Travi$ Scott- Days Before Rodeo MIXTAPE REVIEW

 

Today's review is on Travis Scott's new mixtape, Days Before Rodeo. As the title suggests, this mixtape serves as a preview for Scott's upcoming studio album, Rodeo. This guy has been blowing up lately, mainly off of his 2013 project, Owl Pharaoh. I really enjoyed that project, and I think Travis has loads of talent, especially with knowing that he produces alot of his songs himself. How will Scott's new mixtape, Days Before Rodeo, fare with me?

While I was a huge fan of Owl Pharaoh's production, the production on this project actually surpassed it. Some of these instrumentals really blew me away. The reason for this though, may be that Travis did not produce most of this mixtape, and he had a lot more production credits on Owl Pharaoh. I am not saying that he's a bad producer, but I just loved the way he sounded over some other people's beats on Days Before Rodeo. The WondaGurl beat that was on the first track here was outstanding. This instrumental was dark, layered, and set an awesome tone for the rest of the project. This goes right into the second song Mamacita. I loved that song's production too, as it made use of some blaring guitars and trap-style drums. Songs like Skyfall, Zombies, Basement Freestyle, and Grey all sounded fantastic because of how atmospheric they were. My standout beat from this project overall, though, is the song Backyard. This didn't sound like any other instrumental on the whole album. It was like a trap beat with a very classy, serious twist put on it. I can't complain about any beats on this project. This was just some incredibly refined, modern trap production, and I loved it.

The production definitely drives this album and makes it memorable, but the rapping on Days Before Rodeo wasn't bad at all. Travis Scott is definitely not a lyricist, and I wouldn't even call him a great rapper. His talents are flowing and riding the beats. Scott's flow sounds so good here, that I really do not have to dig too deep into his lyrics. I would say Travis picked perfect beats, because he rides them well, and sounds great over them. Another great aspect of this project would be its hooks. They are catchy, infectious, and well put together. My standout hook, and standout overall song, is Skyfall. This track was incredibly polished, flowed well, and had a monster hook. I also liked the way Travis utilized auto tune on this song, something he pulled off on some other tracks, like Zombies and Quintana pt. 2. The features really came through on this project. The song Mamacita had a catchy Rich Homie Quan hook, but I was disappointed in Young Thug's verse. Luckily, he more than made up for it on Skyfall. He absolutely killed that verse, and used an extremely creative flow and delivery. T.I. had a solid verse on Quintana pt. 2, and Big Sean actually surprised me with one of his best verses at the end of the song Don't Play. Perhaps the most memorable song on this project was Sloppy Toppy, and maybe for bad reason. While it gave me a few laughs and had a pretty good hook, Travis, Migos, and Peewee Longway just had some disgusting content and lyrics on this track. They took it a little too far, but at least it was memorable. I really enjoyed this project as a whole, and it just sounded very clean, polished, and new. These songs just bang, and they are incredibly fun to listen to.

DAYS BEFORE RODEO WRAP UP
+Lots of fun, catchy, high-energy songs
+Travis flows over these beats really well
+Excellent instrumentals
+Cool, atmospheric vibe on some tracks

Best: Mamacita, Don't Play, Skyfall

Worst: Drugs, You Should Try It

Travi$ Scott- Days Before Rodeo
8.5/10

Wiz Khalifa- Blacc Hollywood ALBUM REVIEW

It has been a surprisingly great year for mainstream hip hop. Usually a genre in which singles mean a lot more than albums, several rappers in mainstream have put out impressive, well thought out projects in 2014. Rick Ross, Future, and especially YG's albums from this year were excellent, with the latter still being my 2nd favorite album of the year so far. Today, I will take a look at another mainstream release, Wiz Khalifa's Blacc Hollywood. As time has gone on, I have become less and less of a fan of Wiz Khalifa. Years ago, I was a huge Wiz fan, and his projects at the time were pretty solid. I can safely say, though, that I haven't liked any of this guy's work in a couple years. Will he regain me as a fan with this new album, Blacc Hollywood?

Instrumentally, I felt this album was pretty weak. On Wiz's past albums I have appreciated the forward-thinking, atmospheric production. I was disappointed to hear this album conform to the trap production that many albums these days go for. There was nothing unique about the production here. The production was not terrible or bad, but it was just very repetitive and boring. Songs like Hope, We Dem Boyz, Raw, The Sleaze, Still Down, and No Gain were all very dull, and uninteresting. I was let down because Wiz Khalifa albums have always had very distinct relaxing vibes to them, and this just didn't have that. Even the more unique beats just didn't work for me. The song Promises went for a slow, ballad-like instrumental, but it was just not strong. The beat sounded flat and not much stood out. The song Ass Drop was just ridiculous, in a bad way. This production was awful, with the high-pitched chipmunk vocals and odd piano interludes right in the middle of the track. I really had no idea what they were going for here.While some songs on this album had nice, chilled out beats, like House in the Hills and True Colors, there were too many unimaginative and boring instrumentals on this project as a whole.

