Hip Hop/Rap Fanatics Unite!

[Frag Mortuus]

Game Theory is my absolute favorite album from The Roots. I tend to gravitate to angry, depressing music. Happy and lighthearted music has never done it for me. I've always felt that Black Thought delivers nearly every line (even happy ones), with at least a hint of anger.

I wanted to talk a little bit about Yelawolf. I haven't read this entire thread, so I'm not sure if he has been discussed much. But, basically Yelawolf is a white emcee from Gaston Alabama. He is signed to Shady Records and dropped his major label debut, Radioactive, a couple years ago. It was met with mixed reviews. Mainly because much of the unique sound that Yela created on his mixtape, Trunk Muzik, was watered down. It seemed as though a lot of the creative control was taken away in an attempt to make a more radio friendly record. With that said, Radioactive is still a completely solid effort. There are a few songs that you know were created solely for the intent of radio play, but there are a few songs that I would consider some of his best.

However, the album that made me love this guy (he is seriously one of my favorite emcees of all time) is Trunk Muzik. The first time I heard this album a buddy at my job at the time gave it to me. We were always trading music back and forth, and he knew I like stuff that is a bit abstract. Well, my first listen was strange. At the time, to me his style was jarring. His flow and delivery are like no other. His accent and tone almost have a New Orleans feel. Then there is the subject matter. When he started to rap about being from the south, growing up poor, and hustling, I immediately thought he was a generic, run of the mill rapper, that is trying to catch a ride on the band wagon of white rappers. But, the album sounded so different that I kept returning for more.

After repeat spins, it became apparent that Yela was no newcomer, nor is he a "me too" rapper. The stories he tells and pictures he paints with his lyrics are so detailed and lifelike that you know only someone that lived the life he describes could accurately portray them. Nowhere to be found are rhymes of wealth or overly bragging about how amazing he is. Instead you get an album filled with tales about people hooked on Crystal Meth, fighting, heartbreak, his love affair with old box Chevy's, his love affair with marijuana, and things like partying in trailers and hooking up with sorority girls. In fact, the only song that really talks about extravagant things is "Daddy's Lambo". The Drama (Rob Dyrdek's cousin) produced song has one of the best beats I've heard in the past decade. The gist of the song is that Yela is hooking up with a girl who's dad owns a Lamborghini and he is trying to convince her to let him drive it. He is telling her that he has never seen a place like hers and that people from his area don't live like that, he wants to show her how the other half lives.

"Now, I ain't never seen money like you got
Nobody got that kind of money in the Boondocks
So if you take me up show me the Balcony looking over
The Hollywood valley I'll make your balloon pop"

Trunk Muzik also features some pretty impressive guest spots, especially for a mixtape. Guchi Man, Bun B,and Raekwon all make appearances as well as some of his own crew. This is the album that got Eminem's attention and eventually signed to Shady.

After the some-what flop of the Shady debut, Radioactive, fans were ready for a return to form. About a year or so after Radioactive, Yelawolf announced Trunk Muzik Returnz. After the highly praised Trunk Muzik, the next independent release was being awaited with baited-breath. For his long time fans, expectations were astronomically high, and for the most part they were met. Trunk Muzik Returnz finds Yela taking some serious chances with space age beats and styles that switch mid song. At this point Yela still hasn't made any real money and is adjusting to a life style where he is constantly touring around the world, doing required work for Shady Records, doing interviews, and just being constantly busy. He still flies his trailor park, Bama pride flags and hasn't yet fallen into the pit of wealth to soften his style. He returns with more depictions of a rough upbringing filled with drugs and such. He talks about hustling to create a career in the music industry and how he walked away from a deal at Def Jam because they wanted him to change too much. With that decision, he was letting down a lot of people that are working for and with him to help further his career. This album was exactly what fans wanted. While it did sound completely different from Trunk Muzik and Radioactive, it still sounded like Yelawolf and showcased his immense talent. He also has a few more guests stop by again. This time, the feature list grew to include, Raekwon again, Killer Mike, A$AP Rocky, Pall Wall and Big Henry.

