HipHopDx Reviews
Reef The Lost Cauze vs. Guns-N-Butter - Fight Music
Reef and company form like a Foreman Grill, cutting out the excess fat and cooking up 13 lean tracks, but at the same time, the album suffers from misguided content and pacing issues. Reef has earned the TKO, but not without having taken a few punches in
Yukmouth - Free At Last
The Luniz' star makes some of the best verses of his solo career, but is it lost in a 22-track, 80 minute schmorgesborg?
Chali 2na & DJ Dez Andres - Fish Market Part 2
The Jurassic 5 front-man aims to prove he can be a successful solo artist with his retail sequel to the 2004 mixtape "Fish Market."
Pugs Atomz & Grant Parks - Kinda Like A Rapper
From mic to plug, KLAR rolls like a traffic ridden ride down Chicago's Michigan Avenue -- rarely going above 35MPH, rarely falling before 25MPH
PackFM - I F*cking Hate Rappers
Even if I F*cking Hate Rappers proves to be an album that goes under the radar in 2010, years from now we very well may be talking about its significance on a larger scale.
Rhymefest - El Che
Despite the title, El Che is as much "Dead Presidents" as it is dead prez because the content is not overtly political.
Apollo Brown - The ReSet
Fortunately for fans of "chipmunk soul" and beat-digging, Brown returns to that style on the following track and keeps that formula alive through the end of the album.
Kokane - Gimme All Mine
On his sixth studio album, Gimme All Mine, Mr. Kane makes it known that he's as real as it comes and staunchly opposed to the seemingly biased treatment that TV networks and radio stations have towards anything remotely resembling gangsta rap.
Bizarre - Friday Night At St. Andrews
While an emcee like Eminem spits shock value one liners, he also tucks them away inside complex lyrical structures. His one-liners tend to sneak up on you out of nowhere. Bizarre doesn't have that luxury. The predictability of upcoming lines hampers his a
Homeboy Sandman - The Good Sun
The progressive marriage between beats and rhymes reaches well beyond modern convention, cementing the most important measure of any album: replay value. There is nothing overtly mainstream here.
Necro - Die!
Die! is not going to win Necro any new fans or mark his great moment of maturity, but rather demonstrates more of the same - with allusions towards more experimental sample sources and tempos.
yU (of Diamond District) - Before Taxes
Several have attempted to rebel against a culture consumed with monetary status. yU manages to not only accomplish both, but also manages to do it with class. The project doesn't escape without its flaws but in some ways, that's the point.
Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
It's rare that one can be equally pleased with an album as background music or as an immersive listening experience, but The ArchAndroid treads that fine line with seeming effortlessness.
Sage Francis - Li(f)e
In comparison to previous albums, Li(f)e comes across as Sage Francis' break-out solo album. Musically, he's stepped away from the comparisons, and achieved genre-bending that others, such as Cage, stumbled with.
9th Prince - Revenge Of The 9th Prince
Unfortunately for 9th Prince he is unable to carry Revenge of the 9th Prince successfully. While he does have his moments of success, alongside some very good guest spots, the album overall disappoints.
Roc Marciano - Marcberg
Much like his boxing namesake, former Flipmode Squad and the U.N. emcee Roc Marciano is a veteran brawler amidst an industry of terry cloth-soft nut-hugger jeans wearing techno rappers. Luckily, for those who haven't traded in their Timbs and Polo for Sup
Guilty Simpson - OJ Simpson
OJ Simpson is a solid collaborative album, that finds each half obviously challenging themselves, but equally outside their comfort zones.
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
This is part of what makes Hip Hop what it's always been: an amalgam of different genres crafted in a way that either embodies the underrepresented or bucks against the norm. And by that definition, FlyLo's genre-melding third album Cosmogramma is as Hip
Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) - Revolutions Per Minute
It's not everyday that a pair of talented musicians vow to return together to make lightening strike twice...and actually mean it.
Rahsaan - Georgetown
Brother of an acclaimed author and Hip Hop journalist, Guyana-Brooklyn-Miami product Rahsaan delivers an album filled with impassioned commentary on the industry, and maternal love.
