Curren$y 'Pilot Talk' Hip Hop Reviews Are In

Hip Hop has spoken, all across the web the reviews are in and here's what is being said about Curren$y's long awaited debut Pilot Talk:

"Pilot Talk is a much more consistent listen that won’t have you skipping around for stronger tracks...he is a rare emcee in these times who actually honestly rhymes about his lifestyle"
All Hip Hop

"...it is a solid debut from a 29 year-old that brilliantly connects with younger fans"
Hip Hop DX

"The album is a beauty to listen to musically. It contains none of the retread production that you will hear, none of the hyper-masculine tough talk or drug talk that plagues so many releases."
Ill Planet

"...it’s a superior piece of work and certainly one of the better hip hop releases so far this year."
Urb

"After all the free material this dude has provided our iPods with, it’s only right y’all show support. I did."
2 Dope Boyz

"Pilot Talk impresses with its consistent switching of heavy ‘hood material and the infectious grooves which Curren$y performs well on in equal measure."
Soul Culture UK

Curren$y Pilot Talk on Island/Def Jam/DD172 out now!

Raheem DeVaughn: Washington DC Home Town Newspaper Album Review 'The Love & War MasterPeace'

via the Washington Post

If Raheem DeVaughn were from another city, he might be compared to another singer, but with his D.C. roots, sparkling falsetto and arsenal of "woos" and "ooohs," he tends to remind people of the late, great Marvin Gaye. It's not a comparison that DeVaughn has discouraged -- what soul singer would? -- and on his latest LP, "The Love & War Masterpeace," he aims to show that, like Gaye, he can deliver songs for both babymaking and movement-building.

DeVaughn's work in the former category is already impeccable, and the complex, romantic ballads of his first two albums, 2005's "The Love Experience" and 2008's "Love Behind the Melody," continue here. "Bedroom," a supple ode to a woman who personifies "angelic nastiness," is delivered over a Kenny Dope track that switches between fierce drums and sprightly keys. "Garden of Love" is a thicket of contemporary and modern quiet-storm sounds -- complete with thunder claps.

Female empowerment jams a la DeVaughn's hit "Woman" are present as well, from fun-loving, esteem-boosting "The Greatness," which features a funny cameo from Wale ("My name's Wale, and I'm a Virgo"), to the more serious "Black and Blue," which tackles domestic violence.

Nailing the political proves trickier; DeVaughn does well, and tries hard -- he even brings aboard Princeton scholar (Dr.) Cornel West for not one, not two, but three talky interludes that offer a bit of instant gravitas -- but he's still not quite as masterful at delivering a message as he is at massaging libidos.

The single "Bulletproof," featuring Ludacris, was immediately branded a modern-day "Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)" when it was released last year, and, like that classic, it delivers powerful imagery via a beautiful voice. DeVaughn even pulls off a hook that manages to be both serious and catchy ("We load it, cock it, aim and shoot . . . ").

The song's only smudge is its heavy sampling of Curtis Mayfield's "The Other Side of Town." It's a hard truth for singers of the hip-hop generation to absorb, but while it's easy to create a great R&B song from instantly recognizable samples, it's tough to build an iconic R&B song from the bones of another iconic R&B song. Lines such as "Murder your sons, ravage your daughters/Here, overseas, and across those waters" beg for the same inspired original production that the amorous tracks on "The Love & War Masterpeace" receive.

"Revelations 2010," featuring Damian Marley, is similarly bogged down by heavy cribbing from Isaac Hayes's "The Look of Love" and Jay-Z's "Can I Live" . . . which samples "The Look of Love." But the near-eight-minute, all-throats-on-deck, epic protest song "Nobody Wins a War," which taps everyone from Jill Scott to Bilal to Citizen Cope, shows how great a politicized Radio Raheem can be -- it's what this year's big "We Are the World" redux should've sounded like. "The Love & War Masterpeace" isn't "What's Going On," but it doesn't have to be -- it's a masterpiece, nonetheless.

Little Brother 'LeftBack' Advance Album Preview

via Planet Ill

Revenge

A well flipped usage of James Brown’s “Big Payback” buffered by ambient chants and ill rhymes. Standard fare, but executed well.

So Cold Featuring Chaundon Prod. by King Karnov

Bottom heavy beat with the crooner on the hook doign their best D’Angelo impression (not sure if it’s Phonte singing). Phonte runs the middle leg of this track with malice intended; crisp delivery and lines that make yourburrow your eyebrows and bob your head. Guest emcee Chaundon brings a flare to the cleanup slot with a bit less laser sharpness but much more energy. The bridge is well places and while synths give the beat rhythm, the bottom heavy bass rules here.

