Bulldog
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Reviews 114
Approval 86%

Soundoffs 228
News Articles 4
Band Edits + Tags 23
Album Edits 154

Album Ratings 396
Objectivity 93%

Last Active 02-21-12 7:49 am
Joined 10-22-09

Forum Posts 4,109
Review Comments 3,796

Average Rating: 3.13
Rating Variance: 0.84
Objectivity Score: 93%
(Very Balanced)

Chart.

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5.0 classic
Afroman Jobe Bells
Anal Cunt Picnic of Love
So beautiful...so touching...so...so...so....perfect.
Binary Star Masters of the Universe
The Black Ghost The Crossroads of Life
Three 6 Mafia Mystic Stylez
Tony Moon MOONshine: You Know, For Kids!!!

4.5 superb
2Pac Me Against the World
Pac's magnum opus, a rap classic, and ultimately, a ballad.
B. Dolan The Failure
The dark, angry narrative of the one survivor of Armageddon, The Failure is simply poetry. Literally. This is just monologue poetry recited over a beat the vast majority of the time. Regardless, it's still deep, smart, passionate, and creative. Really awesome album, although I prefer his 2010 album - Fallen House, Sunken City - to this just because that's actually rap. But, either way, both albums are epic.
B. Dolan Fallen House Sunken City
With some surprisingly good boom bap beats, slam poet B. Dolan crafts an awesome album. A return to old school hip-hop techniques, B. Dolan doesn't sing, autotune, or do anything of the like, and for a white rapper, he is surprisingly likable in terms of vocalistic style. Through his lyrics, he serves up some biting social commentary and post-armageddon surviving tales. With a vast vocabulary, Dolan displays the ability to provide not only good lyrics and metaphors, but superb rhymes and rhyme structures. This will definitely be a candidate for A.O.T.Y., and has cracked even my all-time Top Ten list. Sh*t is deep, son - get with it.
Digable Planets Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
The "Illmatic" of alternative hip-hop. Butterfly is ace, and Ladybug Mecca is a surprisingly good female MC. Get this.
Eazy-E Eazy-Duz-It
Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP
Six reviews - four "classic" reviews, one "superb" review, one "four" review. What does that tell you about this album?
Eminem The Slim Shady LP
This is rated lower than MMLP, but I don't see why. It's just as good, if not BETTER than MMLP.
Eric B and Rakim Paid in Full
On July 11th, 1987, the world population reached 5 billion after a child was born in Zageb, Croatia, according to the United Nations. Four days earlier, on the other side of the world in Long Island, New York, hip hop duo Eric. B & Rakim released an album that would resound across the world for even longer. Paid In Full is an album that still resounds as a classic today amongst hip hop critics for its colorful lyrics; social commentary; simplistic, but good production; and tip-top rapping. DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim Allah combine to make the greatest hip hop duo of all time, and one of the best albums. Paid In Full is a 45-minute-long epic of hip-hop and a must have for hip hop and music fans alike.
Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra.
In the past, R&B artists associated with hip-hop collectives have come with this sort of inherent warning label; a conscious deterrent against the (usually) ensuing mediocrity. Naturally, Frank Ocean was met with a sliver of this same skepticism and, to everyone's surprise and delight, he almost singlehandedly shattered this instinctive practice of such pigeonholing. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but Nostalgia, Ultra. is a refreshing take on a tired art form.Frank Ocean is an excellent songwriter and a master at the cover, and "American Wedding" (a "Hotel California" spin-off) and "Nature Feels" (a remix of MGMT's "Electric Feel") exemplify this ability to a T. In the highly unlikely circumstance that Odd Future loses popularity or dissolves, there's no doubt in my mind that Frank Ocean would remain resiliently standing like a phoenix amongst the ashes, ready to transcend stardom and join the likes of The-Dream amongst the modern R&B elite. Come hither: jump on the bandwagon, do some freighthopping on the hype railroads. Download Nostalgia, Ultra right now. It's free. It's awesome. It's hip as fuck. You can't beat this, so you should certainly join. Oh, and yea, Odd Future Wolf Gang, #swag, Free Earl, all that shit, etc.
GZA Liquid Swords
GZA is a great MC - despite not having great flow or a signature voice - and he lays down spectacular lyrics down over intricate and dark productions by RZA to create a masterpiece. The clever metaphors and witty punchlines by GZA are some of the best I've heard, but, the production, although very good, is nothing memorable or astounding. Therefore restricting this album to 4.6/5
Ice Cube AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Lil B Roses Exodus
Lil B Angels Exodus
Madlib Madlib Medicine Show No. 7: High Jazz
Such an amazing album. Will vie for record of the year. Just imagine futuristic electro-jazz with hip-hop undertones and IDM principles and this is the record you get. Fuck Flying Lotus, High Jazz makes Cosmogramma its bitch.
Madvillain Madvillainy
Madlib's awesome, sample-heavy production (only one song does not include a sample,) MF Doom's great lyrics ("I got more cheese than Cheetohs, Doritos, and Fritos,") and the shortness of this album (average song length is 2 minutes, 6 seconds; entire album is 46.2 minutes) make it a near-classic, ranking at 4.7/5
N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton
Revolutionary, offensive, unapologetic, and truthful, Straight Outta Compton is the public and social representation NWA so vividly paints for America. With misogynist and violent lyrics about ghetto life, NWA narrates the tales of drug dealers, gang members, and suppressed people alike. They hate police, they hate women, and if you can't get over that, they hate you too. In terms of MCing style, they are distinguishable and contrast quite well, and while the beats had not become Dr. Dre's brand of patented G-funk, they are fairly jazzy and old school and - either way - are great. 4.4/5
N.W.A. Niggaz4Life
Nas Illmatic
Nas’s flow, while solid, isn’t anything spectacular; his voice, pretty good, but nothing distinctive that stands out; his lyrics are serviceable, but he’s a better storyteller than anything; and the beats, pretty good but not outstanding. So what is it about Illmatic that makes it so damn good? The atmosphere. Sure, in each individual category, the contents of Illmatic may not be anything outstanding, but as a cohesive unit, Illmatic is fantastic. The contemplative lyrics of Nas delivered by his laidback flow with a smooth voice combined with the jazzy beats create an AWE some, relaxed listening atmosphere. The snazzy style of Nas is a refreshing change from trap rap. And although Nas somewhat strays from the jazzy feel the last three tracks, this album is still spectacular as a collective effort. 4.3/5
Panacea (USA) Ink Is My Drink
This isn't as good as A Mind on a Ship Through Time, but it doesn't fall far behind. K-Murdock's atmospheric, anti-electronic, fantasy production backing MC Raw Poetic's lyrics that discuss refreshing topics typically not seen in hip-hop. With tales of love, life, and hip-hop flowing along perfectly with the pretty instrumentals, the environment in surreal and natural. 4.3/5
Panacea (USA) A Mind on a Ship Through Time
Pat D & Lady Paradox Soulscapes & Jazz Breaks
I would use the excuse of "Gucci Mane was released the same day," to explain why I didn't listen to this album until now. But I wouldn't have found this anyway. Easily one of the best (and overlooked) albums of 2009, Soulscapes & Jazzbreaks is smooth, beautiful, and urbane. As oxymoronic as the term may seem, Soulscapes & Jazz Breaks is coffeehouse hip-hop if there ever was such a thing. It's not really that hip-hop-ish. Its instrumentals are really jazzy, and Lady Paradox's lowkey singing is really pretty, and she's generally relying on indie lyrical content. Regardless, this is a really, really good album.
Project Pat & Juicy J Cut Throat
The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die
The (fairly) simplistic, solid beats serve as nothing but a mere backdrop and his husky ‘big boss’ voice and middle-of-the-spectrum flow nothing but a mechanism to Biggie’s fantastic lyricism and storytelling. A ghetto baby, through and through, Biggie tells tales of the hood all the while being good lyrically “My life’s played out, like a Jheri Curl,” “I’m slammin’ niggas like Shaquille O’Neal.” Biggie’s depressed, sometimes suicidal, lyrics tell the tales of all the, well, fuckups he had as a youngster. He weaves cautionary tales of life on the streets, and sounds dang good doing it. Ready To Die is a tried and true ghetto gospel, and a must hear for any rap fan. 4.6/5
Three 6 Mafia Chapter 1: The End
Three 6 Mafia Live By Yo Rep (Bone Dis)
Tricky Maxinquaye
Mysterious, sensuous, paranoid, dark. Four words that describe Tricky's debut album perfectly. A classic of trip-hop, Maxinquaye has dark, rich, layered production and whispery, half-sung/half-rapped vocals. The paranoid, moody lyrics on the album are delivered by Tricky's asthmatic, dark voice and Martina Topley-Bird's slinky, sensuous vocals. If it weren't for the overly rock-ish beat of "Black Steel" this album could be a classic. Alas, this is not the case, and [i]Maxinquaye falls to a 4.7/5, a relative injustice, as Ponderosa and Hell Round the Corner are two of my favorite songs ever.
Twista Adrenaline Rush
Tyler, the Creator Bastard
Almost everybody's going to anoint Kanye's MBDTF or Big Boi's first solo as the best hip-hop record of the year. I'm going to anoint this as the best hip-hop record of last year discovered this year.

4.0 excellent
A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
The Low End Theory is the epitome of a “grower.” Not only does the album get better to go on, but it takes more than one listen to fully appreciate. The beats are pretty good, with jazzy undertones, prominent bass, and an upbeat New York feel. The MCing is an easy A-minus with contrast amongst the group members despite each having considerable skill, and the lyrics are an easy B-plus, could probably be an A if they dropped the good punchlines they’re capable of, but the storytelling is very good. The Low End Theory is a really good New York hip hop album, one of the albums that changed the way I thought about east coast hip hop. 4.1/5
Andre Nickatina Conversation With a Devil
AZ Doe or Die
Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot
The best rapper from a legendary duo, great beats, and great guests make a wonderful album. The production changes in style from the dark, African vibe of "Tangerine" to the bouncy, clave-based track "You Ain't No DJ" to the chill, elevator-music like "Turns Me On". "Fo Yo Sorrows", "Shine Blockas" (both the original and remix), "Shutterbugg", and "Turns Me On" are some really good highlights. This is a great summer album, as the production never hits a melancholy note and stays great throughout. The rhymes are pretty good as well.This will be on many end of the year/best of 2010 (at least for hip-hop) lists. Bulldog be diggin', yo. Get this.

"Fo Yo Sorrows" has a superbly song chorus by Sam Chris, as well. Just amazing...

