Top 5 hip-hop records I heard this week (in no particular order).
- Wu-Tang Clan “Execution in Autumn”
- Nipsey Hussel “Face the World”
- Lupe Fiasco “Animal Farm”
- Black Hippy “U.O.E.N.O. Remix”
- AZ “We Movin”
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Tag Archives: wu-tang clan ghostface raekwon u-god ol dirty bastard gza inspektah deck gza genius method man master killah cappadonna debut enter the 36 chambers of death killer tape free download shaolin staten is
TOP 5 This Week (4/19/13)
Top 5 hip-hop records I heard this week (in no particular order).
- Rome Clientel “RVD”
- Joell Ortiz “Roll Deep”
- De La Soul feat. The Spirit of the Wu “Get Away”
- Common “Congratulations”
- J. Cole “Maine on Fire”
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In My Rotation 04-15-2013
Things got slow for a little while but we’ve had some decent hip-hop in recent weeks… Here’s what I’m currently rocking:
Big K.R.I.T. ”King Remembered In Time“
“Though I was a little disappointed by the album, Krit’s best work has been in the mixtape game. King Remembered in Time is a little different from his previous work. The tone is more aggressive than the laid back, conscious heavy tracks of his prior works. I still think he could trim a song or two, but overall it’s business as usual. Hip-Hop with messages. Add this to your rotation.”
Durag Dynasty ”360 Waves“
“I was totally surprised by how much I liked this album. My initial attraction to the project was the cover art. I’m sayin’… Pat Riley with a durag? Lol! I love the whole vibe of this album. The beats are dope, the rhymes match the tone. This is just hip-hop spirit. Cop this…NOW!”
Adrian Younge & Ghostface Killah “Twelve Reasons To Die“
“This is not the Ghostface album you came for. This is something different…and I like it. I love when artist choose to go left for inspiration. Ghost rhyming over the haunting score of Adrian Younge is golden…at times. There are those tracks that sound forced. The chemistry isn’t always there, but tends to be consistent throughout the project. This is an interesting union and it works as something different yet familiar from Ghostface. Check it out…”
Styles P. ”FLOAT“
“I feel like I say the same thing about a Styles album. This one produced by Scram Jones is just hard. You know what your getting into when you hit play. The album does contain more guest appearances than usual. That helps put a different perspective on some of the records. When you listen to a Styles P album it’s generally all about Weed, Guns, and Conscious Commentary. I’d be lying if I said i didn’t like it regardless. Cop that.”
Inspectah Deck with 7L & Esoteric “Czarface“
“I’m still riding with this one. This is my way to be trapped in the 90s without listening to old 90s albums. That 90s sound, that old wu sound…but it doesn’t feel old. Try this one out.”
Now What?- March 2013 Edition
Not much but at least there is something (*shrugs*) We know how fast consumers can move from a new release to the next. People are already looking toward the future for their hip-hop fix. Look into my crystal ballz….
Upcoming Notable Hip-Hop Releases(Dates Subject to Change):
MARCH 12TH- ADRIAN YOUNGE & THE DELFONICS “ADRIAN YOUNGE PRESENTS THE DELFONICS
MARCH 12TH- SWOLLEN MEMBERS “BEAUTIFUL DEATH MACHINE”
MARCH 19TH- RZA “RZA PRESENTS:SHAOLIN SOUL SELECTION VOL. 1″
MARCH 19TH- YUKMOUTH “THE REGIME–DRAGON GANG”
MARCH 26TH- LIL WAYNE “I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING II”
Now What?- December 2012 Edition
Final lap people. We know how fast consumers can move from a new release to the next. People are already looking toward the future for their hip-hop fix. Look into my crystal ballz….
Upcoming Notable Hip-Hop Releases(Dates Subject to Change):
DECEMBER 4TH- PAPOOSE “MOST HATED ALIVE”
DECEMBER 11TH- BIG BOI “VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMORS”
DECEMBER 11TH- MASTA KILLA “SELLING MY SOUL”
DECEMBER 11TH- GAME “JESUS PIECE”
DECEMBER 18TH- T.I. “TROUBLE MAN”
Now What?- November 2012 Edition
We are in Hip-Hop overload right now! Keep em coming! We know how fast consumers can move from a new release to the next. People are already looking toward the future for their hip-hop fix. Look into my crystal ballz….
