“Fuck a Rap critic – he talk about it while I live it,” so vented Method Man back in ’95, taking aim at journalists who wrote words in those old-fashioned paper Rap magazines. In these Internet days though, Mr. Mef’s words could apply to anyone, as we’re all sort of critics – whether flaming up the comments section or submitting user review scores. But while cuddly ol’ Meth probably hates us all with an equal passion, it doesn’t mean we always agree. Here’s a run through of some albums from 2011 that the HipHopDX mind squad and you, our lovely readers, chose to disagree – where we felt they were okay, but you didn’t have quite the same response.
Royce Da 5’9 – Success Is Certain
We’re always gonna have love for real live raps and witty word play – just as a section of the peanut gallery is always going to enjoy hating on Slaughterhouse.
We Said: 4
You Said: 3.64
Read the review
Pitbull – Planet Pit
We still have our fingers crossed that this one blooms into a full-on Hip-House resurrection. Dance, ya know it!
We Said: 3.5
You Said: 2.17
Read the review
Tyler, the Creator – Goblin
Fashionable to a fault, the dapper DX squad is always smitten by the appeal of long socks pulled all the way up. That, and the fact that Tyler exudes star potential.
We Said: 4
You Said: 3.38
Read the review
Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne
What, you mean you don’t own an other other Benz like all us Rap writers? This album is impossible to relate to unless you naturally speak about your German motorcars in plural.
We Said: 4
You Said: 3.67
Read the review
Mac Miller – Blue Slide Park
We said thumbs up and mos…kinda dope. You said thumbs down.
We Said: 3.5
You Said: 2.91
Read the review
Big Sean – Finally Famous: The Album
You don’t see the brilliant subversive humor in Kanye’s lil’ pal Big Sean being a real life rapping version of Tom Haverford from Parks & Recreation? Snake Pit V.I.P. is always four stars, kids.
We Said: 4
You Said: 3.35
Read the review
DJ Drama – Third Power
Y’all are just suddenly having some morals and protesting about that Chris Brown line, right?
We Said: 3.5
You Said: 1.74
Read the review
DJ Khaled – We the Best Forever
Lesson three: Two bona fide bangers, as with “Welcome To My Hood” and “I’m On One” here, can imbue an album with a lot of critical favor.
We Said: 3.5
You Said: 1.98
Read the review
Torae – Heart Failure
Maybe we were wooed and got all sentimental with the album’s circa-Valentine’s Day release date, but you certainly hated on the Coney Island emcee’s love movement.
We Said: 3
You Said: 2.14
Read the review
T3 – 3iller
Blame all those long-ass mixtapes and compilations getting us weary, but the original Slum Village man’s EP was a persuasively potent blast of 14 minutes of Hip Hop.
We Said: 3.5
You Said: 3
Read the review
Finally Famous was a classic album. Every song is a potential single. Dance A$$ was the wackest song and its blown’n up. If you haven’t heard it, hear it. Royce is the shit! flat out!
Big Sean was a classic? Hahaha.
1) You don’t know if something’s a classic until at least 5 years after. Classic=withstand time.
2) Album sucked. Wack.
Royce is the shit but by his standards SIC wasn’t amazing. Good but not great. DIC was much better.
That Finally Famous was a 2.5 at best. Classic my ass. I’m from Michigan and I’m not co-signing that boring ass album. Jon Connor is 10x the rapper Big Sean will ever be.
big sean is ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS
Classic?!?! Your definition of classic is way off…. this album was average at best.
big sean sounds like a male hairdresser when he spits
@No: nah, sometimes you already know something is classic even if it just has dropped. Just like with Kanye West’s MBDTF last year, or Em’s second album etc.
ROTFLMFAO!!!!! He said Big Sean had a classic Ive never heard that before that was hilarious.
BIG SEAN AIN’T A RAPPER! WHO THE FUCK GAVE YOU THE IDEA OF HIM BEING AN ACTUAL MC?!
Wait … what? Classic by what standard?
Lyricism? C’mon, Big Sean is not about that, maybe its an exaggregation, but I think even in-house almost everybody better lyricist than him.
Production? Probably the strongest side of the album, but still should have been done better. Especially considering that NO ID made the majority of the beats, I expected more from him.
What else could have made you stating such nonsense? Overall experience? Originality? Impact on the rap game? Commercial / critical success? Hell no, Finally Famous lacks all of them.
Not sure if that statement was a honest opinion of trolling, but I’d say latter.
