Chesstown King's Reviews and Thoughts

Ah yes I get to review another G-Eazy album. I’m hearing after hearing When It’s Dark Out. Honestly this one is just as good overall. There are some well used guest spots like E-40 and A$AP Ferg. What about Gerald? Yeah he’s introspective to a degree, but his flow or delivery is nothing spectacular. I found the production was not as good as WIDO either.Despite this the album is really good. There’s plenty good songs here. The Verdict: 8.7/10..not stellar but good.

The latest Royce da 5’9’’ album is really good. It’s a very personal album for Royce. The first song Tabernacle, sets the tone. The production is the weak point of the album, but its fine. Lyrically Royce does not disappoint. He slaughters pretty much every track….get it lol? Even the skits are very meaningful.Anyway this is one album you need to check out if you’re a fan of Slaughterhouse or Royce. Verdict: 9.2/10

Ayo Taylor I’m happy for you, imam let you finish; but this one of the best albums of all time! Verdict: 9.8/10 Yes it’s true I really like this album. The melodies are dope, her singing is actually the weakpoint, but that’s not much to complain about. This is a terrific album with stellar production and great replay value. My favorite songs are Blank Space, Shake it Off, Style, and Welcome to New York.

Big Boi and T.I. already advanced to R3. Drake vs. Ludacris: Bout to be lit….turn up. Flow-Tough choice. These are 2 different kinds of rapping styles….but TIE. Delivery-Both rappers have good varied deliveries, but I feel Luda is a little more consistent. Albums-Another tough category…but Drake wins here. NO WEAK ALBUMS. Story-Almost unfair here, as Luda doesn’t really tell many stories…but he’s decent. Drake wins this one as well. Legacy-This is insane as Luda has been dominant in the early 2000s, while Drake is dominant now. Luda would win this…4 years ago…but now I’m sayin Drizzy. Drake wins 4-2 Jeezy vs. Lil Wayne: Similar rappers go at it. F-Tie. Both rappers have some good flow. Both have changed their rapping styles also. D-Tie. Both rappers have varied deliveries so yeah mane. A-Jeezy gets the nod here. Wayne’s best is Carter 3, and Jeezy’s best, the Recession is better than that easily. S-Wayne wins this category. Albeit not by much… L-Way

Kanye West and Eminem advanced to R3 automatically. Lupe vs. Kid Cudi:  Different styles goin at it. Flow-I feel that Lupe wins but not by a wide margin….lol just kidding yes Lupe. Delivery-Both rappers are crisp, but Kid Cudi just has that melodic thing working for him. KC Albums-While KC has 3 great albums, Lupe has like 4. Lupe Story-This is tough.  I’m going to say tie. Both rappers are great at this. Legacy-Ah yes Legacy. Lupe has been more consistent so he gets the nod. Lupe wins 4-2 Common vs. Tech N9ne: Upset? F-Both rappers have great flows. Tech spits faster but not better. TIE. D-Tech gets the nod here. He has a very distinctive delivery. A-Common gets the nod here, but not by much actually. S-Another Tie. Both are really good storytellers. L-This is hard to call. Common is more well known, but Tech is really dope too. I’m going to give the tie breaker to Common. There you go.

Kendrick vs. 2pac: Great battle here… Flow-Hmm to be honest I feel this is a tie. Which may seem odd cause I said Jay Rock had better flow in Round 1…but whatever. TIE Delivery-2pac wins this one, but not by much….. Albums-Kendrick wins this one. He’s got such an impressive discography. 2pac’s body of work is close tho. Storytelling-Another tie…lol. Both rappers are really proficient here. Legacy-Now this is kinda tough. Kendrick is dominant now, but 2pac is clearly a legend….Pac. 2pac wins 4-3 . Ice Cube vs. Schoolboy Q uh oh... F-Tie. Both rappers have great flows. Ice Cube is simplistic but effective, SBQ is more complex… D-Tie. I really like both rapper’s delivery so surprisingly it’s a tie. A-Ice Cube wins this rather easily. His first 2 albums were classics to Schoolboy’s 2 good albums. S-Cube wins this one, albeit rather easily. L-Ice Cube definitely gets the nod here…He’s just had a great run, albeit not so much lately tho. Ice Cube wins 5-

