Album Review: Tech N9ne- The Gates Mixed Plate

    Average Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating: 7.2/10

     
  1. Intro
2. O.G (10/10)
3. Fu Pay Me Ft. Makzilla & Krizz Kaliko (8.5/10)
4. Gamer Ft. Kutt Coulhoun (9/10)
5. Jumpin' Jax Ft. Krizz Kaliko & Bishop (7.5/10)
6. Keep It One Hunt Ft. Glasses Malone, Big Scoob & Irv Da Phantom (8/10)
7. Pow Wow Ft. Kutt Coulhoun, Tay Gigz, Rivv Loc, Mon E.G & The Ghostwriter (8/10)
8. Harvy Dent (10/10)
9. Tony G (Skit)
10. What's Next Ft. Craig Smith & Oobergeek (6.5/10)
12. Afterparty Ft. Deven The Dude & Kutt Coulhoun (6.5/10)
13. Too Many Girls Ft. Sundaie & Krizz Kalio (6/10)
14. Puh Wah Wah Ft. 816 Boyz (8/10)
15. Sean Tyler (Skit)
16. KC Tea (10/10)
17. JT Quick (Skit)
18. Oh, You Didn't Know Ft. Ive Da Phantom & The Popper (8/10)
19. Far Out Ft. JL, P.R.E.A.C.H & Steve Stone (10/10)
20. Paper Without Brian B Shynin Ft. Jay Rock & Joe Vertingo (9/10)
21. Loud Ft. Bizzy, Alen Wayne & Ive Da Phantom (10/10)
22. Need More Angles Brother K.T & Ive Da Phantom (10/10)
23. Doin' It Ft. Yukmouth, Chillest Illest & Ome (7.5/10)

     It's difficult to release two albums in the same year, Lil Wayne did it with "Rebirth" and "I Am Not a Human Being", but they both where failures as far as I’m concerned. Tupac did with "All Eyez on Me" and "The Don Killumanati: The 7 Day Theory", which were both successes; however Tupac was a legend, it was almost impossible for him to make a bad albums. Fat Joe did it with "The Elephant in the Room" and "J.O.S.E 2" where "The Elephant in the Room" was a success, and "J.O.S.E 2" was a failure, so how did Tech N9ne do with his second 2010 album "The Gates Mixed Plate" after releasing one of his best efforts, "K.O.D"?

    "The Gates Mixed Plate" was generally a much lighter, less horrorcore themed, and a more of a raw hardcore club themed album than Tech's previous albums. The lyrics, production, and the entire album in general was a lot less dark and horrorcore than his previous albums, and they were all a bit more party/club themed, the lyrics circled around partying and drinking more and Tech tried to provide funner than less more serious flows. Now that the theme of the album is given, how did “The Gates Mixed Plate” work out for Tech? especially because Tech is known for his really strong and aggressive style, and not the KC club theme which was used a lot on this album.

     Even though Tech got more club themed tracks, the album was still pure Tech N9ne hip-hop, and most of the tracks here where still hard hitting and over the top along with a concept to match the rhythm, they may not really some of Tech's best, but there was a few stand out tracks on the album like "O.G" which was about the Kansas City part scene, “K.C. Tea" was a Kansas City drinking theme song, "Far Out" which was about getting all the attention, and "Loud" which was about Tech not caring about anyone, and just playing as much loud music as he wants. Those few songs jump in as the album’s best tracks, they were all fast lyrically, the production on each of those tracks was hard hitting, there was nearly nothing wrong with them, but they were just simply not quite Tech’s best tracks, they were excellent songs, but not exactly the Tech people are used to.

      Tech still had a couple of horrorcore themed tracks on the album, which still had some kind of sad, dark K.O.D styled message. "Harvey Dent" was the best on the album, it was about Tech’s second, darker side, it sounded like a K.O.D leftover, which for some reason wasn’t on the album, and "Need More Angles" was dark, it had a really dark and clear message, and it was one of the best track on the album.     

