Wrapping up this week of new music, we hop into my top 10 albums of the first half. What's interesting, out of the 20 albums I had in the first quarter, only 4 of them remained at the half way point. Not sure if that is due to the week first quarter or a strong second quarter. I tend to think a little bit of both. Anyway, no messing around today, I have a shit load of emails I need to get to tonight hopefully, so in the immortal words of Slick Rick, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go."
10. Low Budget - Laser Disc
Sounds Like: This album reminds me of Vegas; flashy, flossy and glamorous on the first look, dirty and gritty when you really get into it.
Summary: You may have remember Magnasound that Australian duo Low Budget dropped in 2006. Made up of Gentleman Gene on the vocals and Polarity aka Debonair P (?!) behind on the tables (yes, they actually have scratching on their records) and on the boards. Po is a beast on the boards, as he has a knack for flipping samples and turning them into golden age sounds. It's quite impressive actually. I'm guilty for not giving non American hip hop its just due quite often, and I know Australian Hip Hop has a "hate it or love it" vibe in the global hip hop community, but I stand behind Low Budget's lastest LP, Laserdisc.
Favorite Tracks: "Saturday Night", "Cool Out"
9. Blaq Poet - The Blaqprint 
Sounds Like: New York City personified, raw, dirty and not afraid to smack you the snot box
Summary: Before I launch into it, the fact that I have this album at number nine even though I'm about to say that I was disappointed in the album, says something about how this album is still damn nice and just how great Primo is. Okay, since that is out of the way, on to the rest of my two cents. Blaqprint suffers from overly high expectations on my part. It's not it's fault that they didn't live up to those lofty expectations on my part. I was thinking this was going to be on some new Gang Starr type shit. It's not, plain and simple. Primo is simply very good on the beats and Blaq Poet just doesn't have the chemistry with Primo that Guru did. Still, this album is nothing to sneeze at. It's real hip hop in my book. Loud, obnoxious, banging New York hip hop. I miss shit like this
Favorite Tracks: "Ain't Nuthin' Changed", "I Gititin"
8. Tha Connection - Love Royale
Sounds Like: Some smoked out beats, coupled with some smoked out vocals, to make some smoked out mellow, groovin' music
Summary: Tha Connection has been one of my favorite new groups to emerge in the past year. Their music has a vibe, one that you know it's them when you hear it, and Love Royale is no different. The stick to their formula, but they perfect it even more. They use a lot of familiar breaks and beats, but they add their own flavor to it which gives it that familiar feel to it, like you've listened to it before. That's part of what draws me toward their music, it is comfortable for me. Tha Connection is always busy creating music, which is a good thing because they bring the goods every time and Love Royale is no different.
Favorite Tracks: "Dum Dum Dum", "Flow"
7. Diz Gibran & Moonshine - Soon You'll Understand
Sounds Like: The second coming of Lord Finesse combined with Little Brother, and the Step Brother to Blu.
Download his free project, Soon You'll Understand. http://diznmoon.com/
Summary: I've said it before, I'm really hit and miss with a lot of the LA music scene. It's good to see them on something other than the gangsta tip, but some of it I just get with all the time. New comer Diz Gibran however is one new style LA cat that I can get with. Diz gets busy over some Moonshine beats, who comes a lot nicer than I remember him being on some of his past projects. Their are some straight up catchy music on Soon You'll Understand and this album has only steadily increased it's replay value for me since it dropped as a free release back in early April (just missing the first quarter cut for me). At 19 tracks, it might have been even better with the cutting of some loose weight, but the dope tracks more than make up for the weaker ones (what little there are). I hope this cat gets better and better because this is simply a great start.
Favorite Tracks: "Once Again", "Impossible", "City Lights", "Truly Yours", "Stereo"
6. Nite People - What Do You Mean You People?
Sounds Like: The Pete Rose of rap, not flashy, but steadily delivers the hits.
Summary: I really liked Nite People's "Daily Livin'" LP from 2007, so when Arablak dropped me a line telling me about Nite People's new album, I was curious how the crew would come this time around. From the get go, you know that What Do You Mean You People is going to be even better than their first album. While the album isn't flashy, there isn't going to be any singles that will make you say "oh shit!", it's consistent all the way through. I found myself listening to it more and more after having certain songs stuck in my head. It's cliche to say this, but What Do You Mean... is nothing but quality hip hop, and it straight grows on you. With production coming from Tone Capone and DJ Manipulator, the beats are solid as EtheReal Plains does his thing. Highly recommended.