Rules: The top seed winners don’t compete this round…. Eastern Bracket :Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. advance automatically Jay-z vs. Talib Kweli: A couple of veterans… Flow-Tie, both Jay and Talib Kweli have elite flows… Delivery-Jay-z wins but not  by a whole lot. Albums-Jay-z wins again but not easily. Both rappers have some seriously great bodies of work… Story-Talib wins. He’s a conscious rapper and one of rap’s best storytellers… Legacy-I gotta say Jay has done so much for rap… Jay-z wins 4-2 Ghostface Killah vs. Nicki Minaj F-Hmm well both are pretty good but I gotta say Ghost has a dope flow…so Ghost D-Nicki manages to edge this category out….She really brings it consistently… A-Ghost wins, but mostly just due to having more albums… Story-Ghost face by a mile….Nicki isn’t a proficient storyteller… L-This is tough. Ghost has meant more to the genre, but Nicki has trandescended rap and become a pop star….Nicki…

Big Boi vs. Future : Different styles from ATL… Flow-Big Boi wins this easily…just think about it. Delivery-Big Boi wins again, but not by a whole lot… Albums-Outkast’s legacy is incredible, but I’m actually judging this off Big Boi’s solo career….he wins again. Story-A hard category to judge for a dirty south rapper. It’s a tie…lol Legacy-Big Boi is legendary with Outkast but I’d have to say Future wins as a solo artist based strictly off of legacy… Big Boi wins 4-2 Ludacris vs. Scarface: 2 dirty south legends… Flow-This is tough…I’m going to have to give it to Luda. But not by much. Delivery- Tough choice, but Luda’s delivery is versatile. Luda A-Luda wins, but not by much. I feel his body of work is just a little greater. S-Luda is a decent storyteller but its not really his forte’. Scarface excels at it…Scarface L-THIS is harder than you think, but I say Scarface has had a greater legacy than Luda, albeit not by much. Not at this point in 2016. Lu

Kanye West vs. Nelly:  The great back pack rapper vs. the great pop rapper Flow: Now this is interesting. Nelly has a solid flow and is really consistent, while Kanye has had the occasional stuggle bar(s) lol. Nelly. Delivery: Kanye wins this category. He’s got some solid delivery. Nelly isn’t half bad tho. Albums: Okay this one isn’t close….Nelly has some good albums, but nothing classic level. Kanye runs away here. Storytelling: Kanye gets the nod again as Nelly is a pop rapper. Legacy: Kanye!!!! Kanye wins 4-1 Royce da 5’9’’ vs. Kid Cudi: Polar opposites go at it. F-This is harder than it looks. Royce is a great lyricist but he’s pretty equal to Cudi flow wise….TIE D-This is also tough. Both rappers are pretty distinctive…well its another tie. A-Royce wins this one…but not easily. Mostly due to the fact his last album Is great, Kid Cudi’s last one is very odd and average. S-Royce can story tell, but its not really his proficiency. Cudi is kind of a b

Zelda A Link to the Past was one of the first games in the illustrious series. I recently beat it again today (with 113 Deaths). It's a very very challenging game. You basically just move around and slash with your sword and use items. The game is simple...on the surface. It actually takes place after Ocarina of Time, but ironically it's the game blueprint for Ocarina. The game starts out pretty slowly. You help your Uncle who gets really sick/injured take his sword and head out to rescue Princess Zelda from the clutches of the evil Aganahim. *Spoiler Alert* the evil wizard is none other than Ganon the demon king himself....You eventually go to 3 dungeons to get 3 pendants to unlock the evil destroying blade, the master sword. After that you head to the dark world to free the seven sages...(Although this isn't your first time in the dark world.) The game then gets a lot tougher. Enemies do more damage,and take more. It's not until you temper the master sword to Lv

