Seven years and seven albums have come and gone, and Rihanna has become a slight version of what Jay-Z likened her to in 2007: Madonna. Since then, Rihanna has visually evolved calculatively. Her hair, make-up, album themes, and her style of fashion have all gone under the proverbial knife. Frankly, the visual morphosis and her ability to crank out radio hits has made the spectator seat so coveted that a plane load of journalists joined in on her 777 Tour.
Rated R was Rihanna’s post-trauma album, but Rated R spent most of the time inferring to her incident with Chris Brown. Unapologetic leaves little to the imagination in regards to visuals. Her inadvertent salute to the Roc, “Diamonds” has become a radio staple, with Rihanna’s triumphant coos that inspire even the hardest of Rap fans, along with Kanye West (who showed up on the remix). The greater whole though is saturated in romance. In “Love Without Tragedy” Ri-Ri sings: “Felt like love struck me in the night. I pray that love don’t strike twice.”
“Loveeeeeee Song,” “Stay,” and “Get Over It” are bright R&B moments for Rihanna, as she figures out how balance her innate ability to sing Pop songs with R&B arrangements. The steadily-gritty “Loveeeeee Song” has the most layered features of any rapper on a record this year with Future’s vocals. R&B radio could have a hit next year. “Mother Mary” further proves how Rihanna’s open book policy in regards to her private life allows premiere songwriters to write biographical songs that engulf the listener in real-life stories with lyrics like: “Who knew the course of this one drive injured us fatally?” The-Dream produces and co-writes the majestic jewel that teeters on EDM with a background that softens to Rihanna’s vocals with lyrics that are a desperate prayer: “Mother Mary, I swear I wanna change. Mister Jesus, I’d love to be a queen.” It stands as the brightest moment on the album.
Her duet with Chris Brown, “Nobody’s Business,” is ironically the most bubble-gum track on the album. A very well thought out move, probably in hopes that it would help soften the impending criticism that Rihanna would receive from singing the Pop version of make-up sex with her abusive ex-boyfriend.
Unapologetic is dark and sad, yet at the same time, it’s dance-oriented and fun. The album itself morphs from Dubstep, to R&B, to ballads, EDM, to Pop-Reggae – and that is its biggest achilles heel. It isn’t something that other jumping-genre albums couldn’t get over if it weren’t for the the fact that it suffers from a serious sequence problem by kicking off the album with a “Phresh Out The Runaway,” “Numb,” and “Pour It Up” – tracks full of abstract beats that aren’t melody driven.
The ever-impressionable PDA generation has an album made for them with Unapologetic. In it they can hear their golden couple make up on their iPod earphones, hear EDM radio hits and melancholy ballads, and imagine their favorite artist unapologetically give everyone the middle finger. That’s right…the name of the album.
4
Fuck is this shit doing on here?
i just wanna silly fuck the shit outta of riri
Fuck Rihanna !!
Just take the name hip-hop out of your name dx. How do you just ignore DMX, Chino XL, and a whole bunch of good albums and mixtapes that have come out this year, and do this shit? I get that R&B can be considered hip-hop, but really no one gives a fuck about a Rihanna review
Get over it bitch.
lol you just got electronically bitch slapped
I thought this site was about hiphop??????
rnb is part of hip hop!!! rnb is next element of hip hop.
so techo rap is also a part of hiphop because every gay rapper is now using techno beats????
All music has “elements” of each genre in one form or another but that doesn’t settle the fact that this is not a Hip Hop album. Or an RnB album either to be honest with you.
the album is decent but again i knew DX would only give her a 3 lol. Na na na come on come on!
not hip hop is it… dx
just because she’s black doesn’t mean you should review her album
ahaha cosign
Ha ha ha
Rihanna is more harder then most of rappers out nowadays that is why she is on hiphopdx. You can’t tell me for a second that drake his harder than rihanna.
You gonna compare who’s harder between Rihanna and the softest nigga in hip hop? YOU need to GTFOH. And it ain’t about who’s harder. Its about hip hop clown.
no Weezy? fuck Eminem. Numb wud be a hit wit a Weezy verse. swag
Your a Faggot
I was wondering no YMCMB faggots on this album????? What happened? Maybe Rihanna is too hard for these nikkas
‘The album itself morphs from Dubstep, to R&B, to ballads, EDM, to Pop-Reggae’
No HIPHOP then eh ‘hiphopdx’
fuckin bellends
Numb with Em is more than just disappointing.