Second Chances Feat. Bilal & Darien Brockington (Prod. By Denaun Porter)

Dithering keys and a slithering bassline allow Bilal to bring his trademarked neurosis to full tilt. The music on this song is beautifully arranged and Bilal takes it to the bridge and jumps off. The interplay between the rapped verses and the sang chorus on the last stanza weave in and out like red and blue Tron cycles racing each other. Flawlessly finished.

Go Off Go On

The chorus on this is very weak but the track is notable because Big Pooh really spazzes out on it. It’s a bit too similar to the previous song in tone but pales in quality.

What We Are Feat. Quiana

A relationship song (one of many). It’s not syrupy by any means and is well put together. the song deals with what happens when you hook up but you realize the relationship isn’t going anywhere.

After The Party

Piano key opening and a semi comedic internal monologue from Phonte showcases his range, humor, and personality. The track runs on a well balanced thump, with beat and rhyme fusing nicely.

2 Step Blues

Picks up the pace of the album with lively vocals. It’s really “Just Got Paid” 2.0 in function. Nice horn solo and piano keys close the song out nicely.

Get Enough

Towering aggressive drums push the momentum of this song. Phonte comes out swinging on all sucker emcees but Big Pooh steals the show on this Khrysis-produced banger.

24 Feat Torae

Torae muscles this high-powered song from inception, changing the energy/pace of the entire album. Everyone in the room looks up as soon as this track begins. His aggression immediately stands out and forces Pooh and Phonte to raise their energy level above what they have shown on the rest of the album. This song would have done better in the middle of the album, serving to break up the monotony of a few too any similar in feel songs.

This album has a strange energy to it. There are some extremely high musical highs, in particular ‘24″ and “Second Chances,” which surpass much if not most of their previous material. However there are a few too many songs that remind you of each other, in either spirit or theme, without really placing an overall theme or narrative on the album. Arrangement wise, most of these songs are places together. It’s not their worst overall work, but as a unit it doesn’t surpass The Listening or The Chitlin Circuit 1.5. What it does do is make you wish they could have toughed it out for a really focused album with the best elements showcased on Left Back. These are two talented rappers who are as good as their production and focus allow them to be.

Gorillaz: Telegraph UK Newspaper Gives 'Plastic Beach' 5 Star Album Review

Their official Facebook page may list Essex as Gorillaz’ HQ, but this action- packed concept album finds the cartoon band on an isolated island constructed entirely of consumer detritus and exploring the melancholy beauty of mankind’s interaction with the natural world. It’s a great metaphor for the playful way Damon Albarn has built up the Gorillaz’ danceably eclectic sound from offcuts of hip hop, funk, alternative rock, pop, world and electronica. He doesn’t steal, borrow or lazily recycle from other genres. He lovingly salvages the things they’ve left behind, like a hip, 21st century Womble.

And the shiny, platinum-selling pop songs he assembles from this musical bric-a-brac have attracted a deliciously disparate collective of artists to Plastic Beach.

The album opens with a warm wash of oceanic strings, before hitting a shore of hard, dissonant brass notes – powerfully reminiscent of that sinister old Open University theme music. Then the hip hop beat drops in to the bark of Plastic Beach’s first celebrity inhabitant. Snoop Doggy Dogg greets us like a guard dog pacing back and forth on the island’s perimeter, while Albarn’s distorted voice hovers above like a melodic military drone. From there the seductive rat-a-tat tabla, flute and strings of the Lebanese National Orchestra lures us into the arms of London grime rappers Bashy and Kano, who prepare us to meet some big names along the road.

For the kids, this record will be like hearing a coolly remixed version of their parents’ iPods on shuffle. Albarn’s scavenged up Eighties soul sweater Bobby Womack, the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, hip hop grandmasters De La Soul and narky post-punker Mark E Smith.

Plastic Beach’s finest moment comes when laconic ol’ Lou Reed slouches in for the transcendent Some Kind of Nature. He’s beachcombing for “some kind of majesty/some chemical low/some kind of metal made from glue/some kind of plastic I can wrap around you” while Albarn’s brine-brimming, manga-eyed falsetto reminds him that “all we are/is stars”.

All that Eastern philosophy Albarn read while writing Monkey – Journey to the West must have rubbed off – Plastic Beach plays out like the Tao of 2010. (source)

Lil Wayne: The Guardian UK Blast The Guitar Laden 'Rebirth'

You might think Limp Bizkit's oeuvre and their ghastly fanbase of hooting fratboy morons might act as a dire warning to anyone trying to meld hip-hop and heavy metal, but apparently not. Artistically, at least, rap-metal seems to be pop's own Red Bull Flugtag: the best you can hope for is an inglorious plummet, with a load of berks in big shorts cheering you on, but that doesn't seem to stop people getting involved. Either people view it as a challenge or they've noted that, ever since Walk This Way revived Aerosmith's career and catapulted Run DMC to mainstream stardom, it's carried the promise of untold riches: you might think Limp Bizkit's records are unlovable by anyone who isn't an idiot, but their sales figures suggest there might be a lot of idiots knocking about the place.

