Somewhat good soul and R&B. Its almost an hour long, and with it only being 10 tracks its kinda annoying when these songs draw on to be like 6 minutes.
There are some really great songs that showcase D'Angelo's talent. He is a really good singer, especially in "Brown Sugar", "Higher", or "Smooth"
And yeah, its a very great chill album but it's just very hard to pick up sometimes as how long the songs are.
7/10 As of July 11th 2021
Best Tracks: Brown Sugar, Alright, Jonz In My Bonz, Shit Damn Motherfucker, Smooth
Worst Track: Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine (I Guess)
Great, amazing sampling. The way each sample really mushes together is great. I recognized some from other songs, so when i went to genius to check i was surprised to see how much each track from this album was sampled.
I was a bit underwhelmed by the rappers but they were still good. I liked Chuck D but not too much. Flav had a lot of moments too, like in Cold Lampin With The Flavor. They both have very unique and contrasting voices which i do like.
Overall it was as much as 80s hiphop as 80s hiphop can get, which I admittedly like but don't listen to a lot of.
7/10 As of July 12th 2021
Best Tracks: Bring The Noise, Don't Believe The Hype, Cold Lampin With The Flavor, She Watch Channel Zero?!, Rebel Without a Pause, Party For Your Right To Fight
Worst Track: Mind Terrorist
Pretty awesome tracks with a couple lukewarm ones. RZA really shows off his production skills entirely in this album, whereas albums like 36 Chambers or Liquid Swords are built a lot on the rapping and beats.
Raekwon really imposes a lot of help from Ghost, and most of the good songs use him. The features on here are crazy too. GZA, Deck, & Nas all kill their parts.
Overall a tiny big bloated but great nontheless
8/10 As of July 13th 2021
Best Tracks: Striving For Perfection, Knuckleheadz, Knowledge God, Criminology, Rainy Dayz, Guillotine (Swordz), Verbal Intercourse, Heaven & Hell
Wonky album title aside, ATCQ's debut is enough to leave me contempt.
I have only really listened to their 3 most popular albums, and based off a few songs ive heard from this album i'd kinda put it off til now. I mean, there are some just great songs on here. "Can I Kick It?" or "Push It Along" to name a couple.
I think for a debut it's solid, considering they followed up right after with TLET & Midnight Marauders. The production feels very 80s-ish when compared to their later work, especially with that repeating outro sample (which kind of reminds me of the chants repeates in We Got It From Here..."
Overall a solid project but its nothing compared to Midnight Marauders.
7/10 As Of July 14th, 2021
Best Tracks: Push It Along, Luck of Lucien, I Left My Wallet In El Segundo, Pubic Enemy, Bonita Applebum, Can I Kick It?, Go Ahead In The Rain
Worst Track: Ham 'n' Eggs
Im back. The website has given me some eh albums so i took a break. So now we have a timeless classic to look back on.
Stankonia, in my opinion, is Outkast's most 'Outkast' album. Combining their southern rap expertise with the electronic, then-modern 2000s feel. It's probably because of the production handed onto Earthtones III.
But along with this feel comes with the vibes this album brings. There are like 8 skits on here, making the album feel bloated but in reality it goes by prefty fast. The features feel so natural too, rappers likr Mike or Gangsta Boo just spit their verses like they were born to.
And in my opinion, while Aquemini is 100% a better album, songs like B.O.B., Ms. Jackson, & So Fresh So Clean are some of the best songs they have made due to the energy André & Big Boi bring to the table.
Both GOATS.
9/10 As of July 18th, 2021
Best Tracks: Gasoline Dreams, So Fresh So Clean, Ms. Jackson, Spaghetti Junction, I'll Call B4 U Cum, B.O.B., Xplosion, We Luv Deez Hoes, Humble Mumble, Red Velvet, Gangsta Shit, Toilet Tisha, Stankonia (Stanklove). The skits are alr too.
Worst Track: Snappin' n Trappin'. Very Clunky imo. Still good but I can't listen to it without getting a headache.
Q-Tip is a legend. Not from ATCQ, but from a lot of his features and production. He is a top tier rapper for me but I never really went out of my way to check his solo career.
"The Renaissance" is a nice, decent little plug on Q-Tip's router. The features are pretty scarce, but there are some familiar names like D'Angelo & Norah Jones.
While ATCQ has a more reggae/jazz-rap vibe, this is all just what a standard album by Q-Tip would be like. No, not an album by Q-Tip's standards, an album thats more like the rest of hiphop that was in 2008. The production didnt really wow me, but I really did like the Dilla 2-part beat on "Move"
While a lot of good tracks bump this record up, I can't give it much more praise than that.
7/10 As of July 19th 2021
Best Tracks: Johnny Is Dead, Won't Trade, You, Move, Dance On Glass, Life Is Better
Worst Track: We Fight / We Love
Straight Outta Compton is great but I haven't really checked each artists' solo work.
Ice Cube has a few albums under his belt i've wanted to look at but I totally forgot about "The Predator". A groovy but simple "classic-y" hiphop record.
Not much to say about it but i did enjoy it, for the laidback experince i got with it. Not a lot of songs made me go "Wow!" but it has its moments, like "When Will They Shoot?" & "It Was A Good Day"
7/10 As of July 20th, 2021
Best Tracks: When Will They Shoot?, Wicked, The Predator, It Was A Good Day, Check Yo Self, Who Got The Camera?
Worst Track: Gangsta's Fairytale 2
It's alright.
I mean, I do like it. It has a lot of charm, with its pretty fast and short skits along with the array of producers (Pete Rock, MF DOOM, J Dilla, etc.) I do think straying away from RZA Production does kind of hinder it but I still think its a unique album.
Its pretty long, tackling an hour with 23 tracks. A few of them are skits, but still. It's a lot of tracks! Raekwon, Trife, & Cappadonna are some of the recurring features but its not limited to them.
I do like the J Dilla cuts on here. Using "Hi." And "One For Ghost" on Donuts, I really think GFK uses these beats very well. The production on songs like Jellyfish, Underwater, The Champ, all great.
I think this album loses me a bit with it's length but overall, its a fun one.
7/10 As of July 21th, 2021
Best Tracks: Kilo, The Champ, 9 Milli Bros., Beauty Jackson, R.A.G.U., Whip You With A Strap, Be Easy, Jellyfish, Underwater
Worst Track: Barbershop
