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noisereductions 09.21.2014 03:38 PM

I agree sev. Love that album. In fact, I'd rank VV above MM Food. Still need to hear that bonus disc though.

Severian 09.21.2014 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noisereductions
 

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty - 1998 - Capitol
Released after a lengthy hiatus, the fifth Beastie Boys album is a bit of a reinvention. Whereas the previous records - Check Your Head, Ill Communication and the Aglio E Olio EP felt a lot more like the work of the Beasties as a band, Hello Nasty highlights the Beasties as MC's. And there's a very good reason for this - Mixmaster Mike. With Mike behind the wheels of steel, this album has a very old school (see: "Three MC's and One DJ") feel to it. If you were a fan of those other records, it may feel a jarring shift, but at the same time it's also a bit of a shift back to the feeling of Licensed To Ill and Paul's Boutique except brought up to the sound of the late 90's. And it's damn good. Although it feels a bit front-loaded as well. The opening stretch of "Super Disco Breakin'," "The Move," and "Remote Control" is just fucking ridiculous. And then things shift a bit with the pretty out-there "Song For The Man." But this won't be the first shift in tone throughout the record. Indeed over the course of 22 tracks you're going to hear all kinds of styles. And in that sense, it plays out like some crazy mixtape of the Beasties' favorite songs, where no genre is off limits. And truth be told that's fun as hell, but also slightly frustrating as sometimes the sequencing doesn't feel optimal. Sticking some of the more experimental or meandering tracks between "Intergalactic" or "The Grasshopper Unit" may have been a bit more beneficial than throwing some of the less-than-three-minute experimental excursions together in bundle. But at the end of the record, it all seems to make some kind of weird sense in the blendered world that the Beasties always created. Sure closing the record with what basically feels like three outro tracks is kind of baffling, but ultimately nothing here sounds like a throwaway either. Even the slightly failed experiments are worth experiencing. Maybe it's not the best Beastie Boys album, but they're one of those rare bands where even at their worst they're still worth listening to. And even if I personally adored the sound they had been exploring on Check Your Head and Ill Communication, the fact that they are so willing to switch gears from album to album is a reminder of why I love them.


The Beasties have always had a lot of really exciting and diverse moves hidden up their sleeves. It's really the one thing that makes them a band of lasting influence. Hello Nasty was a big album for me. It's actually my favorite Beastie Boys album, I think.. And not because of “Body Movin'” or “Intergalactic” (I hear the videos are great, but if I ever saw them, I quickly forgot them) but because the album seemed to play to their strengths... In the late '90s the Beasties didn't represent hip hop, so it was wise to make this album a more alternative affair.

Didn't they tour with Rage Against the Machine or something around the time this album was dominating radio? I seem to recall some drama about the B-Boys finding themselves stick with the overly aggressive crowds of some co-headliner, and not being terribly into it. If it wasn't RATM then I have no fucking idea. But they should have been comfortable sharing stages with the Blurs, Becks, Lips & JSBX's of the world by that point.

But I digress .. I just really liked the whole vibe and feel of this record. I liked the mish mash of future sounds and old school rhymes. I can't really believe it got as much play as it did, but I'm glad it got it. What a weird couple of years for hip hop.. Honestly... I'm so glad the Beasties were around to handle damage control during this period.

noisereductions 09.21.2014 08:39 PM

personally, I prefer Check Your Head and Ill Communications. But those were like albums I really cut my teeth on y'know? They had a big place in my heart because of when I heard them. Hello Nasty is great though, no doubt. The "Intergalactic" video is awesome though. Watch that shit. Kaiju and all.

noisereductions 09.21.2014 10:17 PM

Midnight Marauders is my favorite hip hop LP of all time, so maybe biased. But I think it birthed a whole sound. I think it is the blueprint for Illmatic and The Infamous. It inspired so much else - The Roots, et al.

Thing is sure, Low End was more innovative, but MM is the beginning of the sound that classic 90's NY records followed. Yeah?