And perhaps Wayne Carter can trans form rap-metal's image. After all, he's big on confounding expectations. It wasn't just that 2008's Tha Carter III bucked hip-hop's declining commercial fortunes by selling more than a million copies in a week, it's that it did it with a sprawling, strange, wildly inventive and brilliant album: it succeeded by challenging the listener, rather than pandering to the lowest common denominator. That said, the omens for his rock album Rebirth augur ill. It's been endlessly delayed. Collaborations with Lenny Kravitz and Pete Wentz, of trainer-bra pop-punkers Fall Out Boy, were announced, then scrapped.

Instead, the album relies on a host of hip-hop producers and session musicians drawn from the recording world's most rarefied echelons, where your talent demands an amazing nickname: Eddie "Krack Keys" Montilla, Calos "Apocalypto" Hernandez, Edward "Jewfro" Lidow and the thought-provokingly named Finis "KY" White. But here, poor old Apoclaypto, Jewfro, KY et al have been employed to try and copy the sound of a heavy metal band trying to copy the sound of a hip-hop record. Too much Xeroxing invariably degrades the image: the result crawls agonisingly along like a bloke on a donkey cart in the São Paulo rush hour. There's no punch, no brute force, a state of affairs not helped by a mix that places the band far behind Carter's vocals: they sound as if they've been locked in a cupboard. But he sounds even worse. No great shakes as a singer, he's slathered himself in Auto-Tune, which turns out to be one of the least appealing conjunctions of technology and human voice imaginable. On Tha Carter III, he demonstrated an audacious genius by taking horrible sounds – not least the repetitious sample that drove A Milli – and turning them into inexplicably compulsive listening. Here he seems to have pared down this technique by the simple expedient of not bothering with the audacious genius/inexplicably compulsive listening bit.

On Tha Carter III, the words tumbled out in a torrent of surreal images and non sequiturs so dizzying it provoked one critic to compare him to Marcel Duchamp. Here, there's a dispiriting number of hackneyed rock'n'roll cliches about groupies and "the road". Given that everyone knows Carter can do so much better than this, it all smacks a bit of condescension, of locating a different audience, then talking down to them. It's hard to work out whether he's doing this as a result of ignorance – perhaps he hasn't bothered to listen to many rock records and actually thinks that's what the lyrics have to be like – or the opposite: perhaps he's done a lot of market research, noted the kind of character that constitutes rap-metal's fanbase and come to the conclusion that the dizzying flights of Dadaist invention might be pitching it a bit high.

Alternatively, he might just be feeling uninspired. When he stops with the sub-Mötley Crüe stuff, he offers the odd great line – Drop the World hinges on a conceit about commandeering a spaceship in order to pick up a planet and throw it at the head of an ex-lover – but elsewhere, things take a turn for the mundane: "Born and raised in the USA, where the president is B-L-A-C-K," he offers. Official figures suggest this makes Lil Wayne the 4,068th rapper to mention that Barack Obama is African American; apparently they're worried that everyone outside the hip-hop world thinks he's Swedish.

There are still flashes of inspiration on offer, but rather tellingly, they tend to arrive when Carter abandons the widdly-woo solos and plodding drums. The guitars on Da Da Da switch grippingly from hyperactive funk to weird atonal crunching. On Fire is a bizarre cocktail of hiccupping breakbeats and Giorgio Moroder Eurodisco, which reminds you what Lil Wayne can do. For the most part, though, Rebirth underlines what he can't: the problem of rap-metal remains unsolvable, even by him. (source)

Robert Glasper: Jazz Man & Hip Hop Collaborator 'Double Booked' Album Review

As reviewed by Chase Hoffberger at the Austin Chronicle

Robert Glasper - Double Booked (Blue Note) released August 25, 2009.

Jazz traditionalists will wish they could have gotten more of Robert Glasper's Trio on the Houston native's most recent Double Booked, but anyone familiar with the 30-year-old pianist knows there's no sense in confinement. As a longtime collaborator of Mos Def, J Dilla, Q Tip, and the Roots, Glasper's musical tendencies lie as close to hip-hop as they do to traditional jazz, a fact made most evident on the tease of De La Soul's "Stakes Is High" midway through Thelonious Monk's "Think of One." Split into two parts – first half with the Trio, second with his Experiment, which features Casey Benjamin on both saxophone and vocoder – Booked is just as much about Glasper's unique vision (the Bilal-featured "All Matter" - music below) as it is his tangled piano phrasings ("No Worries"). Approach it with an "Open Mind."

Order Robert Glasper - Double Booked here:
Robert Glasper - Double Booked





Robert Glasper Improv-ing On The Keys To 'Gettin' Up' w/Q-Tip @ London's Roundhouse For Gilles Peterson's 10 Year Worldwide Anniversary Tour in 2009.



Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson of the Roots discusses Robert Glasper's influence.

B.G.: Hometown Paper 'Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood' Album Review

via New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Too Hood" is B.G.'s first studio release since '06, and he takes a minute to address the absence on the track "Back To The Money": "Everywhere I go, they ask me, Gizzle, where you been/ You ain't looking hard enough, I tell 'em, look again."

In real life, B.G. moved his family to Detroit for two years after Hurricane Katrina. He wanted a break from the New Orleans scene even in evacuation.

"I didn't want to be where everybody else was at," he said. "There was just too many people that I knew in Houston and Atlanta and I just wanted to go a little further away."

"Too Hood" languished in music-industry limbo for almost two years. The rapper T.I., who has an executive producer credit on the album, helped B.G. put together his deal with Atlantic Records. But T.I. was arrested on federal gun charges in October 2007. B.G. suspects that Atlantic was nervous about putting out his album without T.I. being available to help promote it.

"I'm used to dropping an album a year, every eight, nine months. I guess they figured I needed T.I. to hold my hand. But T.I. went to the CEO of Atlantic and was like, 'I grew up on B.G. B.G. can carry his own weight - he's a legend in the game.'"

The hottest songs on the album find B.G. reaching into the wayback machine for heavy-hitter production chops. Craig "KLC" Lawson, who cranked out hits in the '90's as part of No Limit Records' Beats by the Pound team, and Cash Money Records legend Mannie Fresh each produced two tracks. "My Hood," a pledge of allegiance to the New Orleans streets, is buoyed by Fresh's trademark shiny synthesizers. KLC's "Hit The Block & Roll" features a sample that might be the best use of a screaming electric guitar in hip-hop since producer Rick Rubin (via Slayer) helped the Beastie Boys fight for their right to party. If anyone questioned B.G.'s star power, "Too Hood" is the high-wattage answer.

Read the full album review here:
B.G. keeps it street on a new album, 'Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood'

Felt 'Felt 3: Tribute To Rosie Perez' Pitchfork Review

Felt - 'Felt 3: A Trubute To Rosie Perez' on Rhymesayers
5.8 rating

"Your favorite group that wasn't even a group to start!" Murs makes this claim on "Protagonists", the leadoff track from his collaboration with fellow indie MC all-star Slug, Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez, and despite the humility this is more indie hip-hop supergroup than mere side project. With Aesop Rock on production, Felt becomes a triangulation that canvasses almost the entirety of U.S. undie rap in terms of geography and affiliation. So why is this thing kind of a bummer?

It's got nothing to do with Aesop, whose beats go a long way toward invigorating Rosie Perez. Far from the gnarled and difficult production one might expect from a Def Jukie, Rosie Perez shows a good amount of sonic diversity while never straying too far from the sort of chunky, drum-knocking beats Murs and Slug typically rhyme over. You can't accuse Rosie Perez of being hookless: Even if Slug and Murs can't quite nail the double-time flows on "Felt Chewed Up", it's still nice to hear these guys do their own cheerleading over some pretty awesome turntable work, and the working man blues of "Like You" has an agile, back and forth vigor. The 21-deep tracklist is certainly foreboding, but the skit/interlude/instrumentals "Kevin Spacey" and "Get Cake" have a guileless charm that justify their inclusion.

Read the full review here:
Pitchfork - Felt 3: A Tribute To Rosie Perez album review

Tuesday 11/24 Street Date Album Reviews With Rihanna, Blakroc And Bill Cosby

via the Los Angeles Times

Rihanna - Rated R (Island/Def Jam)
Four stars (Out of four)

"Rated R" belongs to that lonely figure, a self-styled X-Girl taken aback by her own vulnerability. After an intro that immediately cops to its maker's agitation -- it's called "Mad House" -- the album unfolds in quick turns, alternating acts of aggression with confessions of sorrow and confusion.

Searching for strength, Rihanna and her collaborators take on musical styles historically prone to machismo: hard rock, which Rihanna dons like a form of couture, and dancehall reggae, which she knows well but uses here in new ways. Images of violence abound: There are guns, grenades, girl gangs, crashing cars and smashed bodies on the football field.

Rihanna puts on her tough voice for these songs, settling into her lower register with a fierce frown. "The only thing I'm missing is a black guitar," she growls in the Dream-and-Stewart produced "Rockstar 101," her heavy modulation making clear that she can definitely get by without that ultimate rock phallic symbol. (Slash's presence, playing one, feels like an afterthought.)



via the Seattle Times

BlakRoc is a bright spot in a dismal year for hip-hop. Which is tough to admit: The eponymous album — a collaboration between Ohio garage-bluesmen the Black Keys and a slew of notable MCs — is gimmicky and NPR-ready but stands as '09's most interesting hip-hop approach.