"For those who think life isn't fair, 'cause I blow my smoke in the air, as if no one is standing there, then I'll roll one tonight. For your sorrows. In my chair, as I sit back, smilin' from ear to ear, with a fistful of your girlfriend's hair, yes, she'll blow one tonight. For your sorrows."
Big L Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous
Big L is a good enough MC assisted by some good beats with prevalent jazz elements, but this is nothing but pure street poetry. The lyrics are the center of attention as Big L tells tales of the streets assisted by witty punchlines and clever metaphors. Despite being his first album, Big L delivers a fantastic effort, but, Big L lived the life he spoke of, and was gunned down in 1999, and Lifestylez Ov Da Poor and Dangerous turned out to be his only album released when he was alive. R.I.P Big L (May 30, 1974 - February 15, 1999)
Big Six Mid-South Trappin
Bun B 2 Damn Trill
Really awesome stuff right here. Bun B is like a superhero, he just kills every verse with his great rapping, signature voice and awesome punchlines about street life ("I'm the piano man, niggas know I work keys.") This is your typical mixtape format: DJ shoutouts, tracks running into one another, swiping of beats. But Bun B does it so damn well, and he is too damn trill. 4.2/5
Cam'ron Purple Haze
This leans really hard on a 4.5. Cam is just so hilarious. The beats are excellent, and Killa is a great lyricist with a ridiculous mic persona.
CunninLynguists Oneirology
For those of you who weren't already aware, oneirology is the study of dreams, and this album is just that. Hazy, hypnotic, and haunting, CunninLynguists' recent is both a sonic and lyrical exploration of the dreamiest sorts and lusher, better-produced expansion on Kno's Death Is Silent. A full immersion in this record is almost guaranteed to induce a euphoric state of somnolence. "Enemies With Benefits" feat. Tonedeff might shape up to be the track of the year.
Currensy Pilot Talk II
Much, much better than Pilot Talk. "Famous," "Silence (feat. McKenzie Eddy)," and "Michael Knight" are all fucking awesome.
Cyhi The Prynce Royal Flush
Das Racist Sit Down, Man
Deltron 3030 Deltron 3030
Now entering from left-field, Deltron 3030. Comprised of Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Dan the Automater, and DJ Kid Koala, Deltron 3030's self-titled album is experimental, conceptual, and thoughtful. The setting is based in the year 3030 A.D., and Del spits some real knowledge for you wack emcees. Organic and weird, this album is sure to break any stereotypes ignorant fools have about rap. 4.2/5
Dirty The Pimp & Da Gangsta
DJ Quik Quik Is The Name
Now I be knockin' bitches like it ain't shit, 'cause I'm a playa-mothafucka named DJ Quik. Yo maybe it's the way, I hold my dick, that make all these girlies wanna ride my tip. Now some of these bitches try to act unfair. Maybe it's because my hair's longer than theirs. Now I don't give a fuck, no I don't care because I'm like Noah's Ark my bitches come in pairs...
Domo Genesis Rolling Papers
Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologyst
If Dr. Octagonecolygist was an experiment, consider it a successful one. The MCing is decent, but that’s not the focus. The hypercreative production and outrageously weird lyrics go very well together. If the thought of a half-shark-alligator/half-man or a time travelling gynecologist from Jupiter appeals to your sense of humor or imaginative side, this album is for you.
Eazy-E It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa
Despite the departure of super-producer, now-rival Dr. Dre, Eazy-E proves that he can still produce a great record, going double platinum on It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa. Despite Dre’s departure, Eazy-E still has great beats – with the same G-funk sounds with SLIGHTLY faster pace – and uses them well. With his unfailing gangsta testaments delivered with his nasally voice and solid flow, and little quips Dre sometimes full songs dedicated to dissing him, It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa is an exciting record, besides the last 12 minutes, which is just boring going-through-the-motions. Despite this, It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa is still a great record, and there is no noticeable fall off from his N.W.A days, Eazy still has it, or rather, had it…
R.I.P Eric Lynn Wright (September 7th, 1963 – March 26th, 1995)
Freddie Gibbs midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik
midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik is essentially a grittier, more soulful version of The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs with less firepower. The chill, hypnotic beats are still present (and are still awesome) and Freddie has improved his flow a bit from The Miseducation.... Excellent stuff right here. Should have listened to this guy earlier.
Freddie Gibbs The Miseducation Of Freddie Gibbs
fun. Aim and Ignite
Ghostface Killah Fishscale
Goodie Mob Soul Food
While the new wave of southern rappers represents codeine syrup and clubs, the old generation of southern rappers represents black eyed peas and churches. The soulful hip-hop quartet Goodie Mob consisting of Cee Lo Green, Big Gipp, Khujo, and T-Mo was just one of many 90's hip-hop groups hailing from the south that provided spiritual, socially conscious messages. The melancholic, gospel-influenced soundscapes backed by emotional rapping provides a degree of sentimental value to Soul Food. Moreover, the socioeconomic disgrunteledness pertaining to lower income peoples, and rejection of typical sociomental standards regarding African-American males. Much like co-Dungeon Family members Andre 3000 and Big Boi, the members of Goodie Mob have something rarely seen in today's southern rap scene; soul.
Gravediggaz 6 Feet Deep
A fairly dead subgenre, horrorcore hip-hop is scarcely found nowadays, not counting finding a good horrorcore album. But back in the early to mid 90's, horrorcore was all the rage. Wiedly considered to be the founding fathers of the genre, Gravediggaz were a relative one-hit-wonder, slightly faltering after their horrorcore classic (and debut) 6 Feet Deep. A semi-concept album, the members each had roles. Prince Paul was "The Undertaker," RZA was "The RZArector," Too Poetic was "The Grym Reaper," and Frukwan was "The Gatekeeper."

It'd be quite harder to run across a better one-two punch production team than Prince Paul and RZA. Minimalistic, haunting production was accompanied by madman lyrics full of stories of mutilation, murder, and revenge. Splendidly enough, this excellent album runs its eerie course in under an hour, clocking in at about fifty minutes.
Gucci Mane The Burrprint: The Movie 3-D
Gucci Mane The State vs. Radric Davis
basically everything i said in my review was true except the r&b actually really really sucks
Gucci Mane Ice Attack 2
HORSE the band Pizza
Jay Rock Watts Finest Vol. 1
Jay Rock The Takeover
Despite mixtape errors, and its lengthiness. The Takeover is some heavy sh*t. Stealing beats from other artists, Jay Rock (to no surprise) makes original songs better by remixing them by himself. Lyrics are pretty street, and are highly rated in the punchline department. 4.2/5
Jay Rock From Hood Tales to the Cover of XXL
This is exactly why Jay Rock is going to save the west, not to mention just how he's gonna save it. Jay Rock weaves the threads of firm street fabrics and the silky wisps of similes to compile a great lyrical effort. From Hood Tales to the Cover of XXL features Jay Rock's most distinctly west coast array of instrumentals yet, and he knocks 'em down. This mixtape is lead by the song "Real Bloods," check them both out. 3.8/5
John Coltrane Lush Life
Cool, calm, collected. A relatively simple, slow form of jazz, Coltrane employs only four instruments on the album. Drums, piano, bass guitar, and obviously, the saxophone. The bass and drums often play just as simple rhythmic background pacers, but when they are employed in a more creative way, things get fun. The piano track is awesome, and this is such a relaxing album. 3.9/5
Johnny Polygon Group Hug
When I first reviewed Johnny Polygon, I had him all wrong. I thought he was a gimmicky rapper, kind of like Afroman, but only in the "I'm poor" sense. But, I was wrong. I attended his Birthday Bash at the Cain's a couple of weekends ago, looking for scalped tickets. I was there at 6, the show started at 9:30, and Johnny popped his head out. He ended up giving me a free t-shirt, and I got to shake the man's hand. I told him I didn't have a ticket, but I'd get one, and he replied "Sneak in." Then, it hit me. Johnny isn't a gimmick. He's honest. Sometimes with artists, we forget they're people, and treat them as entities. Johnny Polygon is just a normal guy rapping. He raps about love, and sure, he has the occassional ego boost. But he's nowhere near as arrogant as normal rappers. His instrumentals are influenced by electronica and afropop, and he has some of the best drums in the industry, if not the best. For one last ringing endorsement of Johnny P., he's the kind of rapper that, even if you hate rap, you'll like him, and if you do like rap, you'll love him. Get this, A.S.A.P.
Johnny Polygon Wolf in Cheap Clothing
Kanye West Late Registration
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Congrats, Sputnik. You've outdone yourself once again. This is fucking great, but immensely overrated.
KMD Bl-ck B-st-rds
Bl_ck B_st_rds is not as political as the albume cover and title would imply, but nonetheless, it's pretty damn awesome. Zev Love X (a.k.a. MF Doom) has a semi-nasally voice and can kick some pretty awesome rhymes. The production is good, but isn't exceptional or amazing. I like this album alot because of the nostalgic appeal to go back and view MF Doom's roots. Awesome cover, awesome title, awesome album.
Koopsta Knicca Da Devil's Playground
Lil B Blue Flame
Lil B Rain In England
Lord Infamous Lord of Terror
Mac Dre Thizzelle Washington
Mac Lethal The Original 11:11 Sessions
Madlib Shades of Blue
This is nice, classy, serene jazzy instrumental hip hop at its best. Madlib does an awesome job, using his beats to envelope me in a calm, pontificative state of mind.
Mastodon Leviathan
Max Tannone Mos Dub
MC Ren Renincarnated
MF DOOM Operation: Doomsday
Mouse On Tha Track Swagga Fresh Freddie
N.W.A. N.W.A. and the Posse
Basically, this is the neglected little cousin of Straight Outta Compton. Same lyrical content, just a little bit more rough on the edges. Regardless, a really awesome album. Especially the songs "A Bitch Iz A Bitch" and "Fat Girl." Awesome stuff. However, if you're expecting the G-funk cuts of "The Chronic," you shall surely be disappointed. This is heavily 80's influenced, centering itself on percussion, but Dre throws other elements in there as well. 4.1/5
Nas God's Son
One Be Lo S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.
Panacea (USA) Corkscrew Gaps
While MC Raw Poetic raps about life, love, and hip-hop, K-Murdock serves up some beautiful, fantasy beats. If you like this, definitely check out A Mind on a Ship Through Time.
Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It was 1988, twenty four years after desegregation, but a few African-Americans were still pissed with the American
power structure. One of those men was Chuck D. With his Malcolm X/Bob Marley infusion of political rhetoric, and
his silly, shoutout-squawking sidekick Flavor Flav, it is easy to see why Public Enemy is amicably ideological.

The contrasted tandem was backed by the (understatedly) sample heavy, percussion-based instrumentals conducted
by the Bomb Squad. Executive producer Rick Rubin incorporated horn loops and turntable techniques to supply extra
density to what were previously highly layered - modernly minimalistic - cuts.

Lyrically a social protest throughout, Chuck D is somewhat bipolar in his approach to politicking. Although largely
portraying violent, revolutionary-like tendencies, he also displays a relatively looser side on occasion. At times, he
creates smaller, almost hippie-like disgruntlements to hedge against his black rage.

Socially conscious, Public Enemy was a catalyst for intelligent, politically-burdened hip-hop. To this day, [i[It Takes a
Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back[/i] vividly resounds as a standing, although factually casual, argument against the
white power structure.

Quasimoto The Unseen
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
This album changed the way I thought about east coast hip-hop. I used to think that east coast rap was all lyricism. Average flow, rough voice, and bad production. Well, I was wrong...except about the lyricism part. Raekwon exhibits good, uptempo flow (Knuckleheadz, Rainy Dayz) to match with his not-too low, not-too high voice (Ice Water, Spot Rusherz) and is assisted by some pretty creative production provided by RZA and Raekwon on tracks like Knowledge with the creeping synths and midnight graveyard theme and Guillotine Swordz with the Arabian feel. A stupid intro, and a few just-decent songs prevent this from being a 4.5 or 5.0. With help from his Wu homies and a few other collaboraters, Raekwon lands a 4.2/5
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II
Rob Swift The Architect
Instrumental albums rarely retain my attention for more than a few tracks, but this succeeds in doing more than that. X-ecutioners DJ Rob Swift does an awesome job. Standout tracks are "Overture," "Sound The Horn" and "Spartacus." 4/5
Soulstice (USA-MD) Dead Letter Perfect
T.I. Trap Muzik
Tech N9ne K.O.D.
Tech N9ne The Lost Scripts of K.O.D.
Tha Joker Family Ties Ent
The Weeknd House of Balloons
Ethereal, chill, melancholic and sexy, the jams The Weeknd have crafted up have far exceeded my initial expectations. House of Balloons is a wonderful debut that finds the duo pushing the envelope on both electronic and R&B and subsequently mashing both together to great effect. With an eerier edge to lust and a more passionate approach to love, House of Baloons is something the R&B scene, which has been populated by inept 'urban music' artists and pop stars, has been missing. If hipsters' predictions and wishes come true, The Weeknd may truly supplant the likes of Drake - who served as the catalyst for the hype train by cosigning them - and Trey Songz. If this is the R&B of the future, I'm gonna be listening to the genre a lot more.
Three 6 Mafia Chapter 2: World Domination
Awww yea. Although this is when Three 6 first started to seriously experiment in crunk, the balance is awesome. Horrorcore, smoke songs, and Memphis crunk blended in harmony to make one awesome album. MA-FI-A. 4.1/5
Tony Moon Sacred Sounds
While the production on MOONshine: You Know, For Kids!!! was a happy-go-lucky pop/soul fusion, the production on Sacred Sounds, courtesy Van Ark, is really chill and relaxing. Tony Moon's arrogance levels have since increased, but that doesn't really matter, because he still hasn't hit the normal level of cockiness most indie/conscious/lyrical rappers have. The lyrics are deep, the production is chill, the rhyme schemes and flows complex and uptempo. A great listen. 4.2/5
Tusche Costa Crucifix
UGK Ridin' Dirty
Syrup, lowriders, and diamonds, that's what UGK is made of. Consisting of members Bun B (who plays the street thug) and Pimp C (who plays the rich, yet shady, businessman,) UGK helped shape modern southern rap today, and Ridin' Dirty is the catalyst behind their influence. Clever lyrics about bright, diamonds, nice cars, hot women, drug dealing/usage, and violent crimes are delivered over funky beats produced by Pimp C. Nearly a 4.5, but not quite. Regardless, man did I underrate this album initially. Gave it a second listen, and it climbed a full point, making itself a highly respectable 4.2/5.
Viktor Vaughn Vaudeville Villain
Although Madvillainy surpasses this in quality, Vaudeville Villain still showcases what DOOM has to offer. Despite the fact that he sticks to the rapping on this, the production is still pretty good. But Metal Fingers always commands the attention. His lyrics? Creative. (The theme? Evil supervillain) His vocals? Complex. The greatest villain of them all does it again. Here's to DOOM, the biggest, smartest menace there ever was.
William Basinski Melancholia
Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
1993 was an interesting year in hip-hop. Before east coast hip hop became big again, rap was dominated by west coast artists like Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle) and Eazy-E (It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa) in the early 90’s. Before Nas, before The Notorious B.I.G, and before Jay-Z, there was an east coast rap group that made their debut in ’93 – the Wu Tang Clan. Comprised of nine members (Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Masta Killa, and U-God) the Wu was a pioneer of East coast rap, instituting the amazing lyrical style seen in east coast rap to even this day. Despite the great lyrics demonstrated on this album, the minimalistic production holds it back. And while the obscure Kung Fu sampling somewhat makes up for this, it cannot entirely compensate for the lo fi production demonstrated on this album. All in all, this album definitely deserves a listen though, due to the cohesiveness of the group and the amazing lyrics. A few mediocre songs and the production prevent this from being a 4 or 4.5
Z-Ro The Life of Joseph W. McVey
What the fuck is this shit? Rappers aren't supposed to have feelings!
Z-Ro Let the Truth Be Told