The Game vs. Snoop Dogg: This should be harder than it looks to judge… Flow-Both these rappers have great flows. TIE Delivery-While Snoop has good delivery, he’s inconsistent. Game has one of the best deliveries in the game..lol. Game Albums-Both have some great albums under their belt…but I feel Game’s are better overall. Game Story-This is hard to judge…so I’m just going to give it to both. TIE. Legacy-Snoop gets the nod here. As great as Game is, it’s hard to ignore what Snoop has meant to the game…Snoop The Game wins 4-3 2pac vs. Jay Rock: A legend vs. a talented young MC… F-2pac is an all around great rapper but Flow wasn’t his greatest attribute. Jay Rock is a potent lyricist…Jay Rock wins this round… Delivery-Another tough category…Both rappers have really good delivery. TIE A-Well Jay Rock has only one good album, and Pac has at least 3 or 4. SO Pac. S- Story telling easily goes to Pac who’s one of the best at it…Pac L-Are u serious? Pac by a

Nas vs. Ja Rule : This might be about as lopsided a matchup as you will see. Lets break down the rappers  by category… Flow-Nas ha s a really crisp flow while Ja is ok…maybe decent at best. Winner Nas. Delivery-Nas has great delivery but not really the best. Ja has ok delivery. Tie Albums-Nas gets the nod easily, he’s the higher seed for a reason. Nas Storytelling-Nas is arguably the best in the game at this, Ja Rule not even close. Nas Legacy-Nas wins again…he’s just too much of a great rapper…Ja set the standard for melodic rapping…but Nas again.. Nas Wins 5-1 Talib Kweli vs. Jadakiss: These are two very different rappers and it aims to be a good matchup. Flow-Talib has one of the best flows imo. Jada isn’t bad either.  Tie Delivery- Talib has good delivery, but Jada has one of rap’s best voices…Jada. Albums-Talib wins by a little bit. He just has more great albums than Jada who has about 2. Talib Story-Talib is one of the best in this category. Talib

Views is kinda of a weird album from Drake. He dropped the “from the 6” from the title. No love for Toronto?? LOL It’s a great album tho, his rhyming and singing cadences are as good as ever. The beats are also really subtle and cohesive. Cohesion though is a weak point. There is filler here, but the stand out tracks really do stand out. The intro track Keep the Family Close, I liked. The guest spots are pretty good but some songs sound like cut and paste formula from past albums like Grammys with Future. Overall I like this album a lot. Its one of his best so I don’t agree with the reviews that score it poorly. Verdict: 9.3/10  

Rap Region Tournament Guidelines Ever wonder who’s the best rapper in their region all time? This tournament will put the best against the best. Regions: East Coast, West Coast, Midwest,  Dirty South  How Rappers Battle/Guidelines (Not Scored but considered) ·          Flow-How well the rapper rhymes on beat. ·          Delivery- How good is the rapper’s diction not neccesarily the strength of their voice ·          Albums-How good is the rapper’s body of work (Scored out of 10) ·          Storytelling-How well does the rapper tell a story ·          Legacy-What kind of impact has the rapper had on the game. Eligible Rappers (Only 12 for Each Region) East Coast 1.        Nas (9.5) 2.        The Notorious B.I.G. (9.5) 3.        Jay-z (9) 4.        J.Cole(8.5) 5.        Talib Kweli (8.5) 6.        Ghostface Killah (8.5) 7.        Raekwon (8) 8.        Jadakiss (7.5) 9.        Nicki Minaj (7) 10.     50 Cent (7) 11.

Queen B has done it again with another stellar album. It starts out with Pray You Catch Me, a soft and slow song. It quickly gets hostile with Hold Up. Sorry is another great song featuring the “Sasha Fierce” side of Beyonce. 6 Inch is a great song featuring the Weekn’d. The last 3 songs are just awesome, one of them being Formation. Its an odd album for me to score. I loved the lyrics and singing and I also liked every song. Despite this it’s still not as good as her last album, albeit not far behind. She’s clearly on top of the contemporary R&B scene right now. Verdict: 9.7/10

AP is a really soulful singer, and he raps sometimes too. The entire album, for the most part, is very catchy. The production is a weak point, but even that is pretty solid. The album also features guest spots from Schoolboy Q, BJ the Chicago Kid, Rapsody, Talib Kweli, and The Game. This guy is really talented…he’s kind of like the new Nate Dogg…yeah I said it. Just watch. Its easy to see why this album is so critically acclaimed. Its so solid. The Verdict: I went back and forth on the final score, its a 9.3/10 for me...