Let the compliment stand un-backhanded. BlakRoc deepens the louche blues inherent to hip-hop's musicality and lyricism. Keys drummer Patrick Carney has always played with spare, bass-heavy aggression, fundamental to live-band hip-hop. Listen as he goes toe-to-toe with Ludacris and an exhumed ODB on "Coochie" (massive, bombastic) and simmers behind Jay-Z clone Noe on "Hard Times" (dark, haunting). Mos Def works typically soulful verses and backup vocals on a Jim Jones-rapped track; singer Nicole Wray spouts heartcrushing soul wherever she turns up, a vintage update to a stagnating tradition. 'BlakRoc' is due for release Friday.



via ABC news

Bill Cosby is gangster when it comes to helping black people. Meaning he's ruthless, bold, fearless — and will do anything to achieve his objective.

Cosby has already absorbed enormous criticism from African-Americans for his blunt attacks on self-destructive black behavior and hip-hop culture. Now he's taking his crusade into the lion's den with the improbable rap album "State of Emergency."

There's only one problem: the music itself. Asking your average rap fan to listen to this is like asking a kid to give up Twinkies for tofu — so the healthy stuff had better be extra good.

Read each full album review here:
L.A. Times - Album review: Rihanna's 'Rated R'

Seattle Times - CD review | BlakRoc's 'BlakRoc'

ABC News - Music Review: Cosby Rap CD Bold but Lacks Spark

Tuesday 11/17 Street Date Album Reviews 50 Cent, Leona Lewis, Kid Sister And Rakim

via the New York Times

50 Cent 'Before I Self Destruct' (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)

Taken as a whole this album has a pleasingly morbid tone, in keeping with the best moments from 50 Cent’s first two albums. But context is this album’s undoing. This summer he released a series of mixtapes and a book: both arrived, and disappeared, quietly. “Before I Self Destruct” is the ramblings of a stubborn heavyweight pushing retirement, not clever enough to replace declining agility with wit.



via the New York Daily News

Leona Lewis 'Echo' (J Records/Syco)
3 out of 5 stars

For Lewis' second swing at bat, she launched a makeover of her own, and not a moment too soon. "Echo" has a sense of fun, and a youthful vim, rarely on display on "Spirit." It's faster, harder and way catchier.

While "Spirit" favored flabby ballads, encouraging Lewis' naive will to show her chops, "Echo" focuses on trim, upbeat pop songs, inspiring in her a new sense of pith. She cut her showy melismas in half, hitting the melodies head on. Luckily, they're melodies worth hitting.



via the Los Angeles Times

Kid Sister 'Ultraviolet' (Downtown Music)
Three and a half stars (Out of four)

Chicago's hip-hop newcomer Kid Sister likes to talk up her girl-next-door appeal in interviews. While it's a safe bet that your neighbor isn't pals with Kanye West -- his DJ A-trak is Kid Sister's go-to producer -- "Ultraviolet" is brimming with the artist's down-to-earth candidness.

A two-time veteran of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Kid Sister's long-awaited debut is, first and foremost, an upbeat and futuristic club record. It also showcases her Midwestern work ethic and sense of humor. Over the ambient, Tangerine Dream-sampling "Let Me Bang," she's doing her laundry before hitting the dance floor, where she declares that she likes "to do it nice and slow." But don't get any ideas. "By that I mean my flow," she clarifies.



via the Los Angeles Times

Rakim 'The Seventh Seal' (Ra Records/Tuscan Villa/SMC Recordings)
Two and a half stars (Out of four)

The apotheosis of rap's first Golden Age, Rakim spent the lion's share of the 2000s mired in label purgatory at Dr. Dre's Aftermath Records. Sadly, the fruits of their collaboration remain unheard, with Rakim unwisely discarding the Dre beats in favor of a cast of mostly unknowns. Indeed, the "Seventh Seal" is undone by its boilerplate production -- rote drum patterns, predictable piano lines and antiseptic studio technique.

The rappers who have stayed artistically vital despite advancing age (Ghostface Killah, Scarface, Slick Rick) are champion storytellers who continue to burnish their craft. Rakim remains frustratingly opaque, with the brunt of his songs dedicated to rapping about rapping. The 41-year-old attempts to channel the ferocity of his Reagan-era rhymes while balancing a spiritual side ("Man Above") and romantic disposition ("You & I," "Psychic Love," "Still in Love.")

Source referenced articles:
NY Times - 50 Cent 'Before I Self Destruct' Album review
New York Post - Leona Lewis, 'Echo'
L.A. Times - Album review: Kid Sister's 'Ultraviolet'
L.A. Times - Album review: Rakim's 'The Seventh Seal'

Rihanna: MTV 'Rated R' Album Preview

MTV News previewed the album on Tuesday (November 10) and Rihanna's description is certainly accurate.

