Posts Tagged ‘Album Review’

Ca$his | The County Hound 3 | #AlbumReview #CH3

Friday, April 10th, 2015

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

CH3 Cover Art

CH3 Cover Art

Album Rating System 3  out of 5 records

Image    Image Image

The third album in Cashis’ trilogy of The County Hound is The County Hound 3. In the spirit of dank, makeshift, in-home studios, the beat-smiths that make simple productions, the part-time rapper, part-time weed peddler, the codeine sippers, and gangsters, CH3 is hand crafted just for you.

Cashis has quite a past in the music business starting his career in Orange County, California, where he relocated from his native Chicago. He was discovered in the mid-2000s and signed to Shady Records, where his introduction to the world was on Eminem’s 2006, Eminem Presents: The Re-Up, a compilation album featuring 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Bobby Creekwater, and others. From these experiences propelled the career of Cashis and his tenacious hustle that has kept him afloat all these years. Although existing under the surface, he’s been consistent in keeping a buzz in the Internet world, releasing four albums, four EPs, and about thirteen mixtapes.

CH3 falls in between Chicago drill and west coast G-Funk with a tinge of Houston, Texas accented in the pace of the music. The tone of CH3 is defined in the intro where he states, “Real n*ggas only advised to listen. No sucka n*ggas, no soft n*ggas, no squares, no lames, no punks, no frauds.” Cashis’ excessive gangsta talk doesn’t allow for much flexibility in his content, albeit he seems to be at his most comfortable in this position – and not exactly biased about rival gang affiliations, either. This is made clear in Turn Up. “If you Folks you my folks/F*ck a hater n*gga/…My little brother Gucci getting that paper n*gga/and that’s my blood, black, P-Stone Ranger, n*gga.”

(Click here to check out the Writing Battle Rap History Website)

Moving from Chicago to Irvine, California, a suburb in the O.C., is depicted by Cashis as a place that is overlooked for its gang affiliations. A

Ca$his

Ca$his

few years ago gang members and thugs from the outskirts of the inner city would be placed in a wanna-be caste system, but nowadays, because of a falling middle-class, the suburban thug is actually a realization. You wouldn’t be able to tell based on CH3’s gangster narratives that the turf sits in the white picket fences of the American dream. The ambiguity between inner city and suburban life isn’t clarified enough and you begin to wonder, aside from the contrast in population density, are the two really that much different?

The most exciting moments on CH3 are the Young Buck assisted, Kingpin and Work. Buck, a G-Unit veteran, brings much needed energy that kills the monotony of Cashis’ drawn out, codiene-flow. Unfortunately, features that include, Mac Lucci, Project Pat, Sullee, Roscoe, Britizen Kane, and even a producer credit from Eminem on Thug Boydoesn’t do enough to salvage CH3. Cashis’ raps get drowned in melancholies and there isn’t enough variation in his voice or the tracks produced by Rikanatti to combat the album’s overwhelming gloom.

CH3 isn’t for everybody. It was made for Cashis’ core fan base – the people who’ve been there supporting him from the beginning.  There is much to be respected about an emcee who has made their own way and has successfully capitalized off the online market.  Although Cashis’ CH3 falls short it leaves you respecting the hustle, not necessarily the music.

Download CH3 here https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-county-hound-3/id976258748

© Copyright Eddie Savoy Bailey III, 2015

Written by: Eddie Bailey of The Savoy Media Group

Twitter @SavoyMediaGroup

Email: writingbattleraphistory@gmail.com

Blog: writingbattleraphistory.wordpress.com

#WBRH

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog Series, Eddie Bailey, Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, WRS Music Reviews | 1 Comment »

Wale | The Album About Nothing | #AlbumReview #TAAN

Saturday, April 4th, 2015

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Photo via Complex Magazine)

(Photo via Complex Magazine)

Album Rating System 3 1/2 out of 5 records

Image    Image Imagehalf record copy

Listening to Wale rant and rave about how he doesn’t get the respect he deserves can be exhausting and off-putting. Because of that I’ve never cared to listen to a Wale album. I decided to give him a chance after reading an excerpt from his Billboard interview of him talking about being dissed by Katy Perry and how he should be spoken about in the same vain as Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, after all, when you compare yourself to one of the two best emcees in Hip Hop you have to live up to that comparison.

