Danny Brown - Old ALBUM REVIEW

Uniqueness and originality have been key components for all rappers. As far as their music and their character. There's certainly no denying that hip hop has seen it's fair share of stand out characters. From the humorous and comedic Redman, to the strange Ol' Dirty Bastard, to the over sexual Uncle Luke. Just to name a few. Well now...let's meet Danny Brown. He might possibly be the most strange and bizarre new comer to the hip hop scene. From the moment you hear his voice, you'll either laugh hysterically or shake your head in embarrassment. His outlandish persona, hilarious yet bizarre lyrics (mostly misogynistic) and his weird cartoon like voice makes him a huge stand out. Detroit has put out crazy hip hop characters like this before (D-12 for example) but none quite like Danny Brown. 2011 is when many people, including myself, started to take notice to him when he dropped his sophomore album XXX. One of my favorite albums that year. It was an album filled with humor and lyrical wittiness but at the same time was somewhat sentimental when talking about his drug addiction. It was an album that was so far left from everything that was out. So because of that, my expectations for this, his third album Old, were pretty high. Looks like my expectations were met...big time. I loved this album. Start to finish. I was very surprised what Danny did with this album. The concept he used for this album was interesting yet very smart. He splits the album into two parts. The first half of the album is where he gives you his old flow from when he first came in the game, as well as the things he rapped about then. The second half of the album he gives you current Danny Brown on tracks that sound more mainstream-ish. He titles the first half "Side A" and the second half "Side B". Kinda like the old cassette tapes from back in the day (playing into the "old" theme of the album). I believe he did this for the fans. You see, like many underground MC's, Danny's fan base right now is divided. There are the fans that been there since day one and know full well about his old flow and content. "Side A" is for them. Then there is the fans he's gaining now who caught on in 2011 after XXX dropped. The ones who are drawn to the more funny and witty Danny Brown. "Side B" is for them. Basically this was a way for Danny Brown to please both parties without dropping something that would have people calling him a sell out. Very smart and creative move. So for this review I'll do something different. I'm gonna break down both sides individually then talk about it as a whole. I'll start with my positives and negatives for the first half, "Side A". On this part of the album, Danny reflects back on his old self. As far as his lyrics, flow and content. He talks heavily on his drug abuse and how drugs destroyed his neighborhood and people he knew closely. The song that describes this the best is "Torture". Here he talks heavily about the terror he seen in his hood due to drugs. Everything from dope fiends killing one another, mothers and kids doing drugs and all kinds of terrible drug related situations. This was my favorite beat on this side of the album and really brought the full emotion out of the song. Majority of the songs on this side talked about this but none touched on it more deeply than this which is why it's my favorite. The second track "The Return" was another good track where Danny in a way warns you to not take his goofy side for granted. He's still hood and can get aggressive. Freddie Gibbs comes in and drops a pretty good guest verse. "Gremlins" is more dark hood tales where Danny speaks on the crooks he knew that stole and killed over the drug game. These are obviously situations that troubled Danny when he was living through it as you can hear it in his voice. Good song. On "Clean Up" he talks more about his own drug addiction. Talking about how it's messing with his mental which leads to him not remembering anything, how he can stop itching and grabbing himself and so on. Even mentioning receiving text messages from his daughter about how she misses him but he doesn't want her to see him like this. He really opened up and vented in a major way here. Very emotional song but a good one. My only issue with this side of the album is the track "Dope Fiend Rental". Now it was good song that featured a good guest verse from Schoolboy Q, the tempo and overall sound of this song sounds like it should have been on the second part of the album instead of this side which was supposed to be the more serious side. It kinda took away the mood from the other songs. Again a good song just bad placement. Now on to "Side B". On this side of the album, we get the Danny Brown of now or what he has now become. The one newer listeners are more familiar with. The tracks on this side shows the happier, sillier and goofy side of Danny on a lot of mainstream-ish almost trap sounding production. Fans who been here since day one might have to give this side some time to sink in but the new fans should like it. So now my positives and negatives for this side. The track "Kush Coma" may have been my favorite on this side. This was kinda the same song topic wise as "Clean Up" but told in a more happier way. Rapping about the weed and pills clouding his mind and causing him to lose train of thought. Being in a "coma". A$AP Rocky is on it and drops a okay verse minus that one horrible line ("so many numbers in my phone book, I could start a motherfucking phone book"). Still I liked the song. Not many songs on here sound like singles but if I had to pick one that sound close to it then it would be "Dip". It's by far the catchiest hook and has the most..."jumpiest" tempo and beat on the album. He raps more about alcohol on this track as apposed to the other drugs mentioned on the album. A similar song is "Handstand". As I mentioned before, Danny is a bit of a misogynist. He loves sexually degrading women in his lyrics and this song shows it. It basically about him being high and horny. It actually sounds like it would make a pretty good strip club and/or twerk song. It will have to grow on me honestly. I love the beat on "Break It (Go)". The sound effects sounded very techno/futuristic and really brought to life what would have been a boring beat. My only two issues with this side is first off, the track "Dubstep". I didn't quite like his flow on this. Sounded too much like these radio rappers now. That mainstream fast paced flow doesn't fit him. The other issue is the final track "Float On". Now again, just like with "Dope Fiend Rental", this song should have been on the first half of the album and not the second. It didn't fit at all with these happier songs. "Dope Fiend Rental" and "Float On" needs to switch spots. Overall, I loved this album from start to finish. The concept caught me by surprise. It was smart and one of the best this year. I give this a final grade of a A-. Due to his character and his content, for the average listener, Danny Brown takes some getting used to. Which is understandable because that was the case for me too. But there's no denying that his bizarre way of telling his stories of struggles through drug use and hood survival stand out and makes him very unique. A style like this should keep him in the game for a long time. My drug addiction are albums like this and rappers who can come up with unique concepts like this. Regardless of how "old" they are. End.

