flowing over the slower beats that tend to be associated with deeper songs.  ANTI, who is easily the standout MC on the faster tracks, suddenly sounds very amateurish when put over a slow beat, such as on “Nyquil” or “English Muffin.”

All in all, The Fortune Cookie LP is definitely worth a spin.  It’s a little rough around the edges at times, but it’s an independently released, debut LP, from what sounds to be a group of friends fresh out of high-school.  They have all the time in the world to hone their skills and grow as a group.  I think they have a lot of potential.  They’re definitely a group to watch for in the future.

So, does it stand up to Illmatic, Ready to Die, 36 Chambers and Operation: DOOMsday?  Of course not, but few do.  Stylistically, it isn’t even really similar to any of them, either (more like a CYNE-Lupe Fiasco hybrid) Is it a respectable effort, regardless?  Absolutely.

Also, the cover art is GOAT.

Best Tracks: Garage Sale, Dayquil, Public Massacre

Overall: 76/100

Souls of Mischief - Montezuma's Revenge (2009)

Is it just me, or do hip-hop acts seem exceptionally prone to the “sophomore slump?”  That is, releasing a great first album, followed by a lackluster second album and loss of popularity.  Oakland based group, Souls of Mischief, fell victim to this phenomenon arguably harder than anybody in the wake of their classic debut album 93 ’til Infinity (released in 1993, if you didn’t guess).  Souls’ following three albums all met a lukewarm reception and the group went on a hiatus starting in 2000 and have been busying themselves with various solo efforts and side-projects ever since.  For whatever reason, Souls decided to get back together for a fifth studio album, Montezuma’s Revenge in 2009, almost 10 years after their last group album and they even got Prince Paul (of De La Soul and Gravediggaz fame) to produce it for them.

Just listening to Montezuma’s Revenge, you would never guess that Souls of Mischief hadn’t all been on an album together since 2003 (Hieroglyphics’ Full Circle).  Tracks like “Fourmation” have them trading verses as effortlessly as they ever have, really a testament to the chemistry these four MC’s have built up over their careers.  Perhaps the most endearing part of the album, however, is that Souls make it plainly obvious that they aren’t shooting for mainstream success anymore.  Starting from the first track, “Won,” the listener is assured that Souls is done with gimmicks and trying to appeal to critics.  The “Mr. Freeman Skit” reaffirms that sentiment, while poking fun at a bunch of rappers who have all become completely irrelevant in the short time since this album was released.  Maybe the whole idea of old-school rappers dissing awful current rappers has become cliche, but I still laugh at the “Mr. Freeman Skit”, even after having heard it several times.

I’ve yet to hear an album come out of the Hieroglyphics camp that didn’t have at least a song or two focusing on making sure everybody knows exactly how much cooler they are than everybody else, and Montezuma’s Revenge is no different.  They do delve into some deeper subject matter, though, tackling issues such as relationships and what exactly makes something art.

Prince Paul fully delivers on the production of Montezuma’s Revenge, really touching on what had been missing from Souls’ previous few releases.  Fun.  Paul (like everybody else in the world) recognized that Souls aren’t well suited for dreary, gloomy beats and piercing social commentary.  Their strength is, and probably always will be, battle style rapping; just a simple beat with a nice bass line with the emcees just trading verses back and forth.  Don’t take that to mean that the production on Montezuma is simplistic.  Honestly it’s probably more difficult for a producer, especially one of Prince Paul’s status, to be able to just lay off and let the emcees do what they do best.  It’s not an album that’s going to be remembered for it’s groundbreaking beats by any means, but they’re beats perfectly suited for the emcees, and in my mind, that’s a way better than forcing excessive complexity in situations that don’t call for it.

You never know what you’re going to get when you get an album from a group that is almost 20 years past their peak fame.  Montezuma’s Revenge isn’t an album that’s ever going to be looked at as a classic, but it is a very solid effort from a great group and a legendary producer.  Aside from the lyrics being a little over-simplistic at times and a yawn inducing beat or two, Montezuma delivers everything a Souls of Mischief fan can could realistically hope for.