In his fourth studio album, The Album About Nothing, inspired by the NBC hit sitcom, Seinfeld (the show about nothing), Wale partners with friend and star of the show, Jerry Seinfeld, who serves as a narrator and voice of reason on this accidental concept album. Yes, accidental. I don’t think Wale meant to write a concept album since the album is supposed to be about nothing, and I’m not sold on this being a clever nod to the situational irony in Seinfeld that made the show so popular, but in an ironic twist, TAAN is an album about everything.

Wale

Wale

Everything in Wale’s world are the powers-that-be opposing his success and how delusional the entertainment world is. If you think of VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop series you can imagine how Hip-Hop has created an illusory world where all of your dreams can come true with little work ethic, little talent, yet have an abundance of good looks and swag. This is Wale’s world, the world he’s disgusted with and addicted to simultaneously. This is apparent in The Glass Egg featuring an uncredited Chrisette Michelle, where he raps, “It’s right, it’ like life is like a glass egg/Tryna maintain what come with the fame and keeping your last friends/Yeah, you know that balance of/Cause who on your back or who got your back/I promise the line is this thin…”

Most of the production on TAAN is from producers I’m not familiar with but who laid out some well-produced tracks for Wale. For example, The Girls On Drugs, produced by No Credit, is an acid-laced track that samples Janet Jackson’s Go Deep and is the perfect illustrator of what the drug-induced, sex-filled nights are in the industry. This is a part of life that he’s all too familiar with. Once the wave of MDMA and lean surfaces, Wale’s ability to navigate between the make-believe extravagancy of the Hip-Hop world and real life solidifies him as a veteran. Reverting back to the classic boom bap sound, The Success is a track that takes samples from The Andrews Chapel United Methodist Young Adult Choir’s 1985 record, Psalms 121. Other songs worth checking out are The One Time In Houston, The Bloom, The White Shoes, and The Need To Know.

Interestingly enough, the song that doesn’t seem to fit on this album is the lead single, The Body, featuring Jeremih. I understand that it’s radio-friendly but how TAAN is structured, The Body as the last song is a mistake. TAAN could’ve ended with The Matrimony, featuring Usher and it would’ve been more befitting of TAAN’s storyline. It’s a better choice because in TAAN Wale confesses, I believe on more than one occasion, that he wants to settle down but has uncertainties, and in The Matrimony he finally comes full circle. Then it ends with The Body where he’s talking about sex with no strings attached. Doesn’t make much sense to me.

Admittedly, the Washington D.C. native has come very far in his career, especially, coming from a town that isn’t known for any top-tier Hip-Hop acts. No slight to emcees like Nonchalant, Question Mark Asylum, Fat Trel, or any other D.C. native, it’s just that historically, D.C. has been a tough market for emcees to breakout. Attending Howard University in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, I can attest to the fact that D.C. is an acquired taste – this goes for the layout of the city, Go-Go music, the people, and their sense of fashion. This is no different in the case of Wale. Like the city he reps, he grows on you and you learn to appreciate his quirks for what they are.

My first experience with Wale wasn’t bad at all. Wale is a niche artist that has the potential to have stronger star power if he just stayed in his lane. His angst to be praised as he thinks he should only shadows his appeal. Respectfully, his comparisons to K. Dot and J. Cole are a reach. Unlike To Pimp A Butterfly and 2014 Forest Hills Drive, TAAN lacks courage. TAAN is a solid piece of work but it’s a formulaic album that doesn’t stay etched in your memory bank.  It doesn’t push the limits of what Hip-Hop can be, it’s just a good album, and with an album with that kind of title you have to wow people.  TAAN also loses perspective, mainly, because Wale talks too much about himself. Instead of sticking with the irony of an industry that looks like an oasis only to find that in reality it is a deserted wasteland of hopes and dreams, it’s an album about how this oasis has left him high and dry and it’s the same recycled story that we’ve been hearing from Wale time and time again.

Download TAAN here https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-album-about-nothing/id972747051

© Copyright Eddie Savoy Bailey III, 2015

Written by: Eddie Bailey of The Savoy Media Group

Twitter @SavoyMediaGroup

Email: writingbattleraphistory@gmail.com

Blog: writingbattleraphistory.wordpress.com

#WBRH

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog Series, Eddie Bailey, Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, Music, WRS Music Reviews | No Comments »

Kendrick Lamar | #ToPimpAButterfly #AlbumReview

Friday, March 20th, 2015

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Pimp a Butterfly album cover

To Pimp a Butterfly album cover

Album Rating System:  5 out of 5 records

Image    Image Image ImageImage

“This dick ain’t free,” is a gender bending, emphatic statement, that should be the mantra for black male youth growing up in a hyper-sexual society, where Kendrick Lamar redefines black masculinity on “For Free,” the second track on his second studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly. I don’t know if redefining black masculinity is on purpose or if it is by virtue of his conscious subject matter, but in TPAB Kendrick tackles social issues of the hood – manhood, love, sex, religion, mental illness, self-esteem and gang-banging, with a stream of effortless maturity. Either way – damn, this album is a breath of fresh air!