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.21.2014 10:21 PM

I get a lot of slack for loving the love movement more than midnight maruaders

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.21.2014 10:22 PM

And the all time best ever national beastie boys moment was the sabotage video

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.21.2014 11:11 PM

What y'all know bout that RBL Posse and where the,fuck did ZZ Top even find 25 Lighters on My Dresser" ??

Severian 09.22.2014 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noisereductions
Midnight Marauders is my favorite hip hop LP of all time, so maybe biased. But I think it birthed a whole sound. I think it is the blueprint for Illmatic and The Infamous. It inspired so much else - The Roots, et al.

Thing is sure, Low End was more innovative, but MM is the beginning of the sound that classic 90's NY records followed. Yeah?


Yeah.

I was also going to mention that MM is the best and most notable high-profiile album to contain multiple/sequential "skits" all based on the same concept. Those skits, as I'm sure you all would agree, are fucking awesome, and precedent setting, though they were never really replicated or duplicated by any following album.

Conceptually, MM is more fully realized than Low End, though they're both extremely great albums.

noisereductions 09.22.2014 07:08 PM

 

Cypress Hill - III: Temples Of Boom - 1995 - Ruffhouse
Cypress Hills' third album marks a definite shift in their sound. And it's pretty easy to figure out why. Four months after they dropped their celebrated sophomore effort, Black Sunday another hip hop LP would blow way up. That album was Enter The Wu-Tang and its influence was indescribable. With that in mind, it's not shocking to see both U-God and RZA as guests whereas previous Cypress Hill albums were completely Soul Assassins family affairs. The other major change would be Sen Dog's lack of input in the project. Around this time he was also dabbling in outside work, and as such barely has any presence here at all. But while III feels very different sonically, it's still very much a Cypress Hill record. Though instead of the aggressive, high energy of the first two records, the production here takes a bit of a breather. This a far more subdued work. Tempos slow down a bit. The atmosphere is all dark tones. The rather incredible "Illusions" is a great example, with its lazy, eerie vibraphone motif. Elsewhere guitar samples and jazz breaks fill in more space, Eric Bobo gets to showcase his bongo work and there's even Buddhist Monks chanting. On a whole, it's maybe a step back from the urgent work of their first two records, but it's also nice to see the group experimenting a bit more out of their comfort zone.

 

Lil Wayne - I Am Not A Human Being - 2010 - Young Money
I Am Not A Human Being wasn't actually recorded as a studio album, but instead was a smattering of outtakes - I'm guessing from both Rebirth (in the case of the title track) as well as the still-in-progress Carter IV sessions. As such, it doesn't really sound like an album as much as a smattering of outtakes. But luckily, they're mostly all solid ones that deserve to make up a full length on their own. All three Drake duets (he's listed as being on "I'm Single," but he's so totally not on that song) are top-notch, and "Right Above It" certainly made a great single. Elsewhere he brings in Nicki Minaj to handle the chorus of "What's Wrong With Them," which definitely works and Lil Twist to do the same on "Popular," which also works. The record keeps its momentum while constantly switching gears. Opener "Gonorrhea" is hard as nails. The title track is a sort of throwback to Rick Reuben style guitar samples (not unlike Jay's "99 Problems") that I'm guess most people wished that Rebirth had sounded like. Slower tracks like "With You," "I'm Single," and "Popular" all have focused deliveries by Wayne so as never to sound boring. Then we get to the tenth track, "Bill Gates" which is a slow, epic, low-end filled scorcher that somehow sounds triumphant and depressed at the same time. If only the record had ended here, it would have been far better received. Instead, the final three tracks come across as tacked-on outtakes from We Are Young Money. It's a pretty downer way to end an otherwise solid collection.

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.22.2014 09:43 PM

Temples of Boom is a masterpiece I haven't heard since 2000.. we used to freestyle to those beats like crazy

louder 09.23.2014 03:57 AM

Kendrick's 1st single dropping in 3 hours, YES! CAN'T WAIT!

louder 09.23.2014 06:22 AM

OUT NOW - https://soundcloud.com/topdawgent/i-1/s-GT9Cd

getting strong The Love Below vibes from this one! LOVE IT.