    Like every album, The Gates Mixed plate does have it’s worst tracks, but here, the worst tracks where decent at best, which is good, because normally ‘worst tracks’ are bad songs or just filler. "What's Next", "After Party" and "Too Many Girls" all sounded a little dumbed down, which was okay, I don't mind dumbed down music when it's good, but compared to Tech they are not nearly up to his level, and as expected, those tracks, and a few more on the album where not up to Tech's level, they could have been a lot better if Tech and company paid a bit more attention to the lyrical strength on the album.

     "The Gates Mixed Plate" was not by any means a bad or even mediocre album, and at the same time it's not even near being something up to an amazing album. It was good, it had its highlights, it’s great tracks, but it wasn't really up to Tech N9ne's level, and honestly the album kinda disappointing when it comes to looking Tech's past work as a whole. Still, it's one of the better albums that came out in 2010, and one of the better second albums that any rapper had in the same year.

Album Review: Big Boi- Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Average Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Rating: 9.2/10

         1.  Intro

         2.  Daddy Fat Sax (10/10)

         3. Turn Me On Ft. Sleepy Brown & Joi (8.5/10)

         4. Follow Us Ft. Vonnegutt (9/10)

         5. Shutterbugg Ft. Cutty (9.5/10)

         6. General Patton (6/10)

         7. Tangerine Ft. T.I & Khujo Goodie (8/10)

         8. You Ain’t No DJ Ft. Yelawolf (10/10)

         9. Hustle Blood Ft. Jamie Foxx (5.5/10)

         10. Be Still Ft. Janelle Monae (9/10)

         11. For Yo Sorrows Ft. Sam Chris, Too $hort & George Clinton (10/10)

         12. Night Night Ft. B.o.B & Joi (9/10)

         13. Shine Blockas Ft. Gucci Mane (6/10)

         14. The Train Pt.2 Ft. Sam Chris (9/10)

         15. Back Up Plan (10/10)

         16. Theme Song (7/10)

         17.  Royal Flush Ft. Andre 3000 & Reakwon (10/10)

     For four years now OutKast, or any of their members have in a way, took a bit of a break. The brain behind a lot of the creativity of the due, Andre 3000 has gone into mostly just production and making guest appearances, and his right hand man, the more traditional rapper of the group Big Boi has gone on to begin a solo career, so now with a solo album, “Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty” can Big Boi change his image from Andre’s right hand man to finally building a name of his own?

     This album wasn’t the first time Big Boi worked alone, the 2003 Outkast double album “The Love Below/ Speakerboxxx” had an entire half of the album made entirely be Big Boi, it was excellent, but it still stood behind Andre’s side, “The Love Below”. So now, with very little Andre 3000 featured anywhere on this album, Big Boi can finally make a name out of himself and not just build his dynasty behind Andre’s.

     “Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty” showed a lot of growth for Big Boi since his 2003 semi-solo debut. Like Speakerboxxx the “Sir Lucious Leftfoot” album shows off a lot of lyrical skill, which included a lot of great punchlines, a lot of very powerful wordplay, a lot of pop culture references, and  a lot of fun tongue twisters. The album was really a showcase of really strong, fun flows and just pure lyrical talent, that was what this album was about, and since Big Boi has really expanded and became a better artist throughout his career, this album really showed his growth, and his stronger lyrical talent in great group of the tracks here.

     The production on this album was pure classic southern hip-hop. The production featured a lot of dance inspired, club-like, drum and bass influenced rhythms. The whole album’s production sounded great, nothing on the album was really serious music or something like that, and that was not a problem at all, there is no denying the fun, strong southern party inspired production in the album. The production here really was a reminder on why southern hip-hop once ruled the hip-hop world, and honestly that’s exactly why it was so excellent.