Upcoming Notable Hip-Hop Releases(Dates Subject to Change):
NOVEMBER 6TH- SAIGON “THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD 2:BREAD AND CIRCUSES”
NOVEMBER 6TH- LIL FAME & TERMANOLOGY “FIZZYOLOGY”
NOVEMBER 13TH- STYLES P “THE WORLD’S MOST HARDEST MC”
NOVEMBER 13TH- 9TH WONDER AND BUCKSHOT “THE SOLUTION”
NOVEMBER 13TH- MURS AND 9TH WONDER “THE FINAL ADVENTURE”
NOVEMBER 13TH- APOLLO BROWN & GUILTY SIMPSON “DICE GAME”
NOVEMBER 13TH- WU-TANG CLAN & D-BLOCK “WU-BLOCK”
NOVEMBER 13TH- BIG BOI “VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMORS”
NOVEMBER 13TH- YELAWOLF AND TRAVIS BARKER “PSYCHO WHITE EP”
NOVEMBER 20TH- TALIB KWELI “PRISONER OF CONSCIOUSNESS”
NOVEMBER 20TH- JET LIFE “JET WORLD ORDER 2″
NOVEMBER 20TH- GHOSTFACE KILLAH “12 REASONS TO DIE”
NOVEMBER 27TH- FREEWAY “DIAMOND IN THE RUFF”
Surviving the Times…
There are a lot of dope (I hope) releases this month. 2012 will soon come to a close, and I will post my annual top projects of the year. I’ve been blogging for a couple of years now and I have covered a lot of hot music. Out of all of my “Top” albums from year to year, what has survived the test of time so far? Here are 5 albums/mixtapes that I still rock like they are new, along with what I said about them at the time:
Raekwon feat. Ghostface Killah- “Only Built for Cuban Linx II” (2009)
“I’m still rocking this album like it came out last week. This joint is such a mood album. This is just a solid album altogether. Good hip-hop in an age of unwarranted hype for other hip-hop releases. I’ll settle for the real thing. Another classic. You should have this already…right?”
Freeway & Jake One “The Stimulus Package“ (2010)
“This mixtape hit early in 2010. The timing was perfect. It was the 1st of many dope mixtapes of 2010. I was caught off guard by it. I downloaded it not expecting much, and came away rocking this on a regular basis. Sh*t, I’m listening to it now as I type. I wasn’t always the biggest Freeway fan, but his lyrics/delivery with Jake One’s beats are a match made in hip-hop heaven. Though the sales didn’t mirror the acclaim, I think any hip-hop fan should take they hard earned money and support this dope example of -the emcee & the producer-.”
Kanye West “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (2010)
“Hate him or Love him, Kanye West is the best doing it right now. Sorry. Who else can make Obama and the whole country refer to him as a Jackass, and still come out with one of the best albums of the year. F*ck what you heard, this album is classic! Why? It’s more than a hip-hop album….but it’s a hip-hop album (if that makes any sense). Everything is handle with perfection in mind. From the guest appearances to the beats, to the lyrics. Kanye has crafted an album that achieves what I think most artist like Diddy(LTTP) and Jay-Z (BP3) were aiming for. An album that combines sounds and influences from many genres and maintains the artists’ integrity. The singing may not be for everyone, but it is well placed and tolerable in most cases. 2010 was a good year for Mr. West.”
Kendrick Lamar “Section .80” (2011)
“Talk about slept on. I heard the snippets and was completely uninterested. Then I decided to give it a full listen after hearing so many people talk about it. Needless to say, I came away extremely impressed (snippets are never a good idea). I wasn’t only impressed by Kendrick’s various flows but the consistency at which this mix-tape album moved. This is the type of young mc that old heads say doesn’t exist (fix ya glasses old head). This is a “throwback” album. Well placed skits, hard tracks, flows, and a conscious tone/concept. Just take a listen to the track “Keisha’s Song” and you’ll realize he’s just not here to spit. Kendrick Lamar is a force to be reckoned with in 2012. Believe it. I do.”
