Reviews of rap and hip-hop albums.
With El-P, Cage finds a framework for his broken-man rap. The rapper who could have been Eminem instead of Eminem gets backing from some of the underground’s leading producers, tempering his provocations with confessions about his shattered childhood. “Hell’s Winter” is the most balanced album by a man who is anything but, and one of the finest releases on Def Jux.
While Slug talks about his romantic troubles, opens up about his attachment to his family, his distrust of big business, and the everyday realities of life as an artist, Ant outdoes himself on production. Atmosphere did not become one of indie rap’s most iconic groups for nothing: they have released other outstanding albums. But this one may well be their most accomplished.
“Get Rich Or Die Tryin'” is one of the greatest successes in the history of rap, and of course, a milestone in the evolution of this music. With 50 Cent’s triumph, the gangsta register asserts itself ever more firmly as the heart of hip-hop, and blockbusters break free from regional formulas, drawing on whatever works best. Here, we truly enter the rap of the new century.
This third album is often regarded as Beanie Sigel’s masterpiece. On this blockbuster from Roc-A-Fella’s glory years, released while he was behind bars, the Philadelphia rapper – caught up by the criminal life he had been living – draws on the fury of a street hustler, the pride of a man who made it out, and the melancholy of a bad boy unable to escape the pull of the ghetto.
By the mid-2000s, Lil Wayne is on fire. He proves it everywhere: on albums, on mixtapes, and through his countless guest appearances on other artists’ tracks. And he proves it again on this project with his mentor and surrogate father. Together, striking their bargain-bin mobster poses, the two New Orleans rappers stick to the act they know best, and they churn out hit after hit.
Birdman is a vulture, a nasty bird of prey. He feeds off other people’s talent, while he is little more than a bargain-basement Don Corleone. Yet he has two aces up his sleeve: his protégé Lil Wayne, who joins him on some tracks, and top-notch production. At times, those two assets are enough to make his albums genuinely good despite everything, as is the case with “5 Star Stunna”.
After his own moment of glory, it’s now his crew’s turn to step into the spotlight. With their debut album, “Serve & Collect”, Slim Thug’s Boss Hogg Outlawz take the police motto, turn it into a slogan for drug dealers, and deliver a quintessential slice of Houston rap. This album is utterly generic, without even the slightest hint of originality. And yet, the whole thing is impeccably executed.
After rubbing shoulders with the biggest names – Lil Wayne first and foremost – All Star changes course. Like the protagonist of “Carlito’s Way”, a gangster trying to leave the life behind, he abandons flashy rap. On this double album, the Nashville rapper turns to resentment, abandonment, and bitterness. He becomes Starlito, one of the most respected rappers of the years to come.
Danny Brown, the rapper with the towering shock of hair and broken teeth, has a bit of everything. Boom bap and weird rap. Drugged-out lyrics and “conscious” rap. Humor and seriousness. No track sounds quite like the next, and that is precisely what makes the Detroit rapper so compelling. A late bloomer at thirty, this seasoned veteran finally joins the big leagues with “XXX”.
Long before they came to blows, the so-called cousins Trae and Z-Ro worked together as a duo. This second Assholes By Nature album, in particular, is a real gem. The two Houston rappers unleash their tales of everyday crime at full throttle, with insolence, pride, and flash. Yet beneath the bravado, their warm voices and melodic, carefully crafted sounds also carry a hint of melancholy.
After performing with Global Phlowtations – a collective within the extended Project Blowed family – Thavius Beck established himself first as one half of Labwaste, before earning further recognition through his solo work. His finest album, however, may well be this understated compilation of instrumental tracks, released only on CD-R and in digital format under his original alias, Adlib.
Another great L.A. record that sounds nothing like a typical L.A. record. On this legendary debut album, The Nonce, a duo closely associated with the Project Blowed collective, deliver a masterpiece of smooth, jazzy hip-hop steeped in a profound sense of nostalgia, sounding far more like the jazz rap of A Tribe Called Quest than anything coming from their Californian contemporaries.