Album Review: Chiddy Bang- Breakfast

   

    Average Rating: 8.9/10

      Overall Rating: 7.5/10    

1. Intro

         2. Breakfast (10/10)

         3. Handclaps & Guitars (9/10)

         4. Mind Your Manners Ft. Icona Pop (9.5/10)

         5. Ray Charles (10/10)

         6. Does She Love Me (9/10)

         7. Run it Back Ft. Shirazi (7/10)

         8. Out To Space Ft. Gordon Voidwell (10/10)

         9. Whatever We Want (9/10)

         10. Interlude

         11. Talking To Myself (8/10)

         12. Happening (10/10)

         13. Baby Roulette (6/10)

         14. 4^th Quarter (5/10)

         15. Rescue Me Ft. You Me At Six (10/10)

    There wasn’t a real consistent decent hip-hop duo to make music since Outkast. The past few years where mainly built on a combination of some decent collaboration albums and poor hip-hop duos. the last few years featured some great collaborations, such as Kanye West and Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne and Methodman and Redman’s Blackout 2, however, those collaborations where just one, or at most two time jobs, there wasn’t a real consistent hip-hop duo since Outkast, now duos are mostly poor, having The Cool Kids as the only good hip-hop duo, and having many duos such as the New Boyz, LMFAO, The Ying Yang Twins and more, all these consistent duos where either mediocre or poor, all of them are far from the level of The Cool Kids, little than Outkast, however, how will this newer, younger duo, Chiddy Bang do with their long awaited debut “Breakfast”, did the album manage to keep them going as a good duo, or does it show that they belong with the many other, poorer hip-hop duos?

    Breakfast kept it simple concept wise. It had the usual debut album concept, which was just a simple showcase of everything the artist or the group can do, and personally I think that’s the best way to go with a debut album, because a debut album mainly needs to attract fans for the more advanced music, and if the listener didn’t listen to everything the artist or group can do, they will be skeptical on buying more albums from that artist or group, and in Chiddy Bang’s case, they jumped onto many styles lyrically and production wise, which made a very diverse yet familiar album, which really gave the album such a great, smooth and an entertaining style to listen to through sixteen tracks.

    Chiddy Bang concentrated on one major style on most of the album, which was punchline rap, Chiddy Bang rapped some very strong and well crafted punchlines in many different styles of production, and they mainly concentrated on new school production and old school production through the punchline tracks.

     “Breakfast” was a strong track, it had some very clever lines in a smooth flow which was all tied together with a mixture of an old school beat and a new school beat. “Mind your Manners” was a highlight of the album, it had a guitar based beat, a strong hook and some very clever lyrics.“Ray Charles” was the first single of the album, and it was a near perfect track, it had some amazing 1930s jazz style production and some of the strongest lyrics on the entire album. “Happening” was a punchline track which came out of pure happiness, it had some strong positive punchlines and a fast, positive beat as well, and “4^th Quarter” was one of the last tracks on the album, it had some extremely strong punchlines, probably the best on the album, however, comparing to the punchlines to the production on the track was a disaster, the production was fairly poor, it was a basic hip-hop beat and it really ruined the album’s good mood.

    A less familiar style with the duo was the more emotional style. The album had a decent amount of tracks 

which stood out emotionally, and some of those emotional tracks actually stand out as some of the best tracks of the album.

     “Does She Love Me?” was a song that questioned love; It was one of the smartest and one of the most meaningful tracks on the album. “Out To Space” was a very motivational track, it had very motivational production and some self-motivating lyrics as well, it was one of the best tracks on the album. “Baby Roulette” was a track that was mainly about questioning keeping a baby, it was an emotional track, but it had a poor hook and poor production which really threw me off the mood, and “Rescue Me”, which was a rock inspired track about the need of love and its importance, You Me at Six provided the production and the hook, which really made a huge difference, it turned an emotional rap track into an emotional rap/rock track, which is a good thing most of the time, and a perfect way to finish the album.

     However, even with the album’s heavy concept and it’s strong, diverse but familiar music, the album did have some downfalls, some tracks, such as “Talking To Myself” or “Run It Back” had poorly constructed hooks which did not fit the tracks and just felt like they were forced on those track so they can feel more radio friendly. Another problem some songs on the album had was the production, mainly tracks like “Baby Roulette” or “4^th Quarter” suffered from poor production, which made both of these tracks sound broken and disjointed.

