As you know i gave Eminem the album of the year last year, but truth be told he was tied with Pusha T. I gave both albums a 98/100. which is a tie. This happened in 2011 also with Game's Red Album and Common's The Dreamer/The Believer. Its ironic that those 2 albums i only had at 94...which is good but, lots of 2013 rap albums were rated higher than that,(J.Cole Born Sinner, Kanye West, Yeeuzus, Run the Jewels, Jay-z Magna Carta Holy Grail, and Drake Nothing Was the Same.)
What does this mean? I think it means rap is recovering from an obvious recession in 2011 and yes even parts of 2012. I gave Kendrick Lamar a 99/100 which is borderline masterpiece. I think any album 97 and above is a classic. Nas came in 2nd at 97 with Life is Good. But anyways back to 2013. I hadnt really seen SO MANY good rap albums since 2010....which had the Masterpiece Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which i went back and forth with the rating, but finally decided on a 100/100.
Now however I am implementing a new system for rating music. It has 5 categories with 20 being the highest number, instead of 4 categories of 25pts.
Here's how these rap albums for 2013 are rated under the new system
- Pusha T:My Name is My Name- 90
- Eminem: Marshal Mathers LP 2- 93
- J.Cole: Born Sinner- 86
- Kanye West: Yeezus- 86
- Jay-z Magna Carta Holy Grail- 85
- Drake: Nothing Was the Same- 85
- Killer Mike & El-P: Run the Jewels- 88
Well based on these new scores, Eminem still has the album of the year, but he's not tied. My new system makes it very hard for any album to get a perfect 100. That was one of the points of making it.
The other albums all scored 85 and above. In the old system they were about 10 pts higher. Looking back on it...I'd say Yeezus may be the worst of the bunch, but Run the Jewels is doper than 88.
The other albums all scored 85 and above. In the old system they were about 10 pts higher. Looking back on it...I'd say Yeezus may be the worst of the bunch, but Run the Jewels is doper than 88.