Considering this is Wale’s second album it almost has the feel of a first, considering the hype and anticipation around it and the extra attention in Wales’s direction thanks to signing with Maybach Music.
In a way it kind of is a debut album, because many of Wales fans are new to his music and slept on the first album, and only recently since the move to Maybach hot Wale on their radar. The move to Maybach stunned a few people and left many with questions about what may become of Wale and his type of music at the very street oriented Maybach Music.
Ambition immediately answers all questions about rather or not Maybach music would turn Wale into a thug rapper or would he stay true to his self and stay in the musical alternative rap lane.
For those concerned with any change and not being true to his self, Wale dismisses such claims immediately from the jump on Ambition. Wale proves that he is still him, and still does his brand of music. Its musical, grownup, alternative, two step, go-go influenced Wale music.
Lyrically ,tight, meaningful, heartfelt, versatile, and witty. You can tell someone that takes time with their craft, because his lines are crisp and well put together. His subject range, endless, he talks about some of everything so everyone can relate at some level, he never boxes himself or his listeners in with his verses and thats appreciated. He gets his highest marks for showing a variety of skills from poetic to street and for having a flow that demands attention. Wale literally proves he can rap over anything check "Slight Work" f/ Big Sean.
Sonically its very different, very musical as expected. But its not Kanye type of musical, its a good deal further left than even that. Overall its a niche market style of music, and his core fans will love it and its gone confuse newcomers and take some getting used to for the mainstream.But it gets high points for originality, because its so different from what you expect from a hip hop album, its no where near stereotypical or mundane.
Now on a smaller level the individual production of each song is alright, but it seems like too much of the same types of beats. So beats like the jazzy and poetic "Illest Bitch" and the street cinematic "Ambition" f/ Rick Ross, Meek Millz or the the very simple but effective "Legendary" serve as nice change ups and things a larger audience will gravitate to. If you are a big beat, heavy bass person, or funk type of person, you gone be hard pressed to find that type of production, the production goes in a different direction.
The entertainment level his high, but its the lyrics and the flow that do the shining, not so much the entire package. If you love listening to lyrics and flow you may run quite a few songs back a few times, but for just casual listening I don’t know how many times you’ll listen to it, Ambition is more like mood music. I hope it sells and I hope it encourages others to be more different and take risk with music and explore other options and styles. Its worth checking out even if just to be exposed to something out of the ordinary. It showed growth as an artist but it lacked a certain necessary balance, I give it 3 out of 6 stars.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Styles P - Master of Ceremonies
Styles P , the ghost, respect out the ass, ill rhymer, often underrated. Out of the LOX trio he is usually the one that digs deeper, get a little more personal and tackles the social issues . Known for dropping consistency through a slew of mix tapes and occasional appearances never really taking time off, but his first official studio album in almost four years. Styles drops the new Master of Ceremonies.
His fourth studio album and true to form, its a grown up street album, no funny or pop ish. Styles’ consistency is the strongest part of the album, there is no huge drop off from song to song.
Lyrically its nice, but very straightforward, serious and monotone. Don't expect a lot of wordplay and metaphors or a lot of emotion. Which for some may be a draw back.
The production is the weakness of the album, there aren't a lot of standout beats, and many could have been better, even though there are top notch producers on the project. “Harsh” and “Who Loves you More" are bangers though, the production is kind of mellow and leaves more to be desired.
The song making is average, its not a very musical album or concept riddled album, and most of the hooks are basic.
The album gets points for versatility, because there are different kinds of beats, and its sort of different from whats you normally expect for Styles P. He also gets points for his subject range, dealing with everything from braggadocios to conscious , to street . Its life all around.
Harsh featuring Rick Ross and Busta Rhymes is unquestionably the best song on the album. “We don't play” featuring Lloyd Banks, and “uh Ohh” featuring Sheek are all worth checking for.
Entertainment wise the album kind of disappoints, you’ll get a few spins out of it, but for the most part, one would expect more, more creativity, bigger verses and harder lines. One would also expect a better output from styles as a solo artist, because most of the tracks he goes hard on are the ones with features where the other person raps also. On this album he’s at his best when he’s doing typical and stereotypical Lox stuff, like the back and forth that he and Jada do so well, check “Its Ok”. All in all nothing new, unexpected or challenging and it doesn't show a lot of growth as an artist. But it is a solid release worth checking, with no completely wack cuts. I give it 3 out of 6 stars
His fourth studio album and true to form, its a grown up street album, no funny or pop ish. Styles’ consistency is the strongest part of the album, there is no huge drop off from song to song.
Lyrically its nice, but very straightforward, serious and monotone. Don't expect a lot of wordplay and metaphors or a lot of emotion. Which for some may be a draw back.
The production is the weakness of the album, there aren't a lot of standout beats, and many could have been better, even though there are top notch producers on the project. “Harsh” and “Who Loves you More" are bangers though, the production is kind of mellow and leaves more to be desired.
The song making is average, its not a very musical album or concept riddled album, and most of the hooks are basic.
The album gets points for versatility, because there are different kinds of beats, and its sort of different from whats you normally expect for Styles P. He also gets points for his subject range, dealing with everything from braggadocios to conscious , to street . Its life all around.
Harsh featuring Rick Ross and Busta Rhymes is unquestionably the best song on the album. “We don't play” featuring Lloyd Banks, and “uh Ohh” featuring Sheek are all worth checking for.
