UPCOMING CD RELEASES (the ones that matter to me.)

11/11/08

Kurupt - Gangsta Party Part 2
AZ - Final Call: Lost Tapes
Styles P - Phantom Gangster Chronicles Vol. 1
Sheek Louch - Extinction: Last Of A Dying Breed

I think it's a bad idea to have Sheek and Styles come out on the same day. Are they really trying to take album sales from eachother? They've got the exact same fans, so whats the point of making them choose between the two of them? Bad decision, in my oppinion. Anyways, I expect all 4 of these to be dope, but not game changing, just solid efforts from tried and true veterans.

11/18/08

Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Story Of The Wu-Tang Clan

Is this going to be a compilation of old tracks? Whats going on? I figured ever since 8 diagrams and all the controversy and problems there'd be no way to get the whole clan back together on an album. I need to find out more before i can even begin to wonder if its worth peeping.

11/25/08

Aceyalone - Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones
Ludacris - Theater Of The Mind
Reef The Lost Cauze - Stress Files
Kanye West - 808's And Heartbreak
E-40 - Ball Street Journal
Paul McCartney - Electric Arguements
Death Cab for Cutie - Something About Airplanes
Coldplay - Prospekts March EP
Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer) - Alone 2

It's weird, i think that aceyalone and luda are two of the most underrated in the game. I'm from the midwest, so I can't speak on how Aceyalone is viewed on the West Coast where I'm sure he's god-like, but here, he's forgotten by so-called heads who are quick to recognize acts like Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, and Murs when giving props to the West Coast. I put Luda into a different category of emcee as Aceyalone, but he too is quickly forgotten when people talk about Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and T.I, ad the Kings of the South. I really don't think either of these two guys should be forgotten. I expect that they'll both put out pretty good albums, which they've both done for quite some time now. Aceyalone and Luda are both kind of like 'old dependable,' for their respective regions and sub-genres. Mad heads are gonna get mad at me for putting Luda on the same playing feiled as Aceyalone, but the truth is, most Luda fans aren't gonna know who Ace is, and if you really got beef with Luda, it's because you're a backpacker, or you don't like his content. Dude is a legit, dope emcee with incredible commanding mic presence and a mad animated flow.

Kanye is gonna disappoint everybody but the 3 hipsters who find his new shit to be awesome. We all know there's gonna be those guys who think his new shit is awesome and experimental and taking hip-hop in a new direction. WRONG. it's taking pop in a more hip-hop direction, and sorry kanye, that shit's been played out since Timbaland, and Timbo's way better at it than you. Autotune sucks, and your new style, however catchy it is, is going to be looked back on as a fad/joke, similar to the No Limit Records' super gaudy cd covers. I know samples are getting harder to clear, but is it really that much to ask for a new 'heart of the city?' I want to hear more of the Kanye who used to hang out with Common and Talib Kweli, not the new Kanye who hangs out with Lil' Wayne and T-Pain.

I'm not really sure what Sir Paul has been up to, but how can anybody sleep on an album by him? Coldplay, Death Cab and Weezer are personal farvorites (obvious choices for a casual fan) but i'm really interested in what Rivers' has got to say ever since i read in Spin Magazine that He's HUGE into hip-hop and writes mad hip-hop verses.

12/02/08

Scarface - Emeritus
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury

Scarface is one of the GOAT's whether you want to admit it or not. and unlike a lot of his older school contemporaries, his new albums are actually valid and fucking dope. 'MADE' proved that he's better than everybody from his state, and everybody in his age range.

Neil Young live @ Canterbury = legend @ the place that i play cards at. can't really go wrong. not a big fan of his music, but there's the off chance you'll here me go "FUCK THAT," after my pocket queens got cracked by 10-4 off suit.

12/09/08

Common - Universal Mind Control
Messy Marv - Draped Up And Chipped Out 3
EPMD - We Mean Business
Musiq Soulchild - OnMyRadio
Sigur Ros - Angels Of The Universe

Common and Messy Marv coming out on the same day? ILL. Well, they're not really going to take sales away from eachother, but FUCK, these are my two most anticpated albums off this whole list. I fucking love Common. I mean, i actually liked 'Electric Circus,' so that should tell you something about how I feel about the Chicago Legend. Common Sense is the face of concious hip-hop, and ever since those GAP commercials he has every 'Todd and Brian' riding his dick, but he hasn't fallen off. For every head who says 'Like Water For Chocolate' is Comm's best effort, there's another cat who says that 'B.E.' is a bonafide classic. I personally didn't give 'Finding Forever' the time it deserved, so I'm really excited for his new joint. On the other hand, Messy is that dude. Orange Juice and a Blunt for breakfast. I recognize that he's not the most complex or profound emcee, but I love all the shit that this dude puts out. I can't put my finger on exactly why he stands out, but dude really controls the mic. He kind of reminds me of a Juicy J, or Devin the Dude. Not because they all have alliteration in their names, but because all three are able to deliver relatively cliche messages with pretty poor (technically speaking) emcee techniques, yet still captivate listeners. That's got to be cretited to swagger and personality, which Marv's got a ton of.