Best Tracks: Won, Tour Stories, Poets, Fourmation, For Real Y’all

Overall: 84/100

Eminem - Recovery (2010)

After a depressed and drug addicted Eminem released the lukewarm Encore in 2004, he went on hiatus for almost five years before returning with 2009′s Relapse.  Once again, the reception was less than stellar.  Recovery is Eminem’s attempt to put Encore and Relapse behind him and rekindle what it was that made him great from 1999-2002.

It’s hard for me to consider Recovery a successful album.  It definitely sounds more like Em’s older releases than did Encore or Relapse, but it does so in many of the wrong ways.  He doesn't seem to have updated his list of pop culture references since The Eminem Show, making references to Austin Powers and Mariah Carey (go figure).  The primary theme of the album seems to be apologizing for his last couple releases.

To Em’s credit, the rapping on this album is actually very good from a technical standpoint.  The rhyme schemes are extremely intricate.  The problem is what he’s saying.  All the cleverness and wit of his early releases is long gone; he doesn't even have shock value anymore.  The whole album is painfully lacking in catchy, singalong, tracks.  Unfortunately, most of the memorable lines are notable for being bad.  It’s practically devoid of any hooks whatsoever.  Eminem sings most of the ones that are present and… well, let’s just say that there is a reason Em doesn't have a singing career.

For an attempt to return to his 1999-2002 form, there was an incredible shortage of Dr. Dre and self produced tracks on Recovery.  Dre ended up with only one credit, with Em himself not being the primary producer of a single track.  Em’s Rolodex must’ve gotten a workout contacting all the producers on this album.  Marquee producers, DJ Khalil and Just Blaze got the most production credits, with four and three, respectively.  If you’re a fan of lots of soft rock samples in your hip-hop, the production on Recovery will be a treat for you.  For the other 95% of us, listening to Recovery is a long 77 minutes of dreary keyboards and awkward samples that don’t fit together in any sort of cohesive manner.

Of course, as a hip-hop snob, I would be remissed if I failed to mention the presence of Lil Wayne, Pink and Rihanna on the album.  How could any fan of 1999-2002 Eminem not feel at least a little betrayed by their presence?  Em told us that he was going to try and return back to the sound that we all know and love, and instead we get him collaborating with exactly the kind of people that he built his career making fun of.  That’s the definition of selling out; becoming what you would have once mocked.

Despite all my criticisms, Recovery is worth a spin or two.  Yeah, it falls way short of what he wanted it to be, but there is reason to be optimistic about Eminem’s future.  Unlike on Encore, Eminem shows that he is still a very technically skilled rapper.  A few more quotable hooks would’ve really served this album well, if for no other reason than to distract from the occasional painfully bad lines that end up being the most memorable.  Really, what brought this album down was the production, though.  How, as a producer, you can not provide top shelf beats for an Eminem album is beyond me, but it just seemed like the beats were phoned in.  Remember when Just Blaze used to be good?

Best Tracks: Talkin 2 Myself, Love the Way You Lie, Cinderella Man, Going Through Changes

Overall: 55/100

Kno - Death is Silent (2010)

The concern with concept albums is whether the artist decides to take a literal or abstract approach.  Death Is Silent’s concept adheres to the former.  Intensely.  It’s obvious from the mere title of the album that death and dying and all that depressing stuff will be the order.  Whether Kno thinks little of his fan’s deciphering skills, or he himself is lacking the intelligence to compile an album that challenges the listener to discover the concept on their own, is definitely up for discussion.

Kno has a beautiful ability to construct a dope backdrop.  His well-known use of obscure samples and talent with layering strings on synths on drums is unquestionable.  But this is not an instrumental album. What could have been a near perfect collection of songs is let down by his straight up average presence on the mic and frown-inducing delivery.