3.5 great
Andre Nickatina Tears of a Clown
Atmosphere To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy
I actually rather enjoyed this. Makes me want to revisit Atmosphere's discog.
Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill
Big K.R.I.T. ReturnOf4eva
Black Milk Album Of The Year
Cam'ron Boss of All Bosses II
Chino XL Here to Save You All
Chino XL is a punchline and metaphor specialist with such sly humor and scathing dises ("Avoid me like Eazy-E's
blood sample,") but because of this, industry quality producers tend to avoid him, resulting in him having bad beats
80% of the time. Although that's ignorable because his lyrics are too good. But sometimes the beats can be
distracting and/or detracting.
Chop Chop Authentic Vol. 2
This is his sophomore album - and the second edition of Authentic - and he basically has done everything a full .5 points better than he did on his last album. He's expanded his lyrics to include punchlines and metaphors, his production has improved, he's a bit more hardened, his rapping has gotten better, and the quality of the guest rappers went up. 3.4/5
Chop Chop Durt Money 10
This is practically Chop Chop's best impersonation of Biggie Smalls, and he actually does a good job. The album is half "borrowing" beats and using his own. Either way, they're good, this is his best rapping to date, and he actually draws similarities to Biggie Smalls. If you're looking for punchlines, go elsewhere. If you're looking for gangsta swagger, welcome. 3.7/5
Clipse Hell Hath No Fury
Currensy Smokee Robinson
Curren$y may not have a wide array of styles, but he's damn good at the one he has. He "borrows" beats on this tape (187 On a Undercova Cop, Today Was a Good Day, Lemonade) and has no problem being completely comfortable about them. Lyrics are great as well. They aren't extremely intelligent or uber-complex, but they get the job done well. 3.4/5
Dr. Dre The Chronic
Widely considered to be one of – if not THE – greatest rap albums of all time, The Chronic isn’t all that it’s hyped up to be. Despite infectious, irresistible G-funk beats from Dr. Dre, the ghetto testaments, and the (then) all-star cast. However, The Chronic fails to be a 5/5 because of Dre’s unsatisfactory MCing. His discomfort on the mic, lazy flow, and at times stumbling annunciation sometimes make this album sometimes slightly boring. Despite this, this album is still very good, and is a must have for all rap fans. 3.7/5
Eazy-E Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin...
El-P Fantastic Damage
*grabs computer* HEY SPUTNIK, YOUR AVERAGE RATING FOR THIS ALBUM WAS GOOD. AND IMMA LET YOU KEEP IT, BUT THIS ALBUM'S RATING SHOULD BE A 3.5 AT BEST! AT BEST!

This album was excellent its first half, but it got really boring the second half. Despite its experimental, yet awesome, production and great lyricism, I just really dislike El-P's rapping. Mounds of arrogance are only justified by his production and his lyrics, not his flow, his voice, or his delivery. A great album, but I don't personally like it all that much.
Eric B and Rakim Follow the Leader
Compared to Paid In Full, Follow the Leader is the ignored stepchild of the Eric B. & Rakim discography. The instrumental songs aren't as good as that of its predecessor, and just the instrumentals in general. But Rakim is rocking the mic with more technical proficiency and better songwriting. As a fan of instrumentals, I take Paid In Full over this any day, but this is still great. 3.6/5
Flying Lotus Cosmogramma
FlyLo experiments with combining jazz, electronic, and hip-hop, and succeeds to a great extent.
Frayser Boy Gone On That Bay
Frayser Boy's debut album - released in 2003 - "Gone On That Bay" raised some speculation. By 'bay' many people thought Frayser Boy was from the Bay Area of the west coast (Oakland, San Francisco) but they were wrong. Frayser Boy released the album under Hypnotize Minds back when Three 6 Mafia and company were unknowns. Frayser Boy may not have the astounding lyricism or punchlines of east coast rappers but he has the stellar production of DJ Paul and Juicy J to compensate. Frayser Boy is not a rapper that weaves witty punchlines together, but he is a great story teller akin to Slick Rick. But in the genre of 00's southern gangsta rap, not late 80's-early 90's west coast hip-hop. His clever gangsta stories with the occasional witty punchline are entertaining throughout and pair well with the brilliant production of the Juiceman and Paul. While his debut album is a good effort, it is heavily malnourished in the chorus department. If Frayser Boy took a few songs off the album and upped his severely insufficient choruses, this album could easily be excellent. But, we have to take it for what it is, a great-bordering on-excellent southern gangsta rap album.
Freeway & Jake One The Stimulus Package
Somehow, amidst the split alliances in the Jay-Z/Beanie fight, Freeway has managed to put out a good album. This isn't your typical Freeway, but rather, your typical coke raps. Jake one provides some awesome, thumping production which somewhat displaces Freeway from his usual style. But nevertheless, this is a good record. 3.4/5
G-Side The One...Cohesive
hey gyyz u kno taht if knigSoBY11 DOESnt liKE it u jnow iits gud rite
Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele
The typical story of my east coast rap listening experience. Awesome lyrics, not feeling the beats or the actual rapping. Still a great album, just not for me. Maybe for you, though. 3.3/5
Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere
Gorillaz Gorillaz
The Gorillaz are exactly what they should be: fun. As a cartoon band, the Gorillaz have fun, but reasonably good, pop songs and a head-in-the-clouds atmosphere. Although largely pop, this album combines alternative rock, dub, punk, hip-hop and a cartoon appearance to go with it. Thusly, the Gorillaz offer a unique perspective on concept music. Albarn's far-away, dreamer's drawl is super awesome, but the album suffers from a few filler songs. Overally a great album all around, just is weakened by a few mishaps. In addition, the upside is only so limited. Finally: a pop album that offers pleasure, but not guiltiness. 3.7/5
Gorillaz Demon Days
By far, a much more political, meaningful concept is found on Demon Days than the dreamy, fun elements found on their other album. Produced entirely by Danger Mouse, the production has a slightly more soulful, gentle feel to accompany their usual multi-genre beats. Check out "Feel Good Inc." and "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" if you wish to hear the top tracks. However, there are some unlikable tracks on here sure enough, and the best songs only have so much of an upside.

