Short Live, Struggle Man

So, I think I'm about to tackle two albums at once. Long Live A$AP by A$AP Rocky, and T.I.'s Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head.  I'm doing it like this basically because neither one of the albums was good or bad enough to deserve an individual review.
...I'll start off with Rocky's album.



I mean for me,
I haven't liked A$AP Rocky to begin with.  It's not that he's such a horrible rapper, if you compare him to rappers like Future, Chief Keef or Trinidad Jame$.  But he's honestly not that good either, especially in comparison to the rappers he's usually mentioned with like Drake, Kendrick Lamar or Danny Brown or some of the other newer generation rappers.  So my opinion might seem or even be slightly slanted, but it's how I honestly feel. 

I'll start by saying that if I like A$AP Rocky's music, Long Live A$AP would probably be a pretty good album.  So if you're an A$AP Rocky fan this album might be something you want to check out.  One thing I do like about A$AP Rocky's music is his production.  He has a unique beat style and it suits him well.  Personally, I like his beats more than the verses he puts over them. Rocky is not that lyrical at all.  Just because of the lack of bars he really spits, or that I've heard him spit, I might consider him more of a back pack rapper along with people like Wiz Khalifa or Dom Kennedy with a hint of Kid Cudi's...umm...for lack of better word, weirdness ha. Basically, if there was an instrumental version of his album, I'd probably give it a higher rating than I would this official version of Long Live A$AP.

He did have a couple songs on the album that were iPod worthy.  Goldie is one.  I really didn't pay attention to that song until I kept hearing it played by friends, and actually seeing the reaction of the crowd at the Kendrick Lamar concert when it played. Another pair of songs that made it to the iPod were the title track (Long Live A$AP) and Wild for the Night ft. Skrillex. It was probably the beat, or maybe it was because he was rapping like Dom Kennedy, but Long Live A$AP caught my attention in a good way. And Wild for the Night surprised me.  It was a great combination of the dubstep sound over a Hip-Hop beat. And then again, maybe I just enjoyed it more because it was after my least favorite song on the album which I'll speak on further down. PMW was pretty dope...but mainly because ScHoolboy Q was on it.  However the best song on the album is 1 Train ft. Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, and Big K.R.I.T.
Why do I feel this is the best track on the album? Well, I don't like the album because of the lack of lyrics.  This song gives you lyrics and bars galore. A$AP Rocky starts it off...eh. But then Kendrick comes in and hits the reset button and takes off..hands it to Joey Bada$$ who KILLS his verse while throwing out that he might be signing to Roc Nation! (Jay-Z's label) After Joey kills it, he hands the remains to Yelawolf who puts a sleeper hold on the dead beat just to reiterate and make sure the track remains what it is....however Danny Brown..was Danny Brown. Nice verse, but basically said a whole lot of nothing..nicely though.  Action Bronson...could've done without his verse. But out of no where, Big K.R.I.T. came through and Hulk "Smash"ed the song. You know how in the end of the movie The Avengers the Hulk came through and just was beasting on all those alien things...that's basically what K.R.I.T. got on the song and did. He's in that Lupe Fiasco lane when it comes to being overlooked and underrated.

But my least favorite song is F*ckin Problems ft. 2 Chainz, Drake, & Kendrick Lamar.  I hate the beat. It's as simple as that. Concept is cool, verses are straight, especially Kendrick's (only reason why it has 2 stars instead of 1 in my iTunes), but the beat is trash.





So overall, I'd give Long Live A$AP 5.9/10.



Now to Struggle...oops, I mean Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head.

I'm gonna try to keep it short and sweet. I give this album a 6.5/10. Why so low? T.I.'s had better albums.  I consider or considered T.I. to be one of the best rappers in the game. A King. There was a point, back around '06 and '07 when T.I. was running the rap game, hands down. His album King is awesome. And when you compare this album to albums like King or even Paper Trail, it's just not that good. It's not that the songs are horrible or that the lyrics are trash or anything like that.  But the issue is that the songs, are just middle of the road. On Urban Legend he had songs like ASAP, Bring Em Out, Get Loose. Songs like You Know What it is, Raw, and We Do This were on T.I. vs T.I.P. There's a difference when a "regular" artist has middle of the road songs on their album, and when a King has middle of the road songs. Usually those average songs on a King's album are still better than most, but that's not the case.  There was too much conflict in whether T.I. should be T.I. or TIP on this album. And it showed. Outside of Trap Back Jumpin, The Way We Ride, and Who Want Some, the other "TIP" songs were still watered down. Just go a listen to King, that's the TIP I want. And if TI has to make an album, listen to Paper Trails. This confused T.I. aint cuttin it...I mean for me.

