Can you believe it, it is already September 20th! The goddamn month is almost over before it has even started! Back to university tomorrow, oh well in two days actually because I am skipping tomorrow. That is always the best solution when you hate the first days just as much as I do, just skip them. Anyway, the last few weeks I have been helping my cousin move into her new house. The previous owner never ever cleaned the place in those two years he has lived there so you can imagine how dirty it was inside. Let me give you an idea, I assume you all know the movie The Adams Family, right? Well you can compare it to their house, sprider webs everywhere! It was just gross! When I got home, I jumped in the hot bath tub and stayed there for more than one hour, washing my hair six times and still feeling the spiders run over me (of course that was all in the head, but still that is how it felt). While cleaning and carrying boxes, I had enough of time to listen to my iPod and some new Cd's I’ve downloaded the past few months.
The Blueprint 3 by Jay- Z
This is the third album of the Blueprint series and I must say, it’s my least favorite one too. After his strong comeback CD Kingdom Come, I would have expected more from this one. It is also remarkable how many features there are on this album; 12 out of 15 tracks contain a feature (with names as Alicia Keys, Drake, Pharrell, Kanye West and Rihanna).
About the album itself, some may have already noticed that it does not sound like the previous two Blueprint albums. The word "blueprint" also does not refer to a "back to basics" approach this time. Jay-Z wanted to explore himself with this album, and just as other MC’s of this time, innovation does not stand for creating a whole new sound, it just taking the music as how it sounds now to a different level with some new flows or new samples, but never really new and unique things. The Blueprint 3 belongs to this category too: it has some new rhymes and a somewhat futuristic sound, but it is still Jay-Z rapping about how great he is. Nothing new there right? That is basically what he has been doing for the last 13 years, and I must admit, he is good at it.
Overall this album is solid, but when you are Jay-Z, standards are higher and this album can because fairly boring after a few listens. My favorite track is Empire State of Mind.
Personal rating 3.5 stars
Danger by P-Square
P-Square is back with their 4th album, Danger. It has been announced as “highly anticipated” and bringing a new vibe into the music industry. Based on their deal of 40 million Naira, you could expect this album to be even better than the previous best selling album Game Over. Being a major P-Square fan myself, I was eagerly waiting on this album, but it was a major blow. It wasn’t even nearly as good as their previous albums Last Nite, Get Squared and Game Over.
When they released the title track of the album, Danger, they’ve quickly released the video of the song too, most likely due to the bad response on the song. This is tone of the whole album. Danger is an album with some heights, but mostly it is just average with very few lows. It all becomes so plain and jacked up basically (never thought I would say this about them, because I am not really objective though because they are just too good looking and then you digest horrible things a bit better). This album is everything but renewing and original, samples seem to become the standard for this record. With each song, you get the “haven’t I heard this beat before?”-feeling. To my feeling, it is just not at powerful and high quality as their last album, but I guess that is the problem. We have been spoiled the last time, offering an album you like to listen to without skipping a track or without getting bored, so you expect more from them, the standards are higher than for other artists.
The one single that really caught my attention was Bye Bye. When you look at the title, you wouldn’t expect it to be a love song. But this song has a very strong chorus, maybe one of their strongest ballads in general. It’s subjective, but I think Paul’s voice is at his best while singing powerful ballads like say Your Love or Miss U Die. Those guys are lucky they have a solid fan base and good looks, because if this was their debut album, I am afraid their career was over before it even took off. Just my two cents.
Personal rating: 2.5 stars
Loso's Way
One of my favorite artists Fabolous is back with his latest album called Loso’s Way. Is Loso’s Way the right way? Fabolous has always been too raw to be metro, but now that he has signed to Def Jam, you could hear he has become a bit more mainstream. His latest album, From Nothing To Something, fairly disappointed me because it was a bunch of radio ready tracks and not the raw Fabolous who used to spell his name and worked with beats from unknown producers and turned them into fire. But one thing you have to admit, Loso is one of the artists who redefines itself album after album, for better or worse.
The thing that makes Fabolous a great emcee is his charismatic flow, and that charisma that can get him away with mocking nursery rhyme raps. If this was any other rapper, he would be slayed for it, but not Loso. This is also his major strength: ignoring the critics and perfecting a style of New York gangster narrative that's 25% braggadocious, 20% swagger, 15% clever punchlines and 15% his "da-da-da-da-DAMN" vocal style. When you listen to his previous albums, except for From Something To Nothing, you notice that only a limited amount of songs are radio-ready. This is where lies the smartness: he adds just enough tracks to get played on stations and make the mainstream public know his name, but he mainly keeps it raw so he would not loose his oldest fans.