He is vocally outdone on almost every track that has a guest.  Examples of Kno being owned completely include Natti’s dominance on “If You Cry”, Nemo Achida’s incredible storytelling on “Loneliness” and Tonedeff’s stunning first verse effort on “I Wish I Was Dead”, easily a contender for verse of the album.  Kno’s best verses comes from the tracks “They Told Me”, where he divulges his private anxieties in plain sight and “La Petite Mort (Come Die With Me)”, a cleverly veiled ode to sex that will take a few listens and perhaps some experience in the subject to unravel.  It’s one thing to be a talented lyricist.  Which he is.  But his sappy and frail delivery wrecks the elegance of his lyrics.

Despite Kno’s tendency to say corny things, what makes this album an excellent addition to your music collection, is his capacity to create honest stories over magical beats.  Atmospheric is a word that is more and more being incorrectly used to describe crowded production, but here it totally belongs.  This has atmosphere in spades.  The production is by far the standout element and it’s Kno who is solely responsible for it.

So do his cheesy verses get a pass because he is a ‘part-time’ MC?  Well, no.  He has shown some great propensity for spitting on the CunninLynguist albums.  Maybe he was so caught up in the producing side of the album and neglected the vocal aspect?  Perhaps.  What’s obvious is if this was, say, a Tonedeff album, with the same concept and production, it would have been universally accepted as a top 3 album of 2010.  It’s a frustrating album, so agonizing close to perfection but missing the most important part of any hip hop record; top notch MC skills.

Highs:  Production on ALL tracks is amazing.  The concept runs nicely throughout, and while it is a gloomy concept, it never feels unbearably heavy and tiresome; in fact, it’s a highly energetic album from start to finish.

Lows:  Not enough Tonedeff.

87/100

Mac Miller - Blue Slide Park (2011)

Somehow or another, Pittsburgh native, Mac Miller managed to become phenomenon in 2011.  Even before the release of his debut album, Blue Slide Park, there wasn’t a party playlist in all of North Dakota that didn’t have a Mac Miller son or two on it, as far as I could tell.  Coming off of the popularity of his mixtapes, Blue Slide Park became the first independently released debut album to hit #1 since Doggfood in 1995.

The production is predominantly handled by Pittsburgh beat maker, I.D. Labs.  Likely, as a bi-product of Mac trying to paint himself as weed rapper, the production is largely very slow and mellow.  Aside from a few bright spots, namely “Party on Fifth Ave” and “Under the Weather,” the beats are bland and forgettable.  I had a hard time listening to the whole album in one sitting, the blandness of the production makes it difficult to pay attention to for than a few songs at a time.

Mac Miller brings absolutely nothing to the table with his vocals.  He’s like an amalgamation of all the worst characteristics of all your favorite rappers and by no means a combination of UGK and John Lennon as he claims on “Smile Back.”  The message of the album seems to be that he likes to party, smoke weed and have sex; which is exactly what he rapped about on every one of his mix tapes.  There’s enough rappers like that out right now, we don’t need another Wiz Khalifa.  I’m not trying to say that you have to tackle major social issues in order to make a good album, but you have to have charisma.  Mac’s delivery is almost painful.  He sounds like he’s got emphysema, which may or may not be intentional, given his desperately trying to convince us that he smokes incredible amounts of marijuana.

Blue Slide Park is a bad album.  There just isn’t a time that would be appropriate for playing it.  It’s too mellow for parties, too shallow for individual listening and too bland for smoking to.  The worst part is this was Mac Miller’s attempt to establish himself as an artist.  The cover and first couple tracks lead you to believe that it’s going to be a deep, introspectively focused album, but after the title track, the whole concept just goes out the window in favor of sex, drugs and partying.  Whatever, Mac was trying to accomplish with Blue Slide Park, he utterly failed.  I’m upset that I turned down A Kingdom for Keflings to listen to this.

