As the year goes on the music gets better and better. More good music for us right? Well here is the Tpo Hitz of February.
Must Buy Albums
Artist of The Month
Hustler. A word that can describe very few rappers, and Ludacris happens to be one of them. CEO, entrepreneur, musician, and actor, are just some of the titles that Luda holds. His return to the game has been felt with the smash hit "How Low" and Battle of The Sexes is an album dedicated to what he knows best, women. Ludacris has released smash songs, and killer verses and has earned his spot as the Artist of The Month.
CD Reviews
Dj Kay Slay - More Than Just A Dj (Review)
Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:02
wunako
Alright so earlier this month, Dj Kaylsay released his latest album More Than Just A Dj. Prior to the release of the album, Kayslay said that the album is bringing back Hip Hop. After I read that My expectations did rise a little bit. In short the album isn't bringing Hip Hop back but, it was something that I did enjoy listening to. I guess I can put it to you this way, its like the Dj Khaled albums, only with out his constant screaming and with lesser known artist. The artist are all mostly from East Coast and it would have been nicer to have a broader variety, although Bun-B, Maino and Jae Millz among others did make an appearance. Well, Busta Rhymes kicks off the album on the intro. At first he begins to talk but turns into a a dope verse. The album does have a good variety of different styles of Hip Hop. "Bad Girls" is a song that really stands out since its a song with all female rappers. Of coarse "Blockstars" was a memorable song and with reason since its the leading single. Like I said before, The album features a mix of styles. We have the radio play worthy songs, an all female song, to a Cam'Ron, "blam-blam, like bam-bam, im cam-cam" style. We get some good collaborations that we might not have expected. We see the Wu-Tang make themselves heard on 2 skits and "See The Light". "Thug Luv" is one of my favorite tracks and features Ray J, Maino, Papoose, and Red Café. All three rappers deliver comical and effective verses that really made the song work. D-Block is also on the album with "You Heard of Us Remix" which is another hot track. At the end of the listen, Ima give this album a 7.5 out of 10, and this is taking into consideration the lack of good albums out now a days.What I really did like about the album is the way the album felt like a mixtape, each track flowed with the next. I do recommend anyone to go out and buy, so far its the one of the better albums to drop this year. I leave you guys with a few of my favorite tracks from the album.
LAyed Out (Featuring Bun-B, Papoose, Dorrough, Twista, Young Chris, and J Rock)
Thug Luv (Featuring Ray J, Maino, Papoose, and Red Café)
Ya Heard Of Us Remix (Featuring Sheek Louch, Styles P & Ray J)
Months of pushbacks have come to an end; the official release date for Rebirth has finally arrived. Sadly and surprisingly, it's nothing more than a heaping pile of shit.
When Prom Queen came out and Weezy announced he was going to do a rock album, I had flashbacks to Kanye's 808s. At first, I thought Kanye was crazy and that he should just have stuck to what he's been good with: brutally good lyrics over incredible beats. I gladly ate my words when his album came out, and bumped all of the fantastic tracks on his album. Because of this past experience, I decided to give Weezy the benefit of the doubt. Prom Queen had some cheesy lyrics, but overall the rock rhythm was hot, and the theme was nice. Leaks came out over the last year, and I was still unimpressed. Yet, I still decided to wait for the final product to give my judgment. Now that it's out, I'm dissapointed in Weezy for thinking he's as creative as Kanye.
Don't get me wrong; Weezy is incredibly talented. For those of you that don't know: he actually doesn't write down lyrics at all. He sits in the recording booth and freestyles for hours, and then starts piecing together verses. This is why he's able to get his witty, smiling lyrics that everyone loves out so frequently. The difference between Kanye and Weezy, however, is that Ye is an incredible producer first, and incredible rapper second. Vs. Wayne, who is only a great rapper. When it comes to experimentation, Weezy just went too far with Rebirth; it's as if he took himself too seriously. His lyrics were weak, and the rock background was both heavily out of place and abysmal compared to actual rock songs.
