Album Review: David Guetta- Nothing But The Beat

Average Rating: 7/10

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

         1. Where Them Girls At Ft. Nikki Minaj & Flo Rida (9/10)

          2. Little Bad Girl Ft. Taio Cruz & Ludacris (7/10)

          3. Turn Me On Ft. Nikki Minaj (9/10)

          4. Wet Vs. Snoop Dogg (5/10)

          5. Without You Ft. Usher (6/10)

          6. Nothing Really Matters Ft. Will I Am (8.5/10)

          7. I Can Only Imagine Ft. Chris Brown & Lil Wayne (6.5/10)

          8. Crank It Up Ft. Akon (7.5/10)

          9. I Just Wanna Fuck Ft. Timbaland & Dev (9.5/10)

          10. Night Of Your Life Ft. Jennifer Hudson (4.5/10)

          11. Repeat Ft. Jessie J (5.5/10)

          12. Titanium Ft. Sia (6/10)

          13. Lunar Ft. Afrojack (8/10)

     David Guetta usually stands out as one of those producers who are known by everyone, and mostly makes entire albums showcasing there production with a ton of features, and if anybody noticed, there is only one famous stand out producer for each genre. The legendary Dr. Dre carries things through so many types of hip-hop, DJ Khaled owns the southern rap scene, Travis Barker debuted this year with a strong rap/rock project, and Guetta controls mixing hip-hop with the dance scene. It’s needless to say Guetta stood out with his style each and every time he makes an album, but can he keep his heat with his fifth album, “Nothing But the Beat”?

      David Guetta keeps expanding. It seems like every year he has more star power on his albums, this year he managed to get a good amount of great artists, who actually can really work around his style and really flow with his music. For “Nothing But the Beat” he had Nikki Manaj, Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Usher, Lil Wayne, Dev, Timbaland and more, so given theses guests his album has a lot of star power, plus unlike a lot of guests on other albums there is a lot less to worry about for Guetta since all his guests here are somewhat familiar with his style, but was the expectations too high from the star power here? There is only one way to find out, and that one way is to listen to the album.

   “Nothing But the Beat” is made of 13 club-ready bangers, so you know what that means, fast banging beats, simple lyrics and really just having fast, dance-ready tracks. There is nothing wrong with club tracks, nothing wrong with the, at all, but they are usually something really hard to predict to be good since there is so much of it today, but I have no reason to believe that Guetta can’t pull it off, so I’m expecting this album to be a straight up, successful banger.

  “Nothing But The Beat” has 13 tracks, so it’s clear that even minor mistakes can affect the album’s quality, so based on what I noticed, the album kept it safe with simple production, and something unlikely about it is that it didn’t feel very boring here, I mean, what I noticed, the album’s production did feel familiar throughout every track, but at the same time the production was sequenced a bit different on each track, which was something that I think was obviously missing in a lot of pop rap club ready tracks.

   

      The album had some really good tracks, and as usual for Guetta, they are some of the best club tracks to come out this year. “Where Them Girls At” was generally a really strong track, it had a great beat, great hook, and good verses, but Flo Rida was just a bit lazy on his verse, but at the same time his verse was still pretty much good. “Turn Me On” was a real banger, the beat was strong, but Nikki should have had more of a verse in it. “Nothing Really Matters” was a great track, but it lost a bit of its feel due to its position on the album’s tracklist. “I Just Wanna Fuck” was the best track on the album, it featured Cateracs style production, mixed with Timbaland style production, and to go along with its cocktail like production it had a back and forth flow used by Timbaland and Dev, and “Lunar” which was an instrumental track, and one of the best on the album, it was fast, different, and really something I’ve been waiting for from Guetta to do.

    

      The album did have some weaknesses though. Some tracks did sound really repetitive and just shined out at just one part. Guetta’s remix of “Wet” had a good beat, but snoop would always suck on that song no matter who produced it. “Without You” honestly felt less of a dance track, and more of a pop song to me, and I kinda hate pop to be honest, and “Night of Your Life” had the same issue. “Repeat” was just a disappointment, for again, feeling too poppy, and “Titanium” felt like that but thanks to its powerful dance felt hook it was actually a passable song.

      Nothing But The Beat clearly wasn’t Guetta’s best project, but it’s not really his worst. While not being as good as One Love it’s still a strong enough album to be considered successful. It does have its downers and stepbacks, but if you think about it, every album today has. So overall, this is a good album, club goes, or simply people who just like club music will love it, and I think it will be well received by fans of any genre. There is no denying that this is a solid album, I expected a bit better given the star power here, but still, this album should not be ignored by anyone.