Best Tracks: Blue Slide Park, Party on 5th Ave, Under the Weather

Overall: 22/100

Live.Love.A$AP - A$AP Rocky (2011)

A$AP Rocky inexplicably became a millionaire in 2011; before he had a single official release, Sony signed him to a $3,000,000 deal, the biggest ever for an artist who hasn’t released a single album (Drake got about 2 Million).  A$AP owes this predominantly to online hip-hop forums, who went abuzz when he released his song “Peso” in August.  Of course, by signing that big of a deal, the expectations for A$AP’s first release were tremendous.  October’s Live.Love.A$AP was that release.
The production is handled by a whole host of producers, the most prominent being Clams Casino, who does five of the sixteen tracks.  Although I’m not a huge fan of some the effects used throughout the album, I was pleasantly surprised with the production.  Clams Casino and Spaceghostpurrp are the only producers to make an appearance I had heard of before this album, leaving six producers that I had never heard to do the other ten tracks.  Often times when there are as many producers working on an album as there are on Live.Love.A$AP, it destroys the aesthetic of the album as styles clash from track to track.  Thankfully, this isn’t the case with Live.Love.A$AP.  The beats are consistently top level, and maintain the same chill, ambient vibe throughout.  They border on, but never cross into monotony territory, perhaps a credit to having so many producers on the album.

Having good beats and production values is all well and good, but a major label didn’t invest seven figures in any of these producers; A$AP came into this tape with a lot of hype to live up to.  He responded by giving us sixteen tracks of sex, drugs and braggadocio.  In short, he’s Wiz Khalifa…  Maybe that’s a little harsh, A$AP Rocky is a  better MC than Wiz Khalifa.  He’s more along the lines of a Hodgy Beats sans any depth of subject matter.  Lyrically, A$AP is no more than above average, he’s far outclassed by other up-and-comers such as Kendrick Lamar and Big KRIT.  What A$AP Rocky brings to the table is versatility.  Despite the relative sameness of pacing in the beats on Live.Love.A$AP, he changes up his flow on almost every song, a practice that has earned him some scorn for being a biter.  There may be some legitimacy to those criticisms, but I’m more inclined to just look at it as a young rapper who is still trying to figure out his sound.

Is Live.Love.A$AP a mixtape that is going to shake the foundations of hip-hop?  Not at all.  Did it live up to the $3,000,000 hype associated with it?  Not in this reviewers opinion.  I feel as though A$AP Rocky is nothing more than a label trying to find the next OFWGKTA to cash in on the hipster market.  Live.Love.A$AP is definitely worth a spin, though, if for no other reason than we’re probably going to be hearing a lot more A$AP Rocky in the near future.  Personally, I’m very interested to see what kind of studio album he releases because, as he is now,  A$AP Rocky has absolutely no mainstream appeal and there’s no way Sony is going to let their $3,000,000 investment go to waste.

Best Tracks: Palace, Peso, Keep it G, Demons, Out of This World

Overall: 79/10

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (2010)

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”  In hip hop, words are often flipped, skewed and spun to mean different things.  And so it applies to this quote.  In terms of hip hop groups, the parts are often greater than the sum.  Lauren Hill is more than The Fugees, Cee-Lo is more than Goodie Mob and Scarface is more than Geto Boys.  But does it apply to Big Boi and OutKast with Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty?  Yes.

To say it was a rocky road for Big Boi to get the album out is a huge understatement.  Label problems that would give AZ nightmares ensued, and he was forced to approach Def Jam for distribution.  Fast forward to July 2010 and the album finally sees the light of day, taking over 3 years and a label jump to get there.  So what did we get?

Production is a mish mash of live instruments, vocal manipulators, a good amount of quality singing and interesting samples.  Running under all of that are strong bass lines, frenzied drum patterns and pure energy.  Big Boi gets help from some big names alongside the ever present Organized Noize crew, with Salaam Remi, Scott Storch and Lil Jon amongst others, on the boards.  This album never lets up, there’s no chance to pause, no gap in the line to take a breath, just 14 tracks that come at you over and over, forcing you to keep up or get run over.