Now that Yelawolf had shown fans that he can still make amazing music, his creative juices started flowing and it seems like he was dropping new independent projects left and right. He created an EP with Travis Barker called Psycho White, a fifth official mixtape called Heart of Dixie, an EP with British singer Ed Shereen called Slumdon Bridge, and his most recent release is an EP with DJ Paul of Three Six Mafia called Black Fall.

At this point fans are waiting for Yelawolf's next Shady Project titled Love Story. This album has been delayed time and time again. His reasoning is that he wants to make sure it is the album he knows fans want.

If anyone on here hasn't listened to any of his work. I highly suggest you give Yelawolf a try. His is absolutely one of my favorite emcees of all time. His style is unique and varied and his lyrics are intricate, hilarious, heartfelt, and most importantly, real. I can't really compare his sound to anyone else's because no one sounds like him. But, I can say that if you like your music a bit different, then Yelawolf may be something you can really get into.

I'm not as good as writing as Noise but I hope you all enjoyed my long winded "retrospective".

[noiseredux]

I'm not as good as writing as Noise but I hope you all enjoyed my long winded "retrospective".

are you joking, my dood? That was one of the best posts I've seen in this thread in ages. Thanks for the history.

I've never heard a Yellawolf album. But his track w/ Slim Thug ("I Run") was awesome, and his verse on A$AP Rocky's "1Train" was breath-taking.* So I'll be sure to put him on my list of stuff to keep an eye out for.

*If anyone in this thread hasn't heard "1Train," you're really doing yourself a disservice. It's a crazy posse cut not unlike "Protect Ya Neck." But the weird thing is, it's not w/ A$AP Mob. Instead it's got this insane lineup of young dudes that is like a Who's Who of young rap right now... Danny Brown, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, Big KRIT, Kendrick Lamar. No chorus, just all these talents going hard for six and half mins. It's just insane:

Anyway, I picked up a few cheapos today while running errands:

The Game - Untold Story
Lil Wayne - Dedication 4
Public Enemy - Beats And Places
Rick Ross - Mastermind (deluxe w/ live DVD)

BTW, if today was 12/31, I'd probably say that Mastermind is my favorite hip hop album of 2014. And honestly, I'm just as surprised as you to hear me say that Ross has impressed me so much. Of course the year isn't over yet, and there's plenty of shit coming out that could dethrone it. But it is fucking awesome.

Also, I was bummed to wake up to an email letting me know that my pre-order of the A$AP Mob album has been pushed back now to a January 2015 release date. :\

And...


Lil' Troy - Sittin' Fat Down South - 1999 - Universal Records
Lil' Troy is certainly best known for his lone hit single, "Wanna Be A Baller," found here. While listening to the full album it occurred to me that there are so many guests that I'm not even sure which voice belongs to Troy. Upon inspecting the liner notes, I'm baffled. It appears that Troy doesn't even appear on "Wanna Be A Baller." And if the liner notes are to be believed, all songs were produced by someone named Grim and not Lil' Troy. So I'm not really sure how this is his song. Oddly enough, it would appear that he doesn't even show up on his own album until the fifth song. And he only seems to appear on five of the album's fourteen tracks. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm confused. Mystery aside, it's a pretty good record. There's a definite Texas sound throughout. The Geto Boys are definitely invoked in style, and as it happens both Scarface and Willie D. make guest appearances. The beats are mostly built from the ground up, even when interpolating other songs (I swear "Wanna Be A Baller" was a nod to the intro of Prince's "Raspberry Beret") and feature a nice range of instrumentation with heavy use of electric piano and bluesy guitars. It's not a super cohesive album though, and sometimes the change in tone can be jarring. For instance when you get to "Still A Bitch," which is completely sung instead of rapped. Or when Scarface shows up on "Another Head Put To Rest" that sounds like it could have been recorded ten years earlier based on the beat and the flow that he rides. Or when the Roger Troutman sample comes in on "Where's The Love," which is completely vocodered and seemingly out of place. But then again, I'm not complaining as "Where's The Love" is one of the more interesting tracks here. And in fact the weird mish-mash creates a pretty interesting mess. While "Wanna Be A Baller" remains the one-hit that made Troy a wonder, this album as a whole is something that probably could not be replicated. It's not great, but it does somehow work.

[Frag Mortuus]

The only actual retail albums Yelawolf has are Trunk Muzik, Radioactive, and possibly Psycho White.