Rihanna, Illuminati Puppet
does this site give a review under 3?
Fuck her, and the media buy-out. DX needs to hand out some better ratings soon.
EXCELENT ALBUM
she is just the face of a large corporation of people who push her
I fucks with Rihanna, i know alot of trolls come on this site just to fucking hate little niggas with no time and no lifes. But Rihanna is fine like a MF. Don’t care to much for her Album right now but i fucks with her music and i fucks with her.
Online nerds RandB is considered Hip Hop. Drake just put out an RandB album and he is considered a rapper. But anyway R and B has always been considered hip hop. But i understand the hate cause this is supposed to be a site for real and hardcore hiphop. No one wants to see an R and B review.
Overall i still fucks with Rihanna stop hating online nerd niggas.
Rnb is not hip hop nor has it ever been considered hip hop. Rnb has been around since the 40s and was one of the key starting points of rock and roll. Rock and roll was basically sped up rnb.
Drake is a rapper/ singer and ain’t that good at either but he is considered a rapper because that’s what he mainly does.
But just because you rap that doesn’t make it hip hop. Hip hop is a lifestyle rapping is what you do. Ke$ha raps on dance pop beats but she is not a hip hop artist.
Urban music is stupid title that tries to put all of black music under one umbrella.
Graffiti, rapping, break dancing, beat boxing, Dj’ing etc that’s hip hop.
Rnb is not
Chris brown and all these young pop singers etc aren’t hip hop artists.
Plus with all these dance and techno beats going around you could argue whether flo rida, nicki minaj and will I am are even hip hop.
I wouldnt consider any of them hip hop artists. But you could call them all rappers.
P.s theres nothing wrong with rnb. Rnb and hip hop in the 90s went hand in hand. Whether it was jodeci, bel biv, Aaliyah, total , h town, etc very few hip hop albums did not have rnb singers on it. From bone thugs to biggie to snoop to nas to jigga to az.
Its just modern day commercial rnb is not very good. Here are no new great rnb commercial artists that have come out in the last 5 or 6 years. But then again there hasn’t been any great new hip hop artists that have come out in the last 5 or 6 years. Maybe excluding artists like jay electronica, Fashawn, action Bronson and maybe a few more.
P.s theres nothing wrong with rnb. Rnb and hip hop in the 90s went hand in hand. Whether it was jodeci, bel biv, Aaliyah, total , h town, etc very few hip hop albums did not have rnb singers on it. From bone thugs to biggie to snoop to nas to jigga to az.
Its just modern day commercial rnb is not very good. Here are no new great rnb commercial artists that have come out in the last 5 or 6 years. But then again there hasn’t been any great new hip hop artists that have come out in the last 5 or 6 years. Maybe excluding artists like jay electronica, Fashawn, action Bronson and maybe a few more……
And still no Chino XL Ricanstruction review. One of the best albums of 2012 no doubt. Instead we get Rihanna who gets her beats and lyrics produced for her, she just sings the shit.
wow, out of all albums not reviewd this was the priority? Dx is getting wacker and wacker..reminds of the source. Its really pathetic with low integrity in media..
I haven’t listen to the album either but I’m not here to knock it or her, I just wanna say that I feel all because the singer is black I don’t their music should always be associated with R&B since their sound is more of pop originated. I’m just sayin’.
Love the album. Who cares if the album aint hip hop, just shows a girl like Rihanna can make it on this list. Stop fucking hating on her. If you were in Rihanna’s position, you wouldn’t say shit, so STFU!
suck a dick shes sucks
,
Unapologetic is Club night/DANCE/Keeping it Real/Its Fucking AMAZING!5 STARS!!!!
E-40 and Too Short review?? No but Rihanna is??!!
Didn’t even review E-40’s last album, guess he’s
not paying you or something..
Fuck you, DX.
rihanna is straight crap she can’t sing and you stupid fuckers buy this crap this is hiphop dx not dance music dx come on man …..
fuck this bitch. i mean dx
!!!!
Hip Hop or no this was a 4/5. Great album.
Great album
Loveeee Song is brilliant
Awesome album, better cover.
I love Ri. She’s just hella weird. Wtf she mean in that Mother Mary song? O yea she is with Jay Z demonic ass.
LOVE. RIHANNA been GOOD and BAD / I love her hair its new and its kool