TOP 5 ALBUM "LET-DOWNS" OF 2009

This year has been a year of "let-downs" for me personally. I don't know about some of the other hip hop media outlets (i.e. AllHipHop.com, HipHopDX.com, HipHopGame.com, etc.), but I feel like some of the hip hop "legends" have really let me down this year. My theory on this situation is that the fans have forgotten what quality hip hop sounds like. It's been 10 years since hip hop's "Golden Era" has passed and the genre has mutated into something very different than what I grew up on. My detractors will say that I am simply ignorant and that the music must progress and change to become better. My response to them is that I AGREE. I agree that the natural progression of just about anything in life is to change overtime; to adapt to its environment and make the necessary changes to succeed (in business) or just plain survive (in life). I AGREE. What my problem is, is that the lyrical content should be MUCH better than it was in the '90s. This is not to say that I think all rappers suck now or that nobody has lyrical skill. THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM SAYING. What I'm trying to say here is that some of my favorites have seriously let me down. The emcees who are supposed to carry the torch, hold the fort, raise the bar, or sit in the thrown did not show and prove this year. And the fact that they didn't represent for this culture of ours is straight BULLSHIT!!!

I fully expect to receive some HATE from this post of mine, but I welcome it. This is my personal opinion. The albums that I list below are albums that in some instances I like, but I truly expected more greatness from them than what was delivered.

That being said, the following is a list of my TOP 5 biggest "LET-DOWNS" or disappointments of 2009:

5. JAY-Z: "The Blueprint 3"

I know, I know: "Jay-Z is the King of New York," "he doesn't even write his rhymes down," "he runs hip hop," "he goes platinum every time." BLAH, BLAH, BLAH... You can say whatever the fuck you want to me about Jay-Z. I probably won't even disagree with most of what you say. I agree that he is incredible. I also believe that at least 50% of his catalog is straight BULLSHIT. A lot of times when heads tell me he doesn't even write his rhymes, I feel like that's NOT necessarily a GOOD thing. You can tell when he doesn't write and it shows in a negative way sometimes. My beef with this album is that this shit doesn't even sound like hip hop. I've heard even the biggest Jay-Z fans say that even they didn't like the way this album sounded, then they'll quickly say that his lyrics were still amazing. I'll give you that. His lyrics were good on this album. That doesn't take away from the fact that this album sounds like it was made on a fuckin' Casio keyboard in the '80s and the only reason it was huge was because the Yankees luckily won the World Series at the same time his "Empire State of Mind" dropped. It became the anthem of New York. I'll admit that I like this song, but at the end of the day Jay needs to make an album with a true "New York Sound" and not some "ghetto techno" BULLSHIT. I love his good music, but I despise his bad shit. He needs to come up with new album titles instead of making trilogies. Sequels and trilogies never satisfy and this third installment of "The Blueprint" should've been called "The Wackprint" because it's wack that this shit is even in print.

4. SLAUGHTERHOUSE: "Slaughterhouse"

I will start by saying that I like this album and I love this group. The reason why this is on my list at number 4 and not 5 is that: 1) I absolutely expected better beats and more bangers and 2) I expect bullshit from Jay-Z, I don't expect it from these mutha fuckas. This album has some incredible tracks and some incredible flows. I love all four of the emcees individually and collectively. What happened here is that the promoters of "Rock The Bells" signed these guys on to tour with Rock The Bells this summer, but they had to have an album to perform (which they did not). What transpired was that these four emcees got in the lab together over a six day period and recorded an entire album. This feat is nothing less than remarkable and I give them all the credit in the world. I just wish they had more time to really work together on lyrics, concepts, and beat selection. I understand their options were limited and I commend them for what they were able to create. I just hope they end up signing with Shady Records (as heavily rumored a little while ago) and take their time to collectively make a classic group album. They were all too busy finishing up their own solo records as well as touring that they couldn't make a classic. Again, I like this album. I was just disappointed in the final product and felt that there were too many bullshit "filler" tracks that could have been a lot better considering the skill of these four lyrical beasts.