Kendrick’s maturity is not only a by-product of his upbringing but also of his spirituality. If you were to put a mirror up to the new faces of Christianity those faces may have a different look, especially with regard to perspective. It’s a perspective that is as simple as Kendrick talking about self love in “i” but as complicated as loving and hating the same person in “u”, or how he can be enraged and want to unify the black community at the same time in “The Blacker the Berry.” This may seem like truckload of contradictions but it is actually an honest and transparent look at what a human being looks like.

King Kendrick

King Kendrick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sure if we examined Kendrick’s heart among all the brilliant things there would be to study love would stand out. This kid’s heart is massively suffocating. He possesses a true love for black people, especially his Compton family. Though on the outset he abhors his homies’ gangster lifestyle, his affections for them are made clear on his album cover – Kendrick loves his niggas and truly wants to see them do well. The same love and respect he has for his homies he has for women, too. In “Complexion” he raps “Beauty is what you make it, I used to be so mistaken/By different shades of faces/Then wit told me, “A woman is woman, love the creation”/It all came from God then you was my conformation/I came to where you reside/And looked around to see sights for sore eyes/Let the Willie Lynch theory reverse a million times with…”

If I didn’t know any better the production on the TPAB sounded like Dr. Dre was operating in the spirit of Rico Wade, 1/3 of the Atlanta production team Organized Noize who produced albums for OutKast and Goodie Mob. This isn’t a slight to Dre, as I think this is arguably some of his best work to date, but the funk-jazz infused Hip Hop is sonically similar to Aquemini. The main difference in the production is the use of Be Bop jazz interpolations dispersed throughout TPAB in arrythmic patterns that plays up the coffee shop poetry feel. And of course, in Dr. Dre fashion, he tells a lengthy story that connects every song together in perfect succession.

The last song “Mortal Man” sums up the album. “Mortal Man” is riveting because toward the end of the song Kendrick has a conversation with Tupac Shakur, posthumously, of course, but carefully using excerpts of Tupac’s interviews creates a chilling dialogue between the two. After the two share their outlooks on life Kendrick pulls out a poem he wants to read to ‘Pac about the metaphor of the caterpillar and the butterfly. He explains it beautifully and then asks for ’Pac’s perspective, to which Pac doesn’t answer. The album ends with Kendrick saying, “Pac! Pac! Pac!” Some may see this as Kendrick being a Tupac incarnate but I think that Kendrick’s ideas on black emancipation are a bit more mature than Tupac’s. Tupac’s warrior-like passion is rooted in a kill-or-be-killed mentality, whereas Kendrick’s passions are rooted more in his love for God. If anything Kendrick Lamar is an evolved Tupac, and Pac’s silence is a clear indication that the torch has been passed.

TPAB download here —-> https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/to-pimp-a-butterfly/id974187289

© Copyright Eddie Savoy Bailey III, 2015

Written by: Eddie Bailey of The Savoy Media Group

Twitter @SavoyMediaGroup

Email: writingbattleraphistory@gmail.com

Blog: writingbattleraphistory.wordpress.com

#WBRH

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Eddie Bailey, Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, Music, WRS Music Reviews | No Comments »

HipHop Bars 2 Beats 4 Reviews: YG – My Krazy Life

Sunday, November 16th, 2014

by A. Pierre

 

Is this the 2014 Doggystyle?

Is this the 2014 Doggystyle?

In 2013, the now 24-year-old YG was pushed into the mainstream after his lead single “My N***” featuring Young Jeezy and Rich Homie Quan took off in the clubs, streets, and then consequently moving up the Billboard charts. The young Compton MC signed to the Young Jeezy led CTE World Label with aspirations of being the next superstar artist and continuing the recent trend of West Coast success. While coming from the streets of Compton and living a life filled with gang-related street life and drama, YG comes from relative obscurity to now having a few notable hits released, including “My N***”, “Left Right”, and “Who Do You Love” ft. Drake; while also having a surprisingly strong debut album. The overall vibe of YG’s debut album “My Krazy Life” probably has the most resemblance to the West Coast’s gangsta rap golden era of the early to mid 90′s then any of the new artist that have hit the scene and had some success in the last few years. One album in particular that it probably has its closest parallel from 1993 to 2014 is “Doggystyle”. Is YG’s debut album the 2014 version of Snoop Dogg’s 90′s classic album “Doggystyle”? It sure has at least some elements that could give fans a similar feeling and bounce to it, but lets break it down a little.

