Prodigy – ” The Hegelian Dialectic: The Book of Revelation” review

Almost 4 years after dropping the criminally slept-on Albert Einstein, Prodigy of the infamous Mobb Deep is finally returning with his 7th full-length album & it actually happens to be the first installment of a brand new trilogy of albums that is set to be completed by the end of the year. The album’s first song “Mystic” is the only track on here to be produced by The Alchemist (who entirely produced Prodigy’s last album) & not only do I love the flutes that he incorporates throughout the beat, but I really love how they fit Prodigy’s sincere rhymes about his talents like a glove. The next song “Broken Rappers” talks about how kids should be doing their homework on hip hop these days over an eerie beat & I feel like this track was very necessary considering all the recent mumble rap bullshit. The following song “Tyranny” talks about the current state of our government, but I’m actually indifferent towards the production on this joint. The song “As If” talks about Prodigy’s maturity which is definitely cool, but I wasn’t feeling the spacey production throughout this joint at all. The song “The Good Fight” talks about the things his family has taught him throughout his life & as much as I love Knxwledge, I don’t think the beat is one of the best he’s ever done but it’s definitely one of the better produced tracks on the album. Honestly as much as I love Mobb Deep as well as their solo work, I thought this was just ok. The rhymes are there, but the production comes off as generic to me for most of the time. Hopefully, the next 2 installments of the trilogy will have superior production while retaining the dope rhymes

Score: 2.5/5

The LOX – “Filthy America… It’s Beautiful” review

It’s been almost 19 years since The LOX released their debut Money, Power & Respect under Bad Boy Entertainment & almost 17 years since they released their previous full-length album We Are the Streets (which I personally consider to be their best work) under Ruff Ryders Entertainment but now, they’re finally returning with their 3rd full-length album & they’re doing it with the help of Roc Nation. I’m very well aware that they dropped a trilogy consisting of 2 EPs & a mixtape a few years ago called The Trinity & while I thought it was a solid trilogy overall, I was a lot more excited when I first heard about this album being announced at the very beginning of the month. Mainly because it’s been so long since we’ve heard a full-length project from them. The album opens up with “Omen”, which has a trap beat with a choir sample throughout & I think the content enhances the evil atmosphere this opener provides. The track “The Family” talks about putting their dudes over money & the beat is a little spacey but hard. The track “The Agreement” is unquestionably the worst track on the album, mainly because I’ve always found Fetty Wap to be annoying as Hell & his feature on this song is no exception at all. The track “Move Forward” is some pure hardcore shit complete with a boom bap beat provided by DJ Premier & I actually like the piano-loop throughout. The track “Hard Life” talks about how rough life really is over a grimy beat from Dame Grease & for the trio to have Mobb Deep featured on here was flawless. The track “Filthy America” is conceptually about the trio being on trial & all of them eventually being found guilty in the end over a somber beat from Pete Rock. As a full album, it’s awesome to hear the trio together again but I kinda wanted more from it. There’s no denying that the 3 still sound great together & they still deliver dope bars, but I thought the production could’ve been better on quite a few tracks & maybe a couple more tracks could’ve been added onto the track listing as well. It’s definitely worth checking out, though

Score: 3.5/5

Smoke DZA – “Don’t Smoke Rock” review

After dropping an EP with Harry Fraud back in March along with a much needed sequel to his George Kush da Button mixtape back in Late May, Smoke DZA is now hitting us with his 4th full-length album & he has enlisted the legendary Pete Rock to produce it in it’s entirety. The album starts off with the track “Limitless”, where DZA’s basically talking about living it up over a triumphant beat. The track “Black Superhero Car” sees DZA getting together with Maybach Music Group founder Rick Ross to deliver some boss-like bars & the strings throughout this thing are beautiful. Including the reference to WWE Hall of Famer, former 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion & WCW World Television Champion Larry Zbyszko. The track “Hold the Drums” has no drums whatsoever (hence the title), a beautiful piano sample throughout & a killer guest verse from Royce da 5’9″. On the track “Wild 100s”, DZA’s spitting some mafioso shit over some ominous sounding strings. The track “Last Name” has a mellow beat & DZA’s basically rapping about proving his strengths & putting suckas in their places. There’s also a hilarious line near the end of the 2nd verse about clown dudes marrying clown bitches & starting a circus together by having clown kids. The track “1 of 1” is about how there’ll never be another like DZA & I really like how he got Pete to spit a few lines on here. The track “Milestone” sees DZA, Jadakiss & Styles P looking back at their personal milestones over a relaxing piano sample. On the track “Show Off”, DZA gets together with Wale to get braggadocious & the beat on here sounds like some really cool futuristic boom bap. The track “I Ain’t Scared” has some war-starting horns & you can just tell in DZA’s voice that he’s giving no fucks whatsoever. We even get a short but sweet verse from Pete near the end. The album’s closes out strongly with the track “Until Then”, where DZA hooks up with Mac Miller over an electro-ish beat with some hard boom bap drums in it. It kinda reminds me of something I’d hear from J Dilla, even though Pete Rock was Dilla’s biggest musical idol. In all honesty, I’ll argue that this is Smoke DZA’s best work. Not only is Pete Rock’s production on point, but the way DZA sounds over each & every beat Pete provides overall is almost perfect