Meaningful and dreamy, Demon Days packs a pop-ish, politically potent punch. Definitely not the album you would want if you were a first time Gorillaz listener, as this is stylistically deviating from most of their works, but if you're looking for just a good album plain and simple, welcome.
Gucci Mane Back to the Trap House
Gucci Mane has always had astronomically superb production to pair with his clever gangsta lyrics, and this album is
no exception. However, Gucci's flow has not always been up to speed, and once again this album is no exception.
Laflare flashes good flow most of the time, but occasionally he is just lazy. But all in all, this album is very good (and
there are several tracks worth buying) but the missing piece of the puzzle - once again - is the So Icey CEO's
(sometimes) subpar flow.
Gucci Mane Writing on the Wall
Gucci Mane The Movie Pt. 2 - The Sequel
The Movie Part 2 is where Gucci really started to improve. Despite DJ Drama’s obnoxious jackassery, a few just-decent songs, a couple of radio singles, and the unnecessary intro, The Movie Part 2 is a solid 3.5. Gucci showcases his everready lyrical abilities on tracks like Superhero and arrogant sense of humor on tracks like Burr. As ALWAYS, hot beats are packed to the brim, with tracks like Break Up, Wasted and Awesome. Gucci’s flow has improved significantly, as has voice, but he hasn’t perfected it, as seen on Ain’t Nothing Else to Do. Gucci’s overall effort on this is pretty good, but it just barely falls short of excellent.
Gucci Mane Chicken Talk
Probably the best pre-2008 release from Gucci. Some great hood shit on here.
Gucci Mane The Movie: Gangsta Grillz
Gucci Mane The Cold War: Part 3 (Brrrussia)
Gucci Mane The Cold War: Part 2 (Great Brrritain)
Gucci Mane The Cold War: Part 1 (Guccimerica)
Guilty Simpson Ode to the Ghetto
The way one imagines what the troll under the bridge sounds like in the story of the Three Billygoats, is the way Guilty Simpson sounds. He drops gutter lyrics with his rock-solid flow over some ace production from the likes of Madlib and Black Milk. This album is one of the reasons Detroit is the second-best city for rap. Detroit, arguably the worst, most crime-infested city in America, is entailed by Guilty Simpson on Ode to the Ghetto. 3.7/5
Gunplay Inglorious Bastard (The Prelude to Valkyrie)
"No Arm and Hammer/In my Hannah Montana/These kicks ain't alligator skin...I think they're salamander!"
HORSE the band R. Borlax
HORSE the band The Mechanical Hand
HORSE the band Desperate Living
Iwrestledabearonce It's All Happening
J Dilla Donuts
Released on his 32nd birthday and just three days before his death, J Dilla shows why he's considered to be one of the greatest producers of all time. Donuts has a relaxed atmosphere, due to it's neo soul elements and oodles of R&B samples. Great instrumental hip-hop record. 3.7/5
J. Cole Friday Night Lights
Johnny Polygon Rebel Without Applause
Kanye West Graduation
Kid Cudi Man on the Moon: The End of Day
In an age of hip-hop which �creativity� means being different, Kid CuDi�s sci-fi, techno, futuristic theme is different, AND creative. His subject matter, which differentiates from the usual, shoot-screw-spend lyrics, actually recognizes emotions other than anger, and follows a deeper thought pattern unlike most rappers. Combine this with his fairly good MCing and his sci-fi, UFO, techno sounding beats, and you get a nice listening atmosphere. Kid CuDi is striking ground in a musical genre which is seen by most to be dead due to the vast following of trends. Originality is this album�s game, and for a debut album, Kid CuDi aces it. Looking forward to his next effort.
Kno Death Is Silent
Kno sits in a dark room and debates his existence and the delicate balance between life and death.
Koopsta Knicca Da K Project
Koopsta Knicca's baaack. But, much like Eazy-E, the height of his career occured when he was affiliated with his original group. But also much like Eazy-E, he had a solo album with the group that had epic beats, then left, but still had epic beats. Thus is the story of Da K Project. Although Koop doesn't do his signature style of rapping all that much, the beats are awesome, and his lyrics are cool as always, even the skits are funny. 3.7/5
Koopsta Knicca Undaground Muzic: Volume One
Koopsta does it again. Despite his "suppression" by Three 6 Mafia, Koop brings some nice beats, some gangsta lyrics, and as always, epic rapping to the table. Not his best album, but for him to keep his head above water without DJ Paul or Juicy J is impressive. 3.4/5
Lil B Red Flame
Lil B Evil Red Flame
Lil Wayne Tha Carter II
Simply put, this was the biggest and best mainstream rap release of the 2000's.
Lupe Fiasco Lasers
Massive Attack Mezzanine
Dark, brooding, and trippy, Mezzanine is quite awesome. With a disc scratched-up effect, the whispery, sensuous vocals perfectly compliment the smooth, rainy-day production. 3.6/5
MC Ren Kizz My Black Azz
MF DOOM MM.. Food
Another short album, DOOM combines crazy food metaphors, lots of sampling within good production to make a nice, laid-back album. MM...Food is absolutely devourable, and food for the ears. 3.6/5
MF DOOM Born Like This
DOOM does it yet again. My favorite supervillain puts together a great album full of good songs, but on this album, the production is seemingly missing. Other than the ocassional flash of excellence, alot of these beats are pretty meh. Great lyrics, pretty good rapping, beats as a whole are okay. Oh well, there's always Madvillainy. 3.3/5
MF DOOM Special Herbs, Vols. 5 & 6
A nice beats compilation from MF Doom. A little lengthy for my liking, but nevertheless, a solid 3.3/5
Mike G ALI
Miles Davis Nefertiti
Relaxing and classy, this is one of my favorite album when it comes to being calm. The first half is better than the second half, but that's bearable because the length of the album is short, and therefore, better. Plus, the album feeds off of atmosphere, and this album's atmosphere is quite sweet and chill. Miles Davis is one mean trumpet player. 3.7/5
Mondre Dope Since 1991
Neon Indian Psychic Chasms
Oh. My. God. kingsoby1 and I share the same album rating for once. Is it 2012 or something? If so, who cares anyways? This album is too fun and feel-good for me to care. Digging this and it's still growing.
Obie Trice Special Reserve
OutKast Aquemini
Outkast is a group that truly has soul. The moral musings of Andre 3000 and Big Boi laid over the neo-soul influence southern rap beats is a good combination. The brisk flows of Andre and Antwan delivered with their southern, African-American preacher voices also serve as a good combination. So what holds this album back? The layout. The 2-minute skits between each song disturbs the listening experience, and thus, takes away from the likability of some songs, in addition, the back end of the album is pretty sketchy, with some of the best songs on the album, and some of the worst.3.3/5
Payso Super Mario All Stars
Payso, an uber underground, largely shunned and disdained rapper releases his gazillionth tape with Super Mario All Stars. The seven track tape is a 24-minute long bucket‘o’laughs. The lo-fi, cartoony, Nintendo beats work really well for the rapper’s style. His comical musings like “I feel like Liberty City, doin’ grand theft with tha auto-“ and “My money is like X-Box, it’s comin’ three sixty” go perfectly with his humorous type of delivery, solid flow, and Lil Wayne-minus-the syrup voice. And while he is pretty hysterical, he’s terrible at rhyming as he often rhymes the same word or phrase twice, and in once case, four times in a row. Despite this, he manages to put on a good show, only faltering somewhat on Dedication. Super Mario All Stars is a high 3.0/low 3.5.
Project Pat Real Recognize Real
HOLD ON PROJECT PAT, AND THIS ALBUM WAS REALLY GOOD, BUT "HORNY," THE OUTRO, AND THE INTRO WERE VERY UNNECESSARY. Good lyrics, great beats, some good rapping. Ain't Scared of Ya is an epic song. A really solid effort from Pat. 3.7/5
Quasimoto The Further Adventures of Lord Quas
With schizophrenic rapping, dark tales of street life, helium, and awesome production filled to the brim with samples, The Further Adventures of Lord Quas is great. But it's not The Unseen-level "great." While The Unseen was an album that was the product of a week long mushroom binge. But this? This seems forced, and unnatural. That's not to say it's not as good, but its effect is significantly diminished knowing its an awkward follow-up.
Raekwon Coke Up In Da Dollar Bill
Scarface Mr. Scarface Is Back
Only thirteen ratings? Come on, Sputnik. Get it together.
Scarface The Diary
Am I the only 'crazy' person who doesn't like this as much as Mr. Scarface Is Back? Eh, if so - oh well. Still a great album.
Senim Silla The Name The Motto The Outcome
Sims Bad Time Zoo
Snoop Dogg Doggystyle
Doggystyle is like a hot shower, you wouldn't normally seek it out, but when you get around to it, it's nice. This is basically Snoop tooting his own horn most of the time, and then being "O.G." the rest of the time, but sounding good doing it either way. But, then again, Snoop's more of a pimp rapper than a gangster rapper. The lyrics are pretty average, but everything surrounding them is great. The g-funk beats courtesy Dr. Dre are - as always - top tier, and Snoop's flow, voice and charisma are sounding real nice. Although it's hard to take this album serious when the man names himself after a children's cartoon character, and talks about keeping a file for his nails and taking bubble baths. Not as good as it's hyped up to be (the skits don't help) but still great nonetheless. 3.6/5
Sodom M-16
A trio of Nazis made a thrash album conceptually based on the Vietnam War and titled it after an American-made firearm. Huh...
SpaceGhostPurrp Blvcklvnd Rvdix 66.6
Squadda B I Smoke Because I Don't Care About Death
Stalley Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music)
All you need to know about Stalley - his car is classic, but he's so contemporary.
Styles P The Green Ghost Project
Tanya Morgan Brooklynati
For years east coast rappers and groups have been taking shots at the hip-hop mainstream, wack MCs, 'p*ssy-a*s n*gg*s', and the music industry in general, as well as proclaiming their love for the game and declaring themselves as the greatest MCs to ever live. Most of it has been boring, but now, Tanya Morgan has come up with a rather fresh, appealing way to do so. One of the skits on their album involves a radio personality dictating a concert gone awry after 'one of fifteen hypemen' of a group that came back to perform the same song after 15 years of playing it pulled a gun and shot into the crowd. 'Nuff said.
The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death
Life After Death, although recorded during his lifetime, was released posthumously after Biggie was gunned down in a driveby in Los Angeles. Despite being a slightly better MC, having much better production on deck, and a cast of stars behind him, Biggie somehow succeeds in making his sophomore album not as good as Ready To Die. Abandoning the hardcore ghetto mentality that brought him his fame on about 40% of the album, Biggie replaces some of the hood stories with R&B anthems or ode-to-money-and-fame songs. With hits like Hypnotize and Mo Money Mo Problems fueling this effort, Life After Death went diamond. Still a great record, Biggie’s second and last studio album sold in far greater numbers than its predecessor, but lacked in the quality that his freshman album had. 3.7/5
Three 6 Mafia Da Unbreakables
They had long been decaying before this. This was the last album with Lord Infamous, the first album without Koopsta Knicca, and the second to last album without Crunchy Black. But this was right before their Oscar, so although they didn't retain their old horrorcore style, they still were putting on the Memphis crunk show. Great beats, good rapping, lyrics aren't at their peak, but are satisfactory. But the atmosphere and energy of the album are great. 3.4/5
Three 6 Mafia Most Known Unknown
The last great Three 6 Mafia album to date (2.10.10,) Not as good as Da Unbreakables, but much better than Last 2 Walk. Has some undesirable tracks, but infectious hits like Stay Fly and Poppin' My Collar compensate in full for this. The Memphis crunk/southern gangsta rap hybrid is pretty fun. But it's not as good as the old Triple Six horrorcore. 3.3/5
Three 6 Mafia Smoked Out, Loced Out
Despite its insanely low sound quality, Three 6 Mafia delivers a great album comprised of two types of songs. The first kind being violent, frenzied posse cuts. The second kind being blunted, laidback group studio sessions. Although it was their first album, and they hadn't reached the peak of their abilities, they still end up putting out a great album. 3.7/5
Tony Moon Lunar Plexus
A good album that's severely hurt by filler, no consistent musical theme, and moments of overpretentiousness. "Rebel Hell" and "Mic Check Ein Zwei" are amazing, and showcase how great Tony Moon is, but the entire album's bogged down by lack of direction and unnecessary tracks.
Young L L-E-N

3.0 good
2Pac All Eyez on Me
The first disc is awesome, but the second disc is boring. Seriously. Despite all the hits throughout the album, Tupac fails to retain my attention throughout the 2.2 hour long album, especially on the back end, and when there is attentiveness on the back end, it's usually disdainful. The first disc is really good, containing Tupac's angry rantings and soulful musings, and the second disc is so meh. 3.2/5
Aesop Rock None Shall Pass
Good, smart lyricism, and his voice is not annoying, especially for a white guy. But the production just isn't my thing.
Afroman The Good Times
You're taking a one hour car drive in a rusty, beat-up 98 Ford Taurus. You're drinking shitty beer, smoking cheap weed, cracking crass jokes, and some minimalistic funk instrumentals are playing in the background. That drive is "The Good Times."
Afu-Ra Body Of The Life-Force
Alex Kresovich Gold N' Fly: 007
The original score from 1997 Nintendo 64 smash hit game "Goldeneye: 007", mixed with some drums, and rap added over it. From legendary rappers (e.g. Pac and Biggie) to one hit wonders like Rich Boy, you can find them on here. The only problem is that there's sort of a subconscious awkwardness in the sense that you think about the original versions of the rap songs. This is really good, but not great. Plus, it's free. http://www.goldnfly.com
Architecture In Helsinki In Case We Die
Army Of The Pharaohs The Unholy Terror
Well, it's an east coast posse album. Not much to say that can't already be said, in my opinion. Great lyrics, good rapping, poor beats. That's about it.
B.o.B The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Beatdealaz Excessive Force
Big K.R.I.T. K.R.I.T Wuz Here
Big L The Big Picture
This is miles away from the level his first album achieved. Does this mean Big L was a one-hit wonder? Yes. But does it mean that this album is bad? No way. He does everything a little bit lesser than on his first album is really the only problem. The largest flaw is the quality of the beats, which isn't as good as his freshman debut. Listen to Lifestylez Ov da Poor & Dangerous AFTER you listen to this, so you won't be disappointed by this if you did the converse. 3.1/5
Big Tuck Purple Hulk
Black Cobra Bestial
Boosie Badazz Superbad: the Return of Boosie Bad Azz
Bought this CD at the local record store yesterday. It's much more consistent than his last record - Bad Azz, which was released in 2006 - and he did a much better job with the songs with lower BPM than he did on Bad Azz, save the three-in-a-row R&B/sex songs in the middle. However, there aren't as many monstrous tracks, and although that makes for a much smoother listen, it's not as great for the car as you would hope. Still a good album, though.
Boosie Badazz Bad Azz
Awww, c'mon, Boosie. The first seven tracks of this were great, the last ten tracks were hit and miss. "When You
Gonna Drop" and "That's What They Like" are fucking BEASTS. 3.2/5
Bricksquad Bricksquad Mafia
Mixtape DJs are notorious for their use of sound effects. As a generic trap rap mixtape, perhaps it's fitting that this album can be summed up entirely by its sounds. You're just as likely to hear a clip of a currency-counting machine being used as you are gunfire snippets. And a Waka Flocka Flame or Wooh da Kid adlib ("BOW!" and "YESSSSS!," respectively) is just as imminent as a rapidfire Lex Luger TR-808 drum kit. This is the new south: brick-selling, blunt-smoking, bill-tossing and bustin' caps. A bit unpolished, and it could definitely do without the typical DJ tomfoolery, but a good listen nevertheless.
C-Mal Earned My Stripes
Canibus Melatonin Magik
Basically, if you handed great lyrics and non-rock beats of the same quality (as their others) to Insane Clown Posse, you would have this album. Lyrics are awesome, but Canibus sounds like he should be on one of those wigger, horrorcore, cult-bands. Beats are pretty good sometimes, but most of the time it's meh. Lyrics however are awesome. 3.25/5
Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein
Technically great, technically weird, aesthetically boring.
Charles Hamilton Normalcy
Chiddy Bang Air Swell
These songs were recorded on plane rides to and from London, England. The beats are heavily influenced by electropop and afrobeat, and Chiddy makes some good rhymes ("Rock like Aesop," "I keep it kickin' and pushin' like Lupe")
Nice little EP right here.
Chop Chop Authentic
Basically, the best aspect of Chop Chop is his actual rapping. Which is comprised of his gang leader voice, his authoratative delivery, and his steady, rock solid flow. Everything surrounding it is just okay. Beats are okay, 'hood nigga with swagga' lyrics aren't really anything special. But it's worth listening to because of Chop's flow. 2.9/5
Currensy Pilot Talk
DangerDoom The Mouse And The Mask
This is good, but DOOM's done better throughout his career, and even in his collaborative works (see, Madvillainy.) While most of the songs are good, there's nothing really epic, and the album isn't uber-cohesive, thus limiting it to only a 3.1/5
Das Racist Shut Up, Dude
Yea, on second thought, don't listen to Bulldog's "gimmick" bullshit. This is seriously great.
Davinci The Day The Turf Stood Still
Not that great. Solid, but nothing impressive. The fact that the mixing isn't very good doesn't help either.
Dem Franchize Boyz Dem Franchize Boyz
Charisma, weak gangsta lyrics, weak lyrics, but awesome beats. This album may not be technically skilled, but it has lots of personality. You may pass the cuts off as simple snap beats, but they are much better than that. Parlae is a fun rapper in particular and has lots of personality. I listened to this alot when I was in middle school. Call it nostalgia, but I (guiltily) enjoy this album. 2.8/5
Devin The Dude Do Not Distherb (Suit 420)
For what it is (a smoke album) it's pretty good, but it's nothing enthrallingly good. D.T.D. has done stuff way better than this. There's better Devin the Dude material, better smoke rap, better rap period, etc.
Devin The Dude Suite 420
Mini-Review
Depending on how you think about it, Devin the Dude is quite odd. As a rapper who comes from Houston, Texas - which has a subculture that is intently focused on codeine syrup - it's astonishing to find him obsessed about marijuana . That is, if you're a first time listener. If you've lent Devin repeated listens, this comes as no surprise whatsoever. No monetary decadence, no egoboosting trips, scarce mentions of sex, this album is truly for the stoners.