Entertainment wise the album kind of disappoints, you’ll get a few spins out of it, but for the most part, one would expect more, more creativity, bigger verses and harder lines. One would also expect a better output from styles as a solo artist, because most of the tracks he goes hard on are the ones with features where the other person raps also. On this album he’s at his best when he’s doing typical and stereotypical Lox stuff, like the back and forth that he and Jada do so well, check “Its Ok”. All in all nothing new, unexpected or challenging and it doesn't show a lot of growth as an artist. But it is a solid release worth checking, with no completely wack cuts. I give it 3 out of 6 stars
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Phonte - Chatity Starts at Home
No build up necessary, Phonte multi talented as a singer and MC, one of the best at crafting a lyric by far. On his solo tip, Phonte blesses the Hip hop world with Charity Starts at Home. No Gimmicks, dope beats, dope rhymes, what more do ya’ll want and it will probably be slept on despite being easily one of the best releases all year and all summer and quarter. Better than most of the high profile releases and a hip hop fans wish. And from the intro you can tell that it was going to be major, the intro sets the bar high and expectations even higher.
Lyrically Phonte is a beast and on every track he goes in, you can hear not only the creativity and attention to detail in each and every bar, but all of the focus that goes into be a powerful wordsmith. The best lyric on the album, they all dope good luck picking a favorite. The best guest spot is Elzhi who shows up big on “Not Here anymore”.
Sonically its incredible its just good music, good soulful hip hop, with head nod beats, powerful kicks, ill samples. Its not over produced to where the beats outshine the concept or the lyrics
The Production team does there things. Its good not great, so if you the type that's looking for a whole bunch beats not necessarily. The beats are ill, but with the exception of the 9th wonder produced Not here anymore , they are not radio beats, party beats and not big car stereo beats. Never the less put it in the car, jam on the house stereo and mellow out. I think that Not here anymore is also the most balanced song and best all around song on the album. Gave a lot of props to that song but every song is hitting.
The song making is also incredible . Phonte pays attention to every aspect of the songs, the hooks, thumbs up for no lame hooks, the beats are perfectly set to his style and what the concept of the songs are, no weird moments. The lyrics speak for themselves and even the guess appearances are perfect for the song and the chemistry and respect between he and each artist matches. No forced collabo.
Its highly entertaining, especially if you require a lot from your music, if you’re intelligent and really check for and demand talent. You’ll listen to it over and over. Its original, its doesn’t sound like the last Little Brother album or Foreign Exchange Album, but its still signature Phonte.
Of course the versatility is on high as he flips flows, rhyme schemes and techniques and handles the singing part and backgrounds. If you a fan of Phonte you know he’s versatile, sometimes to a fault of ours, because we love his verses so much we forget that there is room for both his singing and rhyming and try to box him in. But you got to respect a man for doing what he has in his heart and the talent to do. So he offers a nice balance with the r&b and rap, he gives us quality bars on the R&b tracks, which also should not be slept on.
Lastly range, he hits real life, so every subject is touched, money, women, the business, grinding, grown man stuff we all can relate to, nothing shameful or stereotypical. On top of that he’s hilarious.
If you a fan get it, if you not fake it and try it out any way, I promise you’ll like it, its impossible to not. I give it 5 stars out of 6. There are no wasted tracks, no wasted collabos
Lyrically Phonte is a beast and on every track he goes in, you can hear not only the creativity and attention to detail in each and every bar, but all of the focus that goes into be a powerful wordsmith. The best lyric on the album, they all dope good luck picking a favorite. The best guest spot is Elzhi who shows up big on “Not Here anymore”.
Sonically its incredible its just good music, good soulful hip hop, with head nod beats, powerful kicks, ill samples. Its not over produced to where the beats outshine the concept or the lyrics
The Production team does there things. Its good not great, so if you the type that's looking for a whole bunch beats not necessarily. The beats are ill, but with the exception of the 9th wonder produced Not here anymore , they are not radio beats, party beats and not big car stereo beats. Never the less put it in the car, jam on the house stereo and mellow out. I think that Not here anymore is also the most balanced song and best all around song on the album. Gave a lot of props to that song but every song is hitting.
The song making is also incredible . Phonte pays attention to every aspect of the songs, the hooks, thumbs up for no lame hooks, the beats are perfectly set to his style and what the concept of the songs are, no weird moments. The lyrics speak for themselves and even the guess appearances are perfect for the song and the chemistry and respect between he and each artist matches. No forced collabo.
Its highly entertaining, especially if you require a lot from your music, if you’re intelligent and really check for and demand talent. You’ll listen to it over and over. Its original, its doesn’t sound like the last Little Brother album or Foreign Exchange Album, but its still signature Phonte.
Of course the versatility is on high as he flips flows, rhyme schemes and techniques and handles the singing part and backgrounds. If you a fan of Phonte you know he’s versatile, sometimes to a fault of ours, because we love his verses so much we forget that there is room for both his singing and rhyming and try to box him in. But you got to respect a man for doing what he has in his heart and the talent to do. So he offers a nice balance with the r&b and rap, he gives us quality bars on the R&b tracks, which also should not be slept on.
Lastly range, he hits real life, so every subject is touched, money, women, the business, grinding, grown man stuff we all can relate to, nothing shameful or stereotypical. On top of that he’s hilarious.
If you a fan get it, if you not fake it and try it out any way, I promise you’ll like it, its impossible to not. I give it 5 stars out of 6. There are no wasted tracks, no wasted collabos
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