There is a free mixtape version of Trunk Muzik, though. The retail one is just a repackaged version to get the public ready for Radioactive. Also,Trunk Muzik Returns, Heart of Dixie, Black Fall, and Slumdon Bridge are all free.

So, please do yourself a favor and download Trunk Muzik Returns, ASAP. It's by far his best work, and again, it's free.




Also, it's crazy about that Lil Troy album, lol.

[noiseredux]

cool cool, I'll check out Returns, and I'll plan to look out for the retail repackaging of the original Trunk. I know it's funny, but I do tend to pick up physical copies of free mixtapes just because.

Don't expect 7 reviews in one night like last weekend, but


Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty - 1998 - Capitol
Released after a lengthy hiatus, the fifth Beastie Boys album is a bit of a reinvention. Whereas the previous records - Check Your Head, Ill Communication and the Aglio E Olio EP felt a lot more like the work of the Beasties as a band, Hello Nasty highlights the Beasties as MC's. And there's a very good reason for this - Mixmaster Mike. With Mike behind the wheels of steel, this album has a very old school (see: "Three MC's and One DJ") feel to it. If you were a fan of those other records, it may feel a jarring shift, but at the same time it's also a bit of a shift back to the feeling of Licensed To Ill and Paul's Boutique except brought up to the sound of the late 90's. And it's damn good. Although it feels a bit front-loaded as well. The opening stretch of "Super Disco Breakin'," "The Move," and "Remote Control" is just fucking ridiculous. And then things shift a bit with the pretty out-there "Song For The Man." But this won't be the first shift in tone throughout the record. Indeed over the course of 22 tracks you're going to hear all kinds of styles. And in that sense, it plays out like some crazy mixtape of the Beasties' favorite songs, where no genre is off limits. And truth be told that's fun as hell, but also slightly frustrating as sometimes the sequencing doesn't feel optimal. Sticking some of the more experimental or meandering tracks between "Intergalactic" or "The Grasshopper Unit" may have been a bit more beneficial than throwing some of the less-than-three-minute experimental excursions together in bundle. But at the end of the record, it all seems to make some kind of weird sense in the blendered world that the Beasties always created. Sure closing the record with what basically feels like three outro tracks is kind of baffling, but ultimately nothing here sounds like a throwaway either. Even the slightly failed experiments are worth experiencing. Maybe it's not the best Beastie Boys album, but they're one of those rare bands where even at their worst they're still worth listening to. And even if I personally adored the sound they had been exploring on Check Your Head and Ill Communication, the fact that they are so willing to switch gears from album to album is a reminder of why I love them.

EDIT: but but


Snoop Dogg - More Malice - 2010 - Priority
If you can't tell from the title, More Malice is meant to be a companion to Malice In Wonderland. It starts off with a remix of "I Wanna Rock" featuring Jay-Z, which is amazingly boring. I'm not sure how Snoop and Hov could get together and create something so phoned in, but I swear you can hear them decided who should actually rap while the beat just plays aimlessly. The other Malice remix here is of "Pronto" featuring Soulja Boy (who appared on the original) and Bun B, and much like the original, it's surprisingly good. Certainly it aimed for radio play, but it's a solid club track. "Protocol" and "That Tree" (the latter featuring Kid Cudi) sound like tracks that were cut from the original album for being too weird. Both are actually interesting with their unconventional beats, and "You're Gonna Luv Me" is actually a pretty solid slow jam. But for the most part everything here really feels like leftovers. On one hand it's nice that it's condensed to just eight tracks, but on the other one of those eight is actually just "Gangsta Luv," which appeared on the album proper. How the hell do you include an album cut on a companion album? So really this is seven tracks to append the original album. And really they're on par with said album. Which is to say that they're good, but not great. If you're a Snoop fanatic, then you'll want to hear them. But if you're a casual fan, he's got better in his discography for sure. The EP was also bundled with Malice N Wonderland: The Movie on DVD.

