Sunday, July 3, 2011

Quarterly Review: Best Hip-Hop From April - June

 

After a slow start to the year the second quarters seen a ton of new music released and with Kendrick Lamar, Royce Da 5'9, Vakill, J.Cole and Jay-Z / Kanye dropping in the next month or two there's plenty of good Hip-Hop still to come our way.

Playlist:
In general order of quality

Lupe Fiasco - Airplanes | Review
Vents - Marked For Death | Link
Kendrick Lamar - Ronald Reagan Era | Review
Richie Cunning - Pure Imagination | Review
Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPower | Review
Elzhi - Memory Lane | Link
Nas - Nasty | Review
Grieves - Boogie Man | Link
J.Cole - Return of Simba | Review
Big Sean - Wait For Me ft. Lupe Fiasco | Link
Brown Bag Allstars - See Again | Review
Random Axe - Jahphy Joe ft. Melanie Rutherford | Link
Drake - Marvin's Room | Review
Drapht - Sing It | Link
Royce Da 5'9 - Second Place (Prod. DJ Premier) | Review
Bobby Raps - Riff Raff | Review
Mr. J Medeiros - Neon Signs | Review
Blue Scholars - Cinemetropolis | Link
J.Cole - How High | Review
Drake - Trust Issues | Review
Jehst - England | Review
Drake - Dreams Money Can Buy | Review
Co$$ - Only When I Dream ft. Aloe Blacc & Sene | Review
Copywrite & Jakki Da Mota Mouth - Luscious | Review
Nametag - S.I.N ft. Quest MCODY & Buff1 (Prod. Black Milk) | Review
Ketchphraze - My Detroit ft. Trick Trick & Elzhi (Prod. Black Milk) | Review

For download links to individual songs click the 'review' link next to each track 


Releases:
Drapht - The Life of Riley


The best release from Australia so far this year. The album has "some great production, well complemented with dynamic hooks and an MC with a unique voice and versatile and varied content".
Rating: 7.7/10 | Full Review 


Blue Scholars - Cinemetropolis


Brilliant production, some of the best so far this year. Album does tend to get a little monotonous after a while however.
Rating: 7.3/10 | Full Review 


  Random Axe - Self Titled

 
This album really delivers exactly what you're expecting: great production from Black Milk and fairly good battle rap from Guilty Simpson and Sean Price. Nothing new or innovative about this release but it does what it does well.
Rating: 7.7/10 | Full Review


Elzhi - Elmatic

 
"Much like the original record there is zero filler and the whole release has a ton of replay value". Will Sessions does an amazing job recreating Illmatic's production and Elzhi has one of his strongest performances yet.
Rating: 9.0/10 | Full Review | Download


Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel

 
Disappointing. Every now and then you can see glimpses of what the project should have been (mainly from Royce's corner) but in the end the whole release is sub-par.
Rating: 6.2/10 | Full Review


Vents - Marked For Death

 
Vents is the Australian version of 'Lowkey' or a toned down Immortal Technique. Great aggressive delivery, great content and solid technical skills.
Rating: 7.4/10 | Full Review


Grieves - Together/Apart

 
Anyone that's never given Grieves a chance needs to, now. He's certainly not for everyone but anyone that's a fan of Brother Ali or Dessa is going to have a hard time not enjoying this release.
Rating: 8.7/10 | Full Review


Big Sean - Finally Famous

 
Big Sean falls into the Drake and Kid Cudi category of not necessarily being a great MC but still being able to make great music. Wasn't expecting to like this anywhere near as much as I did.
Rating: 7.5/10 | Full Review
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