As a perpetually stoned musical entity, what better experiences can Devin draw from then smoking weed? None, really. So what better to compliment an album nearly entirely - he attributes a few songs to sex and/or love - about smoking pot than a super chill environment? With a relaxed, melodic style of rapping, and instrumentals influenced by ambient techno and downtempo electronic, Devin the Dude is ALL set in concept. The question is, does he do it well?

Of course he does it well. Exceedingly well. We were aloud to listen to music during our 90-minute test in history today. I picked Suite 420, and let it roll, and all my stress about the test melted away. Just like that. Hell, I wanted to blunt up in class right then and there, and I don't even do drugs.

Hypnotic, melodic, and chill, Suite 420 is a must-have for the mary jane lovers, and deserves a legitimate check out by any hip-hop fan.
Diggy The First Flight
DJ Paul Scale-A-Ton (Skeleton)
What Lil Jon did to revolutionize the Atlantan crunk scene, DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia did to the originator of the former. While Atlantan crunk is more tropical and pop influenced and is about having fun and being wild, its darker father, Memphis crunk is about getting buck and throwing shit all over the place. DJ Paul brings some rocking, dark club beats and uses his grimey, rough, loud voice to get you buck. Although he isn't a punchline master, DJ Paul utilizes tales of violence and drug usage to impress listeners in the lyrical category. 3.2/5
Dr. Quandary Beyond All Spheres Of Force And Matter
Found this on one of the reputable blogs I go to. Here's a link to it. http://www.hhb.org.uk
Digging this and it's growing, might do a review of it.
E-40 Revenue Retrievin': Day Shift
Earl Sweatshirt EARL
Flying Lotus Pattern+Grid World
All the facets of FlyLo's style injected into one cool, accessible, little EP.
Ghostface Killah Apollo Kids
(Insert douchey soundoff attacking user Bob Saget because he rated this a 3/5 here.)
Gorillaz Plastic Beach
Sloppy, rough, and abstract, Plastic Beach comes thundering down from the hype sky. (Non-)concept cartoon band Gorillaz' recent effort is muddled and unfocused at times, and at others, fun and creative. Influences hail from genres such as dub, electronic, alternative rock, punk, and hip-hop. However, the album succeeds best with Albarn heading the vocals. The second half of the album is much better than the first. Standout tracks are "Rhinestone Eyes," "Some Kind of Nature," "Superfast Jellyfish" and "On Melancholy Hill," but needless filler, and boring tracks limit this album's awesome upside.
Gucci Mane Hard to Kill
This album is basically representative of who Gucci Mane was earlier in his career. Trapstar lyrics, banging beats, and slight rapping impediments. Has a bit of filler, and its top tracks(other than Hold Dat Thought, which is epic) are good, but not SUPER good. This is cool, I guess, but I prefer Gucci Mane's newer work definitely.
Gucci Mane Trap-A-Thon
Gucci Mane Mr. Zone 6
Hodgy The Dena Tape
HORSE the band A Natural Death
Insane Clown Posse Bang! Pow! Boom!
Jay-Z The Blueprint
Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt
Rick Ross only wishes he was Jay-Z. Rap tycoon Jay-Z executes boastfulness perfectly on this album, dropping good punchlines and solid metaphors about his money and greatness throughout the album over some sophisticated, jazzy East coast beats. His MCing is good, but nothing stellar, which makes this album at times kind of boring. Still, a good record. 3.2/5
Jr Jr Horse Power
Juicy J Hustle Till I Die
Somewhat a return to form for post-Oscar Juicy J. Dark production, violent dope boy lyrics make for a good album, but there are some tracks that are unnecessary, especially for an hour-long album. Includes some superb songs (Purple Kush, Ghost Dope, 30 Inches, North Memphis Like Me) but also contains some filler tracks. 3.1/5
Kaigen21meiso Root Is The New Leaf
Root Is The New Leaf is a collaboration album between Japanese rappers Kaigen and Meiso. I stumbled upon this album on Rhapsody while desperately looking for new music to review. Originally angered by the fact that the lyrics are not recited in English 95% of the time, this album, despite being - :wince: - just noise, is enjoyable. The hyper-fast rapping of Kaigen and Meiso could draw comparisons to Twista, and the ancient oriental music elements within the half-pop/half-rap beats are good enough to make this album listenable. However, it's lack of vast replay potential practically makes it novelty rap, or rather, rap's equivalent of a coffee table book - something you have more to say you have it, without really liking it a whole lot. Either way, this is fun, mindless noise*.
* = If you don't speak Japanese.
Kanye West The College Dropout
Kid Cudi Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager
Probably the most disappointing record of the year, honestly.
Lil B 6 Kiss
Lil B is a genius. I used to not understand him, but he's just awesome.
Lil Jon Crunk Rock
Lil Phat Life Of A Yungsta
Lord Infamous Blood Money
Well, for one, Lord Infamous is on it. But for two (/and three) there are two other weed carriers whom I refuse to name. The beats are serviceable, but aren't epic, and Lord Infamous has somewhat fallen off from his glory days. The lyrics aren't Triple Six-horrorcore, but a hybird of gangsta rap and Memphis crunk. Not a great effort, but a solid one. 3.1/5
Ludacris Ludaplex
Martina Topley-Bird Quixotic
Good, but pretty disappointing. This is nothing like her previous trip-hop appearances. Martina's vocals on Maxinquaye were sensuous and dark; when she was with Tricky, her style of music was an infusion of guilty R&B, downtempo electronica, and hip-hop. But, on Quixotic, her solo album after breaking up with Tricky - both musically and personally - is more of a crossover between soul and electronic. Her singing is more uplifted and emotional than slinky and intimate, and it's rather quite disappointing. Nevertheless, a good album. 3.2/5
Massive Attack Heligoland
Although I slightly dislike the idea of rotating the guest vocalists, this album is pretty cool. It employs pianos and keyboards more so than their trip-hop classic Mezzanine, but isn't as good. Not surprisingly, Heligoland's best moments occur with Martina Topley-Bird performing the vocals. A highly-atmospheric, easy-listening album, Heligoland clocks in at a 3.2/5.
Meth, Ghost and Rae Wu-Massacre
The main problem with this album is that the quality of the beats is sporadic. At their best, they're pretty cool, at
their worst, they're fairly poor. Chef, Meth, and Ironman share some great chemistry, and get their spectacular lyrics
in at exactly thirty minutes. It's slow getting into, as the first half of the album isn't as good as the second half. But
hell, even the skits are good. Really, it's the fault of the production that this album isn't better.
MF Borat The Mask and The Moustache
MF Grimm & MF DOOM MF EP
DOOM largely does the production, and he splits the mic with Grimm, but this album just feels...weird. Good lyrics, fairly good beats, but somehow, it doesn't amount up to the sum of its parts. Quite obviously, the supervillain theme is still intact, and adds a certain degree of interest to the album, but it's not enough to propel this album to greatness. Instead, MF EP lies resting at a 3.2/5.
Mux Mool Skulltaste
Really awesome cover, too bad the album isn't as good as the cover and name would imply. Still, effective for introducing me to electronica. Mux Mool generally invents a one-two punch on these tracks (which aren't accompanied by vocals) by using one major fuzzy element, and one major glossy one, with assisting percussion. Pretty good.
Nas and Damian Marley Distant Relatives
Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculously overrated? Sure, the lyrics revolve around, and emit, consciousness, dealing with both political and social issues, whether they be national or international. But the minimalist, percussion-based, reggae-tinged instrumentals are quite underwhelming. This is good, but not 4.1 good. I give it a 3.1/5
Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Nicki Minaj Beam Me Up Scotty
OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Pharoahe Monch W.A.R.
Yay, another opportunity for Bulldog to be "that guy" again. Cue up the pejorative soundoffs, guys, my rating is skeptical of the hype and is lower than the rest of everyone elses it. It's not on purpose, I swear. Why can't I just agree for once?
Pill (USA-GA) 4180 The Prescription
In terms of voice, delivery, and flow, Pill is essentially B.G. minus some nasally grinding. He's a much better lyricist though, but isn't an exceptionally great trap rapper though. Besides a few hilarious moments - like on his remake of Put a Ring On It, he says "I got a choppa witta infrared beam on it - his lyrics are just gangsta and not clever. But that's okay, because being gangsta is awesome. If he could get better beats, this would be a 3.5
Pill (USA-GA) 4075 The Refill
His beats have improved from his first mixtape. But goddammit, at 27 tracks, I almost rage quit.
Pimp C The Naked Soul of Sweet Jones
Raekwon Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
Look at the production credits for Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II and then look at the production credits for Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang. That should explain the difference between this and the former. It's actually laughable any of you are comparing the two.
Rhymefest Blue Collar
Saigon The Greatest Story Never Told
Shad TSOL
Slim Thug Already Platinum
He won't wow you with his lyrics, as they're pretty typical of mainstream rap. But god. DAMN. Slim Thug is a beast on the mic. His boss voice, cocky delivery, and boulder hard flow. In addition, his beats are awesome, filled to the brim with trunk rattling bangers. However, on the other end of the spectrum, there are some filler tracks Slim Thugga could do without. In terms of lyrical content, this follows the same guidelines as most of mainstream rap, but its execution is infinitely superior. 3.2/5
Slum Village Fantastic, Vol. 2
Smoke DZA George Kush Da Button
Smoke DZA further makes his case for being an XXL Freshman of 2011.
Souls of Mischief Montezuma's Revenge
Pure poetry straight out of the bay. The minimalistic beats, provided by Prince Paul, serve as a good backdrop to the poetry weaved by the Souls of Mischief. The skits are interesting, which is a positive thing going for this album. And the emcees rap very well, with clear cut anunciations; solid deliveries; and steady flows, which is yet another positive aspect. But this album for -some reason - isn't as good as the sum of its parts are, resulting in a just-solid 3.2/5.
Strong Arm Steady In Search of Stoney Jackson
Basically the awesome, soulful, funky production of Madlib is the main focus of the album. Albeit, the lyrics are good, and the rapping is decent, but it's not enough to perfectly compliment the production. And therefore, Madlib basically carries Strong Arm Steady to a good album, but nothing special. 3.1/5
T-Pain Freaknik: The Musical
Tab & Anitek Chasing Rabbits
While the lyrical theme as a whole is a pretty neat concept metaphor (Tab's life being a rabbit hole) I don't particularly like Tab's flow and voice all that much. Beats are good, as you won't find much thump a-la bass or techno a-la synth. This is good, I'm just not that big into it.
Talib Kweli Gutter Rainbows
Yea...it's alright, but am I really supposed to care?
The Hood Internet Trillwave
Probably never going to get my review for this finished, so might as well do a soundoff. Anyway, YAY FOR NON-SYNCRETISM. Solid mix is solid. Check out "Beamer, Drips" and "Wasted Love" especially. Great songs.
The Roots How I Got Over
Philadelpha is known as 'the city of hard knocks'. A gritty, blue collar city home to Rocky Balboa, the steak sandwiches, dirty gutters, and lots of crime, it's not surprising Philly's hip-hop scene has often mimicked the city's culture. Rappers like Beanie Sigel and Freeway come hard with a guttural sound. So, it would seem odd that a group from the City of Brotherly Love would lack thumping basslines, rhymes that will punch you in the mouth, or grizzly deliveries. But, The Roots have always been ones to stand out. All about finesse, the group is one of few hip-hop acts to have a live band backing them. With a jazzy style, and intelligent, finesse rapping, The Roots make yet another album that's a success on the charts - it sold 51k in its first week - and on the ears.
The-Dream Love King
As much as I hate to say it, I kinda like this...
Sue me, bitches.
Three 6 Mafia When the Smoke Clears
As an avid fan of Three 6 Mafia, I must say When the Smoke Clears is quite the disappointment. A platinum album that was released in 2000. wedged between Chapter 2: World Domination (a 4/5) and Da Unbreakables (a 3.5/5), and contained the single "Sippin' On Some Syrup", I thought this would be excellent. But, it's just good. Overly bad Gangsta Boo appearances, astonishingly few Koopsta Knicca and Lord Infamous appearances, and multiple appearances from Project Pat who hadn't yet reached his peak confine this album to being just-good. Moreover, this isn't even Paul and Juiceman's best work on the boards. Very disappointing, but nevertheless, a good record.
Twiztid Independents Day
Viro the Virus The Sharpest Blade
Waka Flocka Flame Salute Me or Shoot Me
Waka Flocka Flame Salute Me Or Shoot Me 2
Implementing the same gangster-ized crunk formula that was exhibited on his debut mixtape, and Waka delivers practically the same album - infectious beats, trap star lyrics, and high energy rapping - the second time around. However, there is a trade off. While the precursor had high octane hits leading the charge. This doesn't, but, in return, Flocka makes a much more consistent album.
Waka Flocka Flame Flockaveli
"Hard In The Paint" is so fucking good, and this is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. wakawakawakawakawakawakawakawaka
Wick-It the Instigator The Brothers of Chico Dusty