But the thing that made Fabolous a stayer was his beats. Even the throwaway tracks on most of his previous albums had beats that could be lead singles on most other rappers’ albums. But, yes a serious but the beats on this album are not what they used to be. He is leaving his original Breathe beat behind him by doing three tracks with Jermaine Dupree who is a wack producer, unless you want a small radio hit. The best beat is the one on My Time by the Runners but this get overshadowed by those of Throw It In The Bag, which has only a piano and drums as beats – even a little kid could make one like this.
Personal rating: 3 stars
BLACKsummers'night by Maxwell
Eight years after his previous album Now, Maxwell is back with a new album BLACKsummers'night. His first albums were all very good, occasionally brilliant, R&B projects that flirted with neo-soul, straight-up soul and something more… futuristic, all tied together by Maxwell’s otherworldly gorgeous voice. Also, most R&B kind of sucks these days, what with halfway talented singers using autotune to warble clichés over throwaway hip hop beats. This combined made people were excited about Maxwell’s return. Fortunately BLACKsummers'night is indeed pretty good, though it’s definitely not any kind of revolutionary step forward.
Maxwell himself is still Maxwell. His voice is still impossibly smooth, his timing impeccable, his lyrics generally pretty good. And that melancholy permeates BLACKsummers'night. Maxwell is still the king of baby-making music, but this time the undeniable sensuality of the vocals and arrangements are often at odds with the darkness of the lyrics. This gives the album a refreshing twist, and at just under 40 minutes long, the novelty is never lost.
As the first part of a planned trilogy, BLACKsummers'night may simply be the reintroduction of a phenomenally talented vocalist to the public. The next two albums, blackSUMMER'snight and blacksummer'sNIGHT may hold more surprises or take more radical steps forward. It’s hard to complain, though. While this album isn’t the game-changer some were expecting after such a long wait, it still signals the return of one of soul music’s best voices.
Personal rating: 4 stars
The Blueprint 3 by Jay- Z
This is the third album of the Blueprint series and I must say, it’s my least favorite one too. After his strong comeback CD Kingdom Come, I would have expected more from this one. It is also remarkable how many features there are on this album; 12 out of 15 tracks contain a feature (with names as Alicia Keys, Drake, Pharrell, Kanye West and Rihanna).
About the album itself, some may have already noticed that it does not sound like the previous two Blueprint albums. The word "blueprint" also does not refer to a "back to basics" approach this time. Jay-Z wanted to explore himself with this album, and just as other MC’s of this time, innovation does not stand for creating a whole new sound, it just taking the music as how it sounds now to a different level with some new flows or new samples, but never really new and unique things. The Blueprint 3 belongs to this category too: it has some new rhymes and a somewhat futuristic sound, but it is still Jay-Z rapping about how great he is. Nothing new there right? That is basically what he has been doing for the last 13 years, and I must admit, he is good at it.
Overall this album is solid, but when you are Jay-Z, standards are higher and this album can because fairly boring after a few listens. My favorite track is Empire State of Mind.
Personal rating 3.5 stars
Danger by P-Square
P-Square is back with their 4th album, Danger. It has been announced as “highly anticipated” and bringing a new vibe into the music industry. Based on their deal of 40 million Naira, you could expect this album to be even better than the previous best selling album Game Over. Being a major P-Square fan myself, I was eagerly waiting on this album, but it was a major blow. It wasn’t even nearly as good as their previous albums Last Nite, Get Squared and Game Over.
When they released the title track of the album, Danger, they’ve quickly released the video of the song too, most likely due to the bad response on the song. This is tone of the whole album. Danger is an album with some heights, but mostly it is just average with very few lows. It all becomes so plain and jacked up basically (never thought I would say this about them, because I am not really objective though because they are just too good looking and then you digest horrible things a bit better). This album is everything but renewing and original, samples seem to become the standard for this record. With each song, you get the “haven’t I heard this beat before?”-feeling. To my feeling, it is just not at powerful and high quality as their last album, but I guess that is the problem. We have been spoiled the last time, offering an album you like to listen to without skipping a track or without getting bored, so you expect more from them, the standards are higher than for other artists.