Kendrick is gonna drop a classic album!!

louder 09.23.2014 07:52 AM

"Year and a Day" off Paul's Boutique was probably a strong influence on that new Kendrick joint.

Severian 09.23.2014 09:11 PM

Having now purchased SYRO officially, and having heard the new Kendrick single (as well as the FlyLo single f/ Kendrick), I'm starting to worry that LIL WAYNE and (waaaay more importantly, Kanye West, will NOT actually get around to releasing their new albums before the end of the year.

Has anyone even heard any speculation about an album title for Yeezy's new joint? I know I read rumour back in May about various stupid sounding titles like "God Mode" and "Made in Florence" (which would probably both sound fine if I heard them from Yeezy and not dumb bloggers repping their own shit fan art)

But that's it. The new single "All Day" was just a low quality bootleg leak, never actually taking the form of a certified, official Kanye song.

I'm worried fellas.

The 3 artists that were supposed to bring Tha noise this year (Weezy, Yeezy & Wu-Tang) have simply not come through. At least Wu has a (really crappy) title, and a (so-so) single. But I wouldn't be surprised if all three of them went over schedule and failed to release their albums in 2014.

Meh.

Aw well, I've got SYRO blasting from my speakers as I type. Things could be way worse. :)

louder 09.24.2014 01:11 AM

Kanye just turned his album in yesterday, so you can stop worrying about that.

as for Wayne, every song he dropped so far was a failure (besides D'usse, which was just a freestyle), he's been relying on Drake too much, and even the cover art sucks. things aren't looking too good at the moment. he needs to scrap the whole thing and re-start recording it once he found a real inspiration.

anyway.. Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan and Birdman are putting out a mixtape under "Rich Gang" next week, which has strong classic potential if you ask me. "Lifestyle" and "About the Money" are the shieet. Thug in general is the future.

noisereductions 09.24.2014 05:57 AM

Wasnt Rich Gang already used by ymcmb ?

louder 09.24.2014 10:21 AM

@NR-

http://www.mtv.com/news/1941020/youn...strong-impact/
Quote:

Birdman has vision. The Cash Money co-founder, alongside his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams, has guided the careers of some of the biggest names in hip-hop music. With artists like Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj and Drake carrying the torch for the brand, Bird sought out a couple of other newcomers to build with: Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan.

“I met Thug, flew him to L.A. to come see me and we connected from there, then Quan came to the table. I always believed in unity, that’s always been my thing,” Birdman told MTV News on September 11, when we traveled to Atlanta to cover a video shoot for an upcoming Rich Gang single.

Baby brought Thug and Quan together on “Lifestyle,” the #5 rap single in the country, according to Billboard. Next, Birdman plans to drop a Rich Gang mixtape, which will star Thugger and Rich Homie, and then an upcoming tour for the three of them.

“They were already working on a project, them two, and I said, ‘Let’s do it together. Let me take it to the next level for y’all, ’cause I see y’all got the potential and the talent,’” Baby told us of his pitch to the rising stars.

Both Thug and Rich Homie had solo success before meeting Birdman. Young Thug’s 2013 breakout “Stoner” launched him into a national spotlight, and Quan scored major points with his singles “Type of Way” and “Walk Thru.”

“I just thought by them being together, it would be a stronger impact and then they still can do their solo things,” Birdman said.

Their solo situations are a bit murky, though. Thug is reportedly signed to the newly formed 300, but when we asked him on the carpet of the 2014 BET Awards, he only confused matters. “It’s not no 300, it’s not no 100, 250, whatever you call it — it’s a lifetime warranty, you dig? It’s in and out. Blood in, blood out,” Thug told us then.

Quan is reportedly signed to Def Jam, but he denies ever inking with the storied hip-hop label.