When Snoop Dogg released his critically acclaimed “Doggystyle” in November of 1993, it produced monster hits along with a continuation of Dr Dre’s G-Funk influenced production and bounce that had the parties jumping. At that time it almost felt like sonically “Doggystyle” was a part 2 to Dre’s own album released a year before “The Chronic”. That album along with “Doggystyle” pushed the then 22-year-old Snoop Dogg into superstar status, and cemented Dr Dre as a molder of careers. As we jump into 2014, Producer DJ Mustard acts as YG’s right hand man as was Dr Dre to Snoop Dogg. On “My Krazy Life”, DJ Mustard does not dominate the production as completely as Dre did for Snoop Dogg however his role and influence on YG’s recent offering and his imprint on the MC’s career progression are almost as crucial.

On the first 4 songs of the albums, (“BPT”, “I Just Wanna Party”, “Left Right”, “Bicken Back Being Bool”) DJ Mustard handles the production, setting the tone for the rest of the album. Sonically the album isn’t exactly of the Dr Dre G-Funk variety however nonetheless DJ Mustard provides YG with a backdrop that is throwback West Coast to its core. DJ Mustard’s bass lines have that riding in your car down the road on the highway, with nowhere important to go, with the windows rolled down, with the music blasting through your speakers feel to them. This isn’t really an album that you sit down in your house on a peaceful day with your IPOD and headphones and critically listen to. It’s the type of album similar to “Doggstyle” where you just simply enjoy the ride and groove to the piercing beats that are used as the backdrop and soundtrack to the stories of a day in the life of a young man navigating through the ups and downs of a day in the hood, where anything can happen while also complicated by gang affiliation.

One example of YG breaking down his mentality one fateful night is on the 1st verse on “1Am” where he raps…

“It was 1 in the mornin’ and I was up yawnin’
Moms asked where I’m goin’, to the hood if you ain’t knowin’
Pops locked up so mama couldn’t stop me
I was out the house, ASAP Rocky
And it wasn’t cause she couldn’t control us
We was her babies, she just wanted to hold us
And we ain’t get disciplined, her friend started whisperin’
About how she was a bad mama, mama said “fuck ‘em then”
I was in the streets stylin’, nobody could tell me nothin’
Grandpa or grandma, not my auntie or my favorite cousin I was buzzin’
Fuckin’ all these hoes wearing no condoms, no nothin’
I used to ditch school when the homie had the Chevy
I used to sneak and smoke stress weed”

Throughout the album YG basically strolls through a day in the life of his experiences in Compton; from the leadoff “BPT”, to the robbery “Meet The Flockers”, to love lost on “Me & My Bitch”, to reckless behavior on “1AM” and “Thank God”, to feelings of sorrow and regret on “Sorry Momma”. The album overall is quite consistent from track to track, in “Do It To Ya” which contains interpolations of the Dogg Pound’s 90′s hit “Lets Play House” is not as dope as Dogg Pound’s original version but still a winner, however one of the best tracks on the album is arguably “Really Be (Smokin N Drinkin)” featuring Kendrick lamar. Unfortunately for YG the guest appearance by Kendrick Steals the show with his flow, emotion and lyrics.

On the 3rd verse of “Really Be (Smokin N Drinkin)” Kendrick raps…

“I swear this industry shit, to me is one big ass lick
I walk inside of a buildin’, tell the A&R nigga strip
Tell ‘em I need all of my chips, my life been on Section 8
I’ve been a welfare case, AFDC pump fake
Meanwhile I’m grindin’ cause drug money ain’t like rap money
Four white kilo snow bunny, equal one whole show, dummy
I’m on this tour bus and I’m fucked up, I got a bad call
They killed Braze, they killed Chad, my big homie Pup
Puppy eyes in my face, bruh, and I’ve really been drinkin’
Muthafucka, I really been smokin’, what the fuck? I’m the sober one
Man, I’m so stressed out, I can’t focus
Hide out when I ride out, ski mask with the eyes out
Speed past in the Cutlass, me and little Ocho
Every young nigga hop out, 2 tears in a bucket
I feel like “fuck it”, the price of fame, recognize my pain, that’s all I know
All out war, but I’m out here though, call my troops like “vamonos”
I’m on this tour bus and I’m fucked up, I got a bad call, and it’s all bad
Off OG with my OG and some OE, by the tall glass”