After the intro, Rated R kick starts with "Wait Your Turn" and the Young Jeezy-assisted "Hard." The material matches the artwork that's been released for the project so far, with Rihanna posturing as the bad chick.

"Tougher than a lion/ Ain't no need in trying/ I live where the sky ends, yup, you know this," Rihanna sings in a near-rap flow on "Hard." "Never lying, truth telling/ That Rihanna reign just won't let up/ The hottest bitch in heels right here."

In what will probably be referred to by fans as the "Chris Brown song," Rihanna reveals a softer side of herself on the ballad "Stupid In Love."

"I still love you, but I can't do this/ I may be dumb but I'm not stupid," she sings on the Ne-Yo-penned record.

"Stupid In Love" recounts a story of distrust over lies, raging emotions, and lamenting a lost love.

"The dunce cap is off/ You don't realize what you lost 'til I'm gone/ I was the one," Rihanna croons.

The pulsating "Russian Roulette" follows, but it's the next series of selections — "Rock Star," "Firebomb," and "Rude Boy" — that fit the Rihanna archetype of big, bombastic tracks that flaunt her sex appeal.

"Rock Star" features former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. With its mix of drum kicks and guitar licks, Rihanna revels in her rebellion. "I got my middle finger up/ I don't really give a f---."

"G4L" is another posture record (the acronym is short for "gangster for life"), while "Te Amo" is the Barbados singer's paean to her international audience.

The album once again turns somber, with the Will.i.am-assisted "Photographs," where Rihanna laments over a lost relationship.

"It shoulda been me and you/ now all I got is these photographs," she sings.

"The Last Song" is just that, after the Justin Timberlake-helmed "Cold Case Love."

"Love" begins with a sparse melody and gradually builds through each verse before it crescendos with a full production flourish.
(source)

Track list for Rated R:

01. "Mad House"
02. "Wait Your Turn"
03. "Hard" ft. Young Jeezy
04. "Stupid In Love"
05. "Russian Roulette"
06. "Rock Star" ft. Slash
07. "Firebomb"
08. "Rude Boy"
09. "Photographs" ft. Will.i.am
10. "G4L"
11. "Te Amo"
12. "Cold Case Love"
13. "The Last Song"

Tuesday 11/10 Street Date Album Reviews Wale, Wyclef Jean And More

Wale - Attention Deficit
(Interscope/ Allido)

via the New York Times

While Wale has long cited Black Thought, lead rapper of the Roots, as his strongest influence, Kanye West (an acknowledged Wale fan) looms over “Attention Deficit,” although he had no direct role. The productions often sample old funk, particularly horn sections, emulating Mr. West’s orchestral arrangements and annunciatory buildups. Wale comes close to a direct West imitation in “Mama Told Me,” from its windchimes to its “never ever” refrain.

Still, Wale could have chosen far worse models than Mr. West, who never feigned being a thug. Wale can admit to (former) insecurity in a song like “Shades,” about being a dark-skinned young man ignored by lighter-skinned girls. He also musters compassion, in the waltzing “Diary,” for a woman wounded by love and, in “90210,” for a “regular girl” with “celebrity dreams” growing increasily desperate in Beverly Hills, succumbing to bulimia, cocaine and promiscuity.

via the Washington Post

For proof of Wale's lyrical acrobatics, look no further than "Pretty Girls," where the rapper's best pickup line involves two bottles of champagne, a football joke and a healthy credit rating: "What you sippin' on? It's no problem/Black and gold bottles like I'm pro-New Orleans/But shorty, I'm far from a Saint/But I got two AmExes that look the same way."

This is some masterful wordplay -- with an emphasis on play -- and it makes for the album's most dazzling cut. The song's thundering, go-go-inflected track helps, too. Production duo Best Kept Secret built it around a sample from local stalwarts Backyard Band and it sounds like a house party crumbling in an earthquake. How it will fare on national radio is anyone's guess, but for locals fluent in go-go, "Pretty Girls" is a thriller.

Wale has a fantastic ear for beats, though you wouldn't know it after hearing "Attention Deficit" in its entirety. There's some real dreck from producers Mark Ronson ("90210") and the Neptunes ("Let It Loose"). Wale is either adopting the please-all-audiences model West popularized, or his label's invisible hand is fussing with the dials. (In a delicious stroke of irony, Interscope reportedly zapped a song from the track list titled "Artistic Integrity.")

via Pitchfork

6.6 rating
Opener "Triumph", a terrific, Afro-beat-inspired production by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, indicates this will be a sonic adventure. It's not particularly. "Mama Told Me" is a sort of post-Kanye reflection on how difficult it is coming up in the game, namedropping people in his life whose names you will not recognize. It's been done before and better. "Mirrors" is sonically consistent-- squealing horns and down-low bass-- but also features that tried-and-true rap trope: the Bun B feature. It's negligible. "Pretty Girls" is an ode to women via his native Washington D.C. sound, produced by longtime partner Best Kept Secret, sampling legendary Go-Go crew the Backyard Band, and featuring that group's Weensey. It's a classic hip-hop raveup, loose and fun. And then Atlanta's Gucci Mane shows up. Wasn't this supposed to be a D.C. anthem? "World Tour" is typically bland, R&B diva-led (in this case Jazmine Sullivan) nostalgia-stroking patter. "Let It Loose" is the Pharrell record. Six songs in and we're hitting all the bases, without any sense of what it means to be Wale.