There seems to be no dispute about Thug and Quan’s Rich Gang affiliation however. “I wanted to come to the A and rock with them and put artists on… I want them to be able to put other acts on like I do,” Birdman said. “We gonna make acts, put acts on and it’s gonna always be about them two.”

noisereductions 09.24.2014 10:47 AM

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Gang_(album)

louder 09.24.2014 11:03 AM

i know the Rich Gang album from last year. i wasn't digging it when it came out, but some of it grew on me. it's a lot better than "Rise of an Empire" for sure. Detail is a good composer.

however, i expect this new project to be a lot better. Thug isn't an official YMCMB member yet, but apparently he's signed under Birdman's management, and he's a part of the clique or whatever.

louder 09.24.2014 11:07 AM

Young Thug Wants to Make ‘Tha Carter’ 6-10: http://radio.com/2014/09/19/young-thug-tha-carter-6-10/

i'm cool with it. i mean he has a lot of talent, i've listened to his older tapes and he's been improving so much in the last couple of years. of course he still has a lot of room to grow as an artist, but i believe he'll get there with the right label support and experience.

Severian 09.24.2014 04:37 PM

You guys are talking about stuff I don't know about. I know Young Thug, but most of the other people you're name dropping are Lansing way beyond my head.

But, Kanye turned his album in this week? Awesome! Where'd you hear that, and did you happen to see any other details? That would be one short news story if that's all it said. Lol

noisereductions 09.24.2014 07:20 PM

sev, Rich Gang is just a really stupid new name for Young Money Cash Money supergroup.

noisereductions 09.24.2014 09:17 PM

 

Illmatic was a classic from the moment it was released. One intro. Nine songs. Only one real guest. No filler. It sounds like the definition of New York hip hop in 1994, yet also sounds completely timeless - reaching far back to the roots of the genre's breakbeats and poetry as well as looking forward as a blueprint for an entirely new generation to come. It opens with dialogue from the film Wild Style clashing with Nas' own verse from Main Source's "Live At The BBQ," before bursting into an insane narrative over bursting horns, an almost broken piano and dirty drums with "NY State Of Mind." Instantly it becomes apparent how important this record, and our narrator will be. He brings in AZ as well as his trumpeter father Olu Dara on "Life's A Bitch," bridging a gap between two generations. At the literal "Halftime" of the album he warns to never put him "in your box if your shit eats tapes." On "One Love" he saves a stamp and writes a letter to a friend in prison over a Q-Tip beat, catching him up on the neighborhood. It's storytelling at its finest. Whether it's the heart-pounding realism of "NY State Of Mind" or the banality of "One Love." He evokes Scarface and T-La Rock on "The World Is Yours" and ultimately ends the record on one of the highest points of his career, "It Ain't Hard To Tell." Using a Michael Jackson sample so amazingly crafted by Large Professor (therefore starting and ending the album with nods to Main Source) he creates a track that is as timeless as exactly how I've described the record itself. Illmatic is perfection. And here, Nas truly is "half man, half amazing."

 

With the threat of a sophomore slump on his hands, Nas had a difficult decision to make. His debut had been critically acclaimed and his peers place him in the pantheon of legends, but the record sales were a major label disappointment. Illmatic had been commercially overshadowed by Biggie's Ready To Die, an album that brought the glamor and glitz of Bad Boy to spotlight. So what was Nas to do? Stay the course and release a follow-up that stayed true to his first album's vision, or explore newer radio-friendly territory? The answer was a little of both. Ultimately this meant that fans of Illmatic cried 'sell-out' while the Bad Boy crowd still found it a little too poetic. Though it did do some major sales numbers thanks to the singles "If I Ruled The World," featuring Lauryn Hill and an excellent Whodini sample, and "Street Dreams," which interpolated the Eurythmics and even got the remix treatment with R. Kelly. But if you were only paying attention to the singles, you were missing the greatness of this record. Opener "The Message" rides an incredible Sting sample and perhaps the greatest opening lines of any Nas album: "fake thug, no love, you get the slug, CB4 Gusto." Meanwhile "I Gave You Power" has Nas rapping from the perspective of a gun. Although a similar approach had been taken on Organized Konfusion's "Stray Bullet" two years earlier, it's still a great narrative. "Nas Is Coming" was a bit monumental as it paired up Nas and Dr. Dre and aimed to heal some of the East Coast/West Coast rivalry that was in its height. And "Affirmative Action" would be the first track by Nas' new crew, The Firm. Over an awesome baroque sounding beat, Nas, Cormega, AZ and Foxy Brown introduce themselves as an entity to be excited about. It Was Written is not the classic that Illmatic is. But very little is. Instead, it's a worthy follow-up and welcome addition to his discography.