On that note, here lies the general downfall if a person were to ponder whether “My Krazy Life” can be compared to any acclaimed album, even one in the same vein as Snoop’s “Doggystyle”, it’s the difference between elite MC’s, good MC’s, average MC’s and the “how did you get a deal” guys. Whats that? well its the actual MC-ing the rapping, the formation of words that creates the verses and bars that communicate the message or picture you are attempting to convey. Now I’m not saying that “Doggystyle” was some lyrical masterpiece or even high level rapping lyrics-wise or that YG’s rapping is bad, it’s more so the fact that when you’re not a great wordsmith the only way you can elevate your overall music to great or classic status is you must create music that not only has great production, concepts, and consistent dope tracks from start to finish, but also evoke either the proper passion or clarity musically on your album that paints a vivid picture to the listener at an elite level. While YG does a solid job at that, it’s not to the point where it supersedes the oh so many mediocre and below verses throughout the album.

While “My Krazy Life” is pretty consistent with excellent production, the album overall is obviously not up to the level of Snoop Dogg’s seminal classic “Doggystyle”. Which is definitely not a knock on YG’s album, which is still a quality product but there is a strong gap between YG’s Debut and Snoop’s multi-platinum debut which continued the sound of  Dre’s “The Chronic”, which changed the game. So all in all YG still released one of the better mainstream albums of 2014, and continued the West Coast’s reemergence on the national scene. #HaitianJack

YG –  “My Krazy Life” (Released March 2014)

Bars: M   Beats: XXL   Music: XL    Report Card: B

A. Pierre of HipHop Bars 2 Beats 4 Reviews, for War Room Sports

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in A. Pierre, Blog Series, General, HipHop Bars 2 Beats 4 Reviews, WRS Music Reviews | No Comments »

HipHop Bars 2 Beats 4 Reviews: ScHoolBoy Q – Oxymoron – 2014

Saturday, November 1st, 2014

by A. Pierre

oxy

Ever since TDE’s Black Hippy Crew started bubbling right under the national scene in 2010, their rise hasn’t been meteoric but it has been on a gradual upswing. The pinnacle of that hype machine has happened within the last 18-24 months or so with Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed “Good Kid, MAAd City”, then TDE’s BET Cypher exposure last year. For the most part TDE holds the general distinction as a crew of super lyrical MC’s, well that is not necessarily the case. Case and point is Schoolboy Q who is not a bum, but probably the least lyrical of the bunch.

However there’s a reason why SchoolBoy Q’s album was next up and ready with quality singles and a legit buzz before every other artist on the label outside of Kendrick Lamar. The thing about SchoolBoy Q, he is…… for the lack of a better word so to speak, has that “Method Man of Wu-Tang” vibe to him. What do I mean by that? Well, like Method Man, he isn’t the most lyrical MC of the crew nor was he arguably even in the top 4 or 5, however he had that star appeal to him in his music. The ability to mesh the balance between rhymes that connect to the streets with rhymes and music that connect to the club and radio masses.

Not to pigeonhole Q, but with all that being said, the foundation of ScHoolBoy Q as an artist is one of a West Coast gang-related gangsta rapper. On the Sounwave produced “Hoover Street”, ScHoolBoy Q takes us down his memory lane on some of the harsh realities of his childhood. On the track Q raps…

Verse 1:
“Find a nigga realer than me, my socks stink/
Eat so much pussy that my mustache pink/
Strapping, my pants seam, no need for a belt/
Gangsta lean help, hoodie on backwards with the eyes cut out/
My hate felt, my .45 elder, poetry’s deep/
I never fail ya, Schoolboy bust flame/
Orange-yellow, higher than Margielas/
Since a young nigga I admired the crack sellers, seen my uncle steal/
From his mother, now that’s the money that I’m talking ’bout/
Think about it, the smoker ain’t got shit and everyday he still get a hit/
Whether jacking radios or sucking dick/
Sell his kids and chop his wrists and sealing his lips
Cause he don’t want the feds arresting his fix, didn’t take much/
To get me convinced, coincidence that I ain’t fucking with work/
Unless we rewind and answer my church/
Times getting harder than my d*** on a growth spurt/
Around the same time all you niggas was on purp/
My sober ass was snatching her purse, make the ice cream truck freeze/
Give me the keys, extra Fritos, chili and cheese/
Threw some Baby Lucas in his eyes before I leave/
The cops’ll never get the lead, grandma taught me well/
And my uncle gun was the accessories, 211 sipping plus a robbery/
This little piggy went to market, this little piggy carry chrome”

