Rap Expo Part 3-The Labels

· Bad Boy: Puff Daddy/Diddy-Our first group on the expo is Bad Boy. A dominant rap label...plain and simply is cursed. It started out with the Notorious BIG's murder. After that it just went slowly downhill. Sure Diddy went solo for a while, and he's recruited lots of talent like Ma$e, Da Band, Loon, G Dep, Craig Mack, and MGK....but ultimately no Bad Boy Artist after Biggie Smalls has been that successful. Overall i feel Bad Boy has been rather trend setting however.
B

· Roc Nation/Rocafella Records: Jay-z-Jay-z's Rocafella Records enjoyed a good deal of success with rappers like Freeway, Beanie Siegel, and later Kanye West and J.Cole. Jay-z remained the main act here, despite the other rappers having success. J.Cole is the future of Rap, well hell, his time is now. I'll talk more about Kanye when i get to his label further down.
B+

· Shady Aftermath: Dr. Dre & Eminem- This is a difficult label to judge. Like Bad Boy Records, Aftermath has seen many rappers come and go. Eminem has proved to be an elite rapper, and he's recruited talented rappers like 50 Cent, Yelawolf, and Obie Trice. You might even consider the Game an extention of Shady Aftermath even though he has his own label now. The fututre looks ok for the label.
A-

· Young Money Cash Money- I've combined YMCMB with the old Cash Money. Cash Money Rappers like Juvenile, BG, and Lil Wayne, were followed by non dirty south rappers like Drake and Nicki Minaj. This label seems to go as far as Lil Wayne will take it. He is the heart and soul of the label, despite having Carter V album delayed. Drake and Nicki are also very succesful. The future doesn't look as bright as it has in 2005-2013 for the label however.
A

· G.O.O.D. Music-Kanye West is a supreme talent, and he assembled a very good squad of rappers for his label, He started out just with Common, an elite Chicago rapper, but Common would eventually leave. GOOD Music has Kid Cudi, 2 Chainz, Pusha-T,Cyhi Da Prynce and Teyanna Taylor. With all that talent joining Kanye....this label cant be stopped.
A+

· The Inc.(Murda Inc): JA Rule & Irv Gotti-Perhaps a label can onnly stay popular for so long. At one time JA Rule was a dominant rapper, accompanied by singer Ashanti. The sky was the limit...then came The Inc's dark times and G-Unit. This NY Label is now just a relic....a shadow of its former glory....
C-

Nas Albums Worst to Best

20) Nastradamus (75)- It really shouldn’t be a surprise to see this one ranked so low. The lyricism isn’t abysmal but everything is pretty average. How does a song like “Big Girl” make it to a Nas album?? It’s just a boring album plain and simple….I don’t really have a lot to say about it. 19) Street’s Disciple (82) -I hate having this one so low. I honestly like a lot of the songs on this double disc. Unfortunately there’s quite a bit of filler here just like with Jay-z’s Blueprint 2. Disc one has hits like “Nazareth Savage”, “American Way”, “ Just a Moment” and “ You Know My Style”. Disc 2 has some heat on it too: “Suicide Bounce”, the title track, “Virgo”, “Bridging the Gap” and “Thiefs Theme”. 18) T he Lost Tapes 2 (86) -This one I admit I haven’t heard that much…but its pretty decent. It gets off to a good start with songs like “Vernon Family” and “Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack)”. A lot of these songs are ok….but not muc...

Album Review: Kid Cudi-Insano (regular version)

I gotta admit I didn't like this album that much when I first heard it over half a year ago. I've heard that Kid Cudi doesn't exactly play to his strengths....that's partly true. I do like his rapping here tho. Honestly most songs here kinda blend together....."Keep Bouncin'" is really hype....and it gets the album off to a good start. "At The Party" with Pharrell Williams and Travis Scott may be my favorite song. "Wow" with A$AP Rocky is another highlight. Overall tho I feel this album tries too hard to be trendy. Cudi needed to put more of his pain into it. I mean a happy Cudi album isn't a bad thing but it really seems odd to me. You're not getting alot of singing or hums here know what I mean? However the production I found to be very good. Cudi is one of my favorite rappers like top 20 and I guess this will do for 2024. Lyrics 20 Beats 23 Depth 21 Tilt 21 Verdict 85

Album Review: Lupe Fiasco's Tetsuo & Youth

Lupe has come back, and with a classic album. He seemed to be back on tracks with Food and Liquor II, but F&L2 wasn’t as fun to listen to as his earlier albums. Even LASERS was more fun. This album however, is very complex and fun to listen to. It’s also incredibly well produced. Lupe proves he’s still a top lyricist in the game. Check out his lyrical showcase on Mural, or storytelling on Prisoner 1 & 2. He’s got a really long song called Chopper which features a lot of guests but its all good. The last song might be the weakest which features Ab-Soul. No Scratches feat. Nikki Jean is one of my favorite songs here. The interludes are pretty intersing, but ultimately skippable. This album is already up for album of the year, and honestly it will be hard for anyone to match this effort. The verdict... its 10/10 for me. This is a great album

Chesstown King's Reviews and Thoughts

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