Chesstown King's Reviews and Thoughts

 So 2011 was 10 years ago. I thought it would be fun to go through my top 10 rap albums of that year and give new perspective on them. I'll give what I said about the album 10 years ago as well as new commentary. I had alot of these albums ranked numerically about the same at the time. 10) Drake- Take Care What I Said Then-  Coming back 1 year after last year’s Thank Me Later, this album isn’t quite as good, but it’s more cohesive than his debut. Drake also seems more comfortable this time around. I really liked about every song, especially Headlines and Take Care. Either you like this because of the singing, or you’ll hate it. Drizzy rounds my top 10. What I think Now- Well to be honest I still don't really love this album more than Thank Me Later...but I have to admit its a better album. There's just not many skips on it all. It probably should of been ranked a little higher than 10th. Drake was in his lane on this album. Songs like "Headlines" and "Take C...

15) Drake-Scorpion: Drake's Scorpion is a good album, but its just too much....Drizzy. Its like he's not bringin anything new to the game at this point. The man needs a creative break. He's dropped projects alot in the past 10 years. 14) Lil Wayne Carter V:Carter V is finally here and its good. I love how focused Weezy sounds lyrically. Most songs are good but like the Drake project it gets kinda to be too much Wayne. I kinda wish we could get one more album from him but he's given us enough tbh. 13) Meek Mill-Championships: Meek Mill's album was  nice surprise. I loved how fresh it sounds even tho a number of songs use old samples. The numerous guest spots are generally well used. I dont listen to him a whole lot but now I think he deserves more of my time. 12) Eminem-Kamikaze:This album had some bad reviews...but I knew I was gonna cop it. This is a really good album. It kinda reminds me of Recovery, but its well...meaner. Eminem lashes out at the same fans ...

20) G-Eazy: The Beautiful & Damned (92)-I’m not the biggest G-Eazy fan but this is his best album. He’s dope. It dropped a bit from it’s earlier spot tho. 19) N.E.R.D.: No One Ever Really Dies (92)-If I had more time maybe this would be #15…but for now its 19. Great album from Pharrell and company tho. 18) Drake: More Life (92)-This album grew on me. Its really dope. The 3 songs in the beginning flow together so f***in well! (Passionfruit/Jorja Interlude/Get It Together). 17) Vic Mensa: The Autobiography (92)-I love this album but I wasn’t sure I wanted it till I saw other reviews. Its highly personal and introspective. He’s the future of Roc Nation. 16) Eminem: Revival (92)-This is a sequel to Relapse and Recovery. And I think it’s the best of the 3. Sure it doesn’t rank too high but it’s no this list of must listen to albums for the year. 15)Action Bronson: Blue Chips 7000 (92)-AB really killed it with this dope album. It was much better than his 2015 outing,...

1)Logic-Everybody (98) - Logic has the title right now as far as the best rap album of 2017. Why? The album is really honest, really straight forward, and oh yeah; sounds good af. Logic is black and white and he pretty much makes sure you know it. However, the skits are unnecessary. Great album and the one to beat for 2 nd half albums of 2017. 2)Kendrick Lamar: DAMN (97) -King Kendrick aka Kung Fu Kenny comes back in 2017 with an explosive album. Its also his most accessible. Ironically this is the weakest of the 3 major projects! K.dot flows effortlessly over the great production. A must listen to album for this year no doubt. 3)Jay Z-4:44 (97) -Great Hova blesses us in 2017 with this short album. It features a very vulnerable Jigga. A very apologetic Shawn Carter. I think that’s just we needed from him in 2017! The Story of O.J. will go down as one of his best songs. It’s a must cop. 4)Run The Jewels: Run the Jewels 3 (97) -I didn’t get this album until 2017, so I’m put...

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) ...

Anyone that follows this blog or knows me knows that I am a huge Kanye West fan. But which albums are the best , or the worst? LEts get into it! I will be including Watch the Throne and Cruel Summer here. 9) 808s and Heartbreak-80: This is the oddball in his discography. I always liked this album even if it took some getting used to. He abuses auto-tune here. I think it works for the most part like on songs like “Paranoid” and “Heartless”. Kanye sings a LOT on this album. The lyrics aren’t up to K’s standards(Old Kanye or New). The songs are pretty catchy however. This album kind of changed the game so if it were which Kanye album was most important, this would be higher on the list. Top Tracks: Heartless, Love Lockdown, Coldest Winter, Amazing. 8) Watch the Throne-91: I really like this album, but it sounds a little more dated than some of the other albums on this list. It’s a very well rounded album with high replay value. “Made In America” is the worst song and is quite cor...