EDIT: last one


Atmosphere - God Loves Ugly - 2002 - Rhymesayers
I'm sure Slug would hate the label, but God Loves Ugly is a masterpiece of "emo hip hop." Look at that cover. Not a flattering shot. Look at the title - self deprecation. Slug is "ugly" according to him. And God loves him. Look at the opening line "Atmosphere / and maybe you don't like us." Look at "Show Me" where he begs for "a pound or a hug," or "Fuck You Lucy" where he professes love for Lucy. This whole album is vulnerable, insecure, hurt. "Beat me down or beat me off." And the whole album is like that - quotable. But maybe the line "nobody sees tears when they're standing in a storm" is the most important. This is a record about bringing real feelings back to hip hop. And maybe this all sounds stupidly dramatic - and maybe it is - but somehow it succeeds. Atmosphere pulls all this off with straight faces. It's actually incredible how solid this exploration is. But part of it is the sincerity. Slug's love of hip hop is clear, so nothing feels shoehorned. Ice Cube is paraphrased on the title track, Mobb Deep on "Onemosphere." And part of that might be wearing a mask. Using lines from strong, confident rap songs to highlight insecurity. "Modern Man's Hustle" finds our storyteller trying to explain to his wife why the heck he's not home. And as hard as Slug tries to sound on the title track - comparing himself to a pimp, a captain on a sinking ship and a stepping razor, he does so over a classical-inspired piano motif while girls call him "so fucking ugly." Later he rhymes over a Radiohead sample - the first that I can think of in a hip hop song (so kudos!). This album is a crazy mess of feelings ranging from depressed, inadequate, cocky, optimistic, and everything in between. It was the aural equivalent of Slug's Live Journal feed (which was still a thing when this album was released) set to an hour of hip hop beats. And as horrible as that sounds on paper, it is fucking stunning on record.

[Luke]

Nothing sounds quite like the 808.

HELLO NASTY begs to be played in at least Dolby 5.1 surround equipped with a subwoofer that will wake your neighbors. The left, right, center, forward, and backs are like nothing from any B-Boy record. It's by far the most melodic Beastie Boys record on wax and is relentless on your ear goggles.

I would only call this record being back from a hiatus, only if speaking of their commercial releases. The Boys had been plenty busy during commercial releases, putting out b-sides and remixes left and right during what "break" they had.

To truly enjoy this album for all that it is, skip the headphones, skip a basic stair-airee-airee-eoo setup, and sit your tush in front of a quality setup and blast it at around 20 decibels.

[TSTR]

20 dB ain't that loud, son.

[Frag Mortuus]

Hello Nasty is some A1 sound.....and it sounds so soothing.

I agree with your review 100%. Especially with the remark of the album style being a bit unsettling coming off of Ill Communication. Check Your Head and Ill Communication is by far the best era for these guys. Also, I feel as though HN, was a bit if a segue into their last sound, which was completely sampled, traditional, hip hop. I know die hard BB fans will berate me for saying this, but I really don't care for the last two albums (Burroughs and Hot Sauce). They are good in their own right, but the feeling and atmosphere of those albums is not the same as anything that came before. Gone was the fun, funky, and off the wall sound of all the previous albums. And in it's place we got prefabbed beats with highly political lyrics. Don't get me wrong, I agree with their politics stances, and I too am a politically minded person. But, I just felt they let that style consume the records. I didn't hate them, but I have to be in a very specific mood to want to listen to either of them.

[Luke]

20 dB ain't that loud, son.

I know. That's not even as loud as a dinner at Chili's on a Friday night.

Oh. I'm not your son.

Hello Nasty is some A1 sound.....and it sounds so soothing.
I didn't hate them, but I have to be in a very specific mood to want to listen to either of them.

To the 5 is sooooo much more political jar jar. HN is way more Hip to the Hop.

[TSTR]

Well, excuse me.

[mjmjr25]

Heather Hunter: Double H; The Unexpected


This album will take you on a historical journey through rap. I was absolutely blown away by Heather's flow. If you have $10 in your pocket, buy this album. If you have $20, buy two.

4 Seconds is a straight, catchy, club-jam with unprcedented rhytmics and her Salt n' Peppa influences shine through on the first track.

Suk-A is hard head-knocker shoulder rocker reminiscent of early NWA. The bass is perfectly aligned and you leave this joint feeling 10' tall.

Orgazmic feels like a Jodeci chain - lots of soul and sultry rhymes. This thang is hott!