Notes

reviews

Lupe Fiasco-“Lasers” Review

In my humble opinion i believe Lupe is one of the most gifted lyricist to emerge in hip-hop in the past decade or so. His debut Food & Liquor and the extremely solid follow-up The Cool, it was only a matter of time before he was going to be considered one of the most consistent emcees in recent years. But label issues ensue and the ‘Lasers’ project seemed to get the ‘Detox’ treatment. But instead it being like a Dre type situation filled with indecisiveness, Lupe was going through label woes and even campaigning for fans to sign online petitions to get the album out to the people.

Saigon “The Greatest Story Never Told” Review

Apparently better late than never is sometimes a phrase that can be seen as right once and a blue moon. Saigon came onto the scene ready to be to Just Blaze what Jay Elec is to him now and be the next biggest thing in the world of hardcore hip-hop music.

Talib Kweli ‘Gutter Rainbows’ Review

There hasn’t been someone to match Talib Kweli in the hustling department in the past few years. Ever since he released Liberation, which began as a free digital download EP with Madlib, Kweli has been spitting like a rapper trying to get a record deal. With several quality releases since then including a few solo records and not to mention a Reflection Eternal album last year (featured as one of the top ten albums of the year. Check it out here).

Cee-Lo Green ‘Lady Killer’ Review

It’s very difficult for an artist to reinvent themselves. For someone like Cee-Lo Green, he seems to have done it so effortlessly that it’s hard for us to diagnose when it happened. Starting off with a southern-fried hip-hop group, Goodie Mob, it was clear that Green was the MJ on the squad. Always the one we waited for with verses and his gospelesque tone that would mistake him for being on the jubilee choir than just a hip-hop rapper/singer.

Album Review: Yahzarah-“The Ballad of Purple Saint James”

review by carminelitta for carminelitta.wordpress.com

Yahzarah is a singer I really appreciate but discovered not so long ago, with The Foreign Exchange’s Leave It All Behind and I have to admit I didn’t really know what to expect with this album, as I was not very familiar with her as a solo artist.

Review: The Roots-“How I Got Over”

words by Preach Jacobs
I dare you to find a list of emcees that’s better than Black Thought or even a list of drummers that can out-drum ?uestlove. I dare you to find a hip-hop act with a better live show or another band with this much versatility. Still we feel as if The Roots are still underdogs even with the new Fallon gig on Late Night, but with How I Got Over, it feels as if they don’t care. They sound comfortable with where they are (and it maybe something that only job security can offer).

Album Review: Reflection Eternal-“Revolutions Per Minute”

A lot can change in ten years. A year away from the public eye is more like century in music years, and Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek have been away for ten of them. It takes not only great skill, but chemistry to get back into the swing of things and create music like they’ve never left. Revolutions Per Minute is the type of reunion album that disbanded groups should use as a blueprint.

Album Review: Nas & Damian Marley-“Distant Relatives”

Okay, so usually when there’s a genre-hybrid project, it’s usually a recipe for disaster. Not everything can be as successful as RUN DMC collaborating with Aerosmith. Fortunately, the combination of hip-hop and reggae music aren’t far off from each other. Actually, despite the project being called “Distant Relatives”, Nas and Damian Marley show how close the influences can be.

Album Review: MGMT-“Congratulations”

written by aaron pelzek

This being my first review of anything more than my opinion over coffee and smokes made me think: “Well I better do this right”. I began with research not only of MGMT but also of those things I never truly sought definition to previously such as “pop music”, generally accepted by most Internet definers to be music intended for mass appeal. MGMT, a Brooklyn based duo, certainly met the criteria to launch themselves as “pop” artists with their major debut album Oracular Spectacular in 2007 which aside from the underground-stigma of the “pop music” label fell on powerful ears and landed MGMT in the lime light where, in this writers opinion, they belong.

Album Review: Murs & 9th Wonder-“Fornever”

If you can find another artist in hip-hop that works harder than MURS, I dare you to make him appear. Revolutionizing west coast indy hip-hop by recruiting south’s Primo a.k.a 9th Wonder, Murs has been consistent releasing boom-bap inspired hip-hop in a time where everyone else is running the other direction.

I’m so happy that we didn’t have Twitter when A Tribe Called Quest called it quits. Being from a Carolina (Columbia, SC to be exact) the success of Little Brother had a much more personal impact than an artist that may have been from a different state. So, when Phonte and 9th Wonder went back and fourth through tweets, it made it even more clear that people’s optimism for a LB reunion is something that just simply ain’t gonna happen.

by Preach Jacobs originally featured on SoulCulture.co.uk
There are just certain artists that evoke a special feeling from fans and fellow musicians alike. An artist that, no matter the battle plan, you’d still opt to musically walk into war with them blindfolded. It’s a trust that very few artists are able to get from their fanbase – but somehow Erykah Badu has been able to hypnotize me (and a gang of others) into being willing to do this since she stepped on the scene in 1997.

The spirit of competition among comrades can do much for one’s craft. Just look at how Ghostface motivated the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan after being the only people that was consistently putting out solid material. And since the past year Raekwon finally got back to his fundamentals with putting out a sequel to ‘Only Built For Cuban Linx’ a decade and a half later.

written by carminelitta @ carminelitta.blogspot.com
Georgia Anne Muldrow is an artist I slept on for way too long. When I finally checked out her previous album Early, I realized my mistake. This album is just perfect to me, a wonderful mixture of beautiful productions and a very positive and inspiring message.

Read More->

Album Review: Lil’ Wayne-Rebirth

Album Review: Lil’ Wayne – Rebirth (2010) by Preach Jacobs

It’s an exhausting chore to be considered one of the greatest artists in a certain field. But it can be embarrassing when someone steps outside the lines of their acquired talent. Look at endless defunct albums by ball players trying to be rappers (i.e. Kobe Bryant) or when rappers trying to be actors (insert hilarious line delivered by Nas in Belly). Problem being, that when someone is talented in a specific field, there’s a thin line between artistic integrity and reckless. Unfortunately Lil’ Wayne’s constantly pushed back rock album Rebirth is of the latter. I did two things before listening to this project. First, I watched the now infamous documentary about Lil’ Wayne titled The Carter. And then I refused to have any expectations for Rebirth before listening. Doing those two things gave me an understanding of what to expect.

Black Power and Black Dynamite By Looking Back, Film Points Toward a Possible Future for Black Cinema by Preach Jacobs

I grew up being a huge fan of hip-hop music that was socially conscious and talked about black empowerment. At a young age, I preferred a Public Enemy record over M.C. Hammer and read more about Marcus Garvey than the Hardy Boys. So, when I kept hearing about movies like Shaft and Foxy Brown, I just knew that they would be the type of movies that would inspire me and make me feel like an honorary Black Panther.

Electric Wire Hustle – Electric Wire Hustle (Every Waking Hour) by Preach Jacobs
Very rarely has there been an album that has exceeding the expectations of this reviewer. It may be even rarer that there’s an artist that I haven’t heard about make such a massive impact on me and my listening habits. Fortunately, Electric Wire Hustle have exceeded with both.