Chesstown King's Reviews and Thoughts

Cardi returned in 2017 with another good mixtape. This one is shorter and better. “Lick” is a dope song. “Leave That Bitch Alone” is another smash. I didn’t care too much for “Never Give Up” tho. The album is more of the same. I cannot wait for her first full length album! Verdict: 8.2/10

It was the day of destiny for me when I got my first IPhone a little over a week ago. The phone is big, with a 5.5 inch screen. It’s made for media consumption and to be honest that’s the main reason I bought it. I love Itunes and Apple products. I already have an IPad Air , Ipod touch, and Ipod Classic.                 I like so much about this phone, so I’m going to tell you what I don’t like. Its basic but you have to manually switch between turning mobile data on and off. Android phones do that automatically lol. It’s a small gripe but its something that I don’t like about IPhones.                 Now for the numerous features I do like: Touch ID is blazing fast. Makes my Samsung Galaxy S6’s’ touch sensor look like a snail. The camera is beast. I have barely used it yet tho. The raise to wake feature is really really useful. The ability to buy apps with the afore mentioned Touch ID is really cool!                 Siri isn’t perfect but she/he is really use

Droid X2 (2011) Ah man the Droid X2 was my first real smart phone. It was amazing to me. It could do so many things that we unfortunately, take for granted today. Being able to surf the web, add a huge variety of   mobile games, and a fast processor. The Droid X2 did a lot of things right, but it didn’t even have a front facing camera. It also had only 8gb. That wasn’t even much space at the time even in 2011. I ran out of space so quick! Score: 7.5/10 Samsung Galaxy S4 (2013) So after the droid I wasn’t sure which phone I wanted until I saw Jay Z promote the SGS4. This phone was beast. I knew I wanted it. I just went out and bought it. It was improvement over my Droid X2 in every way. Bigger screen, more memory, and a great camera. I remember taking a lot of pics. I think mine had 16gb of memory. I really enjoyed this phone but a little over 2 years later I wanted something new. Score: 8.5/10 Samsung Galaxy S6 (2015) This is where things get interesti

This is a very uneven, poorly executed album. It’s like Common just….fell the f*** off lol. I know that’s not true. But in 2008 it seemed like it. “UMC” the title track is hot. The beat is hot. I really like “Announcement” which also features Pharrell Williams. Kanye shows up on “Punch Drunk Love” which is pretty decent. “Sex 4 Suga” is just god awful. All in all there are too many songs that are just meh. “Gladiator” is good too tho. I am missing it from my digital copy (Bootlegged back in the day hahaha lol). Verdict: 7.3

This is a hard album to review….only because I didn’t have it for so long! Someone stole my original edited copy…but I bought it on Itunes in the mid 2000s….and lost that somehow. I recently bought it again…So yes, I like the album a lot. It goes hard as F***! This is one of Nas’s best albums..well top half. “The Cross” gives me chills cause its so epic. Nas spits real sh**. “Warrior Song” features Alicia Keys, and man is it good. He tells the story of the early NY rap scene on “ Last Real N*gga Alive”. Then there’s “I Can”, a terrific song for the kids. (no its not corny). “Zone Out” is kinda bad tho…damn those Bravehearsts lol. Nasty Nas aint no joke! Overall Rating 95 Lyrics 24 Beats 24 Depth 24 Tilt 23 Verdict: 9.5

Truly one of the great R&B works of all time! I love Toni Braxton. Her voice is so sultry and seductive. This album is where it all started. It starts with “Another Sad Love Song” which is amazing. I like the laid back beat too. “Love Affair” is interesting as Toni stays loyal to her man even when a dude tries to steal her away. “Breath Again” is another terrific song. Odds are you probably have heard this by now as it came out in 93’. Its flawless…really it is. The range of emotions here good lawd. Verdict: 10

Britney’s magnum opus. Its obvious she was in prime form in 2001. This music oozes of creativity, sexiness, and vulnerability. The hit single, “I’m A Slave 4 U” is one of her best songs. That Neptunes beat tho….they also produced “Boys” another banger. “I Love Rock N Roll” is also a great song. “Overprotected” is amazing.There are no weak songs here, but I think it could have been slightly better…albeit not much hence the high score! Verdict: 9.9

Who would have thought that Cee-lo and Danger Mouse had such great chemistry. The album is pretty much without major flaws. “Crazy” is a terrific song about the human psyche. Cee Lo’s singing/lyrics are really good. The production is just as lively and unique. I’m not sure if this is the better of the 2 Gnarles Barkley albums but hey this one is really dope. I really like “St. Elsewhere” and “Gone Daddy Gone” too. If you haven’t listened to this one yet give it a listen. Verdict: 9.4/10