The one single that really caught my attention was Bye Bye. When you look at the title, you wouldn’t expect it to be a love song. But this song has a very strong chorus, maybe one of their strongest ballads in general. It’s subjective, but I think Paul’s voice is at his best while singing powerful ballads like say Your Love or Miss U Die. Those guys are lucky they have a solid fan base and good looks, because if this was their debut album, I am afraid their career was over before it even took off. Just my two cents.
Personal rating: 2.5 stars
Loso's Way
One of my favorite artists Fabolous is back with his latest album called Loso’s Way. Is Loso’s Way the right way? Fabolous has always been too raw to be metro, but now that he has signed to Def Jam, you could hear he has become a bit more mainstream. His latest album, From Nothing To Something, fairly disappointed me because it was a bunch of radio ready tracks and not the raw Fabolous who used to spell his name and worked with beats from unknown producers and turned them into fire. But one thing you have to admit, Loso is one of the artists who redefines itself album after album, for better or worse.
The thing that makes Fabolous a great emcee is his charismatic flow, and that charisma that can get him away with mocking nursery rhyme raps. If this was any other rapper, he would be slayed for it, but not Loso. This is also his major strength: ignoring the critics and perfecting a style of New York gangster narrative that's 25% braggadocious, 20% swagger, 15% clever punchlines and 15% his "da-da-da-da-DAMN" vocal style. When you listen to his previous albums, except for From Something To Nothing, you notice that only a limited amount of songs are radio-ready. This is where lies the smartness: he adds just enough tracks to get played on stations and make the mainstream public know his name, but he mainly keeps it raw so he would not loose his oldest fans.
But the thing that made Fabolous a stayer was his beats. Even the throwaway tracks on most of his previous albums had beats that could be lead singles on most other rappers’ albums. But, yes a serious but the beats on this album are not what they used to be. He is leaving his original Breathe beat behind him by doing three tracks with Jermaine Dupree who is a wack producer, unless you want a small radio hit. The best beat is the one on My Time by the Runners but this get overshadowed by those of Throw It In The Bag, which has only a piano and drums as beats – even a little kid could make one like this.
Personal rating: 3 stars
BLACKsummers'night by Maxwell
Eight years after his previous album Now, Maxwell is back with a new album BLACKsummers'night. His first albums were all very good, occasionally brilliant, R&B projects that flirted with neo-soul, straight-up soul and something more… futuristic, all tied together by Maxwell’s otherworldly gorgeous voice. Also, most R&B kind of sucks these days, what with halfway talented singers using autotune to warble clichés over throwaway hip hop beats. This combined made people were excited about Maxwell’s return. Fortunately BLACKsummers'night is indeed pretty good, though it’s definitely not any kind of revolutionary step forward.
Maxwell himself is still Maxwell. His voice is still impossibly smooth, his timing impeccable, his lyrics generally pretty good. And that melancholy permeates BLACKsummers'night. Maxwell is still the king of baby-making music, but this time the undeniable sensuality of the vocals and arrangements are often at odds with the darkness of the lyrics. This gives the album a refreshing twist, and at just under 40 minutes long, the novelty is never lost.
As the first part of a planned trilogy, BLACKsummers'night may simply be the reintroduction of a phenomenally talented vocalist to the public. The next two albums, blackSUMMER'snight and blacksummer'sNIGHT may hold more surprises or take more radical steps forward. It’s hard to complain, though. While this album isn’t the game-changer some were expecting after such a long wait, it still signals the return of one of soul music’s best voices.
Personal rating: 4 stars
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1 comment:
well the blueprint 3 has been anticipated since last year and was pushed to this year which makes it the first jay-z postponed album..well for a good reason which paid off when u listen to D.O.A single. I think the album is solid and brings classic hip hop rejuvenated in new sounds. like jigga said on track 7 "on to the next one" n****s want my new shit/buy my old album. seriously this year hip hop sounds like its coming back and with this album i think its possible because when u listen to relapse by eminem and fabolous loso's way well those are hints that its coming back in a new fashion and not the regular bullshit music from the south lol.
well the blueprint 3 isnt a classic like the blueprint 1 but its as close..and now considering the state of hip hop i think its safe to say its a classic in its own right and is going to set a new standard for the industry
4.5/5
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