I don't really know what to say about the EPMD record. They've created some classics, but I'll be honest, I've never been that big a fan. The next time we'll see Eric Sermon on television will be when he's paying homage to some more influential act on VH1's hip-hop honors. And don't get it twisted, I think Eric Sermon's pretty good, but he's my least favorite member out the Def Squad, and Ireally aint checking for him. Lets hope I'm wrong. (don't crucify me for this.)

I'm really not that big a fan of Musiq or Sigur Rios either. I just figured they're a big enough deal in their respective genre's that i'd give 'em a look. I'll probably like the Sigur Rios album a lot more than Musiq's.

12/10/08

D-Block - D-Block

This should be good. I've been a fan of D-Block since they were called the L.O.X. As far as gun-toting gangster rap, it doesn't get much better than this. Jada, Styles, and Sheek are all pretty dope solo, but are even better together. Let's hope every single track on the D-Block album sounds like the 2007 Beanie Sigel/Styles P joint 'U Aint Ready' because then it'll be the grittiest dopest shit ever, and album of the year, according to every gangster ass d-boy with a d-eagle this side of the mason dixon line.

12/16/08

Ghostface Killah - Ghostdeini The Great
UGK - UGK For Life
50 Cent - Before I Self Destruct
Jadakiss - The Last Kiss
Heavy D - Vibes
Anthony Hamilton - The Point Of It All

Ghostface is gonna be Ghostface. Dope east coast beats with some slang shit that i'm not gonna figure out till a few months after the albums been released. I've never really been disappointed by a Ghostface release, but I haven't been as impressed with his newer drops. It's hard to say that none of Supreme Clientelle, Bulletproof Wallets, or Ironman aren't classics or near classics, so Pretty Toney, Fishscale and the Big Doe Rehab kind of pale in comparison. They're not bad, just not the same. Let's hope Tony Starks can revert back to his old ways and rock this new shit. At the mention of Ghostface I really wonder where 'Only Built For Cuban Linx 2' is at, or what's happening with it. Part of me thinks it'll never come out, and part of me think's its a good thing. I mean it's just going to have to compete with the original, and it'll have to be near perfect to do that.

R.I.P. Pimp C. Posthumous Albums always have a hard sell for me. The majority of the time, the songs on the albums weren't good enough to be released when the artist was alive, and got scrapped on the cutting room floor. As an artist, I realize that there are a lot of actual dope songs that get scrapped because they didn't fit the overall feel for the album, or whatever. Lets hope this is the case for the new tracks off UGK's new album. Hopefully this album helps solidfy Pimp C's status as a legendary southern act, and help Bun-B earn some well deserved mainstream success.

Jada's album is gonna be like any Jada album. he's gonna have a handful of bland concept tracks (the song about a girl, the 'political' song, and the sentimental song about his dead homie or family member,) but in the end, it's gonna be Jada being Jada, dropping clever punchlines about the size of his guns or his rims. I feel Jada's one of the best at doing that, so I really don't care about his lack of versatility. You don't tell Dwight Howard that dunking is getting old, do you?

50 cent. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I've got a strong feeling that this album is going to be pretty bad, and here's why. On top of his album's getting progressively worse, I think a tell-tale sign that this album is gonna be huff is 50's new Reality TV show, 'The Money and The Power.' Reality television has been used to market artists and bands before, but they're usually brand new or little know bands, using television to acquaint themselves with viewers, not former megastars like 50 Cent. I think Fif's using this show as a sorry attempt to rekindle the love affair the MTV generation had with him a few years back, but I think it's a little too late. Half singing/half mumbling over Scott Storch beats isn't dope anymore, and you're gonna be to proud to try to fit into today's trends. Plus, Fifty's spending more time marketing and promoting than writing good songs, so his new effort is going to be even more stale and boring than 'Curtis,' and not the comeback record that G-Unit and Aftermath fans are saying it will be. Sorry FIF, Get Rich or Die Trying was a classic, but it wasn't Illmatic, and Before I Self Destruct will not be Stillmatic. I really don't think you're that bad. In fact, I think you're one of the most entertaining celebrities in the world, and maybe you, like Sean Combs before you has found a nitch in the entertainment game with your reality tv show, rather than the rap game.

I Like anthony hamilton, and i'd feel like a scrub if i didn't have HEAVY D on my list. I mean honestly, i'll peep it, enjoy it for half an hour, and be done, but it's difficult to disregard a legend.




We also got Jay-Z, Eminem, and Dr. Dre supposedly dropping albums. In a perfect world, they'll all be amazing, but we'll find out soon enough.