The album starts off with American Star, which carries weak lyrics, and annoying production. While Weezy is known for his witty lyrics (tell me who the two stars of "We Are Young Money" are), Rebirth is filled with humorless lyrics. “Listen to my own voice, in my black Rolls-Royce; get the girls of my choice to take off their shorts and blouses, I take off my trousers.” Prom Queen is one of the few lights in the album, of which I have nothing bad to say about. The track was decent, and the album would have been phenomenal had it more tracks like this one. Tracks like Ground Zero and Knockout are prime examples of how bad mixing punk, auto-tune, and bad rap can be.
Drop The World is unarguably the best track on the album. Ironically, the track itself is just a rip off of what has made Linkin Park one of the biggest rock groups of all time. Eminem tears it up, and even Wayne sounds great on the track.
I was wrong with Ye, but I'm spot on with Weezy. Weezy should stick with what he's good at. After giving the world Tha Carter III, which was, in my opinion, the best rap album of 2008, Rebirth is a polar opposite. You can stream the entire album below on Wayne's Myspace. You might completely disagree with me, so be sure to at least give it a run once through. The album should get a 0/10, but because it did have 2 decent tracks I'll give it a 1.5/10 and wait for Tha Carter IV.
After making a controversial decision to leave Young Money last year, Omarion started Starworld Entertainment, and with that he brings us the first new mainstream R&B album of 2010. With a surprising explicit-lyrics sticker on the front and a mere 10 tracks, I must say the album was nothing more than a bland, boring attempt at sounding more mature.
Omarion has been classified in the "kiddy" category ever since his venture with B2K, and has never been able to truly shake that off. That's his fault, of course. He's the one that decided to sing about crushes along with constant "cute" lyrics.
His lyrics have noticeably changed right when you start with the lead single of the album, I Get It In. While the track is decent with a catchy hook, the rest of the song and unnecesarry use of auto-tune keep the track from becoming a hit. In Wet, he essentially gets all R. Kelly up in this bitch and gets detailed about what he wants to do to a woman. Interesting titled tracks like I Think My Girl is Bi and Code Red are interesting only because of their titles, and sound more like what end up being leftovers for albums, rather than strong tracks that make the album. The best song on the album is Speedin', and it's interesting that it along with the other great tracks on the album (Hoodie and Sweet Hangover) have him in a playful mood, rather than the more evolved identity he was shooting for.
Overall, Ollusion is a failed attempt at sounding more mature, and while it has its high moments, the album overall isn't exciting. 6/10
You can preview the album below. You might completely disagree with me and love the whole thing.
It has been a little over 2 years since we have heard a R. Kelly album. The wait is finally over, as the undisputed king of R&B has dropped his latest, Untitled. Now lets get started with the album itself. The intro to the album is called Crazy Night. The beat is dope reminds me of something that Ron Browz would do, both production and singing wise. It features R City who adds a Jamaican style feel to it. Over all it does a good job of getting the album started. The second song we begin with the style of music that Kell's is known for. "Exit" has a great feel too it but in my opinion, it is not something that I would essentially be listening to here and there. Not to say its bad though. The third track is one of my favorite songs. "Echo" is that get laid music that is responsible for a good majority of the population. What else can I say about that track? Its great point blank. Banging the Headboard is another good track but my only complaint is a simple hook and same for a "Whole Lotta Kisses", they seem more like filler tracks. From there we have "Like I Do" which is like echo in the sense of a great f**k song. The track really steps up the album, and is another of my favorite from it. "Number 1" with Ms. Keri is a song we are all familiar with and was a great selection for a single. "I Love The Dj" is next and it was really surprising to hear as it is a Electro-r&b style. This is something diffidently for the clubs. After hearing it for a few times it really grew on me. "Superman High" Features OJ da Juiceman and is your typical trap house song. "Be My #2" is a throwback song has a real 70's feel to it. It might sound like something weird but to be honest is a great track as he sort of sounds like something on "Off The Wall" from legendary MJ. From there he slows down the pace with "Text Me", "Religious" and "Elsewhere". The final track is "Pregnant" featuring fellow r&b artists, Tyreese, Robin Thicke, and The-Dream. This song if you haven't heard this one this track is amazingly good. I'll give you one guess what its about... Over all R. Kelly Drops another solid album. Was it better than Double up? Possibly, was it as good as Chocolate factory? No, but I do recommend anyone to go out and get this album. It has great real R&B Tracks with the right mix of guest artist. Now with all that, I ask you, What album is better? Trey Songz or R. Kelly? Make Sure To Vote on the poll and on the forum.
