What I've Noticed and The State of Hip-Hop

With there being a complete lack of music for me to review, I decided to address the state of hip-hop nation. I did discuss some of my feelings in my 2nd post. Read that at your leisure and govern yourselves accordingly. I also want to state a few things that I've noticed over time.

For all those people who have been banned from listening to any music, there is one individual that has taken over rap music altogether. He is the flavor of the year. He is the self-proclaimed best rapper alive. He is Lil' Wayne. By using the formula first introduced by Fabolous, he as turned the industry into his personal toy. By getting himself featured on as many songs as inhumanly possible(check out the mix tapes and tell me how he pulls this off), he promoted his own album to the point that it was certified platinum in its first week. He has been featured on songs from T-Pain to Kevin Rudolf to....(insert music artist here). From the momentum that this guy has, it looks like he will be the go to rap artist for quite some time. Now I know you're thinking that this is a bad thing for hip-hop. It looks like we are putting our hopes, dreams, and futures on this kid. And you would be absolutely right. We are doing just that. But, somehow (and this really surprises me) we seem to be turning for the better. Because everyone under the sun wants him to make a hit song, he has branched out of his rap comfort and tackled other genres by storm and succeeded.

There is another trend going on right now. In my mind I'm wondering what took everyone so long. Hit producers are stepping from behind the scenes and throwing their hats in artists as legit artists. This is not an original idea. The only people that you, the mainstream audience could probably think of that have succeeded in this task are Kanye West and Pharrell. But with the recent success of The Dream and Ron Browz, this could become something that could end up being a normal occurrence. Now, the people want more than just a rapper or just a producer. You have to do it all in order to be known as a force in this game. Browz and The Dream have a long way to go if they are ever going to make the impact that Kanye and Pharrell have. My guess, they have no chance in hell. Get back in the studio and do what yo do best, help others make it big.

Contrary to unpopular belief, hip-hop has made a little bit of a comeback since the Imus incident. Sales are slowly getting going back up and people are learning to forgive and forget. However, this genre will never be the same. That's a good thing. It shows that artists and promoters are starting to learn what kind of impact they have on society. They also learned that hip-hop is the perfect scapegoat. Anything that causes an uproar in the world will somehow be blamed on hip-hop. So, artists are a little more careful(and that is very little) on what they say. Music videos on the other hand, that's a completely different animal. Since I haven't watched on in quite some time, I can't comment on them.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Leave a comment or something and give me your opinion. I could always use the feedback.

Kanye West...808's and Heartbreaks

In my opinion, one of the hardest things for an artist to accomplish is doing better than a previous milestone. Unless expectations are set rather low...it's almost impossible to be greater than you once were in the eye of public. Kanye West has achieved this milestone and done so much more since his artist debut in 2004. He's stuck to his lyrics and his mastery of production to create a sound in rap all his own. But, what happens when he takes a new direction? What happens when he takes on entirely new genre? Surprisingly, quite well.

This album is his 4th mainstream release. On this with him are Young Jeezy, Kid Cudi, Mr. Hudson, and every body's favorite add-on, Lil' Wayne. Kanye sings...yes sings the entire album. Does his voice sound good...NO, but we all knew that going in. However, it does not take away from the body of work he has created. In fact, it almost adds to it. He tries to mask the tone deaf sounds by using synthesizer (a.k.a. the T-Pain machine) to make his voice sound a little better, but it does not work at all. This is by far his most heartfelt and emotional album to date. Most likely it is because before starting production, Mr. West lost his mother and his long time girlfriend over the span of one month. With that much emotional torment, it was easy for him to turn his pain into good music.

After listening to it in its entirety the first time, I noticed something really significant. Each beat produced can be made hot with his voice. He created an entire album that suited his style. Some records would depend on who is brought on to make it good. Not in this case. He made this album so that he can make it hot. The people he added to his songs seem to make the song better by pure luck instead of by skill (TAKE THAT WEEZY!!). My favorite track would have to be Paranoid. I'm personally a fan of fast beats so this one automatically caught my attention. The beat is phenomenal, and the pattern he used in the vocals only adds to what is already good.

Despite being skeptical about the new direction, this album is a definite by for dedicated Kanye fans. For the average fan, give it a listen and decide from there. Most people would definitely pass only because of the genre change. But don't worry, this will most likely be the first and last R&B album from Mr. West. Something like that cannot be done again nor should it be. The next installment would only bring sales as bad as Soulja Boy's 2nd installment (I HATE THAT GUY).

Leave comments. I wanna know what your opinion is on this.

UNTIL NEXT ENTRY...

When I Fell in Love...with a litte rant added

It's not a recent thing, but it's still fresh in the minds of many people. Rap music has come under fire for its lewd lyrics portrayal of negative elements. It has gotten so bad, Al Sharpton decided to take a stand (as if you didn't see that one coming). Thank you Don Imus for making a statement that had absolutely NOTHING to do with music. I still don't get that. How did a very inappropriate and offensive comment about a female basketball team turn into an almost boycott on one of the most influential and profitable forms of music on the planet? I'll probably never understand it, but who would?

I remember when I fell in love with rap. F.Y.I., hip-hop is the culture. Rap is the genre of music for all who don't know. Anyway, I remember where and when it happened. It was the summer of 1992 in Newark, NJ. I was at my cousin's house and we weren't doing much. We turned on the t.v. and went straight to the B.O.X. For those who don't know, it was an old school music video channel before TRL and all those other crap shows. I don't remember much from that day, but i do remember one particular video. I know it as T.R.O.Y.(They Reminisce Over You) by the greats known as Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. As soon as I heard the opening, I fell in love. It was the first song I ever memorized after nursery rhymes. Those were good times.


Everybody has a time when they fell in love with music. Mine was in the summer of 1992. What's yours. I would love to know. Well, that's all for now.

Just a Little Info...

Before we get things rolling, let me just tell you what I plan on doing with my blog. It's going to be reviews on albums mostly pertaining to rap. There will be some other genres in here as well. I'm not gonna get into specifics, just my opinion. Agree, disagree, I don't give a f*** what yo do. Also, it does not have to be recent music. I'll review whatever I want. There will be other little issues that I'll talk about if I feel they need addressing. With that said, let's get this thing started.