Hip Hop/Rap Fanatics Unite!

[noiseredux]

Z-Ro is one of those guys that has a hundred albums and I've heard none. I've heard him work w/ Slim Thug & Devin The Dude, but never heard an album proper.

[catnip]

Just picked this up yesterday. Been spinnin' it real hard.

[noiseredux]

so proud.

[Razzmatazz]

Where's the love for the younger artists dropping gems? Here's some of my favourites from last year:


Tanya Morgan :: Rubber Souls :: 2013

Before you disregard Tanya Morgan as another female emcee's attempt to hang with the fellas, Tanya Morgan IS a group of fellas. Imagine A Tribe Called Quest calling themselves Shirley Thompson - madness I know but Tanya Morgan have been releasing strong records for nearly a decade. Rubber Souls is a modern classic, an album that is playful, pure and infinitely replay-able. Beats grow and expand on songs like "The Only One", but it's the details that make this brief 11 track long LP so rewarding. A 30-second mini-track at the end of "For Real" is one of the dopest beats on the record. Speaking of A Tribe Called Quest, Rubber Souls sees Tanya Morgan slimmed down to just members Von Pea and Donwill, where the record allows a natural partnership to form. Von Pea's tone is even reminscent of Q-Tip.



Innate & EP :: Such As I :: 2013

If you enjoy artists such as Grieves, Intuition and Atmosphere, this album is the best of all of those artists, with some unique themes thrown in for good measure. Not many emcees would write a song about how much they love their dog, but these guys (2/3 of Cali hip hop crew Rock Bottom) do. The main reason I can recommend "Such As I" over your typical "emotional white guy rap" is the strong production. "Everything" is on some Beatminerz steez, "One Way Train" reeks of DJ Premier while "Around You" throws in a piano loop that's up there with Xzibit's "Foundation", 7L & Esoteric's "Rise of the Rebel" and The Game's "Hard Liquor". It can be a little TOO positive, but it's no different to Cormega's latest record, except it doesn't come across as moany, but wholly genuine.



Clear Soul Forces :: Gold PP7s :: 2013

If the Wu-Tang Clan grew up on Nintendo instead of martial arts films, this is what I imagine would happen - a quartet of rhyme-machines. Where the Wu are a blend of different styles and flavours, Clear Soul Forces are one cohesive unit that weave in and out of each others' flows, meaning much of this album is a barrage of rhymes akin to recorded cipher sessions. They are talking about Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy and Shinobi - and that's just "Ninja Rap". Where this distances itself from standard video game rap is that it's actually funky. Production is smooth and not full of corny 8-bit samples like much of Random's work is. I can't recommend this album highly enough - shit is so refreshing.

[IrishNinja]

good looks on illmatic!

pinanta, shabazz palaces etc aside there's only a handful of tracks ive really liked so far this year, thought i'd post one: Ikey - Timbuktu

[noiseredux]

Tanya Morgan :: Rubber Souls :: 2013

Before you disregard Tanya Morgan as another female emcee's attempt to hang with the fellas, Tanya Morgan IS a group of fellas. Imagine A Tribe Called Quest calling themselves Shirley Thompson - madness I know but Tanya Morgan have been releasing strong records for nearly a decade. Rubber Souls is a modern classic, an album that is playful, pure and infinitely replay-able. Beats grow and expand on songs like "The Only One", but it's the details that make this brief 11 track long LP so rewarding. A 30-second mini-track at the end of "For Real" is one of the dopest beats on the record. Speaking of A Tribe Called Quest, Rubber Souls sees Tanya Morgan slimmed down to just members Von Pea and Donwill, where the record allows a natural partnership to form. Von Pea's tone is even reminscent of Q-Tip.

This sounds cool. I swear I've heard *of* them before, but I don't think I've ever actually heard them. Funny, if you recall about a decade ago or more Ali Shaheed Muhammed from ATCQ started a group (w/ Raphael Saadiq) called Lucy Pearl. And when that came out it was the same deal where I figured it was just some girl.

Also, I've been checking out yr blog. You're writing about some good albums that haven't been discussed here. The Cormega and Buck Shot were both ones I was interested in, so nice to read your reviews. I was also impressed with your review of Neon Icon. Riff Raff isn't for everyone, but I really thought that album was a lot of fun. It was a great Summer album, and I probably won't listen to it again for the rest of the year. But it has its merits.

[mister j-y]

Tanya Morgan :: Rubber Souls :: 2013

Before you disregard Tanya Morgan as another female emcee's attempt to hang with the fellas, Tanya Morgan IS a group of fellas. Imagine A Tribe Called Quest calling themselves Shirley Thompson - madness I know but Tanya Morgan have been releasing strong records for nearly a decade. Rubber Souls is a modern classic, an album that is playful, pure and infinitely replay-able. Beats grow and expand on songs like "The Only One", but it's the details that make this brief 11 track long LP so rewarding. A 30-second mini-track at the end of "For Real" is one of the dopest beats on the record. Speaking of A Tribe Called Quest, Rubber Souls sees Tanya Morgan slimmed down to just members Von Pea and Donwill, where the record allows a natural partnership to form. Von Pea's tone is even reminscent of Q-Tip.