Much like the instrumentals, I felt like Wiz himself was trying to go for a more trap friendly sound with his rapping on Blacc Hollywood. He didn't sound very good on a lot of these tracks. He was either using a boring, unoriginal flow or trying something new and failing. First and foremost, though, there were a few solid tracks on this album. I enjoyed the hit single, We Dem Boyz. Even though I don't think Wiz should use auto-tune that much, I felt it worked well on this track. This was just an exciting, infectious song. House on the Hills was a good track as well. I felt Wiz rapped well here, getting a bit personal with the lyrics. The hook was catchy, and then Curren$y comes in with a great verse. That is pretty much it for tracks that I thought were actually solid here. Hope, The Sleaze, Still Down, and True Colors, were just okay, and I had no problem with these. Every other song, though, was straight up bad. Promises was a weak love ballad, and KK was a boring track with a very annoying hook. Even Juicy J could not save that song, with a weak verse at the end from him. This album really hit a low point once it got to the three-song stretch of Ass Drop, Raw, and Stayin Out All Night. These were the three worst on the album, and it was torture to hear them all in a row. Ass Drop was a confusing, schizophrenic song, with its constantly changing beat and awful content. Raw was a boring trap banger that was pretty hard to listen to. Wiz just should not go down that lane. I felt Wiz Khalifa tried a lot of different things on this album, but a lot of them didn't work. Some examples would be his flow on the track So High, and his singing attempt on the hook for True Colors. Neither of these sounded flattering. I will give credit to True Colors, as it was a decent way to the end the album and Nicki Minaj's verse was pretty tolerable. Overall though, this album was a bit of a dud from Wiz. It had no cohesion, and the album tried too many different things. I think Wiz should stay in his lane, because in my opinion, Blacc Hollywood was one of his worst projects ever.

BLACC HOLLYWOOD WRAP UP
+A few pretty good songs
+Some nice relaxing production here and there
-Too many boring, unoriginal instrumentals
-Wiz did not impress me with his rapping
-He tried alot of new things, most of which felt forced and did not work for him

Best: We Dem Boyz, House in the Hills, Still Down

Worst: Raw

Wiz Khalifa- Blacc Hollywood
4.3/10

The Underachievers- Cellar Door ALBUM REVIEW

Today's review is on the debut studio album from The Underachievers, Cellar Door. The Underachievers are a Brooklyn duo consisting of rappers Issa Gold and AK. These guys are a big part of the "Beast Coast" movement with groups like Pro Era and Flatbush Zombies. Unfortunately though, The Underachievers are the only group out of the three that I have not loved. I wasn't a fan of their 2013 mixtape, Indigoism, and I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason none of their projects have really connected with me. I am really hoping that this new project changes my mind. Will The Underachievers finally make me a fan on their new album?

On Cellar Door, I found myself constantly loving the production. While I was a fan of the beats on Indigoism, the production on this project is a step up in every way. The instrumentals on this album could be described as old-school New York beats, but with a very modern, psychedelic twist. I don't think there were any beats on this that I didn't like, but some of them certainly stood out more than others. I think my favorite production came on the song Quiescent. This was the prime example of the boom bap-atmoshperic blend i talked about. The drums on this track were strong, and gave it a hard vibe, but there were many psychedelic sounds and jazz rhythms flowing in the song too. The song Radiance, which was produced by boom-bap maestro Statik Selektah, was another song that gave me a huge Brooklyn vibe. I loved when the drums would start hitting in the middle of each rappers verse, and the beat had some bright synthesizers in the background too. There were some instrumentals on Cellar Door that gave me a different vibe as well. The beat on the opening track Luminescence was very dark, menacing, and featured some minimalistic drums. I absolutely loved it. Two songs, Chrysalis and Incandescent, featured beats that could almost be described as trap. They were head-boppers with some serious trap influence, but I loved that these still featured the same trippy Underachievers sound. The last one to talk about is the last song, Amorphus. This track had the most abstract, odd beat on the project. The sample that was playing throughout this song made for a very composed, but also exciting beat, and I thought this one was one of the best on the album. This album featured stellar production all the way through.