After three tumultuous years, and three incredible mixtapes D.C. rapper Olubowale Folarin brings us his major label debut. In a sentence, Attention Deficit is lyrical prowess combined with classic and experimental beats. Wale makes sure to walk very carefully on that fence, and on that attempt he succeeds.
Wale does a great job in incorporating many themes throughout his music. He's able to appease the beautiful ladies in tracks like "Pretty Girls" and "Beautiful Bliss" while at the same time bringing some hard rap for "Mirrors". The expansion even goes further when teaming up with techno-pop star Lady Gaga on "Chillin" and the dance-friendly "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.". While Wale has always been able to bring some bangers, he's also been able to bring more conscious music to the game (something that the new school of Hip Hop has been lacking). Songs like "Diary" and "Contemplate" are simply brilliant, and bring food for thought to any mind, while "90210" fearlessly brings forth the often shunned topics of bulimia and cocaine addiction. Wale also brings some personal fun to the album. There probably isn't another album this year that has the artist saying their names a million times in one track; Wale certainly was able to show his narcissistic side. Paying homage to his love of all hip hop (not just himself), he even pays his dues to Mr. West, and switches up Chuck D's famous "hip-hop is CNN for black people" to "the CW for black people."
Wale's flow throughout the whole album is consistently sharp and witty, incorporating the nerdy with the cool. Nike boots, Gucci, Champaign, McLovin', etc. Wale brings it all, and shows he has a style and personality that really is unique. He says he's the past, present, and future of hip hop. As erratic as that might be to say, time will tell if he's right, and I'm willing to follow him every step of the way. As long as he keeps up his sick flow, whatever crazy beat he's on will end up being good.
With its diverse themes, great production, and incredible punch-lines, Olubowale Folarin's Attention Deficit is one of the best albums of the year. Wale brings forth a debut album that anyone can enjoy. Below you can preview the entire album, and decide for yourself if it's for you. Personally, I highly recommend it. Enjoy.
Alright so we here at RTHH feel the Need to start giving a chance for you guys to hear different types of Hip-Hop that is underground. We will make this a regular thing as we get it together better. On that note, I introduce you guys to Half Salvadorian, Half Hondurian Rapper, Product. His album name has been catching him a little heat but hey controversy sells. S.P.I.C. is a album with hard hitting lyrics and street songs. Product can deliver some hard lyrics and shows you what he can do. He also shows versatility which is important now a days with a little bit of reggaeton and a elektro style song. Check it out and leave your opinions.