This sounds cool. I swear I've heard *of* them before, but I don't think I've ever actually heard them. Funny, if you recall about a decade ago or more Ali Shaheed Muhammed from ATCQ started a group (w/ Raphael Saadiq) called Lucy Pearl. And when that came out it was the same deal where I figured it was just some girl.

+1 for the Tanya Morgan joint - also Asheru's set was cool too, light hearted and not moody!

[Razzmatazz]

Tanya Morgan :: Rubber Souls :: 2013

Before you disregard Tanya Morgan as another female emcee's attempt to hang with the fellas, Tanya Morgan IS a group of fellas. Imagine A Tribe Called Quest calling themselves Shirley Thompson - madness I know but Tanya Morgan have been releasing strong records for nearly a decade. Rubber Souls is a modern classic, an album that is playful, pure and infinitely replay-able. Beats grow and expand on songs like "The Only One", but it's the details that make this brief 11 track long LP so rewarding. A 30-second mini-track at the end of "For Real" is one of the dopest beats on the record. Speaking of A Tribe Called Quest, Rubber Souls sees Tanya Morgan slimmed down to just members Von Pea and Donwill, where the record allows a natural partnership to form. Von Pea's tone is even reminscent of Q-Tip.

This sounds cool. I swear I've heard *of* them before, but I don't think I've ever actually heard them. Funny, if you recall about a decade ago or more Ali Shaheed Muhammed from ATCQ started a group (w/ Raphael Saadiq) called Lucy Pearl. And when that came out it was the same deal where I figured it was just some girl.

Also, I've been checking out yr blog. You're writing about some good albums that haven't been discussed here. The Cormega and Buck Shot were both ones I was interested in, so nice to read your reviews. I was also impressed with your review of Neon Icon. Riff Raff isn't for everyone, but I really thought that album was a lot of fun. It was a great Summer album, and I probably won't listen to it again for the rest of the year. But it has its merits.

Thanks for checking. Yeah the Cormega and Buckshot were both short but strong records, and I found the Riff Raff album hilarious. I assumed it was trash like many "hip hop heads" did, but Myke C-Town from Dead End Hip Hop (a youtube hip hop channel) really enjoyed it, yet is usually strict with his critiques. Figured I'd give it a chance.

I'm on a temporary break from reviews as I'm helping with the new RapReviews.com website. Transferring 6,500 reviews is monotonous, but also great for finding albums I've overlooked. Referring back to your post on Common's "One Day It'll All Make Sense", I'm actually listening to Common's "Resurrection" whilst typing. I'll give it some time before placing it on a Best Common list . Noise, did you hear the new Common? IMO, it reaches Universal Mind Control levels of disappointment. Musically at least.

Maybe we could compile lists of albums that we know we should check for, but just never did? Or do a Together Retro-style album club for hip hop?

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Referring back to your post on Common's "One Day It'll All Make Sense", I'm actually listening to Common's "Resurrection" whilst typing. I'll give it some time before placing it on a Best Common list . Noise, did you hear the new Common? IMO, it reaches Universal Mind Control levels of disappointment. Musically at least.

Resurrection is amazing.

I haven't heard Nobody Smiling. And I'm not really in a rush. The reviews don't have me excited.

Guys, here's a live show of Nas from this year in HD doing Illmatic in its entirety... and then finishing off the set with another 15 tracks. It's insane. I love the extra MJ singing on "It Ain't Hard To Tell." Y'all know how much I adore Illmatic.

[noiseredux]

The Roots - Game Theory - 2006 - Def Jam
Bookended between two tracks based on the works of J. Dilla who had just passed away unexpectedly, Game Theory is a brutally downer record. Look at that cover art - a hanging man upon ugly darkness. There is no partying on this album. It is a starkly bleek album. Heck, even Malik B's return after a severe drug problem seems somewhat stymied by the fact that he's relegated to "featuring" status rather than considered part of the band again. Sure The Roots have touched on serious matters in the past. But surely this is one of grieving. Which is to say that elements such as sadness and anger rise to the top. Throughout the years Questlove has praised the work of Public Enemy, but never have The Roots projected the sounds of PE quite like here. The instrumental tracks are a layered mess of noise. Black Thought's vocals are urgent, never playful. And perhaps even more telling are the drums. It's almost crazy to say that the drums sound livid - but there they are in almost every track bleeding into the red. In a sense this is the first real "concept album" by The Roots. In the same way that Dark Side Of The Moon is a concept album. This is a band that is disgusted by the world they live and know no other way of expressing it but to make an album. But beautifully, this means that the more proggy interests of the musicians comes out. Imagine a track like "In The Music" with no vocals, and it wouldn't even sound like it belonged on a hip hop LP. Or take "Atonement," which rides a reconstruction of Radiohead's "You And Whose Army?". This is an incredibly cathartic listen. And to a degree, it lets the listener of the hook with a couple of tracks smack dab in the middle - "Take It There" and "Baby" - which ease up a bit on the tone. But in a sense they really only serve as the eye of a hurricane. This is far from a feelgood record. But completely a commendable work of art.