The Kiss of Death is the middle album in the Kiss trilogy, and its currently Jada’s best album. The album is really cohesive and deep. Lyrically Jada proves he’s a great rapper. His delivery is good. There’s a good amount of guest spots like Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey, Nate Dogg, DJ Quick, Pharrell, and even Eminem. Of course one of my favorite tracks is “Gettin’ It In” which features a funny Kanye West. Production wise the album has hard hitting, yet smooth beats. The single “Why” asks questions all hip hop fans should be asking…(or should have asked). Overall this is a one of the great East Coast albums of the 2000s. Verdict: 9.5

I can’t front…this is a pretty good album. Jaden comes off like a poor man’s Kid Cudi tho. Yes he does sing on quite a few tracks. His lyricism is B minus worthy but hey that’s passing. The album starts with some weird cinematic tracks. They spell the word blue, but each song is a letter in the word blue at the beginning. “Batman” is good. I really enjoyed “Icon”. The production is pretty polished threw out. I feel he needed more guests, but this is a decent album. I guess it runs in the family. Verdict: 8.4/10

Opening Opinion: 9.6/10                 The Slimshady LP is where Eminem’s career really took off. Technically its not his first body of work…but I don’t really consider Infinite legit. Let’s see how well this album holds up almost 20 years later.                 “Public Service Announcement” is   a funny skit. “My Name Is” was my first introduction to Em. It’s a great song. The jokes are funny af. “How you gonna breast feed me mom, you ain’t got no tits”. The beat is awesome too courtesy of Dr. Dre. “Guilty Conscious” features Dr. Dre. Its honestly one of the more creative tracks in slim’s library to date. Dr. Dre plays the good side of the conscious and Eminem plays the bad side. It goes through 3 scenarios.                 “Brain Damage” is one of my favorite Eminem songs. Em tells a story of him being in what I’m assuming is a middle school, but of course it’s an exaggerated tale lol. “Way before my baby daughter Hailey, I was harassed daily by this fat kid named D’angelo B

Talib Kweli’ s first outing is very good by all accounts. DJ Hi Tek provides some hot beats for Talib and the guest MCs to rap on. Every song is really good too. I really like “Blast” and “Down For the Count”. His lyricism is pretty much impeccable. The production isn’t far behind that either. You can just tell this man was going to have a long career if the Black Star album wasn’t proof enough. Listen to this album man. Verdict: 9.5/10

Could Ne-Yo hit the ball out of the park again in 2007? Well yeah he did. The album isn’t as good as In My Own Words, but few albums are. The first song, the title track, is actually the best here. The next 2, “Crazy” and “Can We Chill” are good but more standard Ne-Yo songs. “Do You” follows the tale of the girl we were introduced to on “So Sick” form his first album. It’s truly a great song. His singing and song writing didn’t take any steps back here. I really like “Angel”, “Sex With My Ex”, and “Go on Girl” too. I wasn’t really feeling “Leaving Tonight” tho. Great album. Verdict: 9.1

Beyoncé came back after a good debut abum, with a classic. This put her on top…where Queen B has been since 06. The album is pretty short. And I liked pretty much every song. The production tho….good lawd. Its vibrant and varied. Beyoncé get the feature list very very short here. Both songs with Jay Z are excellent. I love her attitude on “Ring The Alarm”. The “Get Me Bodied” Remix is fire. “Irreplaceable” is the ladies anthem apparently. This is how Contemporary R&B is done right. Verdict: 10/10

This was Mariah Carey’s come back album in 2005. The first 3 songs are some of her best. “We Belong Together” is one of my all time favorite songs. There are some other good ones here too…like “One and Only” featuring Twista. “Stay the Night” is compelling, and I like “Say Something” featuring Snoop Dogg. The album has a good mix of new fresh sounds mixed with some of her old sound too. The production is great as is her singing and lyrics.  Verdict: 8.8

1.        Transformers The Last Night-I really enjoyed Transformers 5. It was a firm step in the right direction despite some serious continuity errors with the first 3 movies. Despite that the cast is great and the action….you know I like that action! I cannot wait for #6. 2.        Star Wars The Last Jedi-This is my 2 nd pick…but I’ve only seen it once, so in the future I may look back and say this was my favorite film. TLJ is amazing by all accounts. The middle part is kinda uneven but I like the fact they made it different than Empire Strikes Back. I think this movie had a couple climaxes. 3.        Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2-This barely beat out Thor, but yeah its really an improvement over the original to me. It is really funny and the plot is really good. I found the movie slightly predictable….but it’s a win for Marvel. 4.        Thor Ragnarok-Thor 3 is a terrific film. Its well-paced and very interesting. Its also a funny movie unlike its predecessors….or I s