Final Grade: A-

CREDITS

Executive Producers

Nick Catchdubs

Alain Macklovitch

Lead Artist

Daniel Sewell

Production

Paul White

Corrin Roddick

Michael Jackson

Skylar Tait

Russell Whyte

Jeremy Coleman

Jeremiah Nteh

Adam Freeney

Matthew Tavares

Chester Hansen

Alexander Sowinski

Collaboration

Fredrick Tipton

Corrin Roddick

Megan James

Quincy Hanley

Romani Lorenzo

Herbert Stevens

Rakim Meyers

Charlotte Aitchison

Label

Fools Gold/ADA

Pusha T - My Name Is My Name ALBUM REVIEW

It seems as though for rappers who used to be one half of a popular duo, going solo is the right idea. Look what it did for 2 Chainz. Splitting from Playaz Circle and changing his name did wonders for him. Now it seems the same thing is happening for Pusha T (minus the name change). For a long time, he was known as being one half of the group Clipse along with his brother No Malice. Together they had many big hits and three critically acclaimed albums: 2002's Lord Willin', 2006's Hell Hath No Fury (my favorite) and 2009's Til The Casket Drops. It was in 2010 where they went their separate ways for a bit. Now as a member of Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music army, Pusha T has gained tons of notoriety as a solo act. He's dropped some good mixtapes and has done dope guest features. Well now it's time to add another one to his solo resume. This is his second album My Name Is My Name. Now personally I enjoyed his 2011 debut album Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray. The album has a true dark and gritty tone which goes so well with Pusha T's lyrics and flow. The production also matched that. I pretty much expected the same kind of thing going into this album. Well...it turns out that wasn't quite the case. However, I still am thoroughly impressed with this album. It sounds like this time around, Pusha kinda mixes up different sounds and tone whereas the last album the whole thing had a dark tone. This album had a more of a better variety of different production, and even the content isn't stuck on just one thing. I say that because as much as I do like Pusha T, my biggest issue with him has always been him constantly rapping about drugs. Mostly cocaine (he even dropped a mixtape earlier this year titles Wrath Of Caine). Before, he couldn't barely spit one bar without mentioning things like coke, powder, white, kilos and all other kinds of references to cocaine. On this album he still talks about it but just not as much as he normally does. The album just shows how Pusha has now learned to balance his dark, haunting street lyricism with his newly found commercial side. That said, here are my positives. Off top, there were two songs that I liked so much that I couldn't decide which one I liked more. The first is the second single "Numbers On The Boards". This song is a prime example of why I believe Pusha is one the best street lyricists in hip hop today. On here he spits such dark and menacing lyrics that even though is spoken in low tone, it's still sounds loud enough to get you hype. His word play is so clever and intricate on here that it's mind boggling. But it's nothing new because this is what Pusha is known for. I also just loved the production. That eerie, distorted vibrating sound. Almost sounding like a Odd Future like beat. I even liked the Jay-Z "Rhyme No More" snippet in the middle of it. The second song was the closing track "S.N.I.T.C.H.". There was so much I loved with this song I don't know where to start. First, I loved the story being told by Pusha about a friend of his that while  in jail with Pusha, snitches on him. Admitting it to Pusha that he did just to get an early release from jail. This ties in perfectly with the hook done by Pharrell. On it, he sings what the snitch acronym stands for: "Sorry Nigga, I'm Trynna Come Home". Which is essentially what a snitch in prison is thinking when snitching. Again, this goes along perfectly with the story Pusha is sharing. A very creative and cleverly done hook and song. Another incredibly dope song was "Nosetalgia". Pusha spits a very aggresive and evil verse on another eerie based production. But what stole the show was the outstanding guest verse from Kendrick Lamar. On his verse he cleverly compares himself to being cocaine. Speaking on his fathers drug dealing and how he should be the connect because everything he drops is a "brick" and he's "dope". Just more insanely clever lyrical story telling from Kendrick. Great song. "King Push" was the intro song and a great way to set the tone for the album. He drops more witty word play here from coming at the neck of today's rappers ("I rap nigga about the trap nigga I don't sing hooks") to comparing himself to Jay-Z, not as a rapper but as a drug dealer. I at first thought "Sweet Serenade" would be a attempt at a radio hit but it was far from that. It was a dope song with dope drum patterns and choir assisted background vocals. Chris Brown even does a great job with the hook despite distorting his voice. In fact, if I had heard this song without reading album credits I wouldn't have thought that it was Chris Brown on the hook. "Hold On" features Rick Ross and for the most part is a pretty cool laid back track. While I didn't like Kanye West's awkward humming ad-libs on this, it still didn't ruin the song thank God. Now my negatives. The beginning of this album was stellar, but right when it got to the middle things started to go left. Three songs in a row I did not like. The first was "No Regrets". This is where he trying to go after that mainstream sound but this type of track and production just does not fit him nor this album. Kevin Cossum's hook sounded very Kirko Bangz like and Young Jeezy's verse sounded very lazy and rushed. The next track is the Kelly Rowland assisted "Let Me Love You". Now for at least 90% of rappers, their biggest weakness is making good songs for the ladies. Pusha T is part of that 90%. The song took away all momentum from the album. This was the only song that sounded like a desperate attempt for a radio hit. Which honestly, Pusha doesn't need. On top of that, if I hadn't looked at the album credits I would have sworn Mase was on this. It sounded like Pusha mimicked his whole flow and voice. Just a bad song that did not belong on this album. Then there was the worst of them all, "Who I Am". This...was...terrible. It's mostly thanks in large part to the God awful guest verse from 2 Chainz and Big Sean. Neither said anything remotely good enough to be quoted. Then the song had this terrible "wooo" ad-lib that would even make Ric Flair face palm. The song was just absolute trash and should have been either a deluxe edition track or left off the album completely. To close, this album was definitely impressive. Thought it doesn't stick to the same dark tone as his last album, enough was presented to make this an album that was just as good. I give this a final grade of a B+. It seems that Pusha T, after a few years of experimenting, had finally found his lane as a member of G.O.O.D. Music. He is one of hip hop most witty and clever lyricists and it shows full well on this album. If he continues in this lane, plus the ties with his new team, Pusha T will never fall off. At this point, I could really careless for a Clipse reunion album, just give me more dope solo projects from "King Push". End.