2.5 average
50 Cent Before I Self Destruct
50 Cent has always been recognized as a mainstream success with radio hits like In da Club and Disco Inferno. But, Fiddy has a gangsta side to him (need you be reminded he was shot nine times in 2000.) And perhaps BISD is a reminder from the man himself. Jackson shows his violent side throughout the album, smoothly delivering gangsta lyrics - some of which are actually quite witty - on the majority of the songs. However, the production is considerably bad for a full-length, fully funded album - especially for being released under a record label of which Dr. Dre is the CEO of - and this holds BISD's potential back considerably. The production can best be described as an awkward mixture of alternative, east coast, and mainstream styles. Although probably unnecessary to state, this does not mesh with 50 Cent's lyrics. Yet, there are a handful of good songs on Before I Self Destruct - and those that are have good production - but it's not worth buying the entire album. If Fifty had thrown out the charcoal and kept the diamonds, this would be a remarkable LP. Before I Self Destruct is certainly a rebound from Curtis, but it's definitely not a classic.
Beanie Sigel and Freeway The Roc Boys
Big Bear Doin Thangs
Big Moe Purple World
I fell asleep for 2 minutes at one point. Pretty melodic shit. Beats are a combination of soul and funk, and Big Moe's vocal style is a combination of rapping and singing. Deep, brooding voice, and the lyrics are surprisingly deep (for an album called "Purple World" anyhow)
Big Noyd Queens Chronicle
Bun B Trill O.G.
I believe we're all familiar with KiD CuDi's song "Make Her Say" that features Kanye West, Common, and a Lady Gaga chorus sample. It appeared on his seminal album Man On The Moon: End of Day. The entire album was incredibly consistent throughout, and Mr. Rager displayed some great songwriting ability, but when it came to a song with features on it, he got outshined, because he can't write verses. Bun B is the opposite of KiD CuDi, apparently. He SLAYS every song he's featured on, but when it comes to his recent album, Trill O.G., he's showcased that he can't write full songs, no less albums. Plenty of mistakes can be found on this album (such as featuring T-Pain) and his lyricism has declined ("We gon take it to the top; Appalaichans.) Disappointing - especially considering how beastly his recent guest verses have been - and utterly average, Trill O.G. is a letdown, and perhaps even worse, a let down. Some songs, such as "Just Like That" and "Countin' Money", are just heaters, though.
Dark Time Sunshine Vessel
Dark Time Sunshine's debut Vessel is a miraculously tedious, yawn-inducing f*ck-fest comprised of hyper-developed instrumentals and verbose lyricism that fails to transcend anything but vapidity due to run-of-the-mill emceeing and vanilla production. The indie crowd will appraise this for its odd vein of texturized, crate-digging and genre-fusing production, but its no more unique than the sound the horde of producers for Diddy's newest LP managed to craft. Except the production on that is a whole lot more fun, and the rapping's only slightly worse, but only by technicality. Yea, listen to Last Train to Paris instead. At least that was surprisingly average rather than disappointingly average. Album of the year this is not.
Dark Time Sunshine Cornucopia
With Cornucopia, Dark Time Sunshine prove themselves worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as El-P and Cannibal Ox. That's not a fucking compliment.
Dissection The Somberlain
Dorrough Dorrough Music
Not such a bad mainstream rap album. His punchlines aren't masterful or anything like that, but they're above average ("Trunk hit hard like Kimbo Slice.") Dorrough's deep, smooth voice; brash delivery; and sludgy flow make him a pretty good rapper, but the beats are the best part. Especially when they are the trunk rattling or stunna beats. The few R&B songs on this suck, and not all the songs are great anyways. But, I like Ice Cream Paint Job waaay more than I'm willing to let on. 2.7/5
Eminem Recovery
dont get too far ahead of yourself sputnik, this isnt that great. yea em has some good beats, and yea his flow and lyrics are ace, but he fucking sucks at writing choruses, and alot of these songs are shit. no way this is a 4.
Genghis Tron Board Up the House
Girl Talk All Day
It's not that this is a bad album (if you would call it that,) per se. It's just the infuriating inconsistency is driven to an extreme. There are some incredible mixes on here, but there are also some mind-numbingly boring ones. The way All Day is arranged (with several mini-songs crammed into one track) makes it difficult to navigate, but also hard to consistently enjoy.
Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple
After thoroughly enjoying St. Elsewhere in all its craziness, spontaneity, and originality, I find The Odd Couple to be rather...stale. With an emphasis on the soul aspects of their debut, and an extremely unnecessary calm down, Gnarls Barkley's second album is pretty much a party pooper compared to their first one. It's technically good, but that's not what Gnarls Barkley is supposed to be. 2.4/5
Gorilla Zoe Planet Of The Apes
Basically, the tale of two Zoe's. The sixth installation of his 28 mixtapes in 28 days series, Gorilla Zoe conveys why I dislike him and like him at the same time. When he's using his gruff voice and smooth flow, talking about hood life with thumping beats, he's awesome. But when he's autotuning over R&B/pop beats talking about women and money, I can't stand him. 2.4/5
Gucci Mane Trap House
Despite being characterized by the smash hit "Icy," which sparked his beef with Young Jeezy, Trap House is littered with trap anthems ("Trap House," "Lawnmower Man," "That's My Hood.") But, as this was his debut, Gucci had alot of things to refine on this album, mostly his flow, and in addition, his beats and lyrics had not reached their apex yet. Still, this album is fully listenable, just not the premier La Flare album. 2.4/5
Gucci Mane Murder Was the Case
Although released early-to-mid 2009, this is a collective of his Big Cat years - the stuff not suitable for release until Big Cat needed to make some money. Gucci Mane exhibits his old self - lazy flow but great beats (Stoopid being the epitome of this.) The lyrics on this album are kind of subpar for Gucci as well, with no song being particularly extraordinary. Despite all this, Murder Was The Case still surpasses the majority of mainstream hip-hop releases today, and there are good tracks on here, but the majority of it is poor filler that is nothing but an attempt by Big Cat to garner money. 2.3/5
Gucci Mane Burrrprint 2 (HD)
Gucci Mane Jewelry Selection
Inspectah Deck The Manifesto
The rapping is pretty good, the lyrics are "street," and the beats try to imitate OBFCL (and kinda succeed) but this album isn't memorable at all. The lyrics aren't convincing, Inspectah Deck doesn't have much charisma, and the beats are, after all, imitations. Not a bad listen, but I don't feel compelled to listen again, 2.7/5.
Joell Ortiz Road Kill
Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak
King Geedorah Take Me to Your Leader
Kurtis Blow Jr. Californication
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III
Tha Carter 3 is an exemplary example of today's Lil Wayne - half syrupy MC with awesome punchlines/half musical idiot. Just as 3Peat and A Milli are examples of killer lyrics, listening to Lollipop and Mrs. Officer is music's equivalent of eating a pinecone whole. As an album, this is a roller coaster ride of hip-hop atrocities and anthems. It needs dissection to find the quality, and to remove the malignant tumor that is the terrible songs.
Lil Wayne No Ceilings
Lil Wayne Tha Block Is Hot
Lil Wayne I Am Not a Human Being
Limp Bizkit Significant Other
Murs Fornever
More utterly average, pseudo-thoughtful indie rap. Super mainstream indie rap, if that makes sense. Two overrated underground artists right here. The same people who tote Lil Wayne as the best rapper alive will praise Murs as one of the deepest rappers of all time, and the same people who think Dr. Dre is still the best producer ever (for cred, without actually knowing anything about him,) will think 9th Wonder is so refreshing, different, and creative.
Not bad, not good, not anything. Just "okay."
Nas STILLmatic
It's fitting that "Ether" and "One Mic," two of the most overrated hip-hop songs of all time, are from STILLmatic, one of the most overrated hip-hop albums of all time.
Paul Wall The Peoples Champ
Puff Daddy Last Train to Paris
R. Kelly Untitled
"The King of R&B" is back with an untitled album. Hehe, get it? All terrible humor aside, Kel's latest effort is pretty bland. R. Kelly has lost his rap-style flow and has moved on to more soothingly serenading throughout his songs. The production on the album isn't necessarily rivetingly exciting or revolutionary, as the instrumentals on the album are based off of either lovey-dovey synths or gentle piano samples. And R. Kelly, never being a lyrical master, sticks to love & sex most of the time, occasionally straying into money. This album is mostly situational music (bedroom/club music) with one rap song. Untitled is nothing you would really listen to if you weren't making love or dancing. No longer the man he once was, R. Kelly is no longer pissing on the competition, just on underaged females.
Rick Ross Teflon Don
First and foremost, Rick Ross has really improved his lyricism. Although he's improved tremendously overall,
he's delivering really good internals nowadays ("Nine fo' this life dummy, tha's a Dan Marino/Ya'll talkin'
quarterbacks, man I'm talkin' quarter kilos,") and his baws voice and solid delivery has always been appealing. But
the album is beleaguered by soul-tinged production that is totally unbecoming of Rick Ross' becoming a legitimate
rapper, as well as unmemorable tracks (e.g. "No 1," "Super High"). While "MC Hammer" make for the best track on the
album with its looping, dark, theatric horn-synths and Gucci Mane feature, songs like "Tears of Joy" featuring Cee-Lo
are totally destroyed by the mushiness and seeming attempt to be inspirational. The entire album is basically
summed up by Officer Ricky's performance in comparison to his peers. While he stomps guests like Diddy and Drake
flat, he's easily ousted by superior MCs such as T.I., Gucci Mane, and Styles P. Despite this being indicative of his
current, middle-of-the-pack status, Teflon Don is no doubt a step up from his previous efforts. Let's hope
Ricky's next LP capitalizes on the potential he exhibits on "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" and "I'm Not a Star". 2.7/5
RJD2 The Colossus
Firstly, this isn't really rap, this is...ummm?
I'll give RJD2 credit where credit is due, this album is - when it comes to its genres - multifaceted to the point of ridiculousness, but he doesn't make it sound horrible. With elements of funk, jazz, pop, indie, rock, hip-hop, and other genres riddled and combined seemingly randomly throughout the album, surely enough, this album is different. But different isn't always good, half the album is comprised of instrumentals, and the songs with lyrics aren't really rapping, but are rather singing. I'm not quite sure why this is filed under hip-hop, but I won't speak poorly of it because I only like true, pure hip-hop. 2.50/5
Slum Village Villa Manifesto
Baatin and J Dilla are dead. Living member T3 stated that he had a vision to make a "memorial"/"reunion" album, and
Villa Manifesto is the only Slum Village album to feature all five members. But, with appearances from Baatin
and J Dilla being post-humous, this isn't very good at all, and to be honest, it's a disservice to them both. Moreover,
let's just face it...

