I know it's kinda late in the year to be creating an all-rap reviews blog so... Here's a short review of the best (and worst) albums to come out so far this year.
Best:
Kanye West - Graduation:Production: 'Ye, DJ Toomp, Timbaland, Nottz & Mike Dean.
Guests: Lil' Wayne, Dwele, DJ Premier (scratching), Mos Def, Chris Martin & T-Pain.
Key Tracks: "Goodlife", "Everything I Am" and "The Glory".
Sales Prediction: 2.21 Million
Taking on Curtis is a difficult task, so Kanye enlisted everyone from Chris Martin to Nottz and back to aid him in his attempt at the throne. While there are a few missteps on the album ("Homecoming" is just boring and someone should have ghost-written Wayne's verse so he wasn't completely embarrassed). Kanye's third is an interesting departure from his traditional extremely sample-reliant sound into a more modern, synth based form.
Kanye West Lyrics
The Glory Lyrics
Twista - Adrenaline Rush 2007:Production: Toxic, Jazze Pha, Cuzo & The Neptunes.
Guests: T-Pain, Jazze Pha, Cee-Lo, Lil' Wayne & Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Key Tracks: "Creep Fast", "Say Say" and "Whip Game Proper".
Sales Prediction: 178,000
You can't recapture the past.
But Twista sure as hell tries. Updating his "Mobster Rap" sound to a more commercially viable market AR2k7 may be one of his best efforts to date. Beginning with the eerie Toxic-produced "Charged" (which has been out for a few months) listeners immediately know what to expect. The album is, unfortunately weighed down by far too many skits. Despite a slew of well received hardcore tracks like the Lil' Wayne guested "Whip Game Proper" or T's Bone Thugs duet "Ain't No Hoes" Twist still attempts to get the club hyped. Fortunately thanks to Cee-Lo, Jazze Pha and Big Zak "Say-Say" an old-school homage originally on Lo & Pha's Happy Hour album he succeeds. However on the first single, the Pharrell produced and featured "Wanna Give It Up" the beat is overly simplistic and Pharrell's repetitive monotone hook will bore all. The albums saving grace is the shockingly hardcore "Creep Fast" where T-Pain comes close to beating T in both skill and speed.
Twista Lyrics
Creep Fast Lyrics