     Chiddy Bang’s Breakfast was a strong enough album to be seen as a great debut and a great collaboration. It didn’t really cross any limits or any lines, but it had some decent music though. The concept was strong and simple and the music was almost on par with the concept, the production was almost stellar and the album’s general flow was very strong, however the album suffered from random hooks and poor production in some cases, which lowered the album’s quality, but even with those errors the album managed to be filled with great tracks to make an overall strong, but not a significantly strong album. Breakfast was a good enough album to make me believe that there is a duo that might be able to compete with today’s most powerful duo, The Cool Kids.

EP Review: Yelawolf & Ed Sheeran- The Slumdon Bridge EP

Average Rating: 8.3/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

        1. London Bridge (8/10)

         2. You Don’t Know (9/10)

         3. Faces (10/10)

         4. Tone (6/10)

    Soft Pop and Southern Hip-hop put together? It’s a combination that has never been done before, it’s a combination between two genres of music that have very far and very distant styles, so having both genres in one song by its self is considered something hugely experimental, how about an entire EP? That’s what we will find out with this short, but experimental project, collaboration between Southern rapper Yelawolf, and soft Pop singer Ed Sheeran, so how did the EP work out? Does the style prevail?

   The Slumdon Bringe EP had a very clear and a very direct concept, which was experimenting and showing clear and thick diversity. Yelawolf brought his style of rap, which could be described as long bars and strong content in a southern accent, and Ed Sheeran brought his own style of singing with a calm, soft voice over an aquistic guitar, so the collaboration had a lot to bring with strong concepts tied to calm rhythm, which actually worked out very well on a four track ratio.

    The Slumdon EP opened with the track “London Bridge” which was a slow, folk-inspired track which was basically about personal downfalls and demotivation, Yelawolf provided some clever lyrics presented in long bars, however sometimes they felt too long, and Ed Sheeran provided a calm but entertaining hook to compliment the production and the concept perfectly. London Bridge was a great track, and a clear indication that Ed and Yala have chemistry together.

   “You Don’t Know” was a more old school hip-hop track. It talked about creativity and the process of making good music. Yelawolf had some smart lyrics, and Ed Sheren had a chance to show off some of his rhyming skills, his smooth flow complimented Yela’s fast flow and It also complimented the hook perfectly; “You Don’t Know” was an excellent track. It was definitely a highlight.

    “Faces” was a rock inspired track which talked about the rise and the process of reaching fame. Yelawolf did his usual job in the EP, which was the rapping, he mentioned some of the most crucial moments of his life and explained how they lead to his fame, and Ed Sheeran was just here for the hook this time, it was my favorite track on the EP, mainly because of its aggressive rhythm mixed with its soft hook, as well as the song’s strong meaning.

    “Tone” was the song that closed the EP. It mainly talked about dealing with audiences and using music to communicate with them. The entire track mainly featured Yelawolf rapping over Ed Sheeran playing the guitar. Tone was a decent track, however, it was short, Yelawolf’s flow felt a bit broken and I think Ed Sheeran should have had a singing role in the track.

    The Slumdon Bridge EP was a good collaboration. It had some great tracks and had some very strong points. It showed that southern hip-hop and soft pop can easily make some good calm music, I mean, Yela did have some personal downs which made the album lose a bit of its value, but really, it’s not that much of an error. The Slumdon Bridge EP was overall a strong project, and a strong indication that two very different genes of music can come together to make a strong and lasting piece of work. 

Album Review: Lupe Fiasco- The Cool

Average Rating: 9/10

Overall Rating: 9.7/10

1. Intro 

2. Free Chilly Ft. Sarah Green (9/10)

3. Go Go Gadget Flow (10/10)

4. The Coolest (10/10)

5. Superstar Ft. Mathiew Santos (10/10)

6. Paris, Tokyo (9.5/10)

7. High Definition Ft. Snoop Dogg & Poor Bear (9/10)

8. Gold Watch (8/10)

9. Hip Hop Saved My Life Ft. Nikki Jean (10/10)

10. Intruder Alert Ft. Serah Green (10/10)

11. Streets on Fire (10/10)

12. Little Weapon Ft. Bishop G & Nikki Jean (10/10)

13. Gotta Eat (10/10)

14. Dumb it Down Ft. Gemstone (10/10)

15. Hello/ Goodbye Ft. UNKLE (10/10)

16. The Die Ft. Gemstone (9/10)

17. Put The Game On (9/10)

     Lupe Fiasco has been called "the potential savior of hip hop" in 2006, when his first album "Food and Liquor" came out, it achieved great critical success, making it one of the best album of the late 2000s, and it was one of the most deep and meaningful albums to come out. Hype can do a lot of stuff, especially bring high expectations, but can Lupe keep his title and reputation as the potential hip hop savior or even become the hip hop savior and really show all of his potential with his second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool and live up to the hype and anticipation after his first album?