Verse 2:
“Grandma said she loved me, I told her I loved her more/
She always got me things that we couldn’t afford/
The new Js and Tommy Hill in my drawers/
Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, see Golden Eye was away at war/
We wasn’t thinking of getting money then/
Nor did I wonder why my uncle done sold his Benz/
Cause he been tripping now, he sweats a lot and slimming down/
I also notice moms be locking doors when he around/
But anyways, he wife done left him and now he living with us/
My bike is missing, Grandma like to hide her check every month/
My uncle’s nuts, he used to give me whiskey to piss in cups/
Knocking on the door telling me to hurry up, he in a rush/
I gave it to him then got my ass whipped for doing it/
Moms used to tell me like, nigga, know who you dealing with/
Them was the good days ’til I was raised the older ways/
Rat-Tone my nigga’s brother showed me my first K/
I was amazed, me and Floyd was in the back, he called us over like, hey/
YAWK, YAWK, YAWK, YAWK! We like, damn, nigga/
Then again, YAWK, YAWK! We like, damn, nigga/
Hearing him say cuz turned us to a fan, nigga/
Later on he got locked so know we’re taking his fades/
Continue the chapter from his life, we flipping that page/
Gangbanging was a ritual and Grandma would help/
She should’ve never left her gun on the shelf/
This little piggy went to market, this little piggy carry chrome”

Throughout “Oxymoron”, ScHoolboy Q displays his ability to craft high-energy head nodding tracks. I wouldn’t call the various producers who handled the boards for the album a “super team”, however the production overall is top notch. There’s bangers everywhere on this album, from the opening track “Gangsta”, to “Collard Greens” ft. Kendrick Lamar, to the 2Chainz assisted “What They Want”, to the grooved-out “Studio”, to the melodic backdrop on “Hell Of A Night”, to the trunk-rattling close out track “Man Of The Year”. With all the repeat value on various tracks throughout Oxymoron, it is still far from flawless.

The main thing that holds the album back from manifesting to what it could have been is ScHoolboy Q’s rapping on a majority of the album, ranging from solid to average on more than half of the songs. I think part of that may be due to the subject matter on a third of the songs. Most of the time a club sounding track will not require high level rapping, and can for the most part, unless done right will throw the song off. There’s a reason why you won’t hear or find many great club-banger type tracks from the Canibus, Crooked I, Terminology, Kool G Rap type MC’s of the world. Sometimes the bars and music don’t fit, and there’s an art and science to making that work with superb bars like some of the all-time great MC’s have done, like a Biggie or Jay-Z. Q, similar to Method Man in respect to Wu-Tang, ScHoolboy Q may be in the bottom half of the TDE totem pole as far as bars are concerned, however he arguably has the most star quality and the best single crafting ability that can appeal to different Hip-Hop sectors. Not saying that he will sell a ton of records or will ever become a bigger star than Kendrick, but his ability to craft dope singles that appeal to the masses is on par with K.Dot and above everyone else thus far on TDE. Overall “Oxymoron” has enough standouts and cohesion in its 12 song offering to be considered a solid to good album, and another positive notch for the entire West Coast and TDE in the past few years.  #HaitianJack

Scores:  Oxymoron (2014)

Bars: M         Beats: XL        Music: XL         Report Card: B-

A. Pierre of HipHop Bars 2 Beats 4 Reviews, for War Room Sports

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog Series, Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, HipHop Bars 2 Beats 4 Reviews, Music, WRS Music Reviews | No Comments »

Mickey Factz: 740 Park Avenue Album Review

Friday, July 18th, 2014

by Jimmy Williams

JW Blog

 

 

 

740 Cover

There are certain artists that I support every time they release a project.  Mickey Factz makes that list and before you question that, let me explain why.  In my honest opinion he made one of the best projects in the last decade with Mickey Mause, which was released in 2012.  That album IMO is a classic and it was an example of someone painting pictures with their words.  The two albums after Mickey Mause which were #Y, and #Ynot were dope albums but not as great artistically as Mickey Mause.  This leads me to this new project, 740 Park Avenue.

 

I watched a documentary on Netflix called “Park Avenue” and also read a book by Michael Gross titled “740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building”,so I was wondering where he was going with the title, considering the first song I heard from the project was “Detroit Red”.  The album starts by explaining the address of 740 Park Avenue and its wealth, but then it juxtaposes the residents’ situation to families that live close by as well as the life of the doorman who works at the apartment.  This is where it gets interesting.