Album Review: Wiz Khalifa- Rolling Papers

Average Rating: 5.3/10

Overall Rating: 4.6/10

1. When I'm Gone (6/10)

2. On My Level Ft. Too Short (5.5/10)

3. Black and Yellow (9.5/10)

4. Roll Up (6/10)

5. Hopes and Dream (5.5/10)

6. Wake Up (5/10)

7. The Race (2.5/10)

8. Star of the Show Ft. Cherry Woods (3/10)

9. No Sleep (5/10)

10. Get Your Shit (4/10)

11. Top Floor (1.5/10)

12. Fly Solo (8/10)

13. Rooftops Ft. Currency (7/10)

14. Cameras (6/10)

      

    Wiz had a lot of hype going around since last year. After not making a real album for his first three years, he's finally releasing a debut album, and the album's first single "Black and Yellow" brought in a lot of hype in for this album, however, does Wiz Khalifa's debut album "Rolling Papers" deserve all that hype? Or is Wiz Khalifa just one of those artists who make good music every once in a while? Whatever the answer is, it's still too early to tell, but this album will determine the hype and anticipation of his next albums, and if this album was worth the hype and anticipation.

      

    Wiz gave a lot of mixed signals about the album's concept and direction. The lead single "Black and Yellow" had a concept, the album's name "Rolling Papers" gave the album another concept, the second single "Roll Up" gave the album a third very different concept, then the album's cover came out and I thought I got what the album was about, but I was wrong, instead of being an album about weed like I assumed, the album was full of poorly written and dumbed down hip-hop, therefore, due to the lack of creativity here, this album was honestly mediocre at best.

      

    Rolling Papers was mostly tracks built for the radio. Tracks like "Get Your Shit", "Top Floor", "No Sleep", "Wake Up" and "The Race" where exactly the type of mainstream hip-hop that's killing the genre, they are just simple about sex, cars, and money, but ironically, no weed, because the album’s name was Rolling Papars. Plus the album lacked a lot of creativity, mediocre tracks like "Roll Up", "On My Level", and "Cameras" would have been better if it wasn't for most of the album, which sounded exactly like those other songs, therefore making the sound of that dumbed down, and dry hip-hop drier, and more annoying that how it really was.

        

    Despite the lack of creativity on "Rolling Papers", there were still some good and actually great tracks on the album. "Black and Yellow" was an anthem to all the Pittsburg sport teams, the song was catchy, it was the best of the album, and easily one of the best songs to come out last year. "Fly Solo" had a unique sound comparing to the rest of the album, it focused more on singing than on rapping, which gave it a stronger and a very different feeling, and "Rooftops" was a song about success, which was a topic that is not much talked about on the album.

        

    Rolling Papers was overall a straight and obvious let down. It had some creativity put in, along some good tracks, but the album was mostly that mainstream type of hip-hop that I find very annoying due to its style being played so much, but honestly, that did not make the album sound like a failure, it just made the album sound repetitive, uncreative, and it made the album feel like really nothing memorable, or special at the very least.

Album Review: New Boyz- Too Cool To Care

Average Rating: 4.4/10

Overall Rating: 4/10

          1. Tough Kids Ft. Sabi (9.5/10)

          2. Crush on You Ft. YG (9/10)

          3. Active Kids Ft. Tyga (8/10)

          4. I Don’t Care Ft. Big Sean (4/10)

          5. Pornstar (3/10)

          6. Magazine Girl (3/10)

          7. Meet My Mom (3/10)

          8. Backseat Ft. Dev & The Cataracs (9/10)

          9. Start Me Up Ft. Bei Miajor (4/10)

          10. Break My Bank Ft. Iyaz (1/10)

          11. Better With The Lights Off Ft. Chris Brown (3/10)

          12. Zonin (3/10)

          13. Let You Leave (5/10)

          14. Can’t Nobody (3/10)

          15. Black Dress  (2/10)

         16. Beautiful Dancer Ft. Charlie Wilson (2/10)

    It’s the second strongly hyped sophomore album of the month, the last one was the horrorore based album “Goblin” by west coast psychotic rapper Tyler, The Creator. Now, hip hop Duo New Boyz, who had a mediocre at best debut album “Skinny Jeanz and a Mic”, and now, after have one strong single out of three singles, it seems like New Boyz have an improved sophomore album, “Too Cool To Care” coming out.

  

     New Boyz are certainly, and clearly, and will never be Outkast, Public Enemy, Bad Meets Evil, or any of the big hip-hop duos. They can’t compare to any of them lyrically, with the flow, the production, with anything, so it is strongly expected that this album will be about as dumbed down as there last album. It’s still an error of the album, and it still will be a bump for it, but it’s less of a bump because New Boyz are sort-of known for being dumbed down and in a way, really corny.

    

      New Boyz have a group of  16 tracks on this album. Two of the tracks on the album, “Crush on You” and “Active Kids” go back to the jerking style of rap music, as a result they were some of the best tracks on the album, “Tough Kids” had a mosh pit, rock inspired theme, it was the only track on the album that was near almost-perfect, and it’s a shame that the album had an opening like that, then kept getting worse on almost every track, until it reached “Backseat” which was produced by The Cataracs, and featured Dev, it was probably the only mainstream style track on the album that was good enough to count as great, fun and entertaining, mainly thanks to Dev and the Cateracs.

