Jay-Z: Blueprint 3

This my friends in another one for every music lovers collection. Notice I said music lover. But Neil, this is a hip-hop blog. What would you include other genres? Is the album that good? Should I recommend it to my goth friends and video game geeks? Should I play it for my god awful Britney Spears followers? In a word....HELL YEA!!



I just put the commercial in because it kicks ass. Also, if you have absolutely no idea who Jay-Z is, now you know. Now to the album. The is the 11th studio album of his historic career. In hip hop time, he's old as hell. Normally after five or six albums, you never hear from that artist again. For someone to last this long and to have a track record that he has, that's just crazy. Each album he's put out from studio has been in the top 3 since his debut, Reasonable Doubt (hot album, cop it). We thought (and he thought) that his 2003 release, The Black Album, would be his last. However, to every one's surprise (except me of course), he came out with another...and another...and The Blueprint 3. Trust me when I say this, we are all grateful that he came out of retirement. Did he ever go in? I'm not sure anymore.

The album has such a wind collection of sounds. It's almost to the point where it does not sound like a typical rap album. This is definitely a good thing. It makes you want to listen to the beat. In turn, you hear the lyrics. It's a perfect plan that is executed without error. I do have my favorites of course. "Real As it Gets" features Young Jeezy and just fits both of them equally. You can't say that about most songs. "On to the Next One" was produced by Swizz Beatz (Swizzy!) and has the chance to be a true club banger. "So Ambitious" feature Pharrell a.k.a. Skateboard P. It's the most relaxing song on the LP. When I listen to it, I just mellow out and don't feel like doing anything. All of the songs are hits in my mind. All I do is listen to that album from beginning to end both in my car and on my iPod.

So would I recommend this LP? Yes, I would. This is what hip hop should be like in my mind. Variety, lyrical content, catchy hooks. This album is the whole package. It's only fitting that hip-hop's gold standard shows the young guns how to do it.

One more thing...

Sacred Principles - Chris Kaplan

I asked my boy Chris Kaplan to do an interpretation of the album. Just like the first one he did, this one kicks ass. Best part about this one, it looks good this way and upside-down!! If you wanna see more check out his site: ArtofChrisKaplan.com. You can also read his article on RealitySandwich.com.

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Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother

Quite possibly one of the best albums I have ever had the pleasure of purchasing and listening to, Mecca and the Soul Brother is one for the archives. This is the true definition of what rap music was and could possibly be again.

Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth didn't really make that crazy burst onto the scene moves that most artists did. They've been around for quite a while as producers. They decided to come together as a group and create they're own music. Pete Rock laced the track and C.L. wrote the rhymes.

Now this album was the first to include ad libs in the middle of the song. You know what those are. MC says a line and then you hear a voice in the background. If you listen to anything Jim Jones, you know what I'm talking about. And now you know where he got the idea. Diddy is now famous for doing this move but you can thank C.L. Smooth for laying down the foundation. Another thing about this album is that it's one of the first "lay back and relax" albums I've ever listened to. It's not something that you are going to get up and instantly start dancing around by any means. This is more of a sit back with a good drink and vibe album. Another note is that the mentioning of black power and appreciation of the African culture is also mentioned. You have to remember the time period in which the more popular groups at the time were groups the developed around black empowerment. Groups like Public Enemy, X-Clan, and NWA among many others. So do not be surprised when all of this is said or implied from beginning to end.

This album is an overall masterpiece from an incredible yet underrated duo in the rap game. Well, I'm done with my part, but there's one more thing i gotta show you...

This is an interpretation of the album put into visual art by my friend Chris Kaplan. Remember that cross blog promotion I was talking about before, well this is it. I do the writing, Chris does his drawing thing. If you want to see more, check out his site at www.artofchriskaplan.com.

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Drake - Best I Ever Had

Now that you have seen this video and formulated your own personal opinion, I'm going to give you mine.

I you have been living under a rock for the past...I'd say six months, you have never heard of former Degrassi star turn stereotypical rap artist known as Drizzy Drake. This kid from the streets of Toronto, Canada (seriously), has made a huge name for himself on the mix-tape circuit. His single is a monstrous crossover hit that you can never avoid. If you listen to the song, you get the main idea of the entire song. With that self-sustained image in hand, you would expect the video to get somewhat close to what the song is. Either that or make a performance video. But, thanks to the director, that was not the case. In fact, it wasn't even close. He's a decent artist and he's definitely going to be signed by some major label. But as a debut music video to a mainstream audience, he really messed this up.

This starts exactly how most videos start. The directed hired every top-heavy model and porn star he could find, put on some less than functional basketball uniforms and says said run. Did I just say basketball? Yes I did. This video portrays Drake as a basketball coach for a very good looking team. The girls do look good, as they are supposed to according to the formula. The video goes on as normal, the girls stretch and bounce around while Drake spits his verse. Nothing out of the ordinary. I noticed something. The mascot for Drake's team looks like a...actually I'm not sure what it is. I think it's a mythical creature or something. My friends says it's a vulture, but I'm gonna stick to what i think. Somewhere in the middle there's a cut-scene with some really REALLY bad acting. It's supposed to get back to the overall view of the song but it fails as expected. After this crap fest, they end up facing another team that looks like they actually know how to play ball, and that's based on looks alone. This other team is ugly as all hell. They even added the nappy-headed ho for good measure. Then they go into another cut scene full of half-ass attempts at sexual innuendos. The team loses because they only know how to stretch and that's it. That's the end of the video.