Updated Top 5 Favorite

I mean 4 me....

I know it's been a minute since I've posted anything, and that it's been even longer since I gave you my top 5 favorite rappers. To get right to the point, the list has changed. Not very significantly at all thought.

#1 is still Kanye West. Jay-Z is still #2. But Lupe Fiasco is barely hanging on to his #3 spot. He might regain the grip he lost with "Lasers" once his new album "Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album" drops.  And lastly, J. Cole as taken full control of the #5 spot. Yes I still like Big Sean, but J. Cole is just that much better. So basically, Lil Wayne fell off my list, and really fell off with his skill to be honest.

So my new #4, and Lupe Fiasco's competition for my #3 spot is...........................................

KENDRICK LAMAR!

I first heard about Kendrick last year (2011) from different Hip-Hop websites but didn't really pay attention to him until my lil sis Nikia mentioned him a couple of times and asked me to put his song "A.D.H.D." as her ring tone. I Youtubed a couple of songs by him and downloaded his Overly Dedicated mixtape, but I still really wasn't listening to him...I was just hearing him. I didn't begin actually listening to him until I had a conversation with a homeboy named Darius. His opinions about music and artists in previous debates and talks let me know that he knew what he was talking about. So the recommendations from him and Nikia were a big enough push for me to search for his album "Section .80". Now I had heard about his album a few times but didn't care enough to...care haha. But I found it, got it, and one night while I was in my room playin Madden I decided to play Section .80 as well as Overly Dedicated in a playlist. Honestly I was only hearing him until I actually listened to this line:

I used to want to see the penitentiary way after elementary. Thought it was cool to look the judge in his face when he sentenced me. Since my uncles were institutionalized, my intuition had said I was suited for family ties.

Like really? That was the first line of the song! And if that went over your head or isn't really enough to grasp your attention, try this line from the same song:

...I know some rappers using big words to make their similes curve; my simplest sh*t be more pivotal.

I mean c'mon! I remember when I heard that I paused the game, rewound the track and listened to it again. It was even better the next time. The song is called "Poe Mans Dreams" off Section .80

From that line, and that song on, I've been a fan. I listened to the entire album and mixtape. And because of that, I mistakenly made a false, or rather an inaccurate statement in my Blog about J. Cole's album. I said that Cole World: The Sideline Story was the second best Hip-Hop album of 2011. I found out that Section .80 came out last year as well, so I take back my previous statement and replace it by saying that Section .80 by Kendrick Lamar is the second best Hip-Hop album of 2011, very closely behind Watch The Throne.

Kendrick Lamar is a lyrical beast. I mean that's really all I can say. I honestly would put him in the same lyrical category as Eminem and Lupe. Not saying he's better or as good, but he's close.  Listen to tracks like Rigamortis,  Poe Mans Dreams, Faith, ADHD, Ignorance is Bliss, Micheal Jordan, Kendrick Lamar and especially HiiiPower. There are so many songs. I won't sit here and say that I've heard every Kendrick Lamar song. I won't claim to be his biggest fan or that I know everything about him. But I will say that he's dope! If you don't believe me check out is Section .80 album..PLEASE! For your sake! And if you like that, which you will, then go back and check his Overly Dedicated mixtape, and his Compton State of Mind mixtape, and a lot of his others as well.

He's dropping his first album under a label this fall "good kid, m.A.A.d. city". I'm going to buy it just off of reputation alone.

OHHHHH and before I go, if you listened or heard Drake's Take Care album, Kendrick has the best verse on the album, hands down. Unless you listened to the entire album version of Drake's "Marvin's Room" then you might have missed it because he wasn't listed on the album. There's a song at the end of Marvin's Room called "Buried Alive"..that epic, vivid, masterpiece of a lyrical story in a verse was all Kendrick Lamar. Yeah, exactly. That's why he's #4

Cole World: The Sideline Story

I mean for me...

