The Game - Untold Story - 2004 - Get Low
By late 2004, The Game was creating a big buzz. He had dropped various mixtapes and earned a big enough name for himself to be recruited by G-Unit. His major label debut had been announced and attached to names like Dr. Dre, Eminem, Just Blaze and Scott Storch for production along with his G-Unit brethren as guests. Yet, it wouldn't drop until 2005. So the timing was perfect for JT The Bigga Figga, head of Get Low Records, and the dude that (self-proclaimed) discovered The Game to drop an album on his behalf and cash in. The crazy thing is, this sounds a lot better than the obvious cash in I've described. On the intro JT claims that these verses were recorded in "8 or 9 days," which should make the project feel much more rushed than it does. But really, this is a pretty good album to tide fans over for Game's proper debut. While Mr. Taylor represents Compton, JT and Get Low are from the Bay Area, and the beats make that known. This album is completely produced by in-house producer Sean T. They have a definite Bay Area sound, they're clean and minimal yet for the most part sort of forgettable. But for the most part that's fine. In a sense that puts Game's lyrics up front. And that's the stuff worth hearing here. Even at the start of his above-ground career, all the trademarks are in full effect. The constant name-dropping has been a turn off for many a critic, but I find it endearing. This is a guy who recovered from a shooting by boning up on classic hip hop albums in his hospital bed, determined to become a rapper. And that's what you hear in his words. Utter fandom. I can appreciate that. And while the beats never get in the way, there's a few tracks where the mixing isn't great. Take "Bleek Is," for instance. The vocals feel way too low, which is a drag. It's one of the best beats on the album, and it goes for a hardcore "Takeover"-style diss track aimed at Memphis Bleek (though the chorus is a throwaway). There's also a heck of a lot of guest shots from the Get Low camp, though Young Nobel from The Outlawz also shows up here, which is cool considering Game's adoration of Pac. This is not a great album, but it feels like it was destined to be so much worse. Instead it's kind of an awesome artifact of an artist right on the brink of finding his voice and becoming a real icon. So for that alone, it should be heard by anyone who claims themselves a fan of The Game.
A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP - 2013 - Polo Grounds
Wunderkind. That's what I'd call Rocky. After his brilliant Live.Love.Rocky mixtape, he scored himself a huge major label deal and the stakes were high. So what does he do? More of the same? Well kind of, except also totally not. Long.Live.A$AP is full of twists and turns, all the while reminding of you of why he got signed in the first place, or why you (and he) both love hip hop anyway. That slow, druggy chopped-n-screwed shit is here for sure. But Rocky's not afraid to branch out. On the opening track (THE OPENING TRACK!) he sings the chorus himself in a lazy falsetto. "PMW" and "LVL" both have brilliantly slow, purple beats and then a few tracks later you're hit with "Fuckin' Problems" which was somehow a single featuring 2 Chainz, Drake and Kendrick Lamar over a pretty upbeat electro backdrop. But that's nothing, because "Wild For The Night" has Skrillex re-imagining Birdy Nam Nam as a late night on the town with A$AP Mob. Then you've got "1Train," which is a posse cut of the magnitude of "Protect Ya Neck" or "Leflaur Lefleh Eshkoska" and featuring a veritable Who's Who of current hip hop with a lineup of (ready?) Kendrick, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson and Big KRIT - all spitting what I'd consider some of their finest stray verses. "Fashion Killa" is this total 90's-styled radio track that was weirdly never a single and then the album shifts gears for its closing with "Phoenix," a haunting Dangermouse production and "Suddenly," a self-produced track that goes on without a drumbeat for most of its existence, teetering on self-destruction until finally erupting into celebration. There's also deluxe edition bonus tracks totally worth hearing - among them a diss track at SpaceGhostPurrp as well as a duet with Florence from Florence And The Machine. Whereas Live.Love.A$AP was amazing for its focused vision, Long.Live.A$AP is amazing for taking that vision and stretching it out in as many directions as possible while sounding like Rocky.