“You don’t know if something’s a classic until at least 5 years after. Classic=withstand time.” Fucking truth, couldn’t have put it any better.
big sean is a nice rapper he ain’t wack but he will never have the capability to produce a classic since he matches himself to the present mainstream. he just raps on any beat if it sounds relevant to him.
haha. funny article, good idea.
only one I’ll agree with on the list is WTT. it’s def not for everyone cause Kanye and Jay both egotrip like its no tomorrow but the production was sweet as fuck IMO, not all that lyrical, but I did appreciate the contemporary sounds of it. really hope they dont dish out a sequel though
and if they do lets hope they dont just brag the fuck out of it they dont have anythin 2 prove anymore we all no theyre great i want 2 hear them actually rap
If they do a sequel lets hope they add some premo beats and more pete rock & Q-tip. Watch The Throne is classic IMO, Miles better than R.E.D and C4, dont get me wrong, R.E.D. had one of Games best songs Ever (Born In The Trap) but for every dope song the album had 4 filler joints.
Mac Miller got so much unneccesary hate from you idiot commenters.
DJ Khaled, Dj Drama and BIG SEAN and Tyler… DX was gassed. Those were so wrong.
Mac Miller makes Vanilla Ice look like Eminem, Kill yourself, and quickly.
sorry we arent into corny rap for justin bieber fans
mac miller is a good rapper cuz hes not tryin to be something hes not…hes spit is not bad but i just cant keep listenin to him because i think it gets old quickly
Kill yourself for mentioning Vanilla Ice with the likes of Eminem and Mac miller, Its blatantly obvious that Mac Miller shouldnt be mentioned with Shady, but he aint that fuckin bad. Try The Veal Child.
3.5 is really not a bad rating out of 5, its not good either.IDK if I would give any albums a perfect 5 this year. The royce album had a few hot tracks but it was not great or anything
Goblin was the second best album this year
lol you wish son, goblin had like 4 decent songs
Man that Mac Miller album was doo doo shit!! He can spit a lil, but those bubble gum beats and shitty subject matter is pure trash. Just another college whiteboy rapper who is going through a phase. He’ll snap out of it and get a job in a nice 6×7 cubicle soon.
It wasnt that bad, The Joints “Blue Slide Park” and “Of The Soul” are pretty dope.
Royce album was banging. Wtt was cool but could’ve been better. And mac can spit but the production was horrible. And the rest were garbage.
Goblin was da best album dis year. swag
Tyler, The Creator is da new Ghostface Killah/RZA/Raekwon/Sticky Fingaz.
ODD FUTURE is da new Wu-Tang/Onyx
Tyler, The Creator is a genius, lyrical monsta, high profile MC. swag
Hodgy beat and Earl Sweatshirt > Tyler the creator , in my opinion
Don’t say ‘swag’
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LOL, I like the lil captions up there
Fuck the “Peanut Gallery”
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Uhhh, WE? didn’t like Royce’s album? go & read the comments under your albums of the year article. Most people don’t rate albums on here so your You/Us scale is a little fucked up.
well Success is Certain is not a total failure,except that Writer’s Block song…joints with Premo and Mr.Porter were nice,but everything with that StreetRunner or whateva is bullshit!It’s not the rap we expected from Royce and i’m a Bad meets Evil fan so yea…and other thing:fan’s critic score was on point as always,the albums in this column are baad
Success is certain is the only album I can agree got slept on. pretty much everything else got what it should’ve. and fuck dj khaled’s fatass 2 ‘bangers’ or whatever you called them does not make a 3.5 album
am i the only one who thinks tyler the creator is fuckin terrible? just cuz dude does wild shit and acts like a fuckin idiot all of a sudden hes a genius
like when did being able to spit and being a fuckin gimmick become the same thing
Regardless If you love him or hate him, Tyler is getting attention from everyone.
he got that cena dynamic whether its love or hate, he gets overwelming reactions from almost everone
Not a big fan of his work but respect where it is due he deserves the attention he is getting, we need more people in hip hop who are not afraid to speak their mind and not just tip toe around everyone like a bitch
Just because someone is getting attention it dont make them good. Put a child molester in a daycare see if he dont get attention… sheeesh
You notice how most of these records were fairly succesful??
thats the interwebs for ya, show me summin that did halway decent on the charts and I’ll find you a hater for it
WATCH THE THRONE WAS AND STILL IS AMAZING
ur wrong. dont be afraid to accept that two amazing artist made a mediocre album
Watch the throne mediocore? I guess you dont know real hip hop
You mean the 3 tracks where they actually rap? Sorry but otis,welcome to the jungle, and what u need are the only songs where they go in..and barely. If you think it was a good album u dunno jay zs catalog hes got the most albums i can listen to the whole thing and not skip a track..but wtt was a HUGE disapointment
It doesn’t matter if it was “unrelatable” or not, it was creatively different & Jay & Ye decided to step outside the box for once & do something different. Yes, maybe mediocre in a sense of relatable, but definitely not creative
IDK i think its album of the year
LASERS
Lasers was a bit of a disappointment, and I say this as a huge Lupe fan, after a conceptual album like The Cool the follow up album was always going to be a disapointment tbh
The saddest thing in LASERS is that you can precisely tell about each song who picked it: Atlantic or Lupe. The whole album was a huge compromise. Few real Lupe tracks wrapped around with pop-techno bullshit. But despite its flaws, the album reached three NO.1 spots on Billboard charts, has a Platinum certified single and sold 483k to date. Anyway, I still would like LASERS to go Gold, so Lupe can have another plaque. Even if he don’t really care about that, I assume …
Success Is Certain is the best album outta all those albums up there, and is number 1 on my top 5 albums of the year easily.
