Chesstown King's Reviews and Thoughts

Jada’s 2009 offering is really good, even if there were a couple songs he could have left off. He shows great lyrical ability on the songs, and his delivery demands your attention. The beats are good too, and I felt the album had pretty good replayability. This one has a little something for everybody. I felt the collabo with Ne-yo wasn’t as good as it could have been. What If is a great song even if it is somewhat like his “Why” song from 2004’s Kiss of Death. “Letter to B.I.G.” is incredibly thoughtful and features Faith Evans. “Stress Ya” produced by the Neptunes might be the best song. There some other gems too like “Smoking Gun” featuring Jazmine Sullivan. “I Tried” and “Come and Get Me” are pretty mid tho. Overall it’s a good album. Lyrics 23 Beats 20 Depth 22 Tilt 20 Verdict 85

 I can't believe I hadn't reviewed this album yet. Rihanna wanted to make a much darker and edgier album than 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad. There's terrific songs here...in fact...there are no bad songs. "Fire Bomb" is light hearted but I love it. "G4L" is the album's darkest moment as she calls her fellow women to arms. "Stupid in Love" is obviously about Chris Brown( I mean who else?). There's the excellent song "Hard" with Jeezy. "Russian roulette" is provocative but its not one of my favorites. Ultimately this may not be her best album but its one you have to hear.... Lyrics 23 Beats 22 Depth 25 Tilt 23 Verdict 93 Expect a Rihanna worst to best album ranking from me soon. It's gonna be lit.

Rihanna is my favorite singer. I feel like I didn't really know a lot about her. I feel that she is a truly wonderful woman and she is SUPREMELY talented and a very beautiful. She is a tall woman from the Island of Barbados. I'm pretty sure my readers know of her. I feel the more I learn about her. The more intrigued I am by her. She's very passionate about what she does. Rihanna released 4 albums from 2009-2012. That's 4 years and all 4 albums were 90 rated (or above) which is incredible. I just feel she's a wonderful woman. I didnt know she was an ambassador fo rher country. She also is really into fashion. I think that what makes her perhaps the most dominant Pop-R&B artist of this current era is the fact that she is REAL. There is no fakeness with Rihanna. I can understand that an artist has to promote themselves for their music. But you don't get the sense "Artist Rihanna" is not the girl from "Barbados". I graded albums...

It’s time to review the easily most polarizing movie in the Transformers saga. Revenge of the Fallen came out in 2009. I remember being very hype to see it, and it didn’t let me down. In fact to let the cat out the bag this is my favorite one of Michael Bay’s renditions. The movie has great pacing, something that wasn’t really a problem in Transformers 1 either. The first half of the movie is certainly the better half however…culminating with arguably the best fight in Transformers; The forest scene. In fact this movie has a LOT more action than its predecessor. The plot isn’t as strong or cohesive but that’s really okay with me. Basically, the autoboots have formed a “designated strike team” called Nest with humans to hunt decepticons. The movie starts with Nest attacking 2 Decepticons in Hong Kong. It’s a really exciting scene. We see some new Autobots here as well such as side swipe and the twin bike girls (I Forgot their names). Optimus has to take down the giant decep...

Opening Opinion: 8.9/10                 I gotta admit this is an album I loved more in 2009 then now 8 years later. Maybe it’s the fact Eminem himself hates this album. Maybe it’s the fact he did a 180 degree turn a year later with Recovery. Regardless this is a good album. Lets get into it, in depth.                 “Dr. West” is the intro. It’s creepy. Em wakes up after the doctor tempts him with pills. “3 a.m.” is very disturbing. In fact its one of his most graphic songs. Em goes on this kind of serial killer journey. Well get used to it cause it’s a reoccurring theme on Relapse… The next song, “My Mom” is funny. It’s produced by Dr. Dre(like most of the album). Em raps about his mom doing drugs and making him do drugs…which I am sure is mostly exaggerated. “Insane” is just that. Em raps about a being messed with sexually by a s...

Relapse Refill was a nice set of a bonus tracks to Eminem’s Relapse album. It starts with Forever, but I consider that a Drake song. The production on Hell Breaks Loose featuring Dr. Dre is perfect. I didn’t enjoy Buffalo Bill at all. The rest of the songs are good tho, especially Elevator. So basically this is more of the same. If you liked Relapse refill your prescription…. Verdict: 8.8

K’naan’s album is a good album. What shines the most is his flow. Lyrically he’s a beast. Everything else is pretty good also, but a couple steps below his incredible lyricism. The album does a great job of giving you that African/Somalian feel too. Wavin Flag Remix is a stand out, as is Does It Really Matter. I really like America too. T.I.A. is also a great track. Overall though the album suffers from some slower tempo songs after the halfway point. Despite this its still a great album.. Verdict: 8.7/10 

The Verdict is.....a 8.9/10...I cant believe I forgot to blog about this lol Slim shady returns after a 5 year hiatus. Relapse is good, but it deserves most of the criticism it got. I’ll start with the bad. He raps like a serial killer too much. And it feels forced and out of place. The weak songs are kind of boring and there are similar,better songs on this album. This album has mostly good songs on it, like Insane, which is a good description, and BfB has some nasty disses towards Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon. Hello is a fun up-tempo song. We Made You is a great song, full of fun metaphors. Underground is a maddening masterpiece. Déjà vu is great, but Beautiful is the best song, and kind of sets the bar for his next album. Overall I felt he was trying too hard to recreate the Slimshady LP, he partly succeeded but this album isn’t as creative as that one.

