Feb 9, 2022

Just got kicked off the field. Looks like they're bringing lots of audio equipment out. Not sure what I'll be able to record but gonna find out soon.. Stay tuned.

 

Apr 23, 2016

Spoiler: #7

7. Mobb Deep - The Infamous (1995)

If I recall correctly, I don’t think anyone has guessed this so far. I had a feeling this might be one of the more surprising ones, as I feel like it usually gets passed over in favor of other phenomenal NY classics like Illmatic, Enter the Wu-Tang, and Ready to Die. Speaking of the latter, what I’ve always appreciated about The Infamous is that it feels timeless to me in the same way that Ready to Die does. While an album like Illmatic is an absolute classic, its sound feels a little “dustier” than Infamous or Ready to Die. I know the term “dusty” has a negative connotation these days, but I don’t think it’s always a bad thing. Madlib’s beats feel “dusty” in a lot of cases, but that’s part of the charm. Illmatic transports you back to 1994 and makes you feel like you’re right there shooting dice and drinking E&J with Nas in Queensbridge, and while The Infamous is certainly a product of the 90s, it’s not as explicit as Illmatic to me. Though it still boasts those sparse drums that characterized NY at the time, everything feels a little bit crisper, and songs like “Temperature’s Rising” and “Drink Away the Pain” help curb the sparseness. For that reason, I feel like it’s one of the more accessible 90s NY albums after Ready to Die and Reasonable Doubt.

Anyway, Mobb Deep makes pretty bad music now and have for quite some time (remember when they were in G-Unit? lol), but this and h--- on Earth are both classics in my eyes. The only song harder than “Shook Ones Pt. II” I can think of off the top of my head is “Ante Up,” and even so, I feel like “Rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nose bone” has a special place in every rap fan’s heart. “Drink Away the Pain” is probably in my top 25 favorite rap songs of all time as well. Also, Prodigy’s reaction to getting a 4.9 on Pitchfork is a 10.0:

Spoiler: #6

6. Kendrick Lamar - section.80 (2011)

Sorry , but section.80 is, and always has been my favorite Kendrick album. Props to @Maad City for guessing this right (I feel like @JFK would have guessed this right as well), cuz everyone else who guessed Kendrick guessed good kid, m.A.A.d city.

Don’t get me wrong: good kid is Kendrick’s best album and I completely understand why most would pick it as their favorite. However, there’s a certain intrigue to section.80 that I don’t think Kendrick has captured since. I thought To p---- a Butterfly was going to have it, but it became less interesting upon each listen while section.80 gets more rewarding upon subsequent listens. Despite the somewhat botched ending, good kid is a great album I can throw on anytime as well, but I find section.80 to be a lot more fascinating in terms of its structure and more abstract nature. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: GKMC follows a very simple narrative, but there’s nothing wrong wth that because it executes that simple narrative extremely, extremely well. At the same time, having a more abstract narrative doesn’t necessarily make section.80 the better album either (if only TPAB stans could learn that).

Only a handful of albums have captivated me upon first listen as much as section.80, so much so that I listened to it something like 16 times the first few days after I downloaded it (and no, not because something something jazz something something 2pac, I just personally find this album really interesting and also sonically pleasing). Each song feels kind of like a vignette that tangentially relates to the overall story and themes of the album, but they aren’t fully and concretely connected to one another like on GKMC. 2016 Kendrick could not flip a p---- C sample and make it work to the degree “Blow My High Does” (this honestly might be my favorite Kendrick song on a good day). “ADHD” is obviously great. “f--- Your Ethnicity” remains by far my favorite Kendrick album opener. Despite somewhat of an awkward chorus, “Hol’ Up” gets stuck in my head forever and the beat is godly. Though the highs might be higher on good kid, section.80 remains my favorite front-to-back Kendrick listen.