Elzhi & Will Sessions “Elmatic“(2011)
“How do you do that? How do you remake one of the greatest albums in hip-hop history? It has to be a recipe for failure. Right? NOT AT ALL. (Not to be compared) Elzhi & Will Sessions’s Elmatic is a classic in itself. I know. How is that even possible? This tribute was sooo on point. First, Elzhi does an excellent job of paying tribute without trying to imitate Nas. He actually builds upon the classic lyrics by providing his own perspective (i.e. Detroit State of Mind). It works well. I tried to hate but COULD NOT FRONT. On the beat front, the band Will Sessions does a superb job of keeping the essence of the original tracks and injecting the original sample in most cases. It is a masterful job that doesn’t draw comparions (or shouldn’t) to the original classic…Illmatic. This was in my top 5 from day one. If you don’t feel this…well…hip-hop is not for you. WORD.”
Now What?- October 2012 Edition
I have some highly anticipated projects dropping this month. Can’t wait! We know how fast consumers can move from a new release to the next. People are already looking toward the future for their hip-hop fix. Look into my crystal ballz….
Upcoming Notable Hip-Hop Releases(Dates Subject to Change):
OCTOBER 2ND- PRODIGY “THE BUMPY JOHNSON ALBUM”
OCTOBER 2ND- MELLOWHYPE “NUMBERS”
OCTOBER 2ND- DJ DRAMA “QUALITY STREET MUSIC”
OCTOBER 9TH- WU-TANG CLAN & D-BLOCK “WU-BLOCK”
OCTOBER 22ND- KENDRICK LAMAR “GOOD KID, m.A.A.d CITY”
OCTOBER 23RD- PRODIGY AND THE ALCHEMIST “TURF WARS”
OCTOBER 23RD- RZA “THE MAN WITH THE IRON FIST (SOUNDTRACK)”
OCTOBER 30TH- SEAN PRICE “MIC TYSON”
OCTOBER 30TH- MEEK MILL “DREAMS & NIGHTMARES”
*IN OCTOBER:
JOE BUDDEN “A LOOSE QUARTER”
FREEWAY “FREEDOM OF SPEECH”
Re-Release Tuesdays “Triumph”
Not much to say on this one. One of the dopest beats, songs, and videos of all-time. This week’s Re-Release is Wu-Tang Clan’s “Triumph“
The Wu-Tang Clan‘s long-awaited second album, Wu-Tang Forever, arrived to great anticipation, and the double-disc set does not disappoint. Where contemporaries like 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. issued double-discs cluttered with filler, Wu-Tang Forever is purposeful and surprisingly lean, illustrating the immense depth of producer RZA and the entire nine-piece crew. Each rapper has a different lyrical style, from Ol’ Dirty Bastard‘s bizarre rants to Raekwon‘s story sketches, and RZA subtly shifts his trademark style for each song, creating an album of cinematic proportions. There are no great musical innovations on the album, since the Wu-Tang‘s signature blend of skeletal beats, scratchy samples, eerie pianos, and spectral strings remains intact. Yet the music is more nuanced and focused than ever before, balanced equally between scary soundscapes and darkly soulful tracks. The result is an intoxicating display of musical and lyrical virtuosity, one that reveals how bereft of imagination the Wu-Tang‘s contemporaries are. - Allmusic.com
Re-Release Tuesdays “Shadowboxin’/4th Chamber”
Not much to say here. These beats and rhymes get in ya soul on the 1st listen. Two dope records in one video….CLASSIC! This week’s Re-Release is GZA’s “Shadowboxin’/4th Chamber“.
Often acclaimed as the best Wu-Tang solo project of all, Liquid Swords cemented the Genius/GZA’s reputation as the best pure lyricist in the group — and one of the best of the ’90s. Rich in allusions and images, his cerebral, easy-flowing rhymes are perhaps the subtlest and most nuanced of any Wu MC, as underscored by his smooth, low-key delivery. The Genius’ eerie calm is a great match for RZA’s atmospheric production, which is tremendously effective in this context; the kung fu dialogue here is among the creepiest he’s put on record, and he experiments quite a bit with stranger sounds and more layered tracks. Not only is RZA in top form, but every Clan member makes at least one appearance on the album, making it all the more impressive that Liquid Swords clearly remains the Genius’ showcase throughout. All of his collaborators shape themselves to his quietly intimidating style, giving Liquid Swords a strongly consistent tone and making it an album that gradually slithers its way under your skin. Mixing gritty story-songs and battle rhymes built on elaborate metaphors (martial arts and chess are two favorites), the Genius brings his lyrical prowess to the forefront of every … – Allmusic.com