Wyclef Jean - From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion
(Carnival House/Megaforce/Sony Music)

via the Los Angeles Times

3 stars out of four
Partnering with mix-tape master DJ Drama, (Wyclef) Jean seems determined to change that. Here, he introduces his Toussaint St. Jean alter-ego, inspired by Haitian liberator Toussaint L'Ouverture. The fictional guise coupled with furor at his also-ran status has injected a hunger in Jean. Childhood anecdotes about receiving his first pair of shoes and the crushing poverty in Haiti, ("Warrior's Anthem") provide a gritty poignancy he'd lacked since going pop. "Toussaint Vs. Bishop," and "Letter from the Penn" triumph thanks to Jean's sincerity.




Melanie Fiona - The Bridge
(SRC/Motown Universal)

via the Associated Press/Yahoo

Melanie Fiona may be eccentric. Or maybe she's just madly in love. Either way, her debut CD is an impressive mix of tracks that presents the many sides of the woman.

"The Bridge" finds the 26-year-old newcomer begging her man to stay put on the uptempo "Please Don't Go (Cry Baby)," leaving her lover behind on the impeccable "Monday Morning," and demanding her partner treat her the right way between the sheets on the groovy first single, "Give It to Me Right."




(MF) DOOM - Unexpected Guests
(Gold Dust Media)

via Pitchfork

5.9 rating
The early news of DOOM compilation Unexpected Guests positioned it as a field report from the indie MC's late-decade wilderness period, spanning a half-committed star turn (2005's Danger Doom collaboration with Danger Mouse) to this year's bullish return to form on Born Like This. And it is... except when it isn't-- "Rock Co.Kane Flow", taken from De La Soul's The Grind Date, actually finds DOOM doing something of a victory lap in 2004 after his essential triad of Take Me to Your Leader (released under the name King Geedorah), Vaudeville Villain (Viktor Vaughn), and Madvillainy (Madvillain). "Rock Co.Kane Flow" is a fantastic symbiosis of DOOM's many playful styles, but the beat itself feels weightier than what we're used to from De La and the stakes higher (ahem) than what we're used to from DOOM when he guests on a track. The other high(er)-profile collaborations on Unexpected don't always fare as well-- while "Da Supafriendz" spotlights a nerdy side of Vast Aire that often goes overlooked amidst Cannibal Ox's doomsayer image, "Fly That Knot" is the second hopelessly corny track DOOM's done with Talib Kweli (see also: "Old School" from The Mouse and the Mask) and most of the blame lies with Kweli's increasing ineptitude at hook-writing, it's clear these two share more camaraderie than chemistry.

Read each album review here:
New York Times - Wale

Washington Post - Wale opens a panderer's box

Pitchfork - Wale

L.A. Times - Album review: Wyclef Jean's 'From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion'

Associated Press/Yahoo - Melanie Fiona's debut CD is solid

Pitchfork - DOOM

For a full list of November 10 New Releases:
Hip Hop And R & B New Releases 11/10

Mariah Carey 'Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel' Album Review

As Mariah Carey's new record 'Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel' hits stores tomorrow, Hooked On That friend Keleigh Starr gave us her humble review of the entire album.

With Mariah Carey's new I remember clear as a bell the first time I put on the Mariah Carey "Mariah Carey" album (1990). I knew that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I have always said that if I could imagine what angels sound like it would be just like Mariah. I am hoping that the vocals are more of what we saw in the old days when her voice evoked tears.

Now on to the review.......

Track #1 "BETCHA GON KNOW"

Typical WHISPY vocals from Mariah. I would call this one "filler" and I am surprised that she opened with this one. Don't get me wrong it’s not a bad track and I can totally listen to it but there is nothing "SPECIAL" about it. On a scale of 1 to 10 this gets a 4.

Track # 2 OBSESSED

Decent track but I bet she wishes she never made this one. Clowning is not her strong point and we all know that Eminem slammed her on his response. Vocally she sounds very commercial. Not a bad track if you were driving up the cost. Kinda makes me want to bob my head from side to side a little but on a scale of 1 to 10 it only gets a 5.

Track # 3 H.A.T.E.U.

Must admit that I feel the lyrics but I felt like there should have been more passion behind them. With the range that she has she could have killed this song. It’s just another average track. On a scale of 1 to 10 this gets a 6 and that is only because I feel the lyrics.

