I agree w/ you on "Hard Knock Life." I love Jay. Reasonable Doubt, Black Album, Blueprint, and American Gangster are all incredible. Yet, I think most of Vol 1-3 are pretty meh. 1 is alright. 2 is terrible. 3 is alright. So I mean, he had a brilliant debut, then a trio of mediocrity. Plus Streets Is Watching and Dynasty La Roc were in there, neither of which were excellent... And then... a really good career followed.
Here's some recent write-ups:
Outkast
Idlewild
2006, LaFace
The sixth (and perhaps final) Outkast album proves that there may well be some merit to burning out rather than fading away. There is something that feels horribly unnatural about writing anything negative about an Outkast album, yet here we are. Not that Idlewild is terrible. There are actually some decent songs throughout. Yet it is mystifyingly mediocre when seen as a follow-up to the brilliant string of records the group had already released. It also feels less like an album than a collection of outtakes, solo tracks and half-written song ideas. Which may well be what it is. Though billed as a companion album to the film of the same name, only seven of the album's 25 tracks are from the movie. That's right, I said 25 tracks. 79 minutes if you're wondering. This is way, way too much. If this was Big Boi and Dre and the height of their game, such an abundance of music would be a good thing. You'd press play with the intention of settling in for a long listening session. Instead, you'll find yourself reaching for the track-skip button constantly by the time the album hits its mid-point. The opener "Mighty 'O'" is actually kind of awesome. It's got a pretty excellent synth beat and finds both rappers going hard and coming off effortlessly. And there are some moments of brilliance throughout - Andre's "Idlewild Blue" is actually a pretty cool 12-bar blues composition, and Big Boi's "N2U" shows him pulling off some straight pop impressively. There's also some nice guest appearances here - Snoop and Weezy on "Hollywood Divorce," Killer Mike on "In Your Dreams," and Janelle Monae on "Call The Law" are all standouts. But there is so much going against this album. There's just no restraint. Why all
the horrible skits about going to see the movie or bootlegging the DVD? Then there's "Makes No Sense At All" and closer, "A Bad Note," two of the most ironic choices of clever song titles. Previous Outkast albums have been praised for being challenging listens. But the difference is those challenges gave way to reward. The only challenge here is making it to the end of the album in one sitting without feeling totally upset that this is likely how Outkast ended their legacy as a duo.
Masta Ace Incorporated
Sittin' On Chrome
1995, Delicious Vinyl
Masta Ace's third album (second with The INC) is a masterpiece. It is a concept album that tells the story of a Summer in which Ace's (fictitious) cousin from Los Angeles visits him in New York. The album chronicles how the Ace and his cousin influenced each other over the time spent together that Summer. This concept is brilliant, as it serves as a means by which Ace is able to take his Brooklyn aesthetic and merge it with the sounds of West Coast gangsta rap. In many ways Sittin' On Chrome feels like an East Coast version of The Chronic, and surely that was intentional. Proper opener "The I.N.C. Ride" feels like an homage to "Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang" for instance. But it feels genuine - not forced nor like stealing. Ace seems to have been honestly interested in these sounds, and needed a vehicle to embrace them while remaining true to his East Coast roots. Sittin' On Chrome almost broke through to mainstream success. In fact its title track and "Born To Roll" are easily two of his most widely known to non-aficionados. Amazingly the album balances its bi-coastal influences perfectly. Beats bounce back and forth from G-Funk inspired samples ("The I.N.C. Ride") to NYC jazz-breaks ("Eastbound"); lyrics zig-zag from cruisin', sexin' and partyin' ("Born To Roll") to depressing social commentaries ("People In My Hood") on the fly. Though this is an INC album, Ace is certainly the star, but his supporting cast supports him well when they're needed. Lord Digga plays the gruff, aggressive yin to Ace's Yang, and Leschea absolutely shines on her solo R&B jam "Turn It Up." The Cella Dwellas show up late in the album as the only outside guests, and their collaboration "4 Da Mind" is excellent. I could go on and on about the 16 tracks here, but I'm not sure I could stress just how excellent and unfairly over-looked Sittin' On Chrome really is. Highly, highly recommended.