  

           The rest of the album was very similar to their first album. It featured corny lines, poor, overused beats that where heard everywhere, repetitive concepts, and dumbed down lyrics pretty much sums up there first album, and most of this album. The worst tracks on the album where “Beautiful Dancer” which had one of the most annoying hooks of the year so far. “Break My Bank” was a track that was made just for the radio to play and literally for nothing else, and “Meet My Mom” which was honestly a repetitive track, as well as a really dumb track to add.

        I hate to say that this album was a disappointment, because there wasn’t much to expect. In my opinion, it was more overhyped than anything else. The album did have its small moments, it started as a good album than quickly got much worse, but I think that this album is nothing but an enhancement and an addition of their corny, mediocre debut album, despite four much improved tracks.

Album Review: Pitbull- Planet Pitt

Average Rating: 1.4/10
Overall Rating: 0.8/10

          1.  Mr. Worldwide Ft. Vein (0.5/10)

          2.  Give Me Everything Ft. Ne-Yo, Aftrojack & Nayer (1/10)

          3.  Rain Over Me Ft. Mark Anothony (0.5/10)

          4.  Hey Baby Ft. T-Pain (0/10)

          5.  Pause (0/10)

          6.  Come N Go Ft. Enrique Iglesias (1/10)

          7. Shake Senora Ft. T-Pain & Sean Paul (3/10)

          8. International Love Ft. Chris Brown (1/10)

          9. Castle of Sand Ft. Kelly Rowland & Jamie Drastik  (8/10)

          11. Took My Love Ft. Red Foo, Vein & David Rush (0/10)

          12. Where Do We Go Ft. Jamie Foxx (0.5/10)

          13. Something For The DJs (0/10)

          14. Mr. Right Now Ft. Akon (3/10)

        15.  My Kinda Girl Ft. Nelly (3.5/10)

    Pitbull was never normally an artist that I was hooked to, or an artist that considered very creative. But most of the time he managed to deliver decent and somewhat enjoyable music where he managed to mix regatone, crunk and hip-hop. But lately, he has been acting a lot like the radio, he was repetitive, he dumbed himself down to the maximum, and he had literally everything sound the same. But  he can fix that though, if he can pull through with this album and finally make something decent and worth listening to for the first time in a while, I highly doubt it due to his resent guest appearances, singles and leaks, but nothing can really be told, or even judged until the final result.

    My biggest fear in music in general came to life in this album, why? Because it faced the same problem as Eminem’s Relapse and Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak, which is having almost every song in the album sounding the same, but this time, it has been taken to the extreme. The music is built for clubs and parties, and I like that music, I don’t mind it, as long as it feels a little bit different. But the problem is that this album sounds almost exactly the same throughout every single track, it’s like going to a club or a party, then hearing the same song for a whole hour, and I would not like listening to the same thing for a whole hour.

    I’m not even gonna comment on the lyrics in this album, because I already knew what to expect here, which is: sex, sex, dance, sex, and more dancing and having sex, that’s all I’m gonna say. But there is a little comment I would like to say, is that the lyrics seemed a bit too dumbed down, even for music that is built on a radio, and for music which was already considered dumbed down from the beginning. What I’m trying to say is that, the music on this album is so dumbed down that a blind three year old with knowledge about sexual content and going to clubs can easily write this album, and it would more or less sound the same as Planet Pitt, and if I’m not exaggerating maybe a little better.

    Another problem with this album is the uncreative production, despite the beats being probably the only entertaining thing here, they almost all sounded more or less the same. Almost every instrumental on the album sounded the same, thus forcing me to wait and see if something different would come up, “Hey Baby” sounds like “Come N Go” which sounds like “Pause” which sounds like “International Love” and that sounds like “Where Do We Go” which sounds like “Something For The DJs” which sounds like most of the rest of the album, which was a really big problem for me, because the beats on the album had potential to be at least a little enjoyable, but they get harder to enjoy along the album due to almost all of them sounding almost or sometimes almost exactly the same.

     The album did have some mediocre, or even good enough tracks,. “Castle Made Of Sand” had a really different feel than the rest of the album, it still had a club feel, but it sounded different, and it actually had some content lyrically, it actually talks about something, which is rising to the top, and making it to success. “Shake Senora” had a bit of a regatone feel, which I liked, and which is the music that Pitbull should more or less be making, but however it did sound like the rest of the album in a few ways. “Mr. Right Now” was extremely stupid, and mostly a bad song, but the hook was very strong thanks to Akon and “My Kinda Girl” was another boring club track, but it did have a different feel at the very least.

    I really hate to call Planet Pitt an album; I would rather call it a boring radio playlist instead, because it all sounded the same to me, it was literally dumbed down to the limit, and it was really nothing but a huge fail. I think Pitbull should go back to his regatone/crunk style before he sounds like a walking broken tape recorder, because this album? I don’t think it will work out for me, not today, not tomorrow, never. This album sucks, there is almost nothing entertaining about it except for some instrumentals and a small number of tracks, but otherwise this album is pure garbage. So right now, after seing Pitbull as a decent enough artist for seven years, I have to ask, Pitbull, what happened?