Hip Hop/Rap Fanatics Unite!

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I'm so bout it bout it, I might roll up in a tank!

OMG I love you right now. Haha. "Man on the moon, got a kinda lotta space..."

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MAKE EM SAY UNNNNNNHHH

na naa na naaa

"Hoody hooo... That's the code for tha killas."

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Busta Rhymes
When Disaster Strikes...
1997, Flipmode Records
The deaths of Biggie and 2Pac can not be underplayed when it comes to the importance that the end of their brilliant careers had on hip hop as a whole. Notably, it ushered in the so-called "Big Willie" era of hip hop. An era I'd rather forget. A prime example is the shift from Busta Rhymes' solo debut, and this, its follow up. When Disaster Strikes... is mostly a mess of an album that received plenty of accolades thanks to its hit single "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could see." That song is of course well remembered for its slow, minimal, tribal beat. And it's actually a really good example of the sort of forward-thinking that should dominate this record. Unfortunately the majority of the overly-long LP is spent in a mess of a record that lacks focus and all but abandons the Native Tongues style that Busta helped usher in with his Leaders Of The New School. Let's start with the intro. What the heck is going on there? Why is it so long? Why is it almost two intros in one track? The record takes forever to even get off the ground. And when it does get going it's tons of shit-talking that seems to be aimed at vague MC's who just aren't as good as Busta. The funny thing is that's generally true. Busta is far too talented lyrically for most ears. Maybe that's why this whole project feels dumbed down. It comes off as a plea to the lowest common denominator. Heck, he even brings Puff Daddy along for the ride on "The Body Rock." Truthfully, it's not completely terrible. There are plenty of throwaway beats, sure. But there's some good ones too. Unfortunately much of the better productions are marred by ill-fitting guests. This is truly a frustrating album that should be far better than it is. Perhaps it was just recorded at the wrong time.

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Jay-Z
Magna Carta Holy Grail
2013, Roc-A-Fella
Hip hop can sometimes be an unfairly young man's game. And it's not just about aging rappers' inability to stay hip. When Jay recorded American Gangster in 2008 he was able to channel the same sort of hustler that created his own debut 20 years earlier, thanks to the fact that the album being inspired by the movie meant that he could mix up the character with himself. It didn't feel forced or even a rehash of his earlier days because we understood that this was storytelling inspired by a blend of reality and fiction. But contrast that with 2007's Kingdom Come - a very personal album for sure. There Jay had to come to grips with being 40 years old in a young man's game; his years of hustling long in the rearview. If he was to keep it real, then what would he write about? Being 40 of course. As Hov approaches 50, the same sort of dilemma presents itself on Magna Carta Holy Grail. But this time he seems a lot more comfortable in his own skin. He doesn't need to justify all the money and the famous friends. In contrast to Kingdom Come, he's now realized that it's not the subject matter his fans keep coming back for, it's the presentation. So while the album spends the bulk of its time lyrically going on about the luxuries that he's surrounded by, Jay finds captivating ways to talk about them. He lets the album open up with a minute and a half of Justin Timberlake, who references Kurt Cobain - just one of many nods to the 1990's that birthed Jay's career. And then it's a solid hour of wonderful beat selection and very good, if only sometimes great rapping. This for sure is a fan's album. It's going to be nobody's favorite in his discography. Yet there's nothing here that I'd qualify as a bad song.

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Busta Rhymes
When Disaster Strikes...

I'm going to have to go back and listen to this album again, because I usually say it's one of my favorite Hip Hop Albums. Maybe that's because Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See is an amazing song. It epitomizes the obscure style and creativity that made my love Busta Rhymes to begin with. I have always loved his first three records and parts of Genesis were great. However, Genesis is the album that took the aggressive, spastic style Busta had been known for and replaced it with the smooth, calmer style that he adopted during the "Big Willie" era. I'm not really sure what happened to him after that. I haven't really liked anything since and keep hoping a return to form, which I hear is what he is attempting the Extinction Level Event 2 (if it ever comes out). Here's hoping.

Magna Carta Holy Grail
2013, Roc-A-Fella

Man oh man. If there has ever been an artist that has fallen hard off of my radar it's definitely been Jay-Z. I stayed with him from Vol 1 - Vol 3 and Dynasty. But, he lost me at Blueprint.

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I'm going to have to go back and listen to this album again,

you should. I'd like your take on it. It sounds really bad to me in 2015, though. I still like The Coming a lot. But this... ugh even the skits - "freeze mutha bitches... I blow you!" or Busta pretending to beat up dudes at a club. It is just so corny.

Man oh man. If there has ever been an artist that has fallen hard off of my radar it's definitely been Jay-Z. I stayed with him from Vol 1 - Vol 3 and Dynasty. But, he lost me at Blueprint.

weird. Reasonable Doubt is amazing, but I find the bulk of Vol 1-3 boring. Blueprint, Black Album, American Gangster are prob my Top 3 of his discography. I think the 2nd half of his career is far more interesting than the first.