 

Illmatic is of course an undoubted classic. The 10th Year Anniversary edition is not the greatest celebration however. Ignoring the first disc - the original album - this edition boasts only six tracks on its supplemental disc. That's really a bummer considering the entirety of Nas' demo tape that could have been included, or early appearances like "Straight From The BBQ" or "Back To The Grill" or even his appearance on the Street Fighter: The Movie soundtrack. Instead what we get are four remixes - "Life's A Bitch," "The World Is Yours," "One Love," and "It Ain't Hard To Tell" - none of which do much to shed new light on the originals. They're just sort of there. The last two tracks are the ones worth hearing, but they're not actually outtakes from the Illmatic sessions. "On The Real," produced by Marley Marl finds Nas recording a (supposedly) ten year old lyric. And "Star Wars" is a Large Professor track that samples "Fly Like An Eagle" without being as annoying as that would sound on paper. Ultimately this reissue is a letdown though. The bonus disc is far too brief, and not really worth replacing the original release with, and the liner notes don't even offer up any sort of retrospective.

noisereductions 09.24.2014 09:17 PM

 

Nas - The Lost Tapes - 2002 - Columbia
You know how it goes with outtakes collections. Considering the amount of leaked recordings that Nas had built up in the archive, this could have been monumental. Unfortunately it comes off as sounding like the mish-mash that it is. According to the liner notes, the tracks are culled from sessions for I Am and Stillmatic. Considering how different those two records were thematically, it serves to reason that this collection will lack balance. And it does. The opener, "Doo Rags" is gorgeous. It features a wistful piano part that brings up feelings of nostalgia and loss. "No Ideas Original" has a great Barry White sample and classic breakbeat. Meanwhile "Purple" has a really smooth production that seems out of place, along with "My Way" considering how mediocre most of the other beats are here. Having said that, if you can put up with the inconsistent production, there's some interesting and solid rapping by Nas here, and with its lack of skits the dozen songs hold together pretty well without wearing on your patience. It's certainly not a terrible record, but you can't really shake the feeling that it could have been much better.

 

Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt - 1996 - Roc-A-Fella
Jay-Z's debut is ambitious as fuck. I mean, where did he come from? Virtually nowhere. Though in reality he came from a tiny one room office that he was renting with friends as they formed The Roc. He was selling his only single out of the trunk of his car. And then this. It is a defining record in the so-called mid-90's "mafioso rap" movement. Yet what's really interesting is all the nods to his predecessors and peers. For instance he jacks the same beat used on Tha Alkaholics' "Only When I'm Drunk." A West Coast group! He samples the same bassline as Artifcacts' "Wrong Side Of The Tracks." He samples Nas, Mobb Deep and Snoop Dogg. He invites Foxy Brown from Nas' The Firm crew for a guest shot. He name checks A Tribe Called Quest. In a sense, he's taking all of his influences, blending them up and attempting to create something completely new from it all. Creation via destruction. It's also interesting just how into language Jay-Z was out the gate. He approaches a lot of these cuts with the eye of a poet. And I don't necessarily mean a poet in the words he uses, but rather in how he chooses to use them. Such as the abundance of "to/too/two" on "22 Two's." But perhaps the greatest thing about this record is how he invents himself. Again, he was trying to upstart an indie label, yet creates this persona of a man larger than life. In a sense, this a study on the American Dream from a man who had yet to receive that big paycheck. But look at the early tracks: "Can't Knock The Hustle," "Politics As Usual," "Brooklyn's Finest," and "Dead Presidents II." He was creating the myth that he was already huge. And then we get to "D'Evils," an astonishingly brilliant track about money and greed and excess eating us from the inside out. "We used to fight for building blocks, now we fight for blocks with buildings that make a killing." These observations levied by the Snoop sample in the hook - "dear God, I wonder can you save me." It's heavy stuff. And that's only the first half. This is an honest to goodness classic that has a sort of ambitious lo-fi charm to it. It's somehow humble and grandiose at the same time.