Score: 4.5/5

Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!” review

After seeing a bunch of success with his new FX comedy-drama Atlanta (which is actually one of my favorite shows on TV right now), it’s not too surprising for me to see Lancaster rapper/singer Childish Gambino dropping his 3rd full-length album just a month after the first season of his new show finished airing. In contrast to his last 2 albums which were primarily hip hop, this album sees Gambino experimenting with psychedelic soul throughout a vast majority of it. The album kicks off with it’s lead single “Me & Your Mama”, where Gambino’s singing to this girl he’s in love with over a funk rock beat. The track “Have Some Love” sounds VERY Parliament-Funkadelic inspired from top to bottom & lyrically, Gambino’s sending a sincere message to those who’re going through hard times & basically telling them that they should show love to one another. The track “Boogieman” has yet another funk rock sounding production but this time, he’s venting about the very recent violence towards police & African Americans. Might sound cliché to some since there’s been a lot of political music being made recently in light of Donald Trump being elected as our next president, but I personally find Childish Gambino’s hauntingly delivered vocals on here to enhance this track’s overall vibe. The track “Zombies” basically calls out the type of people who’re after him for his fame & the way this song’s sonically executed makes it this song makes it sound like a scary story being told. The track “Riot” lives up to it’s title in every aspect from it’s rock production to Gambino’s wild vocal delivery. The track “Redbone” has a smooth beat & lyrically, Gambino’s venting about how upset he is that his girlfriend cheated on him with another man & telling her that it’s too late for an apology. Might sound corny to some, but his vocal delivery on this song makes it more beautiful to me. The next track “California” talks about life in his home state & that this girl he’s seeing is trying to live her life like a Vine post. The production on here’s fittingly tropical sounding too & personally, I can absolutely understand where he’s going at lyrically on here especially since there are people these days who left social media control their every day life instead of living real life. The next track “Terrified” is kind of a sequel to “California” but in contrast to the previous track having a more party vibe to it, this one has a trippy beat & it lyrically sees him having a serious conversation with the same woman from the previous song. I really like the fast food wordplay on here, because I feel like it ties in with the song’s theme really well. The following track “Baby Boy” has a pretty funky/joyous beat & it’s dedicated to Gambino’s first born child, who was actually born just a couple months ago. The track “The Night Me & Your Mama Met” is a 3 & a half minute instrumental with romantic guitars, but the choir makes it sound spiritual to me as well. The album’s closer “Stand Tall” sees Gambino telling his son to stay strong no matter what & the lush production on here makes it feel like as if you’re actually listening to Childish Gambino singing this song to his son as he’s sleeping. Personally, I consider this to be Gambino’s most creative & ambitious work to date. I absolutely love the P-Funk influences he incorporates on here & while I do enjoy him as a rapper, I thought it was a nice change of pace to hear him primarily singing throughout because I’ve always found him to be a beautiful singer as well & he showcases it fantastically on here. I kinda wanna hear him spitting rhymes on his next project but on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if he continues to make this style of music in the future at all