      Like Food and Liquor, the Cool had concentrated a lot on lyrical meaning and a keeping a very strong concept. Lupe Fiasco’s the Cool dealt with more of Lupe's personal history and his views about many things that were going on in this world, The Cool was mainly a lot more lyrical, and much deeper than Food and Liquor, and it had more of a direction than Food and Liquor which was considered as a step up in my opinion.  

      Lupe talked about a few personal topics that dealt with society in The Cool. Lupe talked about his rise to fame, his movement to success, how he started his music and about some of his personal political views. Lupe brought up surviving in the music industry especially with the strong attention on dumbed down music, The Cool was definitely a complete album, it had everything a great hip-hop album needed to be a great hip-hop album.

      One of my favorite songs on the album was a track called "The Coolest", where Lupe talked about his rise to fame, then at some point forgetting about reality, the song was done a very metaphoric manner, where he talks about his rise to fame like it was ‘falling in love’, and it was written in the form of a love story, it was like he had the girl of his dreams in the begging, and then it ended with Lupe forgetting about everything around him, the song had an excellent flow to complement the great lyricism, and really it was one of the best tracks on the album.

     "Hip Hop Saved My Life" talked about his history with writing music and how it changed him, he mentioned various stages in his life, he talked about how he started liking hip-hop, making mainstream based songs, realizing that he was becoming a hypocrite because of rapping about stuff he didn’t believe in, then later changing up his style then making it, he rapped on top of a great beat here which didn’t affect the lyricism, which was something rare with music in general.

     "Superstar" generally talked about Lupe finally being famous, the track talked about the ups and downs of fame and the effects of those ups and downs on his personality and on his personal life, the song was one of the best of the album, and it really had the right type of mood to showcase the album’s concept as being the first single of the album.

      "Paris, Tokyo" was about Lupe going around the world, touring around the world and being in other countries every night, which he mentioned was enjoyable, but at the same time he was talking about missing the girl he loves while he's away from her, and not being able to stop thinking about her, it was a slow type of track, which was a bit of a problem, but the lyrics flowed well with beat, making it a great song.

    "Hello/Goodbye" was simply Lupe welcoming depression to his life, he talked about how people where automatically against him, how he wasn’t getting enough emphases and recondition artist, and basically he felt like people wanted him to change his lyrical content, which lead to depression, he talked about all that over a rock inspired beat, which I really think was the best part of the track.

       "Intruder Alert" was mainly about making a decision about loving a girl, because Lupe loved a girl 

in a place where it’s culture unacceptable, and having the girl as a potential threat to the culture, the song was, in a way Lupe talking about how cultures don’t matter, and he just used that story as a huge example, which I think was something really strong about this track.

     Lupe also had some socially or politically inspired tracks on the Cool, he talked about so many things in that part of the album, and honestly, that’s where the album shined, there was so much value in those tracks in the album that the listener would beg for more.

     "Dumb it Down" was ironically the smartest track on the album, it’s lyrics where all crafted really cleverly, and it was in a way a diss track to the music industry, he used all those ‘this leading to that’ lyricism in a very clever and abstract way that people would just think that he’s saying that he’s smarter than everyone else, but really it’s the opposite, he talked about how every other artist dumbed himself, or herself down.

    Lupe talked about kids that have gun position in "Little Weapon" he talked about how kids who don’t know about their lives are taken then trained to be terrorists, it was one of the most honest tracks on the album, and it was one of the best thanks to its strong flow and hard hitting beat.

     "Streets On Fire" was a track subliminally talked about some political issues, it mainly talked about the economic issues, how politicians are corrupt, how they keep fighting, and how eventually everything may go wrong and that all of what was happening would eventually lead to death and destruction.