 

Jay-Z - Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life - 1998 - Roc-A-Fella
Hard Knock Life is such a record of its time. Sadly, its time was a confused era of hip hop. The end of the millennium. Much of mainstream hip hop seemed obsessed with materialism (see: the car on the cover) and felt a bit like a disposable art form. In many ways this record is fast food. It's got some awesome flavor, but it's also cheap and doesn't keep you filled for long. But let's focus on the good for a minute. The title track is a straight classic. Subtitled "Ghetto Anthem," it is indeed an anthem. It's a fight song. It's motivation. You hear those piano plinks and you feel good. That alone makes this record hard to hate on. The proper closer "It's Like That" is excellent as well, and feels like it could have felt at home on Reasonable Doubt perhaps. But everything in between is a mixed bag that feels mostly mediocre. "Money, Cash, Hoes" is horrible. The beat alone is tough to listen to. The sequel to "Comin' Of Age" just doesn't have the intensity of the original. "Paper Chase" is another low point - again pointing out the so-called "Big Willie Era." While production from Timbaland and Erik Sermon helps this album rise out of its blandness, pretty much all of Swizz Beats' tracks works against it. The bonus tracks - "It's Alright" (recycled from Streets Is Watching) and "Money Ain't A Thing" from Jermaine Dupres' project close things out pretty good. But it's just ultimately not the strong album that Jay-Z had already proven he could pull off.

 

Jay-Z - The Dynasty: Rock La Familia - 2000 - Roc-A-Fella
So this was intended to be a Roc-A-Fella compilation album, showcasing the various signees - Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Freeway - but along the way it turned into a Jay-Z album, likely because of the fact that "Jay-Z" on the cover would sell more copies. With that in mind, it sounds like a compilation. Jay-Z is featured heavily, but he's not really the star. It's not his show. But the supporting cast holds their own very well, and that includes guest shots from Scarface and Snoop Dogg as well. The big single here is the Neptunes-driven "I Just Wanna Love You." And while not the most interesting song in Jay's career, it's certainly fun as hell. "This Can't Be Life" featuring Scarface sounds like a precursor to his own "Guess Who's Back" with Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel from two years later. The problem with this record is flow. It starts off strong - from the intro through "Get Your Mind Right," it's a pretty strong opening third. But the middle section is boring and weak. Luckily, the last third pulls the album out of its own funk. Much of the best production here comes from Just Blaze - not surprisingly. And the single Kanye West track, the aforementioned "This Can't Be Life." It's not a great album, but it's a good one with enough keepers to justify mining for your own personal Best Of Hova mixtape.

Severian 09.25.2014 02:25 PM

Your review of It Was Written is more generous than most.

I love "If I Ruled the World," and feel like the album has always been overlooked.

Btw: what's the theme here? NYC hip hop from 1994 forward? Chronologically? If so, you're skipping around a bit ;)

I continue to be impressed by your knowledge of hip hop and the intelligence of your reviews. You'd do an excellent job. Keep up the good work.

noisereductions 09.25.2014 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Severian
Your review of It Was Written is more generous than most.

I love "If I Ruled the World," and feel like the album has always been overlooked.

Btw: what's the theme here? NYC hip hop from 1994 forward? Chronologically? If so, you're skipping around a bit ;)

I continue to be impressed by your knowledge of hip hop and the intelligence of your reviews. You'd do an excellent job. Keep up the good work.



I think I was a lot harsher on It Was Written in 1996. I've had a lot of years to grow more attached to it, and sort of understand it more. I think it's a really, really good album that most folks didn't give the attention it deserved (deeper than the singles anyway).