Spoiler: #5

5. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata (2014)

Back when the first blog was open and we were making our Top 25 Rap Albums of the 2010s (so far), we all got in a pretty heated argument about this album (it was mostly @Narsh and I vs. @Slyk and @Koolo if I remember right). We had My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as number one, but the number two spot was between this and good kid, m.A.A.d city. If I’m being real, I’d pick Piñata over good kid pretty easily (as demonstrated by the previous entry in this list), but I think they are pretty close in quality. I only bring up the GKMC comparison because I think they share their biggest flaw: relatively lackluster endings. “Compton” and “Piñata” are both victory laps, but the latter is a little bit easier for me to separate from the rest of the album as “Shame” feels like a natural closer has the “Big Time Watts” skit to separate it. GKMC makes more of a clunky transition after “Sing About Me” with the inferior “Dying of Thirst” and “Real.” Still, “Piñata” is a decent posse cut with a few great verses (Domo, Meechy, and Gibbs obviously), but Gibbs’ verse is way too early in the song to have this be the last track, especially when it ends with a subpar Mac Miller verse.

Nitpicking aside, from Madlib’s production to Gibbs’ rapping to the features (it accurately states “featuring every MFer in the rap game worth f---ing with” on the cover), this album is virtually flawless in my eyes. Gibbs is a villain, but what I’ve always loved about him is that he’s an honest villain: he’ll call you out for cheating on your girl or doing blow, but only because you’re just like him. And of course, there’s the ruthless destruction of Young Jeezy on “Real,” which is probably the most underrated diss track of the past few years. It’s hard to talk about this album without going into a full review because legitimately every song is great. “High” might my favorite weed song of all time, and even though I have almost 100 plays of it on iTunes I still can’t manage to rap Danny Brown’s verse all the way through. Gibbs and Scarface complement each other perfectly on “Broken.” Most of all, Madlib’s production truly is timeless — the samples sound crisp and contemporary while still maintaining that “dusting off an old record” vibe. Also, multiple Friday references are also always a plus: “Skinny n-----, six wings mild sauce/With all the fries you can get me I tear them b------s off.”

Side note: the album was originally called Cocaine Piñata because it was supposedly inspired by a dream Gibbs had about a piñata full of cocaine.

Spoiler: #4

4. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993)

Tribe was probably the first artist or group I ever stanned. After my neighbor gave me a copy of their greatest hits (The Anthology), I downloaded their discography and spent hours scouring Limewire for anything labeled “feat. Q-Tip” or “feat. Phife Dawg,” which quickly got me into the Native Tongues Posse (De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Black Sheep…and then honorary members like The Roots and the Beatnuts). Unfortunately that kinda spurred my “real hip-hop”/backpacker phase, but that attitude’s long gone and I discovered a lot of dope music through it so I ain’t mad about it.

Anyway, The Low End Theory was my favorite Tribe album for years and I think the majority of fans would pick it as their best. The highs might be higher on The Low End Theory (“Scenario,” “Check the Rhime,” “Jazz”), but Midnight Marauders isn’t far behind (“Electric Relaxation,” “Oh My God,” “The Chase, Part II”). I’m always a person who is going to value a holistic album experience more than just a collection of really good songs (even if said really good songs are better), so that’s where Marauders comes out ahead for me. It really does feel like the “Midnight Marauders Program” as it’s referred to on a couple of the short skits that break up the songs. As you probably could have guessed by the name, it’s one of my favorite albums to put on during a low-key night at home — something just doesn’t feel as right when I listen to it during the daytime. Though Q-Tip is probably in my top five favorite rappers of all time, Phife is equally as good on here. I think he’s one of the most underrated rappers in terms of quotables/humor (“Yo I'll take it back, I'm the Indian giver”; “I like my beats hard like two-day-old s---/steady eatin’ booty MCs like cheese grits”; “Let me hit it from the back, girl I won't catch a hernia/Bust off on your couch, now you got Seaman's Furniture”). R.I.P. Phife.

 

Sep 22, 2015

Bruh, I was about to hit play, but I don't think I can voluntarily subject myself to a female yelling.

My girl does that enough to me.

 

Feb 9, 2022

EMINEM X DRE X SNOOP X KENDRICK X MARY J