     "Gotta Eat" was another political track, it mainly talked about economic problems, and how the political problems lead to the economic issues such as poverty and unemployment, which was true, this was one of  the most honest tracks on the album, and just a reason why The Cool was a great album.

       As usual, Lupe still had a little fun on the album, which was actually a good thing, because having an album which was entirely serious would eventually get boring quickly, "Go Go Gadget Flow" was basically Lupe rapping and having fun to a crazy beat with a crazy flow, it turned out to be one of the best of the album. "Gold Watch" talked about how girls wanted him and wanted his riches, it was one of the worst of the album, but still a decent track, and "High Definition" was a pretty much decent track, it was basically Lupe and Snoop rapping about how ‘high definition’ is there personal futures because of their fame, but honestly it was the worst song on the entire album.

         The Cool solidifies Lupe's career as a "once in a generation" rap career. It had many different styles, many different topics, yet, it all felt like it had one big concept, the album was very deep, very personal, and to a certain degree emotional. I think that this album officially made Lupe the most possible option for being the true savior of hip-hop, with an album like The Cool, Lupe cannot be ignored, slept on, or even skipped.   

Album Review: Common- The Dreamer, The Believer

Average Rating: 9.2/10

Overall Rating:8.4/10 

1. The Dreamer Ft. Maya Anjelou (7/10)

2. Ghetto Dreams Ft. Nas (9/10)

3. Blue Sky (10/10)

4, Sweet (10/10)

5. Gold  (9/10)

6. Love I Lost (9/10)

7. Raw (10/10)

8. Cloth (9/10)

9. Celebrate(9/10)

10, Windows (9/10)

11. The Believer Ft. John Legend (10/10)

12. Pop’s Belief (Skit)

      2011 had a big catalog of albums, particularly in the 4th Quarter. We saw many great releases from Tech N9ne’s Welcome To Stangeland to Drake’s Take Care in just those three months, however we also saw some generally bad to completely awful albums like Wale’s Ambition, which was generally a poor album and Gucci Mane & V Nasty’s BYTLE, which was easily the worst album of the year, so the 4th quarter of 2011 was pretty mixed, however, how would the year end? Well, given that Common is ending the year with his solo project, the highly anticipated album ”The Dreamer, The Believer” I think I have high expectations on how the year will end.

     Common tried something very different with this album, other than making it one of his usual story-filled albums or making what every other rapper is putting on there albums, which is mainly 95% filled with money, cars and women, and the other 5% about the negative aspect of life, Common decided to focus on the positive aspect of life, I think it was a great turn, and it showed with the album’s greatly built, structured and designed music.

     The music on “The Dreamer, The Believer” was more than just positive hip-hop. The main concept of the album was mainly divided into two central points. The first point was about Common’s dreams, the dreams he fulfilled and he also opened up about the dreams he did not fulfill yet, and the second part of the album was about Common’s beliefs, and it mainly gives his views on stuff like death of close relatives, religion and simply his belief on just living life. “The Dreamer, The Believer” was heavy on concept, and it was also heavy on music.

    “The Dreamer” made up half of the album. It took six out of twelve tracks and each of them had almost the same concept, which was mainly about dreaming and fulfilling those dreams. Some of my favorite tracks on The Dreamer side of the album where “The Dreamer” which talked about dreaming about fame and success, “Ghetto Dreams” which was about Common’s dreams as a teenager in the ghetto, Nas also had a verse in that song, which was probably his best feature in a while, “Raw” was basically about the dream of eternal success, it was one of the strongest on the album, and “Sweet” was basically about dreaming about the taste of success, it was a strong, enthusiastic track, and it was one of the many standouts of the album.

   “The Believer” made up another the other half of the album, it took the other six tracks and it mainly was much wider and diverse than “The Dreamer” side of the album, it was a lot more spread out, and it basically talked about Common’s beliefs of so many things. “Blue Sky” talked about believing in yourself, it was the most uplifting track on the album, “Love I Lost” mainly talked about losing people to many casualties, but once moving on life would actually get better, “Cloth” basically talked about race, and how race doesn’t matter in real life and that everyone is the same, and “The Believer” basically opened up about Common’s daughter’s death, and how he managed to move on it however not being able to feel the same because of it.

    As a whole, “The Dreamer, The Believer” did have an excellent concept. It had the right music to match it, however, the album was short on quantity and substance, especially on The Dreamer side, which had almost every track almost talked about the same thing more or less, and the Believer side had the opposite as a problem, it felt too broad, especially given that it was only six tracks. The album’s issue was that it was too short for its large concept, still though, the strongly thought out individual tracks made up for it.

