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Showing posts with the label album review

Some Words on Sean Price's Imperius Rex

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Duck Down Records In the mid-90s, I was a high schooler. I feel a certain way about the hip hop I allow myself to consume. Summer 1996, Heltah Skeltah released Nocturnal, an album unlike anything I had heard to that time and I was a fan. At the time, I thought Rockness was the better lyricist of the two but they were both entertaining enough as a collective to hold my attention. I HAD to have listened to that album every day senior year. Things happened, the duo split for a while and Sean Price started making solo albums... Great. Fucking. Solo. Albums. He was new to many, but simply getting better at his craft to the ones who remembered. Unfortunately, on August 8, 2015 Sean passed in his sleep. On the second anniversary of his passing, we get his second posthumous release, titled Imperius Rex. The conventional album release day used to be Tuesdays but that was abandoned by most a couple of years ago. I am going to go with the coincidence of the release da

Album Review -- Chaundon: "No Excuses"

I’d be lying through my teeth keyboard if I told you that this review was fair, unbiased and without preloaded fanship of the reviewed… No, this is not to become a glowing review of a close personal friend, moreso one that I enter with the HOPE that it will be a glowing review of someone whose work I have come to love. No, don’t know the dude personally, though we have met a couple or 3 times at shows around the state, and have exchanged messages through various social networking mediums (MySpace/FaceBook/Twitter, yeah all of them, lol) down through it all. That said, this is EASILY my most anticipated album of 2010 so far of any genre, and WILL be only the 3rd album I put down my hard-earned $10 or less for single-disc albums at FYE when it releases next Tuesday – the same day that my Lakers commence their title defense – no matter the outcome of my review. Individual mileage may vary. If entertainment derived from his first album Carnage – which was released before I started thi

Album Review -- Levphonic "The Urban Jungle"

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Disclosure: This is an album from a good friend of mine, I received my signed copy in the mail a couple weeks ago... Busy with changing items in my life to be discussed in a blog this coming week, I am just now getting to finishing the review. Different from my usual fare, this is what one might categorize as Electronic music, though I know full well that Mike is just as capable of hip hop, even raps a bit himself. All songs written, produced and arranged by the big name on the front of the disc. As I live with a seething hatred for iTunes, I had to name and tag all the tracks myself in order to rip them using Windows Media Player, which I have learned to hate less. [ Phlip note - feel free to ask me how it is I am syncing my iPod in private and I will share] Now with the introductions out of the way, let's get down to business. 1 - Heavenly Bodies We start things off here with a very interesting string arrangement. This is followed a couple bars later with the introduction of mor

Album Review -- Damian Marley and Nas "Distant Relatives"

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You know, I don't know how I feel coming into this one... While Dancehall Reggae and rap make for a more natural combination -- as evidenced by BDP and the legendary commercial debut of the not-quite best ever Biggie on a SuperCat remix -- I was not too sure with how a more Roots Reggae/Rap hybrid would come across. Hell, even Capleton leaned to his own Dancehall sensibilities when Lil Jon (yes, that same one) gave him a beat to remix Wings of the Morning with Method Man. Knowing that Nas desparately needs money from an ugly divorce is needing a new creative outlet, and that Damian Marley is criminally slept-on, perhaps in his father's legendary shadow, we are to expect that this is a case of like minds coming together. For the sake of me, I am PRAYING that this shit works. And for those who doubt me, I did not become the dude to own/download literally thousands of albums because I wanted to hate on shit. Yes, often I come across an album that is an absolute fucking stinkfes

(13) Album Review -- Little Brother "Leftback"

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Next Tuesday is the scheduled release of NC duo Little Brother's final-as-a-duo album Leftback , and I am not sure how I felt about that fact when I read it on Okayplayer a few months ago, all I know is that it was not a good feeling. That being said, and knowing how these things normally transpire, about as soon as I heard the lead single, I kept a keen eye on my RSS feeds for the day the entire album leaked which I would then use as my front-loaded and usually preconceived feeling as to whether or not I would be making a retail purchase at my local FYE for $9.99 or less for single-disc albums (c'mon, man... somebody cut me a check!) ... I say that to say this: I am a fan of Little Brother and they have not yet dropped a retail release that I found anything less than enjoyable enough to not be pissed that the player in my car is being a bitch right now after 3 years on the playback of random MP3 discs, indicating that it is likely near life and close to replacement before my b

Album Review -- Sade: Soldier of Love

Part of me is ashamed for having even downloaded this album, with my very much on-the-outside crush for Helen Folasade Adu, professionally known as Sade. The other part of me sits and thinks of the fact that music has so terribly sucked over the last several years. Evidence in this can be found in the outputs of Beyonce and Rihanna compared to Sade. So much being said, I HAD to download this album before I would allow myself to spend good money on it. Sorry Sade, blame it on the head and not the heart. 1: The Moon and the Sky Okay, this album is off to a not-too-fast (in physical pace, not quality) start, and I like it already. The music here matches her voice, cadence and writing well. I am not even one to nitpick on things like the fact that I STILL liked Sweetback better as her backing band, but the guitar work in this song makes it worth the price of admission, which is still $0.00 to this point. Good start to things here. 2: Soldier Of Love Okay, I get a short horn [pause...] and

Rakim - The Seventh Seal

Part of me wants to be wary about listening to and reviewing an album BEFORE it releases, as such an action speaks directly to ill-gotten gains. But I do it anyway. Today's topic will be my initial reaction to Rakim's 10-years-later followup to the critically and commercially abysmal The Master . This album is due to release this coming Tuesday, 11/17/2009, and I have not yet listened to it as I type this, so I will be letting you know whether or not Mr. Griffith's efforts will have earned my hard-earned $10 or a gentle caress of my delete button. Most of you know already who Rakim is, and if not, you MIGHT want to consult your Google before continuing. Let it be known that the very virtue of Rakim being just who he is means that expectations coming into this album are VERY high, while released product prior to (10 years ago, remember that), and since then (zilch) do a number on realistic expectations. That being said, I will get right down to business now... 1 - How to Emc

Royce Da 5'9" - Street Hop

One would be inclined to mention how I should probably not be reviewing an album on the 13th if it does not release until the 20th. One should also realize that these leaks have been Royce's albatross throughout his career, which has come in coincidence with the advent of the internets. One should ALSO realize that I, as a Royce Stan, plan to buy the damned album anyway, based solely on the body of his previous work, my respect for his grind and especially the Slaughterhouse album. I won't get into the specifics of where this particular leak came from, but comparing the track listings I have found on the internets to what I have, this is a proper leak and not some cheapass bootleg "street album" full of track-by-track leaked songs from mixtapes, though 3 of the songs have been heard on the internets before. With that out of the way, let's talk about the album, shall we? Gun Harmonizing (feat. Crooked I) I do like this beat, and Royce starts off this album rhyming