Big Boi’s prowess on the mic is absolute and even with a large roster of guest rappers, he is never out-rapped.  He brings the laughs all over the album and manages to relay his funny antics without coming off far-fetched or corny.  You never feel the need to say “Boy, stop!” because he’s genuinely an entertaining MC.  That’s his main strength, incredibly likeable and always spirited.

A couple of issues.  The album is so upbeat, so animated, that you have no arc from intro to end.  It plateaus from start to finish, there’s no build up, no cool down and no ebb and flow in between.  You may find yourself saying ‘more of the same’ about the tracks, thanks to the near identical tempo of nearly every song.  This album only has one speed and it’s 6th gear fast, shifting down only once or twice before taking off again.

Another problem, which has no real bearing on Big Boi, is the exclusion of the songs “Lookin’ for Ya” and “Royal Flush” from the official release.  With guest verses from Andre 3000 and Raekwon, they not only fit right in with the other tracks but would have served to enhance the album tenfold.  The reason they were left off is a business one but that’s really not worth talking about, since both songs were leaked by Big Boi himself and are easily available online.  I suggest you add them to your digital copy of this album manually, in a sort of middle finger gesture to the spiteful record label.

Highs:  General Patton, Shutterbugg, Daddy Fat Sax, Shine Blockas, some of the most hilarious skits on any album and the general sense of fun and joy the album gives.

Lows:  The singing on Follow Us can be irritating.  Yelawolf’s verse on You Ain’t No DJ.  More of Big Boi or the gut-busting end skit and Yelawolf completely scrapped would’ve been great.

89/100

OuKast - ATLiens (1996)

This is the first of LuxDel's reviews that she wrote for the old blog, her personal favorite album, Outkast's classic 1996 effort, ATLiens.

Album intros are all at once meant to convey texture, direction and hint at what is to come.  It’s the first hit and it must be taken quickly.  With ATLiens, OutKast’s second offering, the first step is more of a face first fall into a warm abyss. You almost don’t want to escape. Neither Andre 3000 nor Big Boi make an appearance, and it’s left up to a hypnotic rendition of a well known children’s prayer in a cryptic language and a melancholic ballad about (maybe) dying, to usher in listeners to this 14 song lesson in Atlantan space invaders.

After the ’77 Seville vibe of “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik”, ATLiens at once manages to turn a sharp corner without falling over.  Production from Organized Noize and Earthtone Ideas ricochets from the riff driven “Wailin’” to the reverb heavy “E.T. (Extraterrestrial)” then returns to a synth fiends’s paradise on “Wheelz of Steel.”  Bass heads are serviced by the insistent beat of “Elevators (Me & You)”  and the title track’s menacing mix of live bass strings and sampled drums.

Running throughout the entire album is OutKast’s ability to craft a beautiful melody.  This is their second strongest asset and is never more evident than on “Jazzy Belle”, a blunt analysis of the opposite sex that contradicts the softness of the beat.  “Decatur Psalm” and “Ova Da Wudz” have disappointing construction, but the MC skills of the duo and Dungeon Family guests make the songs enjoyable, even without a dynamic beat to hold the verses.

It’s puzzling how often Big Boi is dismissed as ‘the ugly twin’ while he’s standing next to Andre.  Big Boi is an upper echelon MC.  He holds up the end of “Mainstream” beautifully, his storytelling on “Babylon” is engaging and he rips the title track into pieces, easily outshining Andre.  Mr. Benjamin delivers, putting his all into each verse.  He’s in blackout mode on “Elevators (Me & You)”, at his most scathing on “Mainstream” and totally candid in the anti-braggadocio “Millennium.”

The last true track of the album, “13th Floor/Growing Old”, is a soft landing.  Both Big Boi and Andre reflect and speculate, and the tender piano laced beat is deceptive considering the content of their lyrics are hard hitting truths that are still fully relevant over 15 years after conception.