15 Tracks with appearances from Kanye, Common, and other dudes I don’t know. I’m not going to talk about the aesthetics outside of the music tracks themselves; the album cover, the back, the “From the guys that brought you 8o8’s and Heartbreak” on the intro on the back, the separation of the album into acts, etc. All of that doesn’t matter. All of that serves no real purpose. What I’m going to talk about is the album itself; the 15 tracks Cudi has waited for years to put out. Hell, I’m juse going to go track by track. In My Dreams is an interesting opener that while “different” compared to mainstream hip hop, it sets the mood for Cudi’s new brand of indie-rap. Soundtrack 2 My Life is an incredible track. Cudi goes deep in his past and delivers great rhythmic verses. In Simple As… Cudi tried to hard to give us the “Simple” in the track to the point that the lyrics end up being a complicated mess that’s not comfortable to follow. Solo Dolo isn’t a better follow-up. It’s literally just a mess of shit with a xylophone on the melody. It’s one of those “ why the fuck is this on here?” tracks. Heart of a Lion jumps into the triumph that Cudi feels in himself (hence the track being the Kid Cudi Theme), though the track itself feels a little too much cudi-singing and not enough cudi-singrapping. Definitely not a track I’d like to listen to again. My World follows, and it stinks of the same thing Heart of a Lion isn’t good for. Cudi has respectable lyrical ability, and combines that with a rhythmic flow that’s refreshing in this era of Hip Hop. When he decides to fuck it and just sing badly, it just falls through. Day N Night, of course, is a perfect example of why Kid Cudi is badass. Ironically though, it doesn’t fit in at all with the rest of the album’s general “Man on The Moon” techno-rythym-rap feel. Sky Might Fall is yet another great track, and a great follow-up to Day N Night. Enter Galactic one of the true techno-rap fusions on the album that comes out great. The production on the track is so great it literally makes Cudi’s flow on the track irrelevant. Alive has a catchy tune that’s hypnotic. EVERY TIME just keeps repeating in your head even though you know he only said it once and went on with the song. Cudi Zone falls in the “personal” list of songs, and like Soundtrack 2 My Life, it comes out great. One of the higher points of the album. Make Her Say, the second single of the album, is a great track. Something else that’s weird about the track is that, much like Day N Night, it’s nothing like the rest of the tracks in the album. Pursuit of Happiness gives us the “feel good” track that tends to be on every album, and is one of the good ones. Hyyherr is incredible, and it introduces Chip, one of Ohio’s finest rappers (I would know. I lived in Idaho for many years). Up Up And away concludes the album, and leaves it at a high point.
In all, I must say the album was decent, not great, but decent. The tracks that were good were PHENOMENAL, but the tracks that weren’t seriously sucked. If you’re a Cudi fan, I recommend you go out and buy the album. It’s definitely worth the money. If you’re a general rap fan, I’d give it a listen first.
10 platinum albums and 13 years later, we come to The Blueprint 3. Hove is a legend. Jay-Z is an intellectual beast. He’s a bag of Hot Cheetos with nacho cheese with a liter of Mt. Dew while watching Scarface in the comfort of your own condo with Beyonce and Megan Fox at your sides…. naked. Oh, and The Blueprint 3 sucks.
The Blueprint 3 isn’t about going back to roots, or even a throwback to the previous 2 Blueprint albums. The Blueprint 3 is about creation. Jay-Z wanted to show that he can innovate hip hop. That he can say “fuck you” to all the auto-tune junkies, and show that he always has the best producers. Usually in Hip Hop, innovation is about a change in style and sound. For those of you that don’t want to read what follows, my review can be boiled down into this:
The Blueprint 3 is the same shit Jay-Z has always done, except with more featurings and more cute synthesizers.
The Blueprint has that futuristic vibe, and WAY too many featurings. Production-wise, this isn’t Kanye’s usual east coast monster beats, or Neptune’s snazzy beats that Jay’s always sounded good over. While No I.D., Swizz Beats, and Neptunes produce it, Kanye and Timabaland both come in with the future. Using so many featurings makes me feel like Jay-Z wasn’t too confident. While there are a few good featurings, it’s interesting how Jay is sure to use people like Kanye, Drake, Cole, and Cudi; literally the top people right now.
The funniest part is that this is probably how Hip Hop is actually going to sound. We’re definitely getting to the “synthesizers are teh ausumnezz” point with a lot of producers, and Jay-Z making an album like this will inspire people to keep going with it. Knowing this site is part of the Real Talk Movement, I’d like to extend my hand across the table to Real Talk Reggaeton and make a comparison of BP3 to an album released earlier this year by Wisin & Yandel, La Revolucion (literally translated: The Revolution). La Revolucion promised to revolutionize latin music and bring forth something new. What did it end up being? The same shit, but with more synthesizers. Both La Revolucion and The Blueprint 3 are decent albums. Both are easily some of the best albums of 2009.