    “The Dreamer, The Believer” was overall an excellent album. It was full of excellent tracks, great moments and some really positive and uplifting songs. This album wasn’t Common’s best, but it was surly up there as one of the top on his list. “The Dreamer, The Believer” did have its share of flaws, bugs and downfalls, however, even with those flaws it excelled as a great album with a large group of memorable tracks, making “The Dreamer, The Believer” one of the most memorable albums of the year.

Album Review: T Pain- Revolver

Average Rating: 5.2/10

Overall Rating: 3.5/10

         1. Bang Bang Pow Pow Ft. Lil Wayne (6/10)

         2. Bottlez Ft. Detail (7/10)

         3. Default Picture (3/10)

         4. It’s Not You Ft. Pitbull & Chuckie (5/10)

         5. 5‘O Clock Ft. Wiz Khalifa & Lilly Allen (5.5/10)

         6. Show Time (4/10)

         7. Rock Bottom (2/10)

         8. Look At Her Go Ft. Chris Brown (7.5/10)

         9. Mix’d Girl (4/10)

         10. I Don’t Give a Fuck (5/10)

         11. Drowning Again Ft. One Change (5/10)

         12. When I Come Home (4/10)

         13. Best Love Song Ft. Chris Brown (6/10)

         14. Turn All The Lights On Ft. Ne-Yo (8/10)

         15. Center of the Stage Ft. R. Kelly & Bej Major (5/10)

         16. Regular Girl (4/10)

         17. Nothin’ Ft. E-40 & Detail (7/10)

     T-Pain has been out of the scene for a while now, he hasn’t been making much features and he has only released one mixtape in the last three years since releasing his lukewarm, auto-tune filled album “Th33 Rings” in 2008. To be honest, I’m not sure why he stopped making music for a time period like three years, but he said his music is better than ever, first of all, every artist says that when they have an album out, but I’m willing to give his fourth album, Revolver a chance anyway.

      To be honest, Revolver was a very doubtful album, because, T-Pain did not use Autotune this time, yes, he’s not using Autotune this time around, he is actually using something far more advanced which he calls the “T-Pain Effect”, you know what that means? Autotune x100, and the bigger issue is here that it did not only effect the music on the album, it also effected the concept. Throughout Revolver, T-Pain started to sound like he is drowning now other than really singing, I’m not saying that there were not some great songs here, but the music in the album was limited, and the concept was simply just too simple and it left too much space for filler and really any track to be put in.

    Revolver has pretty much everything when it comes to mainstream hip-hop and mainstream music. T-Pain had his famous R’n’B styled songs, punchline rap songs, hardcore and club music. Revolver gave him more diversity and space to use his new toy, the hellish T-Pain effect, which was overused Autotune, and that was the problem with the music, the music on Revolver was generally mediocre, only too much Autotune was on the album plus it really felt a bit directionless as well.

    T-Pain had almost every sub-genre of hip-hop and R’n’B open to the radio on this album, one big type on the album was the R’n’B based music, some examples would be “Default Picture” a repetitive T-Pain affect filled track, “5’O Clock” which had too much of T-Pain’s toy, but Lilly Allen provided a great, calm hook, Wiz Khalifa had a good verse, and the production was soothing, “Rock Bottom” was another one, it was basically about a relationship going on rock bottom, it was a poor track, being very repetitive and T-Pain effect filled, “I Don’t Give a Fuck” talked about T-Pain doing it with his girlfriend’s friends, it’s concept was really something stupid, but at least it didn’t have too much T Pain effect, or in that case Autotune,  and the production wasn’t trying too hard, “Drowning Again” could have been an excellent song, it was about heartbreak, It was emotional, however, the T Pain effect in the song was overused to the point that T Pain sounded like he was choking on water when he was recording the song, “Best Love Song” talked about well, being the best love song, it wasn't a bad song, but at the same time it really wasn’t anything special, and “Set The Stage” was a good track, it was about a girl ‘setting the stage’ and attracting T-Pain, R Kelly and Bej Major, T-Pain sounded like he was drowning, however, R Kelly and Bej Major made up for a mediocre track at best.