     The album also had a large number of excellent tracks. Some of the most notable tracks here include “You Ain’t No DJ” which had a really unique beat, and great lyrical performances by Big Boi and Yelawolf, “Daddy Fat Sax” which was a bit short, but it’s great wordplay, beat and flow more than make up for its short length, “Royal Flush” was a great track, it had verses from Big Boi, Reakwon, and Andre 3000, so it was in a way an OutKast reunion, and as usual, Big Boi seems to stand behind Andre no matter how good he raps, “For Yo Sorrows” was really a great party track, it had great production, the flow was really good and strong, and as usual the wordplay was outstanding, and “Back Up Plan” which felt like really an excellent all-around party track.

     The album did have some issues though. The production did feel fairly plain and a bit boring at some points, “Hustle Blood” was a mixed track in my opinion, thanks to its plain production, “General Patton” could have been one of the best on the album, but it’s beat puts it down a few levels, and .”Shine Blocks” which was a good track, but its poor hook and having a needless and poor verse from Gucci Mane really hurt the song and made it into something much smaller than what it could have been if it was just Big Boi or if it featured someone else.

     Other than the production errors on some tracks on the album, the album’s theme was too simplistic for Big Boi. I mean, true the album had a theme, and it showed that Big Boi did grow as an artist, but given his lyrical talent and strength, you’d think the theme would have matched, I mean, the theme here was good and all, but just not really something Big Boi would really grow to after being in the game since 1994.

     Overall Antwan Andre Patton gives us something that was pretty much a success form beginning to end. True, it’s not quite as good as Outkast’s albums as a duo, but it is certainly as good as his half of the double album “The Love Below/ Speakerboxxx”. The album had it’s really great moments, and it’s reasons to be a classic, but the albums did have some bad sides that brought it down though, so overall this album was excellent, but not really as good as it should have been though.

Album Review: Kanye West- My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantesy

Average Rating: 8.2/10

    Overall Rating: 9.5/10

1. Dark Fantasy (10/10)
2. Gorgeous Ft. Kid Cudi & Reakwon (10/10)
3. Power (10/10)
4.  All of the Lights Introlude
5. All of the Lights Ft. Rihanna & Kid Cudi (10/10)
6. Monster Ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nikki Minaj & Bon Iver (10/10)
7. So Appalled Ft. Jay-Z, Pusha T, Prynce Cy Hi, Swizz Beats & RZA (8/10)
8. Devil in a New Dress Ft. Rick Ross (5/10)
9. Runaway Ft. Pusha T (5/10)10. Hell of a Life (8/10)
11. Blame Game Ft. John Legend (6/10)
12. Lost in the World Ft. Bon Iver (7/10)
13. Who Will Survive in America

      After an artist goes through a rough time in his or her career, it usually takes that artist a fairly long amount of time to redeem himself or herself, also it takes the artist a while to regain his or her fans, for example, after Eminem released Encore, he took a five year hiatus, then released Relapse, which was generally a poor attempt for Eminem to redeem himself, but the year after that, Eminem managed to redeem himself with Recovery, and he got even more fans while regaining his older ones, another example is 50 Cent, who after released Curtis, managed to redeem his skills, but not his fanbase with 'Before I Self Destruct', and the third, and most obvious example was Kanye West, who had a tough last two years making himself look like an arrogant asshole, making him really need to redeem himself with ‘My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy’.

     'My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy' had a great background in general, mainly because it indicates Kanye's return to the rap world, meaning that with this album, Kanye planned to redeem himself and regain his fanbase by doing what he’s familiar with, while not doing anything too experimental, and with his really strong production skills which just keep improving, My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy was a great album, why? Mainly due to experience, because Kanye was really successful in almost all his albums, and “My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy” just continued his streak of success.

     My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy was a lot deeper and generally a much better produced album than his last few album. The album’s best tracks had superb production, and at the same time the lyrical content that felt like it fit the song. The most notable songs with great lyrics and matching production, one of the greatest examples was the album’s first track “Dark Fantasy” which sounded like a gospel when it was on the hook, and it just completely switched into a strange, different styled beat during the verses, and honesty, the beat was one of the best I have ever heard, and lyrically I felt like the song deeply symbolized a person’s deepest fantasies and that they can be really crazy, and honestly Kanye symbolized that perfectly with his lyrics on this track.