No theme... anything I review is from my physical CD collection. I've just been making it a goal to actually listen to the CD's that I'm buying and then giving them the proper attention so that I can jot down some thoughts on them. For the most part it's been skipping around randomly (literally going to my discogs collection page, and hitting the "random item" button to decide what to listen to next). But last night I just decided I was in the mood for Nas and Jay, so grabbed a handful I hadn't reviewed yet. So I might start to just do little clusters of 3 or 4 albums by a single artist - not necessarily chronological though cuz again - it's just the ones I happen to own physical copies of.

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.25.2014 07:25 PM

I'll be checking out for a toke break and coming back after we finish the Gay-Z and Nas section of noisereductions discography...

 


Y'all can't wait until I post mine ;)

noisereductions 09.25.2014 08:07 PM

You dont even like nas???

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.26.2014 12:08 AM

Actually I dont but I more or less respect Nas

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.26.2014 12:47 AM

I wrote a bad ass write up on Busta Rhymes Extinction Level Event, Celly Cell The G Filez, and Dead Prez We Free Again but my phone fucked up so fuck it

louder 09.26.2014 06:14 AM

loved your Reasonable Doubt and Illmatic reviews, NR.

by the way, i'm gonna revisit No Said Date soon.

noisereductions 09.26.2014 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louder
loved your Reasonable Doubt and Illmatic reviews, NR.

by the way, i'm gonna revisit No Said Date soon.


No Said Date is awesome. Such a great album.

noisereductions 09.26.2014 01:17 PM

for the heck of it, and to appease suchfriends' fickle taste, the next few reviews I write up will be of West Coast artists haha.

louder 09.26.2014 03:38 PM

need your Doggystyle review.

noisereductions 09.26.2014 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louder
need your Doggystyle review.


this one?

Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle - 1993 - Death Row Records
Snoop's debut is an undeniable classic. Though it serves as a sort of companion to Dre's The Chronic it succeeds just as well - and perhaps slightly better seeing as how Dre always seems far more comfortable behind the boards than in front of the mic. Snoop on the other hand was a showman from the get-go, and it's hard not to hang off every word here. Not only is the record full of classic singles - "Who Am I (What's My Name)?," "Gin & Juice," "Murder Was The Case," "Doggy Dogg World" - it hangs together incredible even when bouncing from style to style. It also helps that Death Row at the time was an impressively large crew that was bursting with energy and ideas. With that in mind it's not so surprising that the first verse on Snoop's solo debut would be from Lady Of Rage rather than himself. Or that he'd do a straight of cover of Slick Rick's "Lodi Dodi." Or that such a chill track would then lead in to the one-two punch of "Murder Was The Case" and "Serial Killer." Really there's a lot of take note of here when considering just how creative and confident Snoop was coming out of the gate. But ultimately all that needs to be said is that it's a bonafide classic that epitomizes the sound of the 90's West Coast "G-Funk" sound. This and The Chronic are absolutely mandatory listening.

^posted this a few weeks ago.

noisereductions 09.26.2014 10:09 PM

guess I lied, but here's a West Coast and East Coast


 

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 unforgettable. 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.

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.26.2014 10:52 PM

I got a lot of eastcoast in my shit.. slick rick, black star, killah priest,tribe called quest, fugees, kool keith, dead prez, outkast, busta rhymes, rza, ghostface, scarface, talib kweli solo, redman, I even got some Tru To Da Game... probably several more I cant think of

noisereductions 09.26.2014 11:01 PM

I'm just razzing ya. But what you think of that Game album?

SuchFriendsAreDangerous 09.27.2014 08:08 AM

I actually dont got that one, just the stack of mix tapes that preceded it.. but Untold Vol 2 is one of my fav game mixtapes EVER

louder 09.28.2014 02:17 PM

news:

1.) so L.O.R.D. got scrapped and they're gonna put out an A$AP Nast tape instead.

2.) the Rich Gang tape is probably just an appetizer for the album that comes out next month.


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