Slum Village ain't shit without Dilla.
Snoop Dogg Doggumentary
This is better than a lot of his post-Death Row output - save The Blue Carpet Treatment and Rhythm & Gangsta - and certainly better than Ego Trippin' and Malice In Wonderland, but Snoop just ain't cuttin' it no mo'.
The Cool Kids Tacklebox
This isn't bad, but I'm totally and completely unimpressed.
Three 6 Mafia Last 2 Walk
Although this is their worst release, it certainly isn't bad. The filler (Lolli Lolli, My Own Way Remix) and absence of epic songs makes for an "average-to-good" but given Three 6 Mafia's past, the stall between the two pushes them down to the end of the hill to a three rather than down to the start of the hill at a 2.5. The production isn't the best ever, and their lyrics were never punchliney awesome lyrically, and since they degraded from awesome horrorcore to just-good Memphis crunk lyrics, there's something to be desired. I don't recommend this album highly, but it's not a bad listen. 2.8/5
Tricky Puppy Toy
Track #1 "Puppy Toy" - The best track on the album, this song features an inspired female guest vocalist, and
a sexy, laidback electronic beat with a midnight lounge-esque piano sample and a rock spurt during the chorus.

Track #2 "Numb" - A sadder track, this song features a ghastly female vocals, tower bells, and the thematic
lyric content of searching for lost love.

Track #3 "Slow (Marlinspike Remix)" - Has a more uptempo electronic, house influenced beat that doesn't
really match Tricky's slow, gravelly vocals.

Track #4 "Slow (Bullion Remix) - A "Stomp"-like beat isn't what Tricky really should be doing, too uptempo for
his vocalistic style.

OVERALL RATING: 2.7/5
Triple C's Custom Cars & Cycles
Violent J Wizard Of The Hood
While I'm not an extreme Juggalo that will issue you a death threat if you rate an ICP album less than a 4, I'm not one of the assholes that will rage rate their entire discography. Despite what their fans think, ICP members aren't psycho-murderer clowns, and despite what their haters think, ICP members aren't terrible, God-awful musicians either. They're more of a really weird, comedic half-metal/half-rap band. On Wizard Of The Hood, rap is the pre-dominant instrumental element, with occassional metal thrown in there. The stoner's version of The Wizard of Oz is chockful of 'WTF?' hysterical lyrics and well-timed curses but Violent J's voice, mediocre rapping(?) and the dislikability of the rap-metal hybrid instrumentals limit this hilarious album to a mere 2.7/5.

2.0 poor
B.G. Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood
Big Quarters Fall In Love EP
Goddammit...just...goddammit. Good lyrics and fairly decent production; but monotone, boring, terrible rapping makes this EP rather bad.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony E 1999 Eternal
Broken Bells Broken Bells
It's not Dangermouse - it's James Mercer. There are a couple of songs on here I like, but most of it is just crooning,
indie pop bullsh*t. Dangermouse was best to stick with Cee-Lo Green and Damon Albarn. It's pretty in terms of
music, but the lyrics are pretty girly and artificial. Just...no.
Cappadonna The Pillage
Good beats - with a seemingly oriental tinge to them - are provided by Rza and Tru Masta, but...Cappadonna sucks. If Wu-Tang Clan was SEC Football, Cappadonna would be Vanderbilt. Vividly arrogant style of delivering vocals is implemented by Cappadonna, except...he's ill equipped. Because he doesn't have very good lyrics to back them up. If these instrumentals were supplied to an artist that had even a tinge of competence, this album would be at LEAST a 3/5. But, as you can see, Cap is not competent. So...
2/5
Cypress Hill Rise Up
How the mighty have fallen...
DJ Quik & Kurupt BlaQKout
Doggpound member Kurupt and Compton rapper/producer DJ Quik, two of the game’s (relative) dinosaurs, teamed up to make the somewhat highly touted collaboration BlaQKout. The just average emceeing of gangster-posturing, pop-champagne’n’throw-money lyrics over pop with G-funk elements instrumentals isn’t really appealing. It’s bearable, but it’d be best just to avoid this album.
E-40 Revenue Retrievin': Night Shift
Personally, I think Day Shift is way better. This is pretty repetitive song writing right here, the beats aren't as good, and the long run time is incredibly evident. Hmmm...

Oh well. *listens to Day Shift*
Gorillaz The Fall
It's a free album that was made in various hotel rooms with an iPad over the course of a thirty-two day tour. What the fuck were you expecting?
J Dilla and Nas Dillmatic
Jeezy Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101
OKAY. Yes, the beats on this are epic. But, I can't fucking stand Jeezy. He adlibs too damn much (28 times on one song,) and his slow raspy rapping style pisses me off, and to top it off, his attempt at lyricism fails ("Used to turn on the kitchen lights, cockroaches everywhere/Now I turn on the kitchen lights, marble floors everywhere. (HAHA!)") Such a waste of good beats.
Juvenile Cocky and Confident
Juvenile is no longer the New Orleans gangsta saint he once was. Juvenile's flow, voice, beats, and concepts often cancelled out his awful lyrics, but no longer. On Cocky and Confident, Juvenile retains the nice voice and flowing prowess he always possessed, but ditches the gangsta theme and cuts the amount of good beats in half. The formula that made 400 Degreez a quadruple-platinum album has been utterly abandoned, while the radio rap album format has been adopted. "A big dog n*gga don't quit." Every dog has his day, Juve - this day not being yours.
Lone Ninja Burnt Sector
Great lyrics would be the obvious highlight of this album, if it weren't for the cataclysmic clash between the beats and the vocals. It's as if Lone Ninja doesn't even know what beat he's rapping on. He's a decent rapper in and of himself, but over these beats (which aren't too poor in and of themselves, either) it's absolute hell.
Ludacris Battle of the Sexes
Mac Lethal North Korean BBQ
While Adam is wrong in that he says "what Mac does is nothing to write home about," he's absolutely correct in his opinion of North Korean BBQ. This is poor and Mac is certainly capable of much better, as evidenced by The Original 11:11 Sessions.
Master P Ice Cream Man
This is way too goddamned long at 1 hour, 20 minutes. The production is lo-def, shitty, generic 90's south production, and Master P sucks at lyrics. He calls his mother a "soulja" for God's sake. Seriously. Master P is basically a less successful, slightly better, southern version of P. Diddy.
Moodie Black Sana Sana
As Sobhi Abduhl-Rakhman of our very own Sputnikmusic noted, it is indeed “static-laden black shit,” as its creator has labeled it. And while that does the music a service in accuracy, it turns out it’s not really a compliment at all. This is to hip-hop as parody grindcore is to punk. It’s an animalistic interpretation of experimentalism. At times this feels like a Limp Bizkit album with banging, well, noise thrashing on as K.’s angst barely permeates the aural onslaught. What the f*ck is at the start of “Tres”? Sounds like the simultaneous recording of submarine sonar, a dying blue whale, a broken vinyl being played backwards, and an electric guitar being tuned with the amp plugged in. Thrash music is abrasive and violent, this is just dissonant, backwards-sounding bullsh*t. (Albeit experimental, dissonant, backwards-sounding bullsh*t.) However, there’s rigidity to all the mayhem. Amidst all the chaos there’s this monotony; a predictability, a dependability, of sorts. Every vicious whirring synth, every clashing snare, every piercing screech, every loop of white noise bursts through, grates along, and pierces the air in this brutal, militaristic cadence. It’s musical goose stepping almost, and there seems to be some sort of formula behind each sonic permutation. In a way, this really is the soundtrack to war, but it comes off practically as a haphazard collage of abrasive sounds. The bottom line is - noise isn’t avant-garde, it’s fucking annoying, and the concept of “experimental noise-rap” – no less the actual sound of it – isn’t much better.
Pastor Troy G.I. Troy: Strictly 4 My Soldiers
Not the Pastor Troy I was looking for. I just wanted some violent crunk music accompanied by thumping bass instrumentals. I didn't get it. The best songs are track #2 and track#12. Which are essentially the first and last songs, as the tracks before and after them (respectively) are intros and outros. All the songs are repetitive as hell, and this is just a thoroughly mediocre album. The semi-conceptual battlefield idea is pretty meh, as is this album. 2.2/5
Plies 3 Headed Monster
Plies manages to make the first song okay with his 'roid rage delivery and typewriter beat talking about "fake rappers," he proceeds to fuck the EP up by talking about how awesome he is over a kick, drums, and synths beat and then about popping pills over a lurking, Arabian-synthtastic beat. One-third of this album is indicative that Plies could be (just-)okay, the other two-thirds just proprietate the fact that he sucks. 1.8/5
Protest the Hero Kezia
Slaughterhouse Slaughterhouse EP
First half is really shitty, second half is kinda cool.
Soulja Boy The DeAndre Way
So, yea...this only sold 13,000 copies in its first week...
T.I. No Mercy
This sucks mainly because T.I. is not being T.I. Not worth your time, really.
Tha Dogg Pound That Was Then This Is Now
The Pack Wolfpack Party
Travis Barker Give The Drummer Some
Unk Smoke On
Infectious beats, good flow, and a likable high voice attempt to draw you in and get you moving, and it works. But the lyrics fail here, as DJ Unk has simply gone from dance rap – except for once – to club rap. But he actually attempts punchlines and metaphors, and although failing (“I move hoes up and down, side to side, I’m like Tetris”) one is left wondering something. Will DJ Unk’s upcoming album 3rd Time’s a Charm be a transitional work that shall propel him from mediocrity to decency? It appears so, but for now, this isn’t very good. 1.8/5
Wiz Khalifa Burn After Rolling
Wiz Khalifa Rolling Papers
Wiz throws everything out but the kitchen sink in order to try and rekindle the flame that was "Black and Yellow," and all we have left is an album devoid of life, personality, and depth. Rolling Papers is commercial hip-hop at its most quintessential. This is "champagne- pourin', big-joint-rollin', bombay sippin', no-blunt-smokin', bad-bitch-gettin'" music, as the first 25 seconds of "On My Level" will tell you. While any of the beats here are not a far cry from the infectious minimalism of "Black and Yellow," Wiz himself is a far cry from a talented lyricist. Rolling Papers runs the gamut of radio rap cliches a multitude of times in just under 58 minutes, and if there was ever a time for you to get antsy about the next Curren$y drop, the time would be now.
Young L DOMO-KUN
Young Money We Are Young Money
Young Money, a Cash Money side project that resulted from boredom, consists of the already well-known Drake and
Nicki Minaj, and relative unknowns Gudda Gudda, Mack Maine, Jae Millz, Tyga, T-Streets, Lil Chuckee, Lil Twist, and
Shanell. The entire album, despite expectations, not the mediocre Wayne holding the hands of even MORE mediocre
artists throughout and guiding them through their first album resulting in a god awful album. The beats are solid but nothing special. As for the rappers, in terms of skill,
they're all (barely) serviceable at least - the best being, in order from first to fourth, Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz, Gudda
Gudda, Tyga - that can drop decent punchlines from time to time, but there's too much pathetic filler to wade
through to call them good songwriters. As an overall effort, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne...MAYBE Jae Millz right the ship
and keep Young Money afloat on their first voyage across the sea of hip-hop...barely. 2.2/5