3. MOS DEF: "The Ecstatic"

Go ahead and tell me I don't know shit about real hip hop. Go ahead. Guess what? Mos Def is the greatest emcee to consistently produce half ass albums in all of hip hop. This guy is amazing. I LOVE HIM (as a rhymer - no homo). This album is fuckin' static, not ecstatic. The album has 10 tracks that are 3 minutes or less in length (the majority of these being well less than 3 minutes). This is a big pet peeve of mine. You're a professional rapper, so rap mutha fucka. I don't hate this album and I'm aware that it's nominated for grammies and all that. I just wish Mos Def would cut the "artistic" bullshit out and spit some rhymes on dope beats. He's one of my top 20 favorite rappers of all time. He's great. I just wish he would get on a track and rap his balls off - like every time. I would love it if he would just rap. A lot. On every song. All the time. And spare me all the bullshit that he likes to do. I like this album, but after hearing it for a week, I got over it. It doesn't have much replay value for me and this is why I was let down. Mos Definitely.

2. CORMEGA: "Born and Raised"

Anybody who knows me or my brother knows that we are huge fans of Cormega. The way he vividly paints lyrical pictures of street life in New York is like no other. He's extremely metaphorical and truly gifted lyrically. Unfortunately, after waiting seven years for a true solo studio album from him, Cormega gave us a flop. His first two official albums were pure classics in my mind. This album sounds like the scraps that were thrown away while recording "The Realness" and "The True Meaning." I feel as though Mega spent so much time away from his own solo artist work, that he lost his momentum and may have peaked back in 2002 after releasing "The True Meaning." What bothered me the most on this album is the production. It was not as banging as his prior releases. It just didn't have the hardcore, gritty feeling of all of his past work. In addition, the album was changed several times over the three years it took him to complete it. He had two album release parties for this album that were seven months apart (mainly because he altered the album again this year). The first release party I attended at S.O.B.'s. He performed what was the album back then in its entirety. It sounded amazing from a production stand point. Apparently, sample clearances and leaks caused him to make final changes to some of the beats and what he officially released in October simply isn't as good. For one of my favorite rappers of all time, this album truly disappointed me when I finally heard it. As he stated on Wu-Tang's "Chamber Music" album, "Cor-mega, raw forever. Fell back, pause. Fall off, never." He better get back in the booth 'cause if he doesn't redeem himself  here, I'll have to admit that he indeed did fall off.

REFER TO MY PREVIOUS REVIEW OF "BORN & RAISED": Born & Raised Review

1. RAKIM: "The Seventh Seal"

Don't even get me started here. I reviewed this album back in November and gave it a 2 out of 5. After waiting 10 mutha fuckin' years for the "God" Rakim Allah to drop another solo album, he gave us a piece of shit. There are a few tracks that I like a lot on the album and still listen to them in my whip, but on the whole this album is bullshit. Where's DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and DJ Clark Kent??? Where the fuck are the Dr. Dre tracks that he made??? His flow and delivery is what you would expect, but surely they were not spectacular. "The Seventh Seal" is a 1957 Swedish drama film that depicts God and the Devil playing chess against each other. It kind of symbolically represents humans as the pawns on the chess board and how God and the Devil play chess with our lives in the ultimate game of "good" versus "evil". To name your album after something so classic and so epic and deliver such an underwhelming piece of BULLSHIT makes me sick. I am still a Rakim fan, but the "God" emcee definitely lost this chess battle after ten years in the making. The Devil straight "Debo-ed" the fuck outta him on this one. With generic beats, amateur singing on almost all of the choruses, no DJ scratches anywhere, and Rakim not really mesmerizing us with his lyrics, I'd be embarrassed to say this album took me 10 years to create, if I was Rakim.

REFER TO MY REVIEW OF "THE 7TH SEAL": The 7th Seal Review