Final Grade: B+

CREDITS

Executive Producer

Kanye West

Lead Artist

Terrence Thornton

Production

Kanye West

Sebastian Sartor

Donald Cannon

Charles Njapa

Kasseem Dean

Ross Birchard

Pharrell Williams

Ricardo Lamarre

Terius Nash

Bobby Yewah

John Glass

Emmanuel Nickerson

Dominick Lamb

Ernest Wilson

Collaboration

Christopher Brown

William Roberts

Rennard East

Terius Nash

Jay Jenkins

Kevin Cossum

Kelendria Rowland

Tauheed Epps

Sean Anderson

Kendrick Duckworth

Nayvadius Wilburn

Pharrell Williams

Label

G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings

Nelly - M.O. ALBUM REVIEW

There's probably not many things that feels better to a hip hop artist than to know that they were responsible for putting their hometown city on the hip hop map. It's hard to even remember anyone who did it in the same fashion as Nelly. St. Louis was very quiet in hip hop until Nelly emerged in 2000 and not only put the city on the map, but even had rap fans nationwide speaking the city's slang because of his music. In large part his debut album Country Grammar. One of the most successful hip hop debut albums of all time. It's because that album, and his just as successful sophomore album Nellyville, that Nelly has quite the resume of classic hit records. Now as a thirteen year veteran, he still finds himself mixing it up with this new generation of rappers and still putting out music. He's back now with his seventh album M.O. Now honestly I've haven't kept up with Nelly's music lately. In fact Nellyville was the last album of his I listened to in full. So my expectations for this album were really based off of his first two albums. After listening, I think I see why I haven't been following his music lately. I wasn't feeling this album at all. I wouldn't say it's complete trash or completely wack but it definitely didn't hold my attention whatsoever. Now a few are evident. Obviously Nelly has never been known for his lyrical ability. Secondly, I never really considered any of his music to be creative or innovative. Originality yes due to his voice, but otherwise no. So I didn't expect any of that from this album. What this album sounded like to me was a desperate attempt by Nelly to gain relevance again. Trying to make the kind of music that's hot now. What he ended up doing is making an album that sounded like it would have been good in 2004. The production was very mediocre and lackluster. Nothing great at all. Since I have more negatives to point out from the album, I'll start with the very few positives. The album actually started off decent. It's quite sad that the first track, which is also the first single is the best song on here. "Get Like Me". This was the only song that had a decent production courtesy of Pharrell. It was catchy, it was simple and didn't sound like Nelly was reaching like it does on the rest of the album. Even Nicki Minaj's verse wasn't that bad. Then the next two songs we're alright as well. The first was "Give U Dat" which I thought I was gonna hate because Future is on it. But the beat kinda saved it. Then following that was the track "Rick James". He tried to go for a little concept here buy using a Rick James-like dance beat and even singing like him. It could have been done a little better but the idea was cool. Then T.I. comes in with a verse I wasn't feeling like that but it wasn't bad enough to ruin the song. Well it's after those three tracks where the album goes all over the place and the reaching starts. Time to name all the negatives. There were so many bad songs that I can't even determine which was the worst of all. They were all equally bad. The