The issue is that when you’re one of the best EVER, you are held to higher standards. A Jay-Z album that is just “decent”, AFTER postponing the album for a year, is just abysmal. Jay-Z should, and CAN do better. No one give me any of this “he’s old now” bullshit. American Gangster was great, and in comparison to other heavy hitters like Ice Cube and Nas who released great albums last year, this is bullshit. The album was decent, not horrible.
It was, however, a horrible disappoint.
Am I dead wrong? I could be. Listen to the whole album on MTV’s the leak below, and have your own opinion.
Pitbull's "Rebelution" released today, bringing forth a fusion of dance and rap, along with a few collabs that are sure to make some females' panties drop (no offense to our female readers, but I'd bet you probably followed the instructions to "Toma" just as much as any other respectable, intelligent female).
When compared to his previous outings, Rebelution is a much different album. Rebelution is much lighter than the Boatlift, and WAY less political than El Mariel. Pitbul has placed himself into a dance (pop-ish more than dancehall-ish) and rap genre and seems to do it well. Tracks like Calle Ocho and Hotel Room Service serve as perfect examples of what Pitbull is all about, and while there may not be a monster like "Toma" on the CD, it it definitely a solid album, conceding the fact that some long-time Pitbull listeners might feel betrayed, being as Pitbull has progressively taken steps away from who he was in El Mariel. Pitbull still shows he has consciousness, and does a good job on "Daddy's Little Girl".
Pitbull's Rebelution is a decent album; I recommend you check out his album below on Myspace and if you like it, by all means go out and support Pitbull. Who knows? If he doesn't sell enough, we might be forced to ship his ass back to Cuba.
Trey Songz brings us his third studio album, Ready, and that's exactly what i was to hear this album. Probably the most anticipated r&b album of 2009. Let me say that this album is crazy. You can tell Trey really took his time on this and made sure he gave it his all. In my honest opinion this is his best album to date. Ready starts off with "Panty Dropper" which is a song that I have been playing since i first heard it. The intro sets up the rest of the album as it takes you into one of my favorite tracks off the album "Neighbors Know My Name" which is great song to get down too. He hooks up with Drake twice on this album to make "Invented Sex" and the smash hit, "Successful". Both songs are really good and shows that these two artist have great chemistry. As always Drake kills his verses and Trey sings his ass off (I'm still waiting to hear a song where Drake sings and Trey Raps). From there "One Love" stood out to me because i like those kind of songs where he sings about finding that one special girl and telling her he is the One for her. From there he has notable colabs with Fabolous on "Say Ahh", Gucci Man and Soulja Boy on the popular song "lol :-)". He slows the paste down big time with a serenade type song called "Ready To Make Luv". From there the album in a way switches up as he starts going into different styles as in "Black Roses" where it is a pop rock type song that really isn't bad. He really made sure this album was well rounded and is very versatile for a R&B artist, especially now a days. This album has my vote for best R&B album of the year and actually made me a Trey Songz fan. I don't think any one can top this one unless R. Kelly literally sells his soul or something.
So Sean Paul has been out for a while but he is back here with his new album, Imperial Blaze. He is the most popular jamaican artist in the US and he keeps giving us hot summer joints and hits. We were all feeling him from "Gimmie Da Light" to "We Be Burning", and here he is with his latest. So I wasn't really sure what to expect from this album, but let me say i think this wouldv been better if released late June or early July. Its pretty much a dancable album. I would've liked to hear some nice collabs but its still good. Jabba does the intro and since i don't understand what he says i cant say much lol. From there he kicks it off with "Lace it" with a great dancable beat, sure to be something you hear in the clubs. From there its non stop dancehall/hip hop type songs untill he slows it down with "Hold My Hand" a song that you can listen to or dedicate to that some one. From ther he goes back to what he does. Over all i gotta say this is great album especially if your looking to expand your reggae/dancehall library. Towards the end he does those nice strait up dancehall contagious style that made him in the first place. But still good make sure to check it out and if you really liek show your love by supporting him and buying the album.
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