Now, my main problem  on last years project, Indigoism, was Issa Gold and AK's rapping. Not to say these guys are bad rappers, because they definitely aren't, but I wasn't feeling their flow. At times it sounded like they were trying to rap as fast as they could when it just didn't work for them. It would end up sounding sloppy and rushed. While that happens a bit here too, I think these two cleaned it up a lot for this album. The Underachievers sound more focused, their flows are tighter, their words are clearer, and their rapping is just so much better overall. This album also brought an interesting change: I think AK is a better MC than Issa Gold. On Indigoism I felt Issa was outshining AK on almost every track, but now its the other way around. AK sounds fantastic throughout this project. He sounds hungry, and his flow was exceptional. Don't get me wrong though, I still think Issa Gold is a strong MC, as he can rap fast, and has a unique inflection to his voice. The first track on this album, Luminescence, showed me right away how much these guys have improved. I loved the structure of this song, with the two MCs just trading off very short verses for the whole song. It sounded like the two had awesome chemistry and I loved all the bars on this track. These guys also rapped extremely well on tracks like Metropolis, where they took on a lyrical concept, Felicity, a very inspirational song, and Quiescent, where AK stole the show with an outstanding verse. While the rapping on this project was crazy, another part of the album that impressed me was the hooks. I didn't hear many hooks I liked on Indigoism, but here the Underachievers killed it on the tracks that had hooks. The song Caprice had a grimy, old-school chorus that you can just bang your head to. Incandescent featured a melodic, fun hook that I really loved too. My favorite though was definitely on the album closer, Amorphus. The sample on this song, which made up most of the beat, was fleshed out to become the whole chorus, and it sounded great. Issa Gold's ad-libs throughout the chorus gave it some grit, too. Overall I thought Cellar Door was a dramatic improvement on all fronts for The Underachievers. Both MCs sound great and the beats stayed very psychedelic and cool. I loved the length of the project at only 12 tracks, and their focus was just so evident on this album. Add Cellar Door to the growing list of great hip hop albums for 2014, which is becoming an excellent year for rap.

CELLAR DOOR WRAP UP
+Issa and AK's bars on this album were very strong all the way through
+AK's improvement is exceptional
+Fun, catchy hooks
+Clean, atmospheric production
-A few songs really paled in comparison to the others

Best: Luminescence, Incandescent, Amorphus

Worst: Chrysalis

The Underachievers- Cellar Door
9.1/10

Sir Michael Rocks- Banco ALBUM REVIEW

Today I am reviewing the debut album from Sir Michael Rocks, Banco. Mikey Rocks is a member of hip-hop duo The Cool Kids with producer/MC Chuck Inglish. Up until this point, Sir Michael Rocks has just been doing music with Chuck as a group, so I am interested in what he brings to the table as a solo artist. While I like The Cool Kids, and I also like what this guy does with his guest verses, I am a little skeptical of how a solo album by him would sound. Will Mikey Rocks surprise me and come through with a good album on Banco?

The production on this album was....something. It was different for sure. Banco may be the weirdest, most unusual collection of songs I've heard this year. Being "out there", though, does not always mean good. None of these beats really blew me away or had me really loving the production. For the most part, I was just listening to this album confused. There were a couple instrumentals that I thought were decent at best. The song Lost Boys had a relaxed, but spooky vibe to it with its eerie strings. It also developed nicely, adding in some guitars. The song Ain't Nothing Like featured DJ Mustard on the production, and he delivered a good, not great beat. It was classic Mustard sound, and the beat was a definite head-bopper. Besides those two, these instrumentals were just weird and forgettable. Songs like Memo, Bussin, Drug Dealer, and Killswitch really tried to have great beats, but to me they just ended up sounding unappealing. Others on this album, like Playstation 1.5 and Fuck Seaworld, just featured beats that were somehow unusual and boring at the same time. These did not catch my ear at all. This album as a whole just stood out in an awkward way. Aside from two good ones, I wasn't impressed with Banco's rather abstract production.

The way I feel about the production is very similar to how i felt about Sir Michael Rocks' rapping performance on this album. I never really understood what this guy was trying to do on this project. While I have liked this guy's rapping performance on features, as well as Cool Kids albums, he completely disappointed me on Banco. First of all, I feel like Mikey Rocks just tried way too hard to be a more versatile rapper on this album. He was over all kinds of beats, and trying to do way too many things. This experimental approach does not fit Rocks at all. This album saw him trying auto tune, singing, freakishly weird skits and different kinds of rhyme schemes, all of which sounded forced and awkward for him. I was not feeling this guy's rapping on any of these tracks. I felt his lyrical performance was just uncomfortable. He had weird lines all over this album and he just never sounded very good, in my opinion. The only track on Banco that I felt was great was Lost Boys, a song carried by Trinidad James and Mac Miller before Rocks started rapping at the end. Speaking of features, they were actually pretty decent on this album, and they sounded a lot more like they knew what they were doing than Mikey Rocks. Twista, as usual, put in a good verse on Some Ish. Casey Veggies continued his string of good features on Bussin, and I really liked Robb Banks on Killswitch. These guys could not save this album though, from being a bizarre, uncomfortable listening experience. I think Mikey Rocks is a solid MC, but he did not execute this debut solo album well at all.