first song I'll point out is "Maryland, Massachusetts". I don't even know where the topic of this song is going but it certainly wasn't about what the song title says. But what made this song horrible was the awful repetitive hook. One of the worst I've heard this year. There were two songs that featured failed collaborators. The first was the last track "Headphones". It featured Nelly Furtado and for two people who share the same name, you would think they would put something dope together. This turns out to be one of the most cheesiest duets I've heard in a long time. There was a time when Nelly used to do good with these pop crossover duets ("Dilemma" with Kelly Rowland and "Tilt Ya Head Back" with Christina Aguilera), but this was done very poorly. The second bad collaboration was "Walk Away" which featured country music group Florida Georgia Line. Now history has shown Nelly isn't afraid to collaborate with artists like this no matter how bad it makes him look (see "Over And Over" with Tim McGraw). But this one falls short of being good as well. I don't think a song much less a collaboration like this would get over in today's hip hop. Ten years ago maybe but now, no. "100K" actually had an okay beat and a okay guest verse from 2 Chainz. But Nelly's rapping on this was terrible. This song is an example of him trying to adapt to hip hop's new sound. Rapping on good production that's popular now but still using the same singy-rap vocals he's been using for over a decade. Does quite mesh well. I feel like this should have been 2 Chainz song featuring Nelly. It probably would have been much more enjoyable instead of barely decent. "IDGAF" is this uptempo dancy beat that sounds a lot like Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines". Ironically enough, it features the same two people, T.I. and  Pharrell. However I wasn't feeling it. Neither of T.I.'s guest verses on this album was good. The beat was way too happy for a song with that title. I expected something more aggressive. I should have known better knowing how Nelly does. "My Chick Better" is another case where Nelly's vocals does not mesh with today's style of production at all. Thank God for Fabolous and Wiz Khalifa dropping verses that saved the song a bit (except for that laughably terrible line from Wiz that went like "Rolex match Rolex I hit the jeweler and go buy some minutes"). I want to say this might grow on me but I doubt it will. In conclusion, this album just fails in a lot of areas. It doesn't excite and it fails to innovate. It just really seems like Nelly is trying to play catch up with today's hip hop. I give this a final grade of a D+. In the end, you can say what you want about Nelly now, but he still will go down as one of hip hop's all time great hit makers. There's no denying that. It's just now with hip hop evolving into a sound that's so much different from when he was in his prime, it's best that Nelly just hangs up the mic. At least for making albums anyway. He can continue to collaborate. I think he's done enough in hip hop to show where he stands. That's good enough. End.

Final Grade: D+

CREDITS

Executive Producer

Cornell Haynes, Jr.

Lead Artist

Cornell Haynes, Jr.

Production

Pharrell Williams

Noel Fischer

Erik Ortiz

Kevin Crowe

Kenny Bartalomei

Timothy Thomas

Theron Thomas

John McGee

Richard Butler, Jr.

Steven Goodson

Justin Franks

Karriem Mack

Collaboration

Pharrell Williams

Onika Maraj

Nayvadius Wilburn

Clifford Harris, Jr.

Gareth Daley

Tauheed Epps

Tremaine Neverson

Jonathan Jackson

Cameron Thomaz

Tyler Hubbard

Brian Kelley

Nelly Furtado

Mario Mims

Label

Republic Records