Score: 4/5

Metallica – “Hardwired…to Self-Destruct” review

With Slayer dropping their 12th album Repentless last September along with Megadeth & Anthrax respectively dropping their 15th & 11th albums Dystopia & For All Kings earlier this year, it’s only right for Metallica to step up to the plate to deliver their 10th full-length album & their first since 2008’s Death Magnetic. It’s also the band’s first full-length release under their own label Blackened Recordings & for some reason, it’s a double disc album with 6 tracks on each disc. The album starts off with it’s lead single “Hardwired” which has a pretty kick ass riff, but the songwriting on here is a little too angsty for me. The next track is the album’s 3rd single “Atlas, Rise!”, which is morally about moving on & the way this whole song is executed just makes me feel empowered. The first disc ends with the 8 minute “Halo on Fire” & while that might sound cool for some of you, I personally find the listening experience of this track to be boring after a while. However, the last 2 minutes totally make up for it. Especially with the guitar solo. The first track on the 2nd disc “Confusion” talks about PTSD & while it’s not a bad song at all, it does kinda remind me of Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” in a way. The track “Here Comes Revenge” talks about revenge & while I enjoy the execution of the track, the lyrics on the hook do seem half-assed to me. The album’s closer “Spit Out the Bone” talks about how essential technology is & I actually think this is the most energetic song on the entire album. There’s also a bonus disc on the deluxe version containing the 2014 single “Lords of Summer” as well as live renditions of 9 previously tracks & 4 cover tracks (the first of which being a medley & the last one being recorded during a live performance). I personally prefer the song structures on Metallica’s last album Death Magnetic a lot more, but I won’t deny that Greg Fidelman’s production on this album sounds a lot more clearer in contrast to Rick Rubin compressing Death Magnetic to death (no pun intended). James Hetfield’s vocals are also on point as is Kirk Hammett’s guitar work & Robert Trujillo’s bass, but Lars Ulrich’s drumming could’ve been a lot better. Overall I definitely think this album’s worth checking out, but I guess I expected a lot more out of it

Score: 3/5

A Tribe Called Quest – “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service” review

18 years have passed since the seminal Native Tongues subgroup A Tribe Called Quest dropped their 5th album The Love Movement but light of group member Phife Dawg’s death back in Late March of this year, they’re giving us their proper final album. Luckily, every single member of the group (including Phife himself & original member Jarobi White) was involved with the making of it. The album kicks off with “The Space Program”, where Q-Tip & surprisingly Jarobi are spitting about how the African American community needs to get it together & I find the production on here to be catchy. The track “We the People…” starts off with some sirens but then Tip & Phife talk from their minds about the recent bullshit in our country & I like how they both sound like they’re talking through loudspeakers on here. The track “Whateva Will Be” has a funky bassline throughout & a short but killer guest verse from Tip’s cousin Consequence at the end. The track “Solid Wall of Sound” has some VERY melodic piano playing & not only is the chemistry between Tip & Phife on here still very strong but since Phife’s performing in a Jamaican accent throughout the whole song, it was only right to fit Busta Rhymes onto the track to do the same. The track “Dis Generation” has a tropical sounding beat & I really love how Tip, Phife & Jarobi sound together as they trade lines back & forth. Regardless of Busta joining in later on, all 3 of them sound happy as Hell to be fully back together again. Oh by the way, this track contains one of my favorite lines on the entire album which is “Day of the dead, bury all the zombies instead & it’s just your Aftermath, Busta cuttin’ your dreads”. I seriously laughed harder than I should’ve when I first heard that. Like that shit’s pretty clever. The track “Kids…” has a beat that sounds like something I’d hear from an Atari game & it sees Tip teaming up with OutKast member André 3000 & they both just sound fucking AWESOME together. The track “Melatonin” is a Q-Tip solo track & he’s interestingly talking about addiction over a funky beat. The track “Enough!!” is a sex track & I think the smooth ass production (complete with a clever “Bonita Applebum” sample) perfectly fits the smoothly delivered sexual lyrics like a glove. The track “Mobius” is solely Consequence & Busta rapping together & I really like Busta’s energy on here. I’m hoping we hear him spit like this on E.L.E. 2 (Extinction Level Event 2), if that ever comes out at this point. The track “Black Spasmodic” has a joyous sounding beat & I absolutely love how Tip’s verse on here is basically about Phife’s spirit talking to him. The track “The Killing Season” sees Jarobi & Consequence teaming up with Talib Kweli to rhyme about racism in the US over some bass playing & I was actually surprised as Hell to hear Kanye West on the hook. The track “Lost Somebody” has some somber piano chords & the track sees Tip & Jarobi paying a sincere tribute to their fallen friend Phife. The track “Movin’ Backwards” sees the group teaming up with the latest Aftermath Entertainment signee Anderson .Paak to talk about being remembered over a nice electric guitar & some mellow keys. The track “Conrad Tokyo” has a relaxing beat & it sees Phife talking about Donald Trump being recently elected as the next president of the United States. There’s also a jab at mumble rappers near the end of his verse, which is just flawless. After that, we get a verse from Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar & he perfectly continues where Phife’s verse had left off. The track “Ego” is another Q-Tip solo track & it’s well-laid out story about egotism with some really ominous sounding bass playing throughout as well as some really catchy saxes at points. The album closes out with “The Donald” which is another Phife tribute but unlike “Lost Somebody”, here we’re getting a posthumous Phife verse & it doesn’t disappoint. The keys on here are nice too. Personally, I consider this to be a PERFECT coda for my 2nd favorite hip hop group of all-time (#1 being the Wu-Tang Clan). The production as well as the lyricism throughout are top notch as it was back in the 90’s & with all these mumble rapppers nowadays, I think it’s VERY refreshing with each listen