It's time to rank the discography of the "Great white Rapper". I will not include D-12 albums or Shady XV. 10)  Infinite-75: Em’s first body of work is decent but really nothing special. It’s just so overmatched by his later works….but if you want to listen to his beginnings give it a spin. 9)  Encore-80: This is a good album…but its like Eminem was literally running out of things to talk about. There are some gems here, but most of the songs are mid level. The production is good and the lyrics are decent. He was clearly on drugs for songs like “My 1 st Single” and the retarded “Rain Man”. Top Tracks: Like Toy Soldiers, Just Lose It, Ass Like That, Mosh. 8)  Bad Meets Evil-85: Em finally teamed up with Royce da 5’9’’ again for a whole album. BME is a dope project. It was nice to hear Em rap ferociously after a more laid back Recovery album. Royce holds his own too, he even says, “Now I’m 2 nd best, I can deal with that.” The lyricism is really good, but the...

The King of the mother***in south shawty. Lets' look at the kingly albums from worst to best. 10)           No Mercy-69: No Mercy is his worst album by far. It has decent production but he comes off as lazy and uninspired. Its like he wants you to feel sorry for him and that’s just not kingly at all.There are some gems tho, like “That’s All She Wrote” and “Amazing”. This album was originally titled King Uncaged…thank God he changed it. Top Tracks: Welcome to The World, No Mercy, Amazing, That’s All She Wrote. 9)    I’m Serious-80: This is his actual first album, and every true T.I. fan knows it. This album isn’t bad but its not great either. It sounds extremely dated. It came out in 2001. Its nice hearing a young TIP tho. Top Tracks: Dope Boyz, I’m Serious, Do It. 8)       T.I. vs TIP-83: I really like this album but there’s a lot of flaws. It gets off to a strong start then gets really uneven. The TIP part of his personality i...

Time to rank the albums of Great Hova! I call him great hova cause lets face it, he's not young anymore. I have omitted Dynasty Roc La Famlia....I just don't feel its a Jay album...it's more of a Roc A Fella album. . And I'm not including Collision Course(With Linkin Park) or the R.Kelly albums. Watch the Throne with Kanye will be on the list however. With that out of the way lets get into it 12) Blueprint 2-82 : BP2 is Jay’s effort right after his masterpiece album. The production is solid here. However Jigga was trying to many different things on here. Some were really effective like “03 Bonnie & Clyde” and others it didn’t. All in all his bars are not up to his usual standards…It is a double disc….so theres a lot of filler. Top Tracks: U Don’t Know (Remix), 03’ Bonnie & Clyde, Excuse Me Miss, Hovi Baby, The Watcher 2. 11) Kingdom Come-84: Jay’s coming out of retirement party is decent…..The production is flashy but not that cohesive as oth...

Wassup y'all. I was just looking at my list of Best Rap Albums ever reviewed(no need to look at it it's very dated). I was thinking of what makes a these 4 rap albums the best I've ever heard. Thats right they are 100 rated albums or 10/10. They arent the only ones, but man are they excellent. I'm going to break down the four. Jay Z: The Blueprint  (2001) This is Jay's best album, although Reasonable Doubt is technically just as good score wise. BP1 is incredibly well executed from both a lyrical standpoint and production wise. Jay was in top form here. He was closse tying this one with Black Album but nope. Its one of those albums where I can truly hit the shuffle button and just let it play. I guess you could say that about all four of these albums. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) If you've been around, then you know I love this album. While I do not feel this is the album we should remember Kanye for; I do feel its his best. I...

1Here we have the top rap albums of 2016. I just got Run the Jewels so it will go with the 2017 albums. ALso i have no score for Ab-Soul and Vince Staples albums....but i dont think they woulda cracked the top 15 so.....there you go guys.  .        Common-Black America Again (97) One of Common’s best albums. Lyricism is on point here and the production and depth is not in question either. The title track is tremendous. It’s in a 3 way tie for the best album of the year. 2.        A Tribe Called Quest-We Got it From Here..Thank You for Your Service(97) I didn’t expect to like this album so much, but there’s plenty of guest spots which works. Q-tip is a shade or two below an all time great rapper too. Phife Dawg would be proud. 3.        Kid Cudi-Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin (97) Arguably the most enticing album of the top 3. Kid Cudi’s return to form and great album of the 201...