1.5 very poor
Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion
The verdict's in, and this hip-hop head deems this unworthy of its astronomical praise. Going into this album, I might have had unreasonable expectations, seeing as "Taste" is one of my favorite songs ever. Nevertheless, the album is flat out boring, particularly the vocals. It only gets a 1.5/5 based solely on the concept and the song "Taste". Boooorrrrinnnng.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony The Art of War
Goddammit. I could tolerate Biggie's double disc, I could tolerate Tupac's double disc, but I won't tolerate this. There's no charm or enthusiasm behind this, and it feels half baked. I understand how technically skilled the Bone Thugs are, but I DON'T understand how they can possibly make such lifeless, uncharismatic music. Yea, they can sing/rap at the speed of light. And yea they have gangsta/taboo lyrics. And yea they have conceptually nice R&B/Soul-tinged instrumentals. But...
There. Is. No. Life. Be-. -Hind. It.
Casualty of Youth E.R.A.S.
DJ Khaled Victory
Drake Thank Me Later
Esham Hellaween: Pure Horror
At this point, Esham is just trying too hard. Subject content is forced and not scary at all. Alot of songs are just taboo conversational skits and others are just repeating the same thing over and over. Even the real songs are pretty shitty. The metal and funk elements fused into the hip-hop instrumentals make for some pretty bad beats, and Esham isn't a technically good microphone commandier either. Forced, poorly executed, unenjoyable. By the track list, I thought it would be epic. I was wrong.
Flobots Survival Story
What the hell is this? A DJ Khaled album? Flobots' attempt to put a touch of "epicness" on this album, fails - in an ironic way - epicly. In addition, I find the emceeing to be really uncomfortable, amateur, and terrible. Moreover, the largely rock-based instrumentals just make matters worse for me, but goddammit, they also throw a trumpet and a violin in there, and sh*t gets messed up. Not a good album...not a good album at all. I was never very partial to their summer jam "Handlebars" but this is just over-the-top bad.
Gucci Mane The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted
Gucci Mane Gucci 2 Time
Jay-Z The Blueprint 3
So, I've never really been a Jay-Z fan myself, but yea this sucks.

SHIT JIGGA GET IT TOGETHER
Jeezy 1,000 Grams
Kidz in the Hall Land of Make Believe
Sh*tty lyrics ("I love a sandwich after sex [sex] and Nike Air Force Ones [ones],") a false sense of creativity and thoughtfulness, and downright bad beats make this the second worst release of 2010, wedging itself between Lil Wayne's Rebirth and Flobots' Survival Story, where it's nice, warm, cozy, and terrible. This should be a one, but I'm going to be a generous listener and give it a low, low, low 1.5
MC Frontalot Nerdcore Rising
Mike Jones The Voice
Mike Posner One Foot Out the Door
Nas Nastradamus
OJ Da Juiceman The Otha Side of the Trap
Sage Francis Li(f)e
Jesus Christ, how forcibly indie can you be? This album pisses me off with its quite obviously fake passion, "deep" lyrics, and its folk/indie-influenced instrumentals. So terrible. 1.7/5
Snoop Dogg Malice 'n' Wonderland
How Snoop has fallen...the once decent Doggfather has now turned into a steaming pile of mainstream garbage. Never the lyrical master, Snoop Dogg was known for his fairly good flow, his gangsta content, and his good beats provided by the doctor. Now his flow is fairly worn out from years of use, he's abandoned gangsta rap, and his production is pseudo-rap/pop instrumentals. The only thing that prevents this from being a 1.0 is Snoop's flow on Upside Down and Soulja Boy's above average guest verse on Pronto, and the rare (but decent) punchline. But enough about the negatives. The best part of this album? The cover art.
Soulja Boy Souljaboytellem.com
Apparently, Soulja Boy gets F's in school. He also gets F's in rap. A 49 minute fuckfest of tacky, minimalistic snap beats and braggery, Soujaboytellem.com, while catchy is a hip-hop wasteland. Soulja Boy manages not to do anything particularly well, but dance. He tells us how great he is, how much money he has, and how he gets hot women while not making anything about the presentation special. The appeal of Souljaboytellem.com is recognizable, you can dance to it and sing along with it, but unless you're 12 or a college girl, that's not very fun.
Soulja Boy Dat Piff
Soulja Boy is his same old self on this mixtape. He talks about how 'great' he is, how much money/stuff he has, and how much sex he has. The production is decent, but it's a mixtape, so that doesn't say thaa much. He's getting a tad better lyrically, but other than that, there are no improvements. Dat Piff is not worth checking out.
T.I. T.I. vs. T.I.P.
Everything that makes T.I. good isn't present here. The instrumentals on here are quite easily the worst of his career, and that doesn't bode well, considering the best part of listening to T.I. is the production that backs him. The corporate T.I. against street T.I. concept is decent, and the album follows a plot line split into three parts. The first 1/3 of the album lyrically being the dopeboy T.I., the second 1/3 of the album lyrically being the radio T.I., and the third 1/3 of the album being the conflict between the two. In my opinion, the T.I. vs. T.I.P concept is simply an excuse to make radio songs. Regardless, the entire album is shoddy.
Travie McCoy Lazarus
If changing his name to "Travie" wasn't a sign that this would suck, I don't know what is. It reeks of pseudo-thoughtful bullshit, and the instrumentals are pretty indie-based. Lazarus is about as honest and emotional as two middle-school kids who claim to be in love. Really bad album, 1.3/5

1.0 awful
Birdman Pricele$$
A lot of things have happened since Birdman released his last album, 5* Stunna, back in 2007. Lil Wayne dropped
the highly successful Tha Carter III, new rapper Drake was signed and became a hit sensation, and Weezy was
sentenced to a year in prison. Times change, but people don't. And as the title "Pricele$$" would suggest,
Birdman is still the same old rapper with the same old theme - money. Birdman never really excelled in any specific
area - he never had a spectacular flow, he never had a great voice, and he never had astounding production. So, for
Birdman to be subpar and shallow lyrically makes him just another vanilla rapper blessed with the luck of possessing
hype. The production throughout the album is what you would hear out of a typical club or cruise song - snares,
kicks, claps, and synths over a prominent bass - and is nothing special. The guest list is full of big names - T-Pain,
Drake, Lil Wayne (who appeared on literally half the tracks,) and Bun B, the lattermost being the only one with any
talent. Priceless falters in just about every way an album can, with Always Strapped being the only semi-good song
on the album, only because of its off-the-chain beat. There's a reason Birdman was originally just the OWNER of
Cash Money Records, and NOT a rapper. It probably would have been best for it to stay that way.
Dr. Octagon The Return of Dr. Octagon
This is awful. Kool Keith's fun MCing is gone. His energy is lethargic, his flow is blase, and his voice is devoid of any motivation. Dan the Automator is gone, replaced by the terrible techno rock beats of One Watt Sun. To top it all off, the lyrics are emulating of the first Dr. Octagon album. Pseudo-abstract, this album just plays off the success of the first Dr. Octagon album. Epic fail. 1.4/5
Drake So Far Gone
Hurricane Chris Unleashed
The first one minute and thirty seconds of the first song delivers promise, Hurricane Chris displays hot flow while delivering some gangsta lyrics over a cool, synthy Shawty Redd beat. But, the second verse destroys all of the hope you had for his pathetic career. The watered, new gen, swag kid versions of club bangers (Halle Berry, Beat It Out the Frame, Coke Bottle, Hot Like Lava, No Worries, I Want It) accommodated by R&B love beats (Headboard, Last Call, Secret Lover) combine to make a two pronged fork of death in the production department. Throw in Hurricane Chris� simple, simple flow and his annoying, prepubescent buzzing bumblebee voice and that�s two strikes. For the third strike, Hurricane Chris� pedantic, self-absored lyrics that speak of nothing but money, his �skill,� and the women he gets just overflow the cup. They are so terrible he rhymes the same phrase EIGHT times in a row at one point. Unleashed is way worse than I expected. Hurricane Chris really should stop rapping.
Jibbs Jibbs Feat. Jibbs
"Chain Hang Low" dropped. Then "Jibbs feat. Jibbs" dropped. Then Jibbs' balls dropped.
The problem with Jibbs is this, unlike many other radio rappers, who succeed in sucking, but being minorly catchy, Jibbs can't even provide that. With his unchecked arrogance and unfaltering materialism, this is just one of those albums that has nothing good about it. His punchlines suck ("My diamonds red, white, and blue, like the American flag") and his beats, for the most part, suck as well. He has a relaxed flow in the vein of Chingy. But his lyrics are fucking atrocious, and his beats are the B movies of midwest production, which is typically great. I hate this album.
Kosha Dillz Beverly Dillz
Eminem inspired Asher Roth, and Asher Roth inspired a wave of drunken, white frat boys to attempt to make 'alternative' rap so they could pay their way through their 1.4 GPA-filled college semesters. Kosha Dillz is one of them. Kosha Dillz' terrible, pseudo-'alternative', faux-good lyrics inspires me, however, to throw a chair through a window. The obvious attempt at alternative rap with the abstract, brightly colored album cover and part house/part alternative rap instrumentals serves counter to what Dillz intended and turned out to be a ridiculous fail at creativity.
Lil Wayne Rebirth
New Boyz Skinny Jeans and a Mic
Taking the dance rap idea Soulja Boy made popular and denhancing it by adding the skinny jean 'swag' and skateboarding element, New Boyz manage to do the impossible and minimalize the already minimalistic snap productions prevalent in mainstream hip hop, narrowing it down to seemingly 3 sounds on an instrumental at times. As for the MCing, it's drab and doesn't meet any expectations, and the lyrics make Mike Jones look like a Wu Tang Clan member. Truly a masterpiece of tomf*ckery.
New Boyz Tie Me Down - EP
Plies Goon Affiliated
Plies is, without a doubt, the worst lyricist to ever grace music. Whether it be him making an entire song about his "goonette" girlfriend (that's a female goon, in case you didn't know) in which he talks about buying her a ski mask for her birthday, saying stupid shit like "Good dick committee, I'm the president," or ending every single, and I mean every-fucking-single line in "Bruh Bruh" with, well "Bruh Bruh". Fuck you Plies, fuck this, and fuck your label for letting this be released. Easily the worst record I've ever heard. Fuck this shit.
Shawty Lo Units in the City
Soulja Boy iSouljaBoyTellEm
Just like Mike Jones, Soulja Boy is the perfect business man. But incessant self-promotion is replaced with incessant lack of quality in exchange for money. Soulja Boy's getting cash off of the airplay his terrible songs generate, we get it. But the minimalistic snap beats make you facepalm, and Soulja Boy's rapping (at times, droning) is fairly bad enough, and the absence of any good punchlines doesn't help the matter. His debut, although terrible, was still better than this. About the only thing Soulja Boy can do well is dance, so maybe check out a music video of his, mock him, and stop "hating on him" because he "gets money."
Taio Cruz Rokstarr
Waka Flocka Flame Salute Me Or Shoot Me 3
What the fuck happened in the 4+ months between this and Flockaveli? This shit fucking SUCKS.
Wold Screech Owl
Soooo...yea...it's pretty much official I hate black noise.
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