Score: 5/5

Mr. Lif – “The Life & Death of Scenery” review

After making a solid comeback just 6 months ago with his 4th full-length album Don’t Look Down, Boston underground hip hop legend Mr. Lif is now giving us yet another album & this time he’s teaming up with North Carolina based producer & Mello Music Group label-mate L’Orange to produce it in it’s entirety. Given that Lif’s first 2 albums I Phantom & Mo’Mega are some of my favorite Definitive Jux releases ever as well as the fact that L’Orange entirely produced 2 fantastic albums for Jeremiah Jae (The Night Took Us in Like Family) & Kool Keith (Time? Astonishing!) last year, I was absolutely thrilled when it was announced that the 2 would be working on a full-length album together. The album’s first song “A World Without Music” starts off with some melancholy sounding chords but then some hard boom bap-ish drums get thrown in & Lif starts vividly detailing what he thinks the world would be like without music. “The Scribe” is basically an introduction to the album’s protagonist (who shares the exact same name as the song’s) & not only is there an ill scratch hook from DJ Qbert, but Lif reunites with his Perceptionists cohort Akrobatik to trade lines back & forth with each other & their chemistry on here as well as one of the later tracks “Strange Technology” is just as strong as ever if you ask me. While I do enjoy the concept on “Antique Gold”, I’m not a huge fan of the opening verse from Chester Watson because I personally think he comes off as a generic mix of Earl Sweatshirt & Joey Bada$$. The track “The Gentle End” has a ominous sounding string loop throughout & I really like how it fits with Lif’s revolutionary lyrics like a glove. The album closes out with “A Palace in the Sky”, which is a tale about a greedy king who eventually gets karma thrown at him in the end & I also love how spiritual sounding the beat is. Honestly, I’m not that disappointed with this album at all. The futuristic concept was well laid-out & I think L’Orange brought some fitting soundscapes to the table, but it was really short. Not as perfect as Deltron 3030’s self-titled debut however, but I truly think this is better than Don’t Look Down. Hell, I’ll go as far as saying that this is Lif’s best album since Mo’Mega

Score: 4.5/5

Tech N9ne – “Dominion” review

Only 4 months after releasing his last album The Storm, Kansas City indie hip hop icon Tech N9ne is now returning with the first of 2 new Collabos albums that’re set to be released this year. Much like the last 2 Collabos albums Strangeulation & Strangeulation 2, Tech N9ne has the entire roster of his Strange Music record label solely featured on here & he has enlisted his label’s in-house producer MIKE SUMMERS a.k.a. 7 to produce it in it’s entirety. The album’s first song “Drama” is a response to Missouri passing a bill that allows anyone to carry a handgun over a heavily sinister beat. The lyrics on the next song “Casket Music” with the CES Cru are definitely hardcore & the Wrekonize hook is on point, but the beat holds me back from fully enjoying it. The track “Put ‘Em On” with Stevie Stone & Darrein Safron is a bit self explanatory, as it talks about how they started out broke putting the listener onto their label over an eerie beat. The track “Wheels Like Hill” sees Tech solely talking about getting away from all the gold diggers out there & the production is just THUNDEROUS! The song “Some Good” with JL is a weed track & unsurprisingly, the instrumental has a relaxing tone to it. However, the finger snaps were unexpected & I actually didn’t mind them at all. The song “Salute”‘ with ¡MURSDAY! is basically telling the haters not to fuck with Strange over some catchy horns & a funky bassline. Even though Tech himself has said there are no plans for a 2nd ¡MURSDAY! album, this song actually gives me hope for it. While I really like how the next song “Fish in a Pita” sonically sounds like something from the 70’s, the content about vaginal odor is just really lame to me. The following track “Mo’Ammo” with MURS & Rittz has this decent guitar loop, but all 3 of them flow really well over it. I also really love the hilarious “gag reel” line during Rittz’ verse. The track “Jesus & a Pill” with Prozak & Krizz Kaliko talks about seeking inner peace & while the rap metal instrumental is mainly a down-tuned guitar with some drums, it predictably gets heavier during the hook. I understand that Tech N9ne wants to showcase every single person on his label & I think he achieved that with his last 3 Collabos albums (especially on my personal favorite Collabos album Welcome to Strangeland), but I would REALLY love it if he got a lot more non-Strange artists on the next Collabos album that he’s dropping later on in the year. Don’t get me wrong I like everyone that’s signed onto Strange, but solely hearing every signee being featured on there for the 3rd Collabos album in a row is actually getting tiring for me
Score: 3/5