J. Cole's debut album "Cole World: The Sideline Story" is the second best Hip-Hop album of 2011 (and there haven't been a lot of HIP-HOP albums put out lately...some urban/rap albums, but not Hip-Hop). The best album of course was Watch The Throne.

Listening to the album, you would never know that this was Cole's debut album. I don't know to explain it, but newer rappers sometimes sound bright-eyed and excited when they rap. It's like they're trying too hard to sound good. For example, listen to DJ Unk's Walk It Out Remix. When Unk started rapping, you could tell that he was happy and excited about the success of the song (which isn't a bad thing), but when Andre 3000 spit his verse, it sounded like we was just chillin' and vibin' out cause it's nothin' to him. A lot of veteran rappers have that, "I've been doin' this for a minute so what I gotta prove? I can just relax on the track" type sound when they rap. You notice it more when they're featured on a new artists' song, which contrasts the rookie rapper's over zealous flow.

I said all of that just to say that J. Cole sounds almost like a veteran rapper. The choices he made for his album showed a different level of maturity than most new rappers. And I mean new as in having only one album.

One decision he made was to only have 4 features on the album. Generally, rappers like to have a lot of guest features on their album. Depending on the artist, it's to add desire for the record because of who's on the album, or because the artist isn't good enough to do an entire song or album themselves...at least that's how I feel. On the other side of things, sometimes newer artists can't get a lot of features either because they can't afford the guests or they're not drawing enough credibility to their work for another artist to get on.

However in this case, J. Cole had a big enough following to get "big name" features. And I wouldn't be surprised if he could afford a couple artists here or there, especially through the label. But he chose not to. Cole did the album basically himself. Every verse on the album was spat by him except the verse by Jay-Z on Mr. Nice Watch & Drake on In The Morning. We first heard In The Morning on Cole's award winning mixtape Friday Night Lights. It was easily the most popular song on the mixtape with the masses so there's no surprise that it made it to the album. And the verse by Jay was almost a given. I mean Jay-Z is J. Cole's boss, mentor, and he's just Jay-Z. I mean NOBODY in their right mind turns down a Jay-Z verse. I'm just sayin', whether you ask Jay or especially if the offers, you don't turn it down. So I feel like those two verse features were totally acceptable, weren't overkill, and didn't take away from his talent. He also featured Trey Songz on the hook of his lead single Can't Get Enough. I feel like this was a smart choice because he needed a radio single that wouldn't detract from his style of music and Trey Songz has enough mainstream appeal to draw more fans in without being too cliche or seeming desperate by bringing someone in like a Chris Brown or Justin Beiber. The only other feature was Missy Elliot on his song Nobody's Perfect. She sang the hook perfectly. Their chemistry was perfect. It's true that Nobody's Perfect, but that song almost is.

Another genius decision that J. Cole made, and possibly the best choice he made was to basically produce the album himself, with No I.D. It just gives the album a connected and congealed feel. It made every song seem together while still being it's own song. The sign of a great, or classic album is the ability to listen to the album straight through without skipping any songs. You can do that with this album. Sometimes using only one or two producers can hinder the album by giving it a monotone feel (Thank Me Later). At the same time, using a different producer for every other song makes the album disjointed. It might give you seven or eight good songs, but it also can give you a cluttered album. The combination of J. Cole & No I.D. is just awesome. Although production isn't as epic or complex as Watch the Throne's, it gives a more classic hip-hop type vibe. They did an excellent job of giving each song it's own identity without giving any polar opposite dynamics in the beats like other albums do sometimes.

And just in case you didn't know, J. Cole is a lyrical BEAST! Subject matter, he's comparable to Nas. Wordplay, he's comparable to Lupe Fiasco. This guy is just good. I honestly don't know how to describe or explain to you that Cole is gonna be a problem for these other rappers in a couple years. I've been tryin' to tell people he's like the LeBron James of the rap game because of the potential that he has. He possibly could be mentioned with the greats in the future if he progresses.

That's basically all I can say right now about the album. I know the review is kind of late...but better late than never. The album is awesome. Easily a 4/5...to me.