    Another big part of the album was made up of the punchline rap song, “Bang Bang Pow Pow” was mainly just aggression and punchlines, the production was strong, T-Pain actually did okay, it was one of those rare cases when the T Pain effect actually worked, however, Lil Wayne had some terrible lines in the song, some of the worst in his career in my opinion, “Nothin’” was another great punchline track, T-Pain did not do very well, having some very poor lines here and there, however, E-40’s verse was more than enough to make the song a decent fair enough track to listen to.

    The club tracks were also firmly present on the album, “It’s Not You” was a firm track at best, the production was very danceable, however, T-Pain filled it with his weapon, and Pitbull had a usual lackluster verse that was a bit better than his usual admit tingly, personally, I think if the track was just a beat, it would have been a great track, “Turn The Lights On” was another banger, despite the extra Autotune, which was the usual case it was a rocking track, one of the most energy filled tracks and one of the best tracks on this album, and “Look At Her Go” was another great banger, it suffered from the same problem as Turn The Lights On had on T-Pain’s end, and it was a lot less energized and a lot less rhythmatic, otherwise it was a great track.

    Revolver has many flaws, for one thing the extra Autotune, or in other words the ‘T-Pain effect’ really affected on the music, and at some point making T Pain sound like he was downing or choking on water. The concept was really wide spread, giving the album repetitive concepts and filler music, also the music never really ranged on anything. Artists evolve; T-Pain didn’t really evolve, making his simple style seem old, bland and really repetitive.

    Revolver didn’t really change anything for me on my opinion about T-Pain. To me, he is still an Autotune overusing artist who honestly just seems to want the attention. The music on Revolver wasn't terrible, and there were a few good tracks here and there. Revolver was just an average, commercial album that really never lived up to any of its standards, and as a returning album, let’s just say T Pain is better off pushing the album back to an unknown release date, because like I said this album wasn’t a terrible album, but I think it would have been better off not on the shelves.

Album Review: Yelawolf- Radioactive

Average Rating: 7.4/10

Overall Rating: 6.5/10

1. Radioactive (7/10)

2. Get Away Ft. Shawty Fatt & Mystical (6/10)

3. Let’s Roll Ft. Kid Rock (9.5/10)

4. Grown’ Up In The Gutter Ft. Rittz (10/10)

5. Hard White (In The Club) Ft. Lil Jon (3/10)

6. Throw it Up Ft. Eminem & Gangsta Boo (0/10)

7. Good Girl Ft. Pooh Bear (8/10)

8. Made in the USA Ft. Priscella Renea (9/10)

9. Animal Ft. FeFe Dobson (8/10)

10. The Hardest Love Song in the World (7.5/10)

11. Write Your Name Ft. Mona Mona (8/10)

12. Everything I Love The Most (9/10)

13. Radio (10/10)

14 Slumerican Shitizan Ft. Killer Mike (6/10)

15. The Last Song (9/10)

16. Whip It (9/10)

17. In This World Ft. Eminem (7.5/10)

18. I See You (6/10)

     The number of white rappers have been increasing since Eminem reached unbelievable levels of critical and commercial success, and honestly, most of the time I felt like Eminem was the only white rapper who could rap until the 2009-2010 era, where two white rappers, from two very different districts started gaining attention, one of the two was Yelawolf from Alabama, which belongs to the south region, and the other is Mac Miller who is from Pittsburg, which is in the northern reason, they both got albums this year, Mac had a pretty decent debut with “Blue Slide Park”, let’s see how Yela does with his debut, “Radioactive”.

    Let’s take a look at how Yela really blew up his career, he gained a lot of recondition releasing his mixtape “Trunk Muzik 0-60”, ever since he’s been working with big shot artists and rappers as big as Big Boi and Game, after that he got signed to Eminem’s label Shady Records, so clearly Yela waited for the right moment for his debut, but the question is, did Radioactive bring what Yelawolf’s past work brought? Did Radioactive bring out what Yelawold wanted to bring? Was Radioactive worth all its hype and anticipation given its history as well as it’s concept?

     Radioactive mainly focused on one major huge topic, which where the pros and cons of his life style and the American life style. Yelawolf went into many details that go around concepts like general lifestyle, poverty, gang wars, the radio in his home country, as well as his home state, however, Radioactive cannot be called a political album, because it did not really go deep into politics, but it went more into lifestyles in general. Radioactive is more of a social commentary than anything else, which was very experimental, because a lot of artists normally don’t do stuff like that, especially for their debut album.