 

I’m the type of Hip-Hop fan that pays attention to not only beats and lyrics, but also the themes, cohesiveness, and the order of tracks on a project.  I love how this album starts with the doorman explaining how he has to make a resident aware of who Malcolm X is, which leads right into Detroit Red.  Factz is a well-rounded emcee who has the ability to make concept songs, just spit crazy bars such as the song “Still Better Than You”, but I think he is at his best when telling a story such as Detroit Red. Other songs that stand out are “7-13-82 – 2-29-14”, “Just This Last Time”, “13th Disciple” and “.14”.

 

There are many emcees who just spit bars or talk tough and that’s cool, but it gets boring.  One thing I love about this project is that it’s not boring.  There are lighter songs that Factz still spits crazy on, but have an R&B feel to them such as “Smoke Screen”, “Just This Last Time”, and “NeS”.  “NeS” is a dope concept song that I have listened to on repeat.  BTW, I thought I was the only one who noticed how thick Chun Li’s thighs were on Street Fighter.

 

Another track that stands out is “Huxtables”.  When it comes to appreciating some songs, it’s about how you relate and I completely relate to this song.  I also was heavily influenced by the Cosby Show as well as A Diff’rent World.  In fact I wanted to go to an HBCU just because of A Diff’rent World, and that’s how I ended up at Lincoln University.  Eventually, I had to leave Lincoln University because I was also influenced by Mobb Deep and the Infamous album, but that story is for another day.

 

This is a dope ass project but there is one song I dislike and that’s “Iont Care”.  I can’t stand the song.  I don’t like the flow or the beat and I don’t get how it fits in with the narrative.  When I’m vibing to the album, this song just confuses me.  It’s like when I look for Netflix these days and I forget they changed the logo to white. (WTF did they do that for?).  I get the same feeling when I hear this song.  It pisses me off but then I realize it’s the only song I dislike and the rest of the content is dope.  The white logo pisses me off but then I realize I still have dope content.

 

This project is easily the best project from Factz since Mickey Mause and it will be a strong contender to make my list at the end of the year for best projects.  It didn’t move me the way the Mickey Mause project did but then again not too many albums from anyone have, with maybe the exception of Pharoah Monche’s PTSD. (As you can see I love concept albums).  Bar for bar, not too many emcees can deal with Factz in terms of wordplay, metaphors, and storytelling, but what makes his music standout is his ability to use those skills while making great songs (No Canibus).  I also appreciate each project having a theme as opposed to just dropping fifteen songs with someone just rambling about whatever comes to mind.

 

This project is a must download for my true hip hop fans that appreciate the art.

Download here: http://www.datpiff.com/Mickey-Factz-740-Park-Ave-mixtape.627842.html

 

To read my mid-year hip hop project review click here ==> http://goo.gl/96gYXT

 

Jimmy “The Blueprint” Williams of War Room Sports

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, Jimmy Williams, Music | 1 Comment »

Amerigo Gazaway Presents – Yasiin Gaye: The Return (Side Two) #AlbumReview

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

YG Side 2 Cover Art

YG Side 2 Cover Art

Album Rating System 4 out of 5 records

Image    Image Image Image

The marquis outside of 10 East 60th street in Manhattan reads “A night at the Copa with Yasiin Gaye.” Out with the Rat Pack crowd, with their black and white tuxes and Mafioso-DAs, and in with the black crowd.   It’s black night at the Copa and they’re here to support brother Yasiin. Conks, fried-dyed-and-laid-to-the-side, old-fashioneds and dirty martinis – impeccably dressed men and women with thick-framed glasses, skinny ties and cocktail dresses fill up the seats to the rafters. The headliner, Yasiin Gaye steps on stage into the spotlight in a midnight blue shark skinned suit and the show begins.

Though Yasiin was never at the Copa – only as I have imagined he would be in this write-up – he effortlessly brings you the elegance of that time period.  Yasiin Bey formerly known as Mos Def brings us Side Two, of his second installment of his mash-up with the late Marvin Gaye. Marvin’s legendary Motown catalogue is reconstructed in an eclectic composition that mixes funk, soul, blues, rock and hip hop. The album itself is an imaginative, cross-generational period piece that meets Marvin Gaye and Yasiin Bey at the crossroads of Bey’s nostalgia and the after life. Yasiin is sort of a Marvin Gaye incarnate.  He brings to life – if but for a moment  – Marvin Gaye and everything in the 60s-70s time capsule, in a surreal way.  Click here to read the full review.