     Another great track with great lyrics and outstanding tailor-made production was “Gorgeous”, a track which talks about Kanye and Rekowan’s current point in there carriers, there struggles, and more important how they turned that struggling point around, into something really successful, and what better way to rap like than with a really strong hook complemented by a voice like Cudi’s along with a guitar styled beat?

      Another great track with the same case was “All of The Lights” which felt like the most artistic track on the album. The song was mainly about mistrust, and Kanye used the idea of his girlfriend cheating on him when he came back from prison, It had a lot of style, a lot of style, substance, it was well made, and as a result that was a really good idea for a song in general. All of The Lights had a great for trumpet based beat, as usual it was really strong as a beat itself, and it really complimented the song’s theme, style and lyrical content.

    Runaway was one of the weaker tracks on the album; it had much calmer production and a much less interesting subject matter. Runaway was about Kanye warning a girl that she should run away from him and that he’s not really a good person, it was more of an emotional song, it was good, but when putting it next to the rest of the album, there was a huge group of much better songs that did a much better job than this ond.

     Blame Game was generally a good song; it was about what was exactly given in its name, it was about blame and how people just seem to blame each other, mostly in bad relationships. Blame Game wasn’t nearly the best on the album, but it was not by any means a bad song, but it was just flawed though, the production was a bit boring, the song was slow comparing to the rest of the album, and honestly the song just didn’t do it for me, it was a good enough song to be enjoyable, but it was one of those songs that are really easy to skip when listening to the album.

    Other than those few tracks there were other tracks that had a more serious subject matter, the only difference between the ones earlier mentioned and the other ones was that all the other ones had a much smaller and less complex concept. For example, “Lost in The World” was about confusion and really not knowing what’s going on, it was a great track, but not one of the best on the album, and “Power” which was a song about general corruption; it’s a stand out track on the album mainly because of its strong production and it’s more complex flow.

   Kanye did let loose on some tracks though, so not all the tracks here go deep into subject matters. There was “Devil in a New Dress” which was basically just Kanye and Rick Ross liking a girl and they were both debating whether they should get the girl or religion, it was a great concept, but probably was the weakest track on the album production wise. “Hell of a Life” was a story where he talks about falling in love with a porn star, he rapped it over an ACDC inspired beat which really made the difference for this track, and “Monster” which was basically a straight up rhyming game, it went from verse to verse from Ross, to Kanye, to Jigga then to Nikki, and to put them all together an excellent hook, it was truly it was one of the best tracks on the album, and was one of the best tracks of 2010.

    

     Overall I think Kanye proved he can easily win his fans back and that he is at his peak with this album without signs that he Is slowing down at all. The album was pure genius, it was something very artistic production wise and lyrically, it was something unique as a project in general, and it truly stood out not as just a great rap album, not just as a great album, but as a real piece of art with a lot of heart and soul put into it. “My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy” really wasn’t perfect, but it still deserved a lot of props and a really loud applause for its strong lyricism, stand out production, and it’s really artistic feeling and theme as an album.

Album Review: Eminem- Recovery

Average Rating: 9.8/10
Overall Rating: 9.5/10

          1. Cold Wind Blows (9.5/10)

          2. Talkin’ To Myself Ft. Kobe (10/10)

          3. On Fire (8.5/10)

          4. Won't Back Down Ft. Pink (10/10)

          5.W.T.P (9/10)

          6. Going Through Changes (10/10)

          7. Not Afraid (10/10)

          8. Seduction (10/10)

          9. No Love Ft. Lil Wayne (10/10)

          10. Space Bound (10/10)

          11. Cinderella Man (10/10)

          12. 25 To Life (10/10)