     Yelawolf talked about so much in Radioactive, and mostly on his personal life and lifestyle, “Let’s Roll” was a great track, it talked about mainly getting up and Yelawolf going up from the bottom, “Animal” talked about Yelawolf’s rap style and aggression, it had a strong beat, a strong flow, but a bit of a cheesy hook though, “Everything I Love The Most” talked about how Yelawolf loves all the wrong stuff for him, it was a personal and honest track and that showed with Yelawolf’s strong lyricism on this track, and “The Last Song” talked about Yelawolf’s father and how he left him, it was a personal and emotional track, one of the best on the album.

    Yelawolf talked about woman and love on this album too, “Good Girl” talked about how Yelawolf, and other guys are not treating the girls that they love right, the result? A honest track straight from the heart, and “The Hardest Love Song in the World” talked about how if Yelawolf loves a girl he would basically show it to her with a well-focused, well-made real love song and that not many guys would put a lot of emphasis into doing that, it was a good track, it had a great concept, but it did feel a bit commercial though.

    Yelawolf also talked about how the music industry is slowly turning to turmoil in some tracks, “Throw it Up” talked about how mainstream music became so generic and simple, and it had potential to be a great track, except it was a total failure, it had a boring beat, poor verses from Yelawolf and Gangsta Boo, and the man who could have saved the song, Eminem, actually made the song the potential worst song of the year with his enormously terrible verse, and “Radio” talked about the limited amount of content being played in the radio recently, it was one of the best tracks on the album and a lot of the emotion and honesty was really showed on this song.

      Yelawolf opened up about what he thinks about the US as a whole as well, “Growing Up In The Gutter” was a very creepy track, it was an opposition to what a lot of people assume how ‘cool’ living in the ghetto is but really it’s worth suicide, it was a creepy track, the lyrics where the best on the album and it was a really convincing track, “Made in the USA” was a very honest track that was about all the social problems in the country, it was a great track and one of the best on the album, and “Write Your Name” talked about how many Americans try masking there true selves while there true selves is what matters and that only there real selves will solve the country’s problems, it was a good track.

     Radioactive did have it’s share of flaws though, a lot of the hooks on the album where really corny, generic and made for the radio, the album had poor tracks “Hard White (Up in the Club)” and “Throw It Up”, but it also had some minor concept related issues, for one thing, the concept was very loose filled therefore giving the album potential to have a lot of filler, and it did, “Whip It”, “I See You” and “In This World” had nothing to do with this album, and all they did is fill it up, also, the album had an extensive number of guests, which I normally wouldn’t mind, but as for a debut album, I expected a lot more Yelawolf, but none the less, those flaws are minor.

     The bottom line is that Radioactive had a good, but unstable concept, a large group of good tracks, and some poor tracks, and a handful of features, sometimes a little too much. It had a lot of diversity in style and substance, Radioactive was overall a good album, it stood out as a strong debut and a little preview of big things that could happen in the future of Yelawolf’s career, the album did have it’s clear flaws, and I mentioned them, but I think I underestimated Yelawolf‘s music, Radioactive was nothing that I expected and had almost nothing I feared, it was an enjoyable album, but I don’t think it will be remembered as one of the best debuts to come out though.

Album Review: Drake- Take Care

Average Rating: 5.5/10

Overall Rating: 6/10

         1.  Over My Dead Body (8/10)

         2. Shot For Me (6/10)

         3. Headlines (8/10)

         4. Crew Love Ft. The Weekend (2/10)

         5. Take Care Ft. Rihanna (6/10)

         6. Marvin’s Room/ Buried Alive Ft. Kendrick Lamar (7/10)

         7. Underground Kings (8.5/10)

         8. We’ll Be Fine (7.5/10)

         9. Make me Proud Ft. Nikki Minaj (3.5/10)

         10. Lord Knows Ft. Rick Ross (7/10)

         11. Cameras/ Good Ones Go (4/10)

         12. Doing It Wrong Ft. Stevie Wonder (5/10)

         13. The Real Her Ft. Lil Wayne & Andre 3000 (5/10)

         14. Hell Ye Fuckin’ Right Ft. Lil Wayne (3/10)

         15. Look What You’ve Done (6/10)

         16. Practice (5/10)

         17. The Ride (4/10)

         18. The Motto Ft. Lil Wayne (2/10)

         19. Free Spirit Ft. Rick Ross (5/10)

         20. Club Paradise (6/10)

    Drake debuted last year with a poor album called “Thank Me Later” which did well commercially and critically, but I personally didn’t like it, mainly because of its repetitive music, repetitive singing, repetitive production, repetitive concepts and off-beat rapping. This review Is about his sophomore album “Take Care” but at some point you gotta wonder, why did I give Drake a second chance if I hated his debut? Well, because I see a lot of potential I see in him, he had a debut, which was experimental, which didn’t go wrong, it can be looked past, only if this second album, improves an Drake’s debut.

