What is a hip hop dynasty? What makes a hip hop dynasty? It takes a group of some of hip hop's most popular names in mainstream to dominate over a period of time. We've seen a lot of them through the years. Lil Wayne should know fully what a hip hop dynasty is. He was apart of one of the most popular ones from the 90's. Cash Money Records. So obviously, he knows what it takes to build that kind of a hip hop army. 2009, the world was introduced to Young Money. A team of young and hungry artists looking for that big spotlight. Some of them got just that. Especially the two most notable names: Drake and Nicki Minaj. The rest of the young roster still holds their own. Consisting of Tyga (who's found some solo fame as well), Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, Lil Twist, Jae Millz, Cory Gunz, Shanell and so on. After many many individual hit records from them all, it was time again for another compilation. This is the teams sophomore project Rise Of An Empire. Now their 2009 debut album We Are Young Money had some big singles. "Every Girl" and "Bedrock". But I wasn't really feeling it as a whole. Just a lot of "blah blah blah" rap about nonsense over radio friendly production. That's all they're really about. So it shouldn't be a shock that I really wasn't expecting anything great this time around. In fact I actually expected worse. Well...while I do think this was a major improvement from the last album, still the only word I can use to describe this is decent. Again, they coming with the same old generic nonsense about nothing. Money this, jewelry that etc. However, not only was the production stepped up a bit but a number of them stepped up their game lyrically. Yes I'm quite shocked at that. But as I expected, there's nothing too great about it as a whole. Just addicting radio friendly beats with catchy hooks that WILL get stuck in your head. Trust me it's already happened to me. Anyway now I'll break down what I enjoyed from this album. First of all like I said, a number of them stepped their rap game up. But also the new members shined big time. Most notably Euro. His solo track "Induction Speech" was definitely the best song on this album. It was the only song that was the perfect combination of good lyrics and a good beat. Much props to Omega for this beat. He dropped some really cool lines on this track too ("with punchlines you be K.O.'ed backwards if you get my hooks"). With his kind of rhyme style, he sounds to me like a much more serious and less simpified Drake. He also was dope on the intro track "We Alright" which also featured Birdman (who should have been left off totally) and Lil Wayne with his face palming lines: "can't recognize you niggas like Santa cut off his beard", "I know that ho better know, how to deep throat like a serpent". Seriously though, I felt Euro was the star of this album and he was only on three tracks. That's how big his impact was. Now with an album with this level of mainstream content, there's gonna be at least one guilty pleasure track. Mine was "Senile". A track with Tyga, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. It has this addictive deep, distorted bass beat and a very catchy hook. Though Tyga was blabbing about nothing he wasn't that bad. Then Nicki, who was tolerable on every track she was on, gets on and drops a cool verse too. But of course, Wayne gets on and ruins it. Continuing his onslaught of cringe worthy lyrics: "neighborhood nice and quiet, thought I saw Mr. Rogers", "take a newborn from his momma, stick a shoe horn in vaginas". Normally these kind of songs I hate but due to the beat and catchy hook, I kinda like it. Then there's Nicki Minaj's male bashing anthem "Lookin' Ass". When this had hit the internet it caused an outpouring of reactions. I for one think it's the best song Nicki has done in a long time. She sounds like the old mixtape Nicki before the YM deal. But I kinda laugh at this because sadly this song has become kinda irrelevant thanks to Cassidy and his immediate remake of it which bashes the females right back. Drake only appears on one song and he does it solo. The second track "Trophies". I love the beat with all the loud trumpets and other horns. Sounds very marching band like. Even Drake switching up his rhyme style a bit was alright. Switching up to something more louder and Meek Mill-ish. However I didn't like that boring hook. Drake's been real lazy with hooks lately I don't know why. But the song overall is enjoyable. Now...moving on to things I did not enjoy. First of all....Lil Twist...is horrible. Every song he was on was instantly ruined and intolerable. "Bang", "One Time", "Back It Up". All of them were bad because of him. Not even the beats could save them. It's not just because of his horrifyingly awful voice but his rhymes and lyrics are so fresh-out-of-middle-school that it's embarrassing. Anyway, this album starts strong, but right after "Lookin' Ass" is when the album starts to plummet and fall hard. "Fresher Than Ever" features Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz, Flow and Birdman. Just looking at the songs title I knew I wasn't gonna like this. Look...I don't care about how many stacks you throwing in the club, how many cars are in your driveway, how many bottles you pop, how much your jewelry and outfits cost, how many chicks you smash a night or any of that. I swear that gets so old and boring. Also, Birdman...just needs to stop. He was probably the only person on this album that was worst than Lil Twist. "Moment" was Lil Wayne's solo track and well....you already know where I'm bout to go with this. "Boy you don't need to call a fireman to put a motherfucking match out", "like the world a crystal ball I keep rubbing it", I'm smoking getting head looking down trying to read lips", "I already made my mark please don't think I just pop corks". Yeah...no further comment on that song. The R&B party track "Hittin' Like" (did Shanell really just say "bet you wanna know what it feels like and what it smells like"? Wow.), the closing posse track "You Already Know", and all three of the deluxe edition bonus tracks we're just flat out lame to me. The whole second half of this album was a complete shipwreck. Well in closing, this was a definite improvement from their debut. Minus the same old generic topics, a few stepped their game up and a few didn't. Production was also greatly improved. I give this a final grade of a C+ (which let's be honest, that's damn near an A by their standards). So the question still remains. Is Young Money hip hop's newest dynasty? It may be a little too early to tell. But despite how myself and you all may feel about individual members or the group as a whole, they are a group that's built for long term success. Lil Wayne has done a good job assembling a unit capable of accomplishing that. After all, huge success and fame was a trait for many of hip hop's greatest dynasties. It also could be the case here. End.
Final Grade: C+
CREDITS
Executive Producers
Dwayne Carter
Bryan Williams
Ronald Williams
Jermaine Preyan
Production
Chauncey Hollis
Noah Shabib
Sonny Uwaezuoke
Andrew Harr
Jermaine Jackson
Aaron O'Brien
Noel Fischer
Lexus Lewis
Anthony Norris
Paul Morton
Collaboration
Keenon Jackson
Widner DeGruy
Paul Morton
Mario Mims
Christine Flores
Robert Williams
Label
Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records
No comments:
Post a Comment