Here we go:
Wale was a one man wrecking machine on the mixtape circuit for the past 2 years and after he dropped this year's "Back To The Feature" fans were on the edge of their seats waiting for this album to come out. Wale tackles a bevy of relevant topics on this album but doesn't come off as preachy which is impressive. Solid debut for the Nigerian Nightmare.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
A big problem with mixtape killers like Wale is that when they put albums out often times the familiarity and connection with the listeners gets lost and to an extent this album suffers from it. On his mixtapes, it was like Wale was performing exclusively for each individual listener whereas on Attention Deficit he comes off more like he's putting on a show at MSG. A strong album, but I think Wale is still very much on the rise and that his best is yet to come.
9. STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB - STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB
Boots Riley and Tom Morello join forces on this album and the result is a great mixture of dark, sarcastic, antagonizing and powerful. Boots spits inspired bars over Morello's vicious riffs and gets in zones that remind me a lot of George Carlin in terms of the message and the way it is delivered. Morello's spontaneous guitar playing is wrangled in lyrically by Riley in a very unique way, different from Zac De La Rocha's fiery outbursts. Between the catchy chants and snarky observations Boots barrels through the right wing with a razor sharp tongue and despite his more laid back delivery he is still perfectly capable of assisting Morello as he whips the track into a frenzy.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
Musically, there is really nothing wrong with this album. If anything it can get a little repetitive as Morello and Riley have very signature styles that most casual music fans are at the very least partially familiar with. The problem here is that we're one year into the term of our first black president who listens to and comments on hip hop. Albums like this are a lot more powerful when "The Man" is an old white guy, especially a Republican. They still attack old white guys on tracks like "Clap For The Killers" and "100 Little Curses" and with the country in an economic crisis there is certainly cause to get nasty with the people who created it but it's hard to really get into the spirit when the head man in charge likely listened to Public Enemy in college. If this album came out 2 years ago then it would absolutely be higher on the list.
Kid Hum is very quickly becoming one of underground hip hop's most sought after producers. This project uses instrumentals from Hum's 08 release "Fossil Fuel" and combines some scorching hot flows from MC's across the country. Colorado's favorite sons Whygee and Sunkenstate each drop in to blaze the tracks down as well as North Carolina's Cy Yung, Chicago's Pugs Atomz, and New York's Brown Bag All-Stars to name a few. All of them shine on this album with a real sense of hunger and drive that independent rappers need to have to be relevant at this stage in the game. These MC's all soar and the directions they all take each Hum beat almost make you forget that you're listening to an album of beats made by one guy.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
The album doesn't flow quite as well as Fossil Fuel mainly because of the varying styles that each MC comes with. On Fossil Fuel there was a real beginning, middle, and end that is a somewhat absent on Offshore Drilling. Hum has projects either already out or lined up with most of these MC's individually and while this album is very strong on it's own it is almost more of a really good preview of these upcoming projects.
A great album that got overshadowed by this year's more ballyhooed releases. Mega got some excellent producers on this project and his hood narratives are sharper than ever. The best songs on here are some of Mega's best songs anywhere and with his catalog that is saying a lot.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
Some of these beats just don't cut the mustard. Pete Rock's contribution is pretty boring and since Mega's last album was in 2002 I expected more from this release. It's still very strong but not quite as good as I would have hoped.
PART II Coming Tomorrow!!!!
10. WALE - ATTENTION DEFICIT
Wale was a one man wrecking machine on the mixtape circuit for the past 2 years and after he dropped this year's "Back To The Feature" fans were on the edge of their seats waiting for this album to come out. Wale tackles a bevy of relevant topics on this album but doesn't come off as preachy which is impressive. Solid debut for the Nigerian Nightmare.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
A big problem with mixtape killers like Wale is that when they put albums out often times the familiarity and connection with the listeners gets lost and to an extent this album suffers from it. On his mixtapes, it was like Wale was performing exclusively for each individual listener whereas on Attention Deficit he comes off more like he's putting on a show at MSG. A strong album, but I think Wale is still very much on the rise and that his best is yet to come.
9. STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB - STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUBBoots Riley and Tom Morello join forces on this album and the result is a great mixture of dark, sarcastic, antagonizing and powerful. Boots spits inspired bars over Morello's vicious riffs and gets in zones that remind me a lot of George Carlin in terms of the message and the way it is delivered. Morello's spontaneous guitar playing is wrangled in lyrically by Riley in a very unique way, different from Zac De La Rocha's fiery outbursts. Between the catchy chants and snarky observations Boots barrels through the right wing with a razor sharp tongue and despite his more laid back delivery he is still perfectly capable of assisting Morello as he whips the track into a frenzy.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
Musically, there is really nothing wrong with this album. If anything it can get a little repetitive as Morello and Riley have very signature styles that most casual music fans are at the very least partially familiar with. The problem here is that we're one year into the term of our first black president who listens to and comments on hip hop. Albums like this are a lot more powerful when "The Man" is an old white guy, especially a Republican. They still attack old white guys on tracks like "Clap For The Killers" and "100 Little Curses" and with the country in an economic crisis there is certainly cause to get nasty with the people who created it but it's hard to really get into the spirit when the head man in charge likely listened to Public Enemy in college. If this album came out 2 years ago then it would absolutely be higher on the list.
8. CLIPSE - TIL THE CASKET DROPS
Another great album from Clipse as they continue to show their range as artists. They still rap about crack and everything but they've expanded their repertoire. You know what you're going to get with Clipse, for the most part: minimalist beats, sick wordplay, unique flows and hard lyrics, but on this album the world finally gets to hear Pusha and Malice over some new kinds of beats including production credits from DJ Khalil and Chin and Sean C & LV providing the album's best tracks in my opinion (There Was A Murder and Freedom, respectively).
Another great album from Clipse as they continue to show their range as artists. They still rap about crack and everything but they've expanded their repertoire. You know what you're going to get with Clipse, for the most part: minimalist beats, sick wordplay, unique flows and hard lyrics, but on this album the world finally gets to hear Pusha and Malice over some new kinds of beats including production credits from DJ Khalil and Chin and Sean C & LV providing the album's best tracks in my opinion (There Was A Murder and Freedom, respectively).
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
The Neptunes' beats on this album are at best inconsistent and at worst disappointing. Maybe it is the "new toy" aspect of hearing Clipse over new producers, and Clipse fans have obviously been spoiled by some of the Neptune's most memorable minimalist sonic landscapes but there just wasn't enough going on here this time. Each Neptunes beat seems like it's one or two sounds away from being vintage Star Trek. No dis to the 'tunes but I think that if Clipse really gets busy with a wider array of producers their next album will be #1 no matter what year it comes out.
The Neptunes' beats on this album are at best inconsistent and at worst disappointing. Maybe it is the "new toy" aspect of hearing Clipse over new producers, and Clipse fans have obviously been spoiled by some of the Neptune's most memorable minimalist sonic landscapes but there just wasn't enough going on here this time. Each Neptunes beat seems like it's one or two sounds away from being vintage Star Trek. No dis to the 'tunes but I think that if Clipse really gets busy with a wider array of producers their next album will be #1 no matter what year it comes out.
7. KID HUM - OFFSHORE DRILLING
Kid Hum is very quickly becoming one of underground hip hop's most sought after producers. This project uses instrumentals from Hum's 08 release "Fossil Fuel" and combines some scorching hot flows from MC's across the country. Colorado's favorite sons Whygee and Sunkenstate each drop in to blaze the tracks down as well as North Carolina's Cy Yung, Chicago's Pugs Atomz, and New York's Brown Bag All-Stars to name a few. All of them shine on this album with a real sense of hunger and drive that independent rappers need to have to be relevant at this stage in the game. These MC's all soar and the directions they all take each Hum beat almost make you forget that you're listening to an album of beats made by one guy.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
The album doesn't flow quite as well as Fossil Fuel mainly because of the varying styles that each MC comes with. On Fossil Fuel there was a real beginning, middle, and end that is a somewhat absent on Offshore Drilling. Hum has projects either already out or lined up with most of these MC's individually and while this album is very strong on it's own it is almost more of a really good preview of these upcoming projects.
6. CORMEGA - BORN AND RAISED
A great album that got overshadowed by this year's more ballyhooed releases. Mega got some excellent producers on this project and his hood narratives are sharper than ever. The best songs on here are some of Mega's best songs anywhere and with his catalog that is saying a lot.
WOULD BE HIGHER IF:
Some of these beats just don't cut the mustard. Pete Rock's contribution is pretty boring and since Mega's last album was in 2002 I expected more from this release. It's still very strong but not quite as good as I would have hoped.
PART II Coming Tomorrow!!!!
YAAY!! CAN'T WAIT FOR PART 2!!! LOVE IT JUDGE...WE MISS YOU!!
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