Animal Ambition: This album is by far 50’s worst. There’s not really any terrific songs, but there are some good ones like Animal Ambition, Flip On You, and Pilot. However he caters to the ladies far too much in the middle of the album. Maybe  he was making up for the lack of lady friendly songs on Before I Self Destruct. C- Before I Self Destruct: Fitty’s 4 th album is pretty damn good. He sounds very focused lyrically on it. The album has some quality songs like Baby By Me and Do You Think About Me. Those are the only lady friendly songs. The album is still high  quality. There’s not many guest spots either. Check out the excellent bonus track Flight 187. B- Curtis : The 3 rd album from 50 Cent is good, but you cant help but feel like he’s lost a lot of his ambition that made him great. However the album has some gems on it. However only 2 songs, “Ayo Technology” and “I Get Money” feel on par with 50’s usual standards for a hit. The album is hit or miss, w...

Drake’s original mixtape…I didn’t get to hear it till 2014. Yeah I had the EP…which was fire. I’ve heard some of these songs on the EP, but there are some standout songs here that I really like. Ignant Sh** with Lil Wayne is dope. Also Unstoppable featuring Santigold is arguably the best song. Of course there’s Best I Ever Had which is the  awesome heartbreak drizzy song. The extended version of Succesful, Trey Songz’s song is dope too. In hindsight, its better than Drake’s first 2 albums easily. The verdict... .9.25/10 . Shopping bag drizzy!

In this battle Eminem’s 2 “comeback” albums will be pitted against each other. The OP is a tie between Relapse(2009) and Recovery(2010). Album Relapse Recovery Result Singles B B Tie Lyrics A A+ Recovery Beats B B- Relapse Cohesiveness B+ B+ Tie Legacy C+ B- Recovery Final Result: Well this is a close battle. I felt the singles for both albums were great, but ultimately We Made You is just as good as No Love. Lyrically Recovery features a more lyrical Em but not a whole lot more lyrical. Relapase had great production, while Recovery’s beats weren’t spectacular. The albums tied in their construction and quality songs as well. What made this battle was the Legacy for Em. Relapse was great but not hailed very high from the fans. Recovery wins due to this!!!

Mariah has been trying to perfect her new style since 2005, but she seems to have finally done it, after her previous albums disappointment.   The album is really good front to back. Vocally Mariah shows lots of range . I can tell the DREAM wrote most of the songs, and they are very clever. The production is great also. The album holds up well to repeated listens, but some songs sound a tad bit too similar. Minor complaints aside this is the album she should have came out with in 2008. I feel that Eminem was way out of line on his Relapse song. Ultimately this album is known for the song Obsessed instead of it being a great album. So the final score is a 9.5/10 . MC!

50’s 2009 effort is a step in the right direction from the only right above average Curtis…He sounds fierce here, but it kinda sounds forced, just like his label mate Eminem’s Relapse. In fact both rappers were trying to get back to their roots on their 09 albums. However 50’s lyrics are good and the delivery is good. The beats are like an 8/10 which is kinda low for a 50 Cent album. Most of the songs are quality such as the great BBM with Ne-yo, and Psycho with Eminem. 50 does a great job of holding you attention, even though some of the songs sound too similar.   The album isn’t contructed that well as far as track order, but this is a win for 50. I hope he tries more experimental things like on Curtis and stops just getting rich, and keeps trying lol. The final verdict is a 8/10 for 50....its a good album but not great. Is his career over???

Amerie’s In Love & War Review             Amerie’s 4 th album came out in 2009 originally. It is, in my opinion one of the best sounding R&B albums in Contemporary R&B. I really like Amerie’s style and she really diversifies her sound here.   The album’s first half is very high tempo with songs like Heard Em All, Higher, and Dangerous. The middle part is where things slow down a bit. She is joined by Trey Songz on Pretty Brown which is a remake of an old song. Fabolous joins her on the next song, More Than Love. The album slows down into very emotionally charged songs like Different People, The Flowers, and Dear John. The latter song, being one of the more bitter songs against a former lover.             Overall I feel this album just showcases Amerie. She does songs that sound like they could be on a rock album early on in the album. She is ...

Slim shady returns after a 5 year hiatus. Relapse is good, but it deserves most of the criticism it got. I’ll start with the bad. He raps like a serial killer too much. And it feels forced and out of place. The weak songs are kind of boring and there are similar,better songs on this album. This album has mostly good songs on it, like Insane, which is a good description, and BfB has some nasty disses towards Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon. Hello is a fun up-tempo song. We Made You is a great song, full of fun metaphors. Underground is a maddening masterpiece. Déjà vu is great, but Beautiful is the best song, and kind of sets the bar for his next album. Overall I felt he was trying too hard to recreate the Slimshady LP, he partly succeeded but this album isn’t as creative as that one. Ima give this album a 8.75/10. Its very good with minimal faults.

- Before I heard this album, I didn’t think much of the Wu Tang Clan, let alone Raekwon, their best MC. This album is the sequel to his incredible OB4CL part one. The album touches all the basis of the streets. The guest spots are well used as well Ghostface Killah always seems to command the spotlight, and Busta and Jadakiss do well on their respective features. Overall it’s a really good album and for the most part is a modern day rap masterpiece.   Overall i give this album a 9.5/10. It's another great dish from the Chef, Raekwon!