Topped off with some trippy artwork, it’s an album that’s received critical acclaim ad nauseam.  It constantly battles with “Aquemini” for the title of OutKast’s best and is undoubtedly a bona fide classic, coming from a year that saw the hip hop genre gain at least a dozen other classics.  It’s thoroughly southern and holds down the ‘timeless’ label easily. If you’re looking for something that knocks the speakers and sparks the thoughts, cop this.

Highs:  Elevators, 13th Floor/Growing Old, production on Wheelz of Steel and Two Dope Boyz.  Andre’s verses on Millennium and Mainstream.  Big Boi’s verses on ATLiens, Ova Da Wudz and E.T.

Lows:  Average production on Decatur Psalm and Ova Da Wudz.  The bizarre and annoying vocal sample on Wailin’.  Organized Noize’s take on Elevators with their ONP 86 mix is an unnecessary addition to the album.

94/100

Dr. Octagonecologyst - Dr. Octagon (1996)

I can confidently say that that Dr. Octagonecolgyst is the best album about a time-traveling, extraterrestrial, surgeon/gynecologist who sleeps with his nurses and patients and may also be undead that you will ever hear.  Dr. Octagon is the alter-ego of Bronx rapper, Kool Keith, who first made a name for himself in the 80′s with seminal underground group, Ultramagnetic MCs.  1996′s Dr. Octagonecologyst is Kool Keith’s first solo album.

As well as being the solo debut of Kool Keith, Dr. Octagonecolgyst is the breakthrough album of Bay Area beat maker, Dan, the Automator, of Deltron 3030 and Gorillaz fame. Three time world DJ Champion, DJ Qbert lends his talents to several of the tracks, as well.  The album is credited with being instrumental in the revival of turntablism in the mid 90s.  Most of the beats are predominantly synth, giving the album a very spacey, futuristic ambiance.  Many of the samples are ripped from pornographic movies; appropriate given Dr. Octagon’s propensity for having sex with his patients and nurses.

Like I mentioned earlier, Dr. Octagonecologyst has one of the more… interesting concepts that you will encounter in a hip-hop album.  It’s an album that may require multiple listens, as the lyrics are very abstract and full of non-sequiters.  As it were, the album tells the tale of Dr. Octagon, the intergalactic discount surgeon of questionable credentials.  He’ll perform just about any procedure that you need him to, such as “relocating saliva glands” and treating “chimpanzee acne,” and he’ll do it for cheap… as long as you’re not bothered by horses running around the hospital or the mountains of corpses that are the result of all his botched procedures.  Dr. Octagon also likes to pretend he’s a woman and practice gynecology in order to get laid.  Whether or not Dr. Octagon is even human is debatable, as his only known relative, an uncle named Mr. Gerbik, is apparently a 208 year-old half shark-alligator half man with “skin like razor blades.”

Dr. Octagonecologyst is as important an album as it is a bizarre one.  Perhaps more than any other album, it can be credited with reviving underground hip-hop in the 90s.  G-Funk and east coast mafioso were dominating the charts at the time and the underground was stuck in a rut trying to follow suit.  Dr. Octagonecologyst reintroduced innovation to hip-hop.  In a time when everybody was trying to deal drugs and be hard, Kool Keith stood up and said “No, I’d rather be an intergalactic surgeon.”

Best Tracks: 3000, Earth People, Blue Flowers, I’m Destructive, halfsharkhalfalligatorhalfman

Overall: 94/100

Jurassic 5 - Quality Control (2000)

You may remember Jurassic 5 as a group that was “just about to get their big break” for the better part of ten years until they broke up in 2007.  While they never found the mainstream popularity that many thought they would, J5 has a respectable underground following and produced a few very good albums during their run.  Arguably their strongest release is 2000′s Quality Control.

My main issue with Quality Control is a lack of variety, mainly in the production.  Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark are both top level turntable-ists, but by the midpoint of the album, hearing nothing but turntable production gets monotonous.  The album would have better served not having tracks like “Contact,” which, although impressive, only serve to magnify the excessive amount of turntables on this album. When looked at individually, however, the beats are all very enjoyable.  The album remains jazzy and upbeat from start to finish.