    Take Care mainly dealt with one major concept, which was the time period between Drake’s debut, and the process of recording Take Care. The album mainly dealt with Drake’s mentality in that period, what he saw, what he did, and how did he feel about that. The album’s concept went around my ears as something that was somewhat original built from something unoriginal, so let’s see if the music can work out for the concept or more importantly if it is good music in the first place.

    The music in Take Care was a lot more structured and had much more styles, it was far more flexible and it was well-made than Thank Me Later, why? Well, because Drake had a longer time working on the album, “Thank me Later” only took six days, instead of six days Drake took his time and had six months working on the album, so based on the time period there was more reviewing and more effort put into the album, and it really showed with the music.

   The whole album’s concept can be summarized into one song, which was “Headlines”, where Drake talked about everything about his fame, from celebrating, to groupies, to people hating on him, people thinking money changed him, and his entre feedback on his lifestyle change. Headlines was a fitting track to be the first single of the album because it opened the whole album to the listener and it was the best track on the album thanks to its decent production and strong subject matter.

     Drake talked about so many things about what he has gone through between his first album and this album. He talked about how friends turned on him and how they didn’t like his change in songs like “Over My Dead Body” which was basically about how Drake won’t stop rapping no matter how many people turn on him, it had a slow beat, and lyrics that felt on-par with the beat. “Club Paradise” talked about how people don’t think of him as the same person he was because of becoming famous, it was a lot like Over My Dead Body, however Drake did get a bit off-beat in this track, and “Shot For Me” talked about how even when he made it, people kept saying that he changed and how they don’t even give him a chance to explain his real self, it featured more singing than rapping, but the singing wasn’t very repetitive, so it wasn’t  bad track.

   Aside from people talking about how he changed, he also talked about how he thinks he changed in contrast to he was before he was famous. “Underground King” talked about how he was before fame, it was a good track, and probably the first time I heard Drake rapping for an entire song. “Take Care” was in a way a track about a fictional girl who loved him before he was famous, and how he still loves her, but there are too much distractions affecting their love, it was fair track, it has a club-type flow and some great vocals by Drake and Rihanna. “We’ll Be Fine” talked about Drake changing his lifestyle, it was a good track, lyrically it was decent and the production was excellent. “Doing it Wrong” talked about how Drake loves a girl, but because of Drake’s fame, they can’t be together, it had its ups, mainly it’s production, but it was a little repetitive, and “Look What You’ve Done” talked about a girl Drake loved, and how that because of the money he has, he can help her with what she needs.

    Drake also did talk about what girls thought of him in some tracks on the album. “The Real Her” talked about how girls like him just because he’s a rapper and that he’s famous, it was a slow track that was too long, but Andre 3000 had the best moment of the song, he had the one good verse in the song and possibly the best moment in the whole album, and “Marvin’s Room/ Buried Alive” talked about how a girl he loved left him because he was famous, and how she won’t have anyone like him, it was a repetitive, but it was a good track though, especially when Kendrick Lamar’s verse came in.

   Drake still did have his occasional issues of being repetitive on some tracks when he sings, and the occasional being off beat sometimes when he raps, but they were both a lot less consistent this time, which was a good thing. Drake grew and knew what was wrong on Thank Me Later, then improved on Take Care, which was a great thing, even though this album had it’s issues, it was still a improvement.

     Take Care was definitely a much better than Thank Me Later. It was a long album with some good tracks, it had its ups and it had its downs, it stuck to its concept and its music was flexible. While Take Care was just a fair album, it was still a full package, it stuck to its concept and it’s music was a big and notable improvement comparing to the past, and while this album wasn’t enough to make Thank Me Later forgettable and something of the past, it actually showed Drake has potential to be as good of an artist that his hype is up to.