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I'm going to have to go back and listen to this album again,

you should. I'd like your take on it. It sounds really bad to me in 2015, though. I still like The Coming a lot. But this... ugh even the skits - "freeze mutha bitches... I blow you!" or Busta pretending to beat up dudes at a club. It is just so corny.

Man oh man. If there has ever been an artist that has fallen hard off of my radar it's definitely been Jay-Z. I stayed with him from Vol 1 - Vol 3 and Dynasty. But, he lost me at Blueprint.

weird. Reasonable Doubt is amazing, but I find the bulk of Vol 1-3 boring. Blueprint, Black Album, American Gangster are prob my Top 3 of his discography. I think the 2nd half of his career is far more interesting than the first.

I can definitely see the skits being terrible with BR. I thought they were corny back then when I was like 15. I've always hated skits on albums. They've always seemed like filler and have never enhanced the music in any way.

I haven't listened to Jay-Z since probably the early 2000's. I will check out his newer stuff. Seeing how I'm in a different stage of my life, I may be able to appreciate the stuff I didn't like previously. This happens with me quite a bit.

BTW, what ever happened to Beanie Siegel? He was the only really talented dude from the whole Rocafella camp, with the exception of Jay.

Back to the point of old music sounding corny, I have found that a lot of the hip hop I liked as a kid hasn't aged well. Whether it's the over fantasized persona's, bragging about money they don't really have, or just over exaggerated culture from the late 90's ~ early 2000's, it all seems ridiculous. That isn't all hip hop. Some artists where able to create timeless records, but those are few and far between.

Similar arguments could be made for the whole Nu-Metal genre (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, etc) from that same time frame. Some artists that were born from the era ended up being truly great (Deftones, Slipknot, System of a Down). Not to mention that Boy Bands where huge then too, I think that time frame was just bad for music in general.

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I can definitely see the skits being terrible with BR. I thought they were corny back then when I was like 15. I've always hated skits on albums. They've always seemed like filler and have never enhanced the music in any way.

there are some albums - mostly concept albums - that benefit from skits. But they're few and far between. Recently stuff like Kendrick's GOOD Kid Maad City or YG's My Krazy Life, where there's a story-arc throughout the entire record are good examples. Though the skits there are also short and to the point. There's a lot of skits for skits' sake out there. More often I'll applaud rappers for just omitting them.

I haven't listened to Jay-Z since probably the early 2000's. I will check out his newer stuff. Seeing how I'm in a different stage of my life, I may be able to appreciate the stuff I didn't like previously. This happens with me quite a bit.

The 3 albums I mentioned: The Blueprint, The Black Album and American Gangster. You should really hear all of those.

BTW, what ever happened to Beanie Siegel?

Well he did prison time, but got out a while back. But he's had ongoing legal issues. He also got shot last month and has been thru surgery and stuff recently. It kind of sucks as he def was really promising but let a lot of IRL shit get in the way of his career.

Similar arguments could be made for the whole Nu-Metal genre (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, etc) from that same time frame. Some artists that were born from the era ended up being truly great (Deftones, Slipknot, System of a Down). Not to mention that Boy Bands where huge then too, I think that time frame was just bad for music in general.

You have a point.

[Exhuminator]

Well this was my favorite rap video of 2014:



NSFW or feminists.

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Snoop Dogg
No Limit Top Dogg
1999, No Limit
Snoop's second album for No Limit is thankfully miles away from the first. Where Da Game Is To Be Sold basically sounded like a No Limit compilation that just happened to feature Snoop, Top Dogg finds him back in the director's chair. While the label usuals like C-Murder, Silkk The Shocker and Mia X all make appearances, so do Dr. Dre, Warren G and Xzibit. With that in mind this record plays out with an interesting balance of both Southern and West Coast influence. In general, the album feels a lot more thought out than the last one. It's as if Snoop was toiling away in the studio, working on this one and just tossed off Da Game as a rush job appetizer. Hearing Snoop reunited with the beats of Dr. Dre (and DJ Quik) goes a long way towards making this one feel like an actual comeback. Of course the big single here was "B Please" which would help transition Xzibit from his earlier Likwit Crew days to being part of Dre's circle as he's known today. There's no denying it's a great track. And there are actually a fair share of great tracks on this one - "Buck 'Em" (another Dre production, featuring Sticky Fingers) and "Snoopafella" are definite stand-outs. There's also a few misses, like the surprisingly boring collaboration with Raphael Saadiq. And then there's a fair amount of so-so tracks like the No Limit posse take on "The Symphony" which at least goes through the effort of replaying the Otis Redding bit instead of sampling it - presumably to save some money. The crew tries, but that's a lofty track to pay tribute to, and honestly I just can't get into Mystikal. No Limit Top Dogg is definitely an interesting record in Snoop's discography though. He's gone from outstanding debut to pretty awful cash-grab, and quickly redeemed himself with this one. It's certainly nowhere near as solid as his early Death Row days, but it's satisfying nonetheless. It's entirely too long - but most Snoop albums are, and most No Limit albums are - so they've just enabled each other. But luckily there's far more good stuff than bad stuff here. You'll skip a handful of tracks, but you'll be glad to have this one in your collection.