Re-Release Tuesdays “Treat Em Right”

chubb rock

There was a time when hip-hop had to make you dance. Chubb Rock always came with the perfect dance tracks. He was also respected lyrically. One of my favorite hip-hop records, this week’s Re-Release is Chubb Rock’s “Treat Em Right“.

“If you’d asked a hypothetical leading hip-hop expert what the main difference between East Coast and West Coast rappers was in the early ’90s, he might have explained that the West was more interested in beats and grooves, while the Northeast was concerned with rapping technique. Well respected in New York rap circles, Chubb Rock had plenty of technique — something there’s no shortage of on The One. The album leaves no doubt that his rapping skills are first-rate, but technique only carries Rock so far. Although decent and at times exhilarating, The One isn’t a great album. Rock (who often incorporates dancehall reggae) is at his best on excellent message songs like “What’s the Word” and “The Night Scene,” an arresting description of the horrors that surround drugs. But his boasting raps wear thin after a while. Rock has the chops; it’s his lyrics that aren’t always memorable.”  - Allmusic.com

Re-Release Tuesdays “Undisputed”

ludacris

Listen. Ludacris is a criminally slept on emcee. Period. I know, I know. His antics on videos and tracks make him come off goofy but you can’t front on the lines. This is probably the only Ludacris album that “completely” backs up that statement. This week’s re-Release is Ludacris’s “Undisputed“.

Calling its guest vocalist co-stars and kicking-off with a “the movie’s about to begin” intro, LudacrisTheater of the Mind is dressed-up as some conceptual piece but this hodgepodge of high-gloss tracks just barely sticks together. While his previous effort, 2006′s Release Therapy, was much more the thematically tight album and deserved a concept, this loose set of tunes is all-together more entertaining, thanks in no small part to a highly inspired Luda and all the punch lines he lands. Most are unquotable jokes that sound nothing but filthy when taken out of context — especially the one about rappers so full of something they end up “rhyming in farts” — but the superstar team-up with T.I. called “Wish You Would” boasts about “So many shoes that my closet look like Finish Line” and brings other reminders of “Pimpin’ All Over the World” and its unashamed vision that wealth equals victory…”  - Allmusic.com