De La Soul
3 Feet High And Rising
1989, Tommy Boy
Thinking about what was actually popular in hip hop in 1989, it's clear that there was nothing else on the store shelves like De La Soul. Imagine seeing the gaudy fluorescent album cover rubbing up against BDP's Ghetto Music, The D.O.C.'s No One Can Do It Better or Ice T's The Iceberg/Freedom Of Speech. But that was the point of course. De La Soul were outsiders and they knew it. They were an alternative, before 'alternative' was a buzz word. They were nerds before it was cool to be a nerd. And to be honest the whole DAISY Age thing can be a turn-off to some. This was definitely meant to be fun music to contrast the more serious and aggressive nature of the genre at the time. Fun is an area where the record still holds up well. This is definitely a feel-good album. It is produced entirely by Prince Paul, and is generally remembered as the hip hop album that introduced skits to the world at large. I don't necessarily buy that, nor do I think that ushering in skits is something to be super proud of. On the one hand Prince Paul was visionary behind the boards, and treats the record with an ear for the big picture. He knew they were making an album rather than a collection of songs. On the other hand, I personally don't care for the majority of the skits, and actually prefer hearing these songs out of context from the album as a whole. While I can be impressed at the execution historically, the album's flow does little for my own ears. But like I said, many of the songs are excellent. I'd cherry-pick plenty from here if I were making my own De La mix. And much of that has to do with the adventurous sampling that Prince Paul hit the group with. The album kicks off with "The Magic Number," which samples heavily from School House Rock. I mean, try to imagine what fans of Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions or N.W.A. were thinking when they first heard this. Later you've got "Eye Know" which looks to Steely Dan's "Peg" as its foundation - and it kills! Along with the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique released the same year, 3 Feet High And Rising serves as prime examples of how entire records can be built from little pieces of others. This is an unfortunately expensive endeavor nowadays, so albums with such a long list of sample clearances are far less common. Though many cite 3 Feet High as a classic, I just don't. But I do consider it a great introduction to an even greater group. And classic or not, it's something that all hip hop fans should hear to at least form their own opinion.
2Pac
Better Dayz
2002, Amaru
Certainly there's a lot of material released since 2Pac's death. And given that several of them were even double albums, it starts to get daunting to keep track of what's worth hearing. In fact you may even start to feel weary about approaching some of it. But Better Dayz is one of the best of these albums. It culls together material recorded primarily during Pac's furious recording cram sessions for his Makavelli period at Death Row, but also throws in some tracks from slightly earlier - presumably from the Me Against The World sessions. For the most part everything here is new. "My Block" is recycled from The Show soundtrack, though in remixed form here. There's also "Military Minds" from the unfinished One Nation collaboration album with Boot Camp Click. It's impressive that even after releasing so much on the compilations before this one we were able to get such a solid and focused release. There's some venomous stuff here like "When We Ride On Our Enemies" which attacks the Fugees and Mobb Deep amongst others and also some very reflective stuff like "Never Call U B**** Again," where Pac considers his own misogynistic behavior. The extremes give this project the same sort of balance as his best studio albums, and for the most part is held together especially well thanks to cohesive production from longtime collaborator Johnny J. It also helps that the two discs were sequenced with care. The first disc groups a lot of the harder tracks while the second eases up a bit. And thankfully neither disc is overly long. Really any missteps here are the result of attempting to modernize the material. The songs that sound like they actually could have been completed in 1996, sound great. The ones that sound like they were remixed in 2002 come off sounding somehow more dated now. For instance while the Nas duet "Thugz Mansion" remix sounds exciting on paper, the dull acoustic backing track makes the song feel aimless compared to the (unfortunately Nas-less) original. That said, fans of Me Against The World, All Eyez On Me and The 7 Day Theory should really check this one as well.