          13. So Bad (9.5/10)

          14. Almost Famous (10/10)

          15. Love The Way You Lie Ft. Rihanna (10/10)

          16. You're Never Over (10/10)

          17. Here We Go (10/10)

    Coming back after a slump is never easy. NAS barely came back to his legendary status since Illmatic came out, Jay-Z couldn’t return to his golden days no matter how hard he tries, 50 Cent is having almost as hard of a time as Jay-Z, and Eminem was slumping since Encore came out. But for Recovery, Eminem decided to take on a different direction and concept; he wanted to make a more serious, mature album, showing a much different and better side of himself.  So can a new concept bring Eminem back to his golden age? Only the quality on his second album after his hiatus “Recovery” can tell.

     Recovery generally went on a very different direction than Eminem’s last album Relapse, it was far more serious, the tracks where a lot smarter, it was more open, and really the tracks on Recovery where the tracks that people would want from a returning Eminem album. In a nutshell, Recovery was smart, open, and honestly nothing what Relapse was, even Slim Shady was removed most of the album, which honestly gave it a really positive effect.

     Recovery was Eminem’s longest album, it had 17 tracks, and no skits, therefore making it long enough for him to open up about what he experienced during his recent years, and have many of the subject matters we’ve been wanting Eminem to talk about since he came back from his drug addiction and hiatus.

     Eminem opened up about so much on this album. He talked about his tough time around music and how he almost killed his own career in the strong, rock-influenced “Talkin’ To Myself”. He talked about how he planned to change his life and how he tried to get out of depression in the deep and strongly emotional track “Going through Changes”. He talked about starting a new life after his drug addiction, and finally beating his demons in the uplifting first single of the album “Not Afraid”. he talked about his reasons why he’s still rapping in the metaphorically strong “25 To Life” where he talks about hip-hop like it was a girl, and he talked about Proof in the late tribute to him on the album’s best track “You’re Never Over”.

     Eminem talked about other subject matters on the album. He talked about domestic violence in “Love The Way You Lie” which featured Rihanna and was one of the best tracks on the album. he talked about how he’s over his haters in “No Love”, one of the most rhythmic tracks on the album, thanks to his, and Lil Wayne’s verse. He talked about his trust issues while being love struck in the guitar-based “Space Bound” a great track for the radio, and one of the best of Eminem’s career, and he talked about his rise to fame in some very hardcore and strong metaphors with a banging beat in the track “Almost Famous”.

    Eminem had some battle-oriented tracks on the album too, where he’s just constantly spitting punchlines and rhyme after rhyme after rhyme. “Won’t Back Down” was one of them, it was very intense, and one of the best lyrical tracks on the album. “On Fire” was just rhyming, but it was the worst on the album, it could have had a better beat, but still it was a great track and “Cinderella Man” also plays a role as one of the best tracks on the album, it had a very strong beat, as well as some strong battle oriented lyrics to complement its production.

     With all those serious and the battle oriented tracks, it’s hard to believe that Eminem still had some fun on the album. He brought Slim Shady in the album for two tracks with “Cold Wind Blows”, which just kept taking shots at celebrates, it felt like a song that should have been on Relapse due to its content, and “Here We Go”, which was just plain old classic Slim Shady. Eminem also talked about pimping girls, sex with them and generally was just bragging on himself in “So Bad” and talked about a white trash party in the album’s only party oriented track, “WTP”.

     Recovery was definitely one of hip-hop’s most polished albums, and possibly nearing Eminem’s best album. I think that this was more or less the Eminem people where waiting for, he was serious in some tracks, he had fun on some tracks, and he went back to his sources in some other tracks, what more can be wanted? The album was well balanced, well concepted, well thought of, and possibly flawless, or at least almost flawless. I think that this was overall the return Eminem wanted and needed, and it was the return that the fans wanted too. Recovery was an opener to a new chapter in Eminem’s career, let’s see if he can keep this chapter on track with how it started.