Chesstown King's Reviews and Thoughts

East Coast 1.        The Blueprint-Jay Z (100) 2.        Illmatic-Nas (100) 3.        Ready to Die-The Notorious B.I.G. (100) 4.        Reasonable Doubt-Jay Z (100) 5.        The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill-Lauryn Hill (100) 6.        The Black Album-Jay Z (99) 7.        Stillmatic-Nas (99) 8.        Everybody-Logic (98) 9.        Black on Both Sides-Mos Def (98) 10.    Blackstar-Mos Def & Talib Kweli (98) 11.    Supreme Clientelle- Ghostface Killah (97) 12.    Life After Death-The Notorious B.I.G. (97) 13.    Life is Good-Nas (97) 14.    2014 Forest Hills Drive-J.Cole (97) 15.    We Got it From Here…-A Tribe Called Quest (97) 16.    Capital Punishment-Big Pun(96) 17.    Born Sinner-J.Cole (96) 18.    Only Built 4 Cuban Linx-Raekwon (99) 19.    4 Your Eyez Only-J.Cole (96) 20.    Kiss of Death-Jadakiss (95) 21.    Quality-Talib Kweli (95) 22.    Train of Thought-Reflection Eternal(Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) (95) 23.    Get Rich or Die T

Luda’s 2 nd best album is C&B. It’s a lot of fun to listen to, despite very minor flaws. There’s lots of great songs here like Stand Up, Blow It Out, Screwed Up, and Splash Waterfalls. And that Intro song tho! Lyrically Luda’s as good as he’s ever been. The production is also very hot. The last 2 songs are also very very good. We Got is a perfect posse cut featuring Chingy. (What happened to him?) Anyway things aren’t all good. Teamwork is very skippable. I don’t care too much for Hoes in My Room either, which is Snoop Dogg assisted. Overall though it’s a great album with lots of replay value. Verdict: 9.3

Okay so I upped this one’s score. I mean I heard it after his best album WoM. However this is a good album. Luda’s bars are pretty good. The production is solid as well. The singles are hot af. Game Got Switched is awesome as well. I guess I expected more for some reason. Luda is so so silly on this album. Unlike some of his other albums it’s not forced at all. Southern Hospitality is one of the songs that made me a fan of rap period! Verdict: 8/10

Verdict: 9.2 Revolutions Per Minute is a great album. Its filled with good socially conscious songs. In fact there’s no weak songs. The lyrics are practically razor sharp but the beats are good too. There’s also a good amount of guest spots. I don’t have a lot to say about it’s content. Talib talks about the industry and blacks in America. It’s a f***in Talib Kweli cd man. It’s not really as good as the first Reflection Eternal album, but it’s not far off!

Missy’s 4 th album is a great one. Her lyrics are clever and fun. Songs like Work It, and Gossip Folks have some of the best beats I’ve ever heard. In fact these Timbaland beats are all stellar. Maybe his finest works…idk. Lyrically she’s good too. Most all the songs are dope too. The song with TLC and the song with Beyonce aren’t that great, but by no means terrible. Funky Fresh Dressed with Ms. Jade is f’n awesome. The Jay Z appearance is good too on Back in the Day. Overall it is just another dope album from Missy. Shoot she hasn’t made an album close to this good since. Verdict: 9.3

This was one of my favorite albums back in my teenage years. It was called “the hottest album since Doggystyle” which wasn’t really true, but it is a great album. There are a lot of songs, most are good but there’s some undeniable filler here like Promise I, Fresh Pair Of Panties On…etc. I mean they aren’t horrible songs but he should have just left songs like that off. Bang Out is a great song, as is the popular Drop it Like It’s Hot. There’s a lot of guests too: 50 Cent, Pharrell Williams, Trina, Nelly, and even Justin Timberlake. Overall if you’re a Snoop fan you should like this album although it doesn’t really have a west coast feel to it. Verdict: 9/10

Fab is one of the better East Coast mcs of the 2000s. He came out on September 11 th ,2001 ironically. The production is phenomenal. Lyrically he’s good too. This album doesn’t really sound as dated as you’d think it would. The singles are fire, but there are some other tracks I really like too: Right Now and Later On, Ma’be Easy, Ride For This, and The Bad Guy. Its got the right amount of guest spots too; Ja Rule, Lil Mo’ and Jagged Edge. Overall I’m not really sure Fab has matched this album. I mean maybe lyrically, but certainly not overall.  Verdict: 9.2

The only Timbo album I really listen to lol. This is a good album with something for everybody. The lyrics aren’t great, but that there not terrible either. The production is really solid, which is, what I’d expect. Songs like Bounce, Apologize, and Give it 2 Me are really dope. Then there’s Scream which features Timbaland at the end talking nonsense…lol. It’s a great song between Keri Hilson and Nicole S…(Cant spell Lol). There are some other highlights like A G-Unit assisted Come and Get Me, and Fantasy. Its not all good tho; Bombay and Board Meeting are pretty bad. Overall its just a fun listen. I recommend it to Rap, R&B, or Pop fans… Verdict: 8.5

My History of Video Games Have you ever wondered what video games got me into gaming or what I was playing during such and such console war? Well lemme break it down for you. Early Days I’m going to take you back to 1994. I got my first gaming system (not including PC), the Nintendo Entertainment system. Sure my Dad should have got me a SNES…but it was free….and looking back it was a piece of s*** system. Cause it barely worked. I had so many games….i had like more than 30…so take that Nintendo with your discontinued piece of …ahem lol. After that I got an N64 in 97 I believe. Yeah I was 9 years old. Let me tell you, back in 96-97 we had NEVER SEEN graphics like that before….so it was a beautiful system…and arguably the golden age of my gaming…however, I’m going to reexamine that quote later but remember this might be my golden age. Why? I played video games like all day! Games like Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldenye 007 Star Fox 64….Zelda Ocarina of Time

Logic’s 3 rd album is a beauty. Lyrically its not better, but the production is very very good. Also I liked every song. Logic borders on conscious rap here on most tracks. And when he’s not doing that he’s getting very personal, like on “Take it Back” where he gives you a rather long dialogue. The album has “Black Spiderman” which is like icing on a good cake. “Anziety” is a really good inspirational and personal song. The last song is really good too. If you heard his last mixtape, then you already heard a sample from “AfricAryan”…the “Oh my…oh My….” Part. Ultimately this will be in discussion for best rap album of 2017. Verdict: 9.8 *Want more Logic?...I might do a track by track review.....Havent done one of those in a while!* Overall Rating 98 Grade A+ Lyrics 24 Beats 24 Depth 25 Tilt 25

This is a great EP. Talib and Styles P have lots of chemistry. They spit about race relations…a lot. They also rap about the state of the Country too(U.S.A.).   The EP is only 7 songs and they’re all really good, but none really stand out amongst the 7. This EP has great lyrics and good beats. I like the guests too like Common and Rapsody. It definantly feels like half of a good Talib Kweli album. I recommend you listen to it if you’re a fan of Talib or Styles P. The last 3 songs are better than the first 4, but again, this is a dope EP. Verdict: 9/10