 

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Eddie Bailey, Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, Music | No Comments »

Nitty Scott, MC #TheArtOfChill #AlbumReview

Friday, May 30th, 2014

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

TAOC Cover Art

TAOC Cover Art

Album Rating System 4 out of 5 records

Image    Image Image Image

Imagine a cramped Brooklyn apartment walk-up – say in Bushwick, filled with Egyptian musk incense competing with clouds of kush.  A cipher of gods and goddesses building, amongst decorated Turkish pillows and Ottoman poufs, and at the center sits the lotus flower.  Nitty Scott, MC.

Scott’s debut studio album, TAOC is suspended in irony.  On the surface the album title embodies the vanguard of everything that is cool, while the subject matter is everything but.  Scott’s journey of self-discovery and her confrontation of her past with sexual abuse is periling, but her youthful charm makes her plight all the more admirable.

In the intro, Wanderlust, which features sitarist, Rajib Karmakar, is a gently plucked embrace of Scott’s retreat to Eastern philosophy.  From the start you can envision the direction she’s headed, and it only gets better.

Nitty Scott, MC

Nitty Scott, MC

Behind the exterior is a ferocious MC and someone who has reverence for the craft.  In each song she carefully paragraphs her verses in expressive measure.  I’m talking about bars!  Meaningful content.  No filler.  No wasted space.

In Apex, featuring TDE artist, Ab-Soul, she spits in multi-syllabic fashion, “More dread from warheads/They want the poor dead, but I fed the universe on my forehead/And did this happen beforehand?/Now face it, they just basically erasing them glitches up in the matrix/Always thought the term Black Magic was kinda racist/And I have yet to find intelligent basis for the hatred/Attracting and deflecting a core of my star portals/Ain’t it gorgeous to be mortal?/I couldn’t be more cordial.” Click here to read the full review.

 

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Eddie Bailey, General, Hip-Hop, Music | No Comments »

“…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin”: Album Review

Saturday, May 24th, 2014

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATYSYC artwork

ATYSYC artwork

Album Rating System 3 1/2 out of 5 records

Image    Image Imagehalf record copy

You can never really wrap your mind around creativity.  Maybe because its not meant to be fully understood as opposed to being appreciated.  But then, when creativity meets social awareness it becomes a statement.  The Roots eleventh studio album,  & Then You Shoot Your Cousin, is an intellectual posit of Hip-Hop’s downward spiral.  It bleeds outside of mainstream music’s “assembly line” context, into a satirical look at millennial-Hip Hop’s nonsensical culture of debauchery and violence, and their relation to it.

The album starts off with a Nina Simone performance from Theme From The Middle Of The Night, with other complimenting interludes from jazz pianist, Mary Lou Williams, and French composer, Michel Chion, peppered throughout the album.

Black Thought, as usual, leads the vocals with his raspy, educated rap.  This time he brings along MCs, Greg Porn and Dice Raw to accompany his revolutionary conquests.

Thought raps in The Dark (Trinity), “The law of gravity meets the law of averages/Ain’t no sense in attempting to civilize savages/Even though I wish I could be spared my embarrassment/I’m a nxgga, other nxggas pale in comparison/We out in Paris yet but still a nxgga perishing/No idea how much time’s left, fxck trying to cherish it/A life in times unchecked, now that’s American/Inherit the wind, pressure in everything.”  Click here to read the full review.

 

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Eddie Bailey, Entertainment, General, Hip-Hop, Music | No Comments »

SZA “Z” Album Review

Monday, April 14th, 2014

by Writing Battle Rap History

Writing Battle Rap History Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Z Cover Art

Z Cover Art

Album Rating System 4 out of 5 records

Image    Image Image Image

If you’ve ever rummaged through a girl’s diary to know her private thoughts, you’ve probably run across some pretty revealing truths.  To get caught violating that privacy is hell to pay.  In the case of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) artist SZA, she has willingly left her diary unlocked for the world to see.

Z is a chronicle of a deeply passionate teenage love affair with the ebb and flows of life as an adolescent and a young adult.  SZA narrates her experiences through the lens of her fractured vanity mirror.  Defragmenting the pieces of her life into a complete portrait is SZA’s process of creating her own masterpiece, which is discovering herself.  Click here to read the full review.

 

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Eddie Bailey, Entertainment, General, Music, R&B | No Comments »