The primary appeal of Jurassic 5 is their unique approach to vocals.  The group features four vocalists, all of whom get used in some fashion on almost every track.  The standard formula seems to be to have Chali 2Na and one or more of the others rap the verses, while everyone else sings background vocals and choruses.  Harmonization is a given in any J5 release.  Unfortunately, monotony shows it’s ugly face once again, this time in the lyrical themes.  The message off this album boils down to nothing but “We’re Jurassic 5, and we’re awesome.”  The only real exception to this is “Contribution,” which focuses instead on the trials and tribulations of being poor and having kids.

Chali 2Na is, without question, the strongest rapper in the group.  Mark 7even has his moments, including a very admirable performance of “Jurass Finish First,”  but as a whole, the rest of the rappers’ verses are forgettable.  Zaakir, who sounded very promising on their debut album, Jurassic 5, fails to make much of an impression on Quality Control.

Quality Control is a good album, however, the lack of variety both in production and lyrical themes prevents it from taking that next step to being a great or classic album.  Jurassic 5 was a group that had the talent to release a classic album, but was never able to take that next step before the disproportionate ability of Chali 2Na and Cut Chemist to the rest of the group resulted in a break up.

Best Tracks: The Influence, Quality Control, Jurass Finish First, Improvise, Swing Set

Overall: 86/100

Elzhi - ELmatic (2011)

Anybody who knows hip-hop at all knows Illmatic.  The 1994 album by Nas is almost universally hailed as one of, if not the greatest hip-hop album ever made.  What MC, Elzhi, along with fellow Detroiters, Will Sessions, have done with ELmatic is taken the old beats off Illmatic, tweaked them a little bit, to bring them into the modern era and recorded his own vocals over these re-imaginings of the Illmatic beats.  A project like this is inevitably going to draw comparisons to the original, and Elzhi had big shoes to fill here.  Even Nas, himself, has never managed to escape the shadow of Illmatic.


The beats are classic, but the original DJ Premier and Large Professor versions were classics, so I don’t want to give too much credit to Will Sessions.  They were given gold and basically just polished it a little.  Live instruments are always refreshing to hear on hip-hop albums, though and they did make a few tweaks to make the aging Illmatic beats a bit more appealing to modern listeners.  The original samples are all still present, allowing ELmatic to maintain a similar vibe to the original.  The biggest problem I have is that for whatever reason, several of the tracks include extended periods of just the instrumentals playing, including over three straight minutes at the end of “One Love.”  I’ll never understand why artists include these extended instrumental portions, I’ve never met anybody who enjoys them.  I don’t mind when they’re use to segue into the next track, but that can be done in ten seconds; anything over a minute just detracts from the album.

While the beats on Illmatic are classic, the lyrics are legendary.  Elzhi has had a reputation as a great lyricist since his days with Slum Village, but when I first heard about this project, I scoffed at the idea of him being able to successfully recreate the feel and technical skill exhibited in Illmatic.  I assumed that, at best, it was going to be of a similar caliber to Fashawn’s similarly themed Ode to Illmatic mix tape, from last year.  That is to say, merely an above average tape.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Elzhi absolutely owns every track on here, at times rivaling and (I’m about to commit heresy here.) even surpassing Nas’s original rhymes.  Most of the tracks share a similar lyrical theme to their Illmatic equivalent, the notable exception is “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,”  which turns from a very braggadocious track into a narrative about Elzhi’s early life and rise to fame.

Remaking Illmatic was a risky move.  This could have very easily been an absolute disaster for Elzhi, especially if it had been a weaker release than Fashawn’s effort.  The gamble payed off for him, though and we’re treated to a stunning re-imagining of a legendary album, which succeeds in both paying homage to and building upon the original.  Elzhi shows off a level of lyrical ability that we have never seen from him before, making ELmatic arguably the best hip-hop release of 2011.

Best Tracks: Detroit State of Mind, Halftime, Memory Lane, Represent, It Ain’t Hard to Tell

Overall: 91/100