Track #4 "CANDY BLING"

Hmmmmmmmm another just ok track. As with the others it was very mid tempo with a good baseline but no real demonstration of her vocal range. Again it would be good to drive to but it’s not something that people are gonna be shouting out 5 years from now. The "Back In The Day" flash back was a little catchy but not enough to make it a hit.

Track #5 RIBBON

Love the opening with the screwed stuff but most won't appreciate that like I do lol! After that she goes into ANOTHER mid tempo zone. The bass heavy GHETTO track totally saves this one. You've heard this before but she does not flex her vocals and it falls short. 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Track #6 INSEPARABLE

WOW another mid tempo track......clearly I am waiting for a ballad or the party banger. Content on this one mirrors the others in that it just IS NOT moving. I am going to need her to have more to talk about at this stage in her career. This one gets a 5.

Track # 7 STANDING O

The O in this was slightly catchy and at the same time a little annoying. The track just didn't do a thing for me. It sounds like something a kid made in their basement. It does kinda pick up a little towards the end and complete itself but then it returns to the kiddie track. No rating on this one....... I think the jury will remain out and try listening to it some more.

Track #8 IT'S A WRAP

When it started I was thinking aaaaaaw yeah here we go.......... I thought I was going to my ballad but it picked up, uuuuuuuugh. HOWEVER the track was what I call GHETTO/MATURE/FUNK and I like this one. This track is a great compliment to her voice and she does well on this one. The tempo on this one is just cool and her vocals go along perfect with it. This one gets an 8!

Track # 9 UP OUT MY FACE

Like the opening clever lyric about the mechanic under the hood lol! I heard that Mariah! I can hear this one on the radio. The "Up Out My Face" hook will catch the women. The track is funky and the base line gives it a taste of GHETTO which I always love lol! Yeah women will fell this content. Maybe not an anthem but close. This one gets an 8. Lord knows there are a few men I want UP OUT MY FACE! My head was bobbin' kinda hard to this one

Track # 10 UP OUT MY FACE (REPRISE)

Love the use of the black college band sound on this one. Real funky! Hmmmmmm did Nick Cannon reach back to his Drumline Days and suggest this? I BET HE DID!

Track # 11 MORE THAN JUST FRIENDS

Unfortunately another blendy mid tempo track that did nothing for me. No lyrical content and no stretching of her vocals. I could however hear the track on the radio but I don't see the lyrics really connecting that big. There was a cool little break down in the last 45 seconds and she could have killed with her vocals on this part but she failed to see the opportunity.

Track # 12 THE IMPOSSIBLE

Awwwwwwww shucks this track is RICH! Another one that goes so well with her whispy vocal style. This one is clearly about Nick and I like the fact that she used her new love to inspire her lyrics. It is still pop enough for Mariah fans though....... This one is clearly the freaky sex song. Kinda reminds me of something Janet Jackson would have done on Velvet Rope without being as nasty as Janet would have done it in those days lol. Love the LAYING IN THE BED BUMPING JODECI line. Hmmmmmm is Nick old enough to have been bumping Jodeci? This one gets a 9.

Track # 13 THE IMPOSSIBLE (REPRISE)

Awwwwww dang this is the straight break down of the previous song. Yeah this is really a Janet moment mixed with some 90's R&B New Jack. I LIKE I LIKE! I rarely feel like intros and outtros have a purpose but this one does.......I am mad at this but I am giving the outro a 10 lol!

Track # 14 ANGEL PRELUDE

She opens like the angel I know and love and its so fitting for the next track since its called Angel.

Track # 15 ANGEL

Once again I felt the content on this one. It was almost a ballad but for whatever reason she picks up the tempo. Unlike others it works for this song. I could totally here is on mainstream radio. This one could be a hit and a really great video. She did give us a little more vocally on this one but again no where near the 1st record. WHAT UP WIT DAT. Good song though and it gets a 9.

Track # 16 LANGUISHING

HOUSTON WE HAVE A BALLAD!!!!!!!! So far this is the closest we've come to the first album and then it stops short. She could have MURDERED the end of this....... Only gets a 7.

Track # 17 I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

OK when I 1st heard she was doing this I was like hmmmmmmmm. I don't usually like when people touch classics but vocally Mariah could pull this off and make it her own AND SHE DOES for me. I would have preferred less of the WHISPY voice Mariah but it still works for me. I like the choir touch and it makes for a great live performance. Towards the end she gives us the vocals I've been waiting for all album long BUT she should have had the choir silenced at that point. This one gets an 8 which is big deal for a cover lol.

So all in all I give this one a 7.5 after the first listen. It's a solid record but there were more than a few moments where she could have put her foot in it and gotten the 10. The overall production on this one was solid so it could have easily gotten a 10.

by Keleigh Starr