i hear ya man. i slapped that a five rating to boost it up on this website. always in the fuckin minority i guess.
eventhough I don’t agree with the hate one some of the albums (by some I mean Watch The Throne), you replies to people not agreeing with you makes me hate you. well done.
the throne – acid good music in foul places part 2 – and torae album
Goblin changed me, whens the last time an album changed you.
congrats for coming out of the closet
lol how did i know someone would say something like that, made my night lol
This article should be named, “Albums that weren’t on our “Best Albums of 2011 list”, but were clearly some of the best of the year”
lol at that t3 cd only 2 people voted on it !!
I notice that the two lowest rated albums were from DJ Drama and DJ Khaled.
I don’t think they are necessarily bad albums, but i think I can explain the negative feeling towards them.
They don’t rap on the albums. They don’t produce on the albums. So, aside from shouting their names at the beginning of every track, what exactly is it they do on their own albums???
Actually, those albums weren’t that good. DJ Khaled’s album is just recycled concepts/mess from his previous compilations.
This article should be called “We were wrong, but we won’t admit it….”
exactly, nerd ass mfs, fuck this site and their snobby bitch ass critics… blah hip hop dx left a bad taste with this one…
Not all of em albums sucked. Don’t be ignorant
whoever wrote this article, fuck this article up
HHDX almost aleways rate higher than the user ratings. Big Sean and Mac Miller were great, but you cant really trust the user rating as hater just rate 1star on an album without listening because they dont like the artist. There should be a stream linked to each review where users have to rate based on what they hear
Watch the throne is just garbabe, Kanye dying musically and Jay dying lyrically -> that’s the dream team, piece of bullshit I have lots of anger as kanye was great now it’s over f*** that crappy album and what they are now
@Jg- I couldn’t agree more. Watch The Throne was straight fuckin trash! There’s at least 5 albums in the “You liked it, we didn’t” section that are better.
HiphopDX doesnt has the knowledge to rate albums. but what do you expect from some collegekids
The fact that they even mentioned Pitbull is all that needs to be said about this sites knowledge of hip-hop.
So you guys say you don’t like some albums you gave a 3.5, and like others that you gave a 3.5. To quote Ed Lover…C’Mon Son, get the fuck outta here with that bullshit!!
Jay-z and Kanye Watch The Throne…to me was the most disapointing albumn of the year..shit was straight garbage
you’re an idiot…it musta went over your head…just say that instead smh
you liked pitbulls album….well that settles it that you don’t no anything.
they like pit bull… ha ha
must be hitting puberty…
losers
oh yeah i wouldn’t publish that anyone liked any of this crap
except wtt
which is almost unrelatable but still a great recorded and put together record with some pretty decent verse flows
i listended to goblin to see what it was all about
no talent
whatsoever
can’t write can’t rap probably can’t read
all shock for the little dumb kids to realize that they were stupid for listening to it later in time
Oye. Pittbull. Really?
ima write in this article too for this dumbfuck writer…
What’s the point of these two articles?
Ratings aren’t gonna be consistent with each person, but you’re making it seem your opinions are more relavent…
Why even put a “user rating” for each album when you write some bullshit article showing how the DX readers aren’t capable of producing the IDEAL ratings that you guys make.
If you wanted to write this shit regarding the differences in the rating, might as well put some more effort and look through the notable contrasts…
Bashing other people for what they thought of the album happens all the time. So fuck writing an article about it and go to the fucking comment section like everyone else.
remember, these are the same cats that interview drake everyday. he’s an r&b singer. this is a hip hop site…i think
Can’t believe how disappointing Royce’s album was.. I’m big fan but it was an Epic fail
LOL
LOL royce album fucking sucked
his flow was wack zero hot bars and the beats were trash
also funny how royce sold gold with em then goes on to sell nothing with his wack ass solo
royce will only be relevant as long as em picks up the phone
dx dickrides every blog rapper and actually gave tyler the vreator 4 stars
ppl that listen to good music dont lsiten to goblin
they knew it sucked the second tyler opened his gay ass mouth
bandwagon crashed into blogger rocks a long time ago
mac miller is dx favorite new artist
Most of all these albums sucked ass
Look at all you dumb motherfuckers!!!
You guys clearly cant appreciate good rap. Yonkers by Tyler was straight out one of the BEST singles in 2011. All you need is some brains to understand what hes saying.
Big Sean is not the best rapper in the world but just give him a chance!! Even a great like Rick Fucking Ross was considered a fuck all rapper in his early days.
And about Pitbull, if the world can consider Lil’ Wayne and Soulja Boy rappers, then Pitbull is a legend. :/