This is a complete pile of suck to say the least. I've seen a lot of crappy videos over the years and this in my opinion is in the top 15. That's all I have to say about this pile of crap. Email me your opinions. I want to see what you think.

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Rick Ross - Deeper Than Rap

Before I start this, I would like to say that this was a request from someone. The name doesn't matter. Under any circumstances, I would not bother listening to anything Rick Ross related. But, since his album was #1 in the country for a little while, nameless person wanted my opinion. With that said, here goes nothin'.

This is the third studio album from the so-called "boss." Supposedly he is supposed to talk about more than just his "mafia" lifestyle, how much money he has and spends, and the girls he tries to get with by using his drug money. Let me just say that he accomplishes none of that. It's just another generic rap album that follows the same old formula that I can't stand. Here's how I analyzed each track

1. Mafia Music - The track that caused all the crap with 50 cent. Crappy track talking about his mafia lifestyle.
2. Maybach Music 2 ft. T-Pain, Kanye West & Lil' Wayne - The cameos are the only thing that make this track tolerable and the only one I actually listened to more than two times. It's the generic "I got more money than you" track.
3. Magnificent ft. John Legend - Refer to the last sentence in Track 2. Also, he takes about the girl he wants to f***.
4. Yacht Club ft. Magazeen - Refer to the last sentence in Track 2.
5. Usual Suspect ft. Nas - Refer to Track 1.
6. All I Really Want ft. The Dream - Talking about the girl he wants to impress with his drug money and eventually f***. It's Track 2 with and ATL R&B feel.
   
7. Rich Off Cocaine - Track 1 with and R&B spin. He's showing how proud he is of his drug money. This is the track that pisses me off the most. If I were somebody who is trying to show a positive image in the public I would never be proud of the profits I made while setting a culture back and killing off a majority of innocent people.
8. Lay Back ft. Robin Thicke - Refer to the last sentence in Track 2.
9. Murda Mami ft. Foxy Brown - Here he says that women can just as stupid as he is. It's Track 1 with a diva spin.
10. Gunplay ft. Gunplay - Refer to Track 1.
11. Bossy Lady ft. Ne-Yo - Refer to Tracks 2 & 9.
12. Face ft. Trina - Refer to Tracks 1 & 9.
13. Valley of Death - He addresses the corrections officer situation. After that, refer to Track 1.
14. In Cold Blood - Refer to Track 1.

The only thing that saves this album from being a complete disaster are the beats and cameos. I'm guessing the beats are so good because he had absolutely nothing to do with them. The cameos make the tracks worth listening to. Who really wants to hear what Ross has to say anyway? My advice on this one, skip it and then call Def Jam and tell them to drop this guy. In my eyes he's a complete waste of time and money. I would find someone who is different and positive in some way. Go back to corrections Officer Ricky!!

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Asher Roth - Asleep in the Bread Aisle

The supposedly brand new great white hope of hip hop has arrived in the form of Asher Paul Roth. I've heard of this guy before, but I made the conscious decision not listen to his mix tapes and watch youtube videos in order to give this the fairest review possible. After all, I am the average hip hop head and this is supposed to be based solely on the mainstream music that the average music fan would ever get to purchase. With that said, here goes nothing.

Before you ever play the first song, you would probably compare this guy to Eminem. If you do that, you would automatically hate this album. In my eyes, you cannot compare one artist to another. I judge each MC based on what he or she can do on that particular album and all other artists that he or she can be compared to do not exist for the sake of the review. If you treat this as an album by another artist, i guarantee that you will enjoy every track. If you listen to the single "I Love College," then you will assume that this is the worst song on the album, and you would be absolutely. That's how I prefer it. If the the single is still a hit and it sucks compared the rest of the LP, this is a pretty good job done. I listened through the whole thing a couple of times and pointed out some tracks that stood out.

"Lark on My Go-Kart" is the first track and a great intro to the album. It's basically a two minute freestyle that shows off this kid's skills. His word play is ridiculous and somehow he connects each verse and then goes on a complete tangent and still makes it sound hot. Even established artists can't pull off what this guy did. Going from Little Miss Muffet to Mario Kart is crazy to say the least. Another track that stood out was "As I Em." It wasn't surprising that he addressed the obvious, but in the song he stood out as a separate artist from Slim Shady. The rest of the LP talks about random things like having a bad day and blunt cruzin' (if you don't know what that is, you need to find your local dealer right away).

Against all the haters saying that this guy is just a cheap copy of Eminem, you do as much resarch as Fox News. Do yourself a huge faveor and listen to some incredible skill, new material, and an overall great album from Asher Paul Roth. Right now, he'll probably be called one of the best white MCs in the game. WIth time and a little luck, he could be considered on the best MCs of all time. No race involved.

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Note: Bryan, I got your email and yes I will review the new Jadakiss album. Just give some time on it. Also, I'm not gonna compare this album to his others. If you don't like that, screw you.

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.

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