BANCO WRAP UP
+Some pretty decent instrumentals
+Good feature verses
-Sir Michael Rocks totally missed the mark
-Rocks' flow sounded forced and not great
-Felt too unusual overall to be good
-Awkward vibes from the album, with weird skits and failed experiments

Best: Some Ish, Bussin, Lost Boys

Worst: One Time

Sir Michael Rocks- Banco
4.8/10

Cormega- Mega Philosophy ALBUM REVIEW

Today's review will be on Mega Philosophy, the new album from veteran New York rapper Cormega. I am fairly new to Cormega, as I have only listened to him on a few feature verses up until this point. I liked his flow, but the guy just didn't stick out too much to me on the mic. Once I heard that the 41 year old MC was dropping a new album, I decided to give it a listen, and I really didn't expect much at all. Will Cormega surprise me with this new project, Mega Philosophy?

The production on this album is handled entirely by Large Professor, someone who is universally respected in hip hop. This guy has been at it for decades and I always get that classic New York feel when I hear his beats. That is no different on this project, as the production on this album was a real throwback. Sure, some of these beats sounded a little dated or unexciting, but there were not any bad instrumentals on this entire album. I enjoyed the boom-bap style that this production had, and I felt it matched Cormega perfectly, being a veteran MC from New York. The beats on this project could definitely be described as classy and polished. This was not a grimy, street New York album. Many of these beats, such as Industry, More, Divine Unity, Honorable, and Rap Basquiat sounded extremely clean, fancy, and elegant. I enjoyed the way Large Professor fused classic boom-bap beats with this very classy sound. The song Home was a change of pace, though, as this one sounded a more gritty and tough than the others. With this track coming at the end of the album, it was great to hear some griminess on this project. Overall I really liked the production on Mega Philosophy. It didn't do anything new, but it featured a collection of very polished, clean, New York beats from Large Professor.

While I did just praise this album's production, the real highlight of this project is Cormega's lyricism. My expectations were way too low for this album, as I didn't hear that much lyrically from this guy on his features. On Mega Philosophy, Cormega blew me away with his very socially conscious, smart verses. On track after track, Cormega would just have lines that stuck out and really made me think. This album tackles various lyrical themes, such as the current rap industry, Cormega looking back on his childhood in New York, and this guy's current place in hip hop. My standout lyrical song is definitely Industry. Almost every line on this song opened my eyes to something that is wrong with rap today. Cormega talks about how labels mistreat their artists, and how money controls the music. Cormega also sounds fed up with the young rappers here, talking about how he will still murder them lyrically, and how he just doesn't care how they dress. This song was fantastic, with a veteran rapper making intelligent observations about what rap has become over the years. Even though every single track here was great lyrically, my other standout is the closer, Valuable Lessons. On this track, Cormega gets incredibly personal, talking about his childhood, and how much he has grown learning lessons from tough times in his life. I really appreciate this guy's honesty, and how smart his bars are. There was literally no bad lyric on this whole album from Cormega. I even thought he stood out among his features on this album, which is a feat considering some of the MCs he had on here. Every featured rapper on this project was a lyrical, veteran rapper like Cormega. The second track, MARS (Dream Team), featured hip hop greats AZ, Redman, and Styles P. It was an awesome posse cut, with great bars being dropped everywhere. The song Honorable had Raekwon on it, and he sounded fantastic, as he has on all the great albums he's been featured on this year. The two guest singers on this album provided melodic, soulful hooks, and the rappers I did not talk about did a solid job too. The only feature moment I couldve done without was the monologue at the end of the song Rap Basquiat. It was just a bit too corny for me. Overall though, the lyrics really made this album great. Cormega was spitting truth on every song here, and he seriously made me think about many different issues with his wise lyrics. I can't complain about any of the rapping here. Cormega surprised me greatly, and I'd say Mega Philosophy is one of the best albums I've heard this year.

MEGA PHILOSOPHY WRAP UP
+Incredible lyrical performance from Cormega
+So many great lines
+Cormega is a very smart and insightful songwriter
+Good job by all he features
+Old school production from a legendary producer
+Beats had a nice classy edge to them

Best: MARS (Dream Team), Industry, Valuable Lessons

Worst: Rap Basquiat

Cormega- Mega Philosophy
8.9/10