Travis Scott – “Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight” review

Just literally 2 days before the 1 year anniversary of his surprisingly solid debut Rodeo, Travis Scott has finally dropped his highly anticipated sophomore album. The album’s opener “the ends” has a grimy beat & while I do enjoy Travi$’ verse at the beginning about how this sole verse might make his label Epic Records drop him, what really makes this track stick out is the vividly told albeit very surprising guest verse from OutKast member André 3000. On the next track “way back”, Travis is reflecting on his pre-fame days & not only do I really love how dreamy the production sounds on here, but I also love how catchy Travis’ vocals are too. On the track “through the late night”, Travi$ hooks up with his idol KiD CuDi to talk about partying & I personally find the chemistry between the 2 on here to be purely AMAZING! The track “outside” is an ode to all of Travis’ ride or die homies & while that’s definitely cool, the non-distinctive production throughout & the boring ass verse from 21 Savage near the end makes this possibly the worst track on the entire album. However, the next track “goosebumps” makes up for it. The song is basically Travis’ & Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar expressing their love for this woman & while the production has a dark atmosphere to it, it’s without a bit of doubt my favorite track off the entire album. The track “pick up the phone” is about a woman who isn’t showing any loyalty to either Travis’ or Young Thug & Quavo of Migos. While I can totally appreciate the concept of this song & the hard trap beat on this thing, it just comes off really corny to me. The track “lose” is pretty relaxing from the production to even Travis’ singing. However, my only issue with this song is that I feel like he used WAY too much auto-tune on the hook. Personally, I don’t enjoy a whole lot of trap music but I’m not gonna sit here & deny that Travis Scott has been slowly but surely impressing me more & more within the past year or so. Honestly, I was a little worried about how this album would turn out but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it could very well be better than Rodeo. I definitely can’t wait to hear what this cat has in store in the future

Score: 3.5/5

Prophets of Rage – “The Party’s Over” review

The Prophets of Rage are a political rap metal supergroup composed of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave instrumentalists Brad Wilk, Tom Morello & Tim Commerford as well as Chuck D & DJ Lord of Public Enemy & Cypress Hill frontman B-Real. The band’s inception was announced at the very beginning of June & they’re named after the 15th track off of Public Enemy’s political hip hop masterpiece of a 2nd album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Since then, people have been anticipating them making music together & now here they are with a 5 track EP. The opening track on here Prophets of Rage is a rap metal remix of the Public Enemy track that I previously mentioned, but it has the 1st 2 verses from the original song as well a brand new verse from B-Real. It’s not incredible, but it’s still pretty dope. The title track on here The Party’s Over is the only brand new track on here & it’s absolutely fantastic! To me, this track is just a small taste of what this group can do together if they ever release a full-length album in the future. The other 3 tracks are live renditions of Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine as well as Shut ‘Em Down & Fight the Power by Public Enemy, although the live version of Fight the Power on here has a couple altered lines as well as the hook from No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn by the Beastie Boys. The chemistry on here is great, because Chuck’s political lyrics & militant delivery fit really well over the aggressive rap metal instrumentation while B-Real adds a lot more energy into these tracks. However, my biggest issue with this EP is the lack of original tracks. Not that I have an issue with remixed tracks or live tracks/albums in general, but only 1 original track just isn’t enough for me. This EP’s still definitely worth checking out, but I personally think it could’ve been better

Score: 3/5