Favorite Tracks: "Stage Fright", "You People", "Color Schemes", "IRap", "Cliche"
5. Drumz & Llingo - Blak Market
Sounds Like: Some of the best drums this side of Heaven (RIP Dilla), with a sound that sounds like it was found in a time capsule from 1993.
Summary: Yes, I know if you don't ready WYDU all that much, the names Drumz & Llingo might be new to you, but I suggest you check for them. Their Blak Market LP dropped in late December and really got me through those slow months of January and February. Armed with banging drums from both Drumat!c and Llingo (who also does most of the rhyming) and deep, heavy and rattling bass lines, the Philly duo put together a classic hip hop album. Classic in that there is none of that fluff BS synth music, just pure hip hop.
Favorite Tracks: "Nowonder", "MC1two", "Tipitbak", "Bamboozled"
4. Blame One - Days Chasing Days
Sounds Like: Melodic strings, horns and bass lines coupled by ill rhymes
Summary: I was late jumping on the Blame One bandwagon. I didn't really know who he was until last summer when I bumped into his mixtape. From there on out I was sold on him. Looks like the bandwagon has come to an end, as Blame recently announced his retirement from hip hop. At least his swan song, Days Chasing Days, will be the last thing he'll be remembered for musically. Exile was already probably in my top five current hip hop producers, but dude cemented his spot after producing a good chunk of this album. But it's not even Exile's dope beats that sold me on the album, it's Blame's rhyme style, vocal tone and subject matter, it all just appealed to me. Days Chasing Days walks the fine line of variety and cohesiveness, making an album that leads you down a straight path, but gives you enough to do so you don't get bored. Tracks such as the Sean Price assisted "Disturbed" is different from the title track, "Days Chasing Days", but they work together very well. All around just a great album, too bad the good always retire early...or something like that.
Favorite Tracks: "Supreme", "Wonder Why", "Disturbed", "Days Chasing Days", "Words"
3. Tanya Morgan - Brooklynati 
Sounds Like: A bastard child of the Native Tongue days
Summary: I was wondering how the whole Brooklynati concept was going to shake out after Tanya Morgan nailed their first concept type album on the head. With a name like Tanya Morgan, you already know that the group has a sense of humor and like using double meanings to describe things, and they use all those approaches when they tackled the Brooklynati project. The result? The music is great, and the whole story line, while not as good as Moonlighting, is still entertaining after a 50 plus listens. The whole Little Brother/Foreign Exchange/ Justus League vibe is very much present on Brooklynati, and they handle it well. Very entertaining album.
Favorite Tracks: "On Our Way", "So Damn Down", "Bang & Boogie", "She's Gone", "Morgan Blu"
2. J Dilla - Jay Stay Paid
Sounds Like: Classic Jay Dee
Summary: Is it an instrumental album? Is it a compilation? I'm not all that sure, but I know it's straight up classic J Dilla. I'm not going to sit here and praise Dilla for his musical genius that we unfortunately lost way too soon, but listening to this made me appreciate him all over again. It was great hearing what artists like Lil Fame, Black Thought and Blu would sound like over a dope Dilla beat. There are some great instrumentals on here and some nice work by the MCs as well. Is it a classic like Donuts? Probably not, but it's got a lot going for it and it's something I can listen to anytime on any day.
Favorite Tracks: "Lazer Gunne Funk", "Smoke", "Blood Sport", "Digi Dirt", "Reality TV", "Pay Day"
1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol 1. 
Sounds Like: Outkast meets De La Soul....the best of the South combines with the best of the North.
Summary: I've never hid the fact that I'm pretty much a Cunninlynguists fan boy. I've named their last two albums one and two for the year in 2006 and 2007 and give them props whenever the opportunity arises. Kno is probably my favorite current producer, the southern twang of Deacon and Natti are nothing short of spectacular most of the time, and the songs are always something that I can relate to or can feel. I'll admit, I wasn't sure what to expect from the seemingly "throw something together" type of feel of Strange Journey Vol. 1 when I saw the track listing for it. After getting the CD in the mail back in late March, my worries subsided as tracks like "Never Come Down", "Die For You", "Hypnotized" (which has some personal meaning these past couple months) and others. There are a couple skippable songs found on Strange Journey, but the rest more than make up for it.
Favorite Tracks: "Nothing By Strangeness", "Move", "Never Come Down", "Hypnotized", "Dance For Me", "Die For You", "Don't Leave", "Broken Van"
7/17/2009
WYDU Mid Way Report Day Five: Top 20 Hip Hop Albums 10-1
7/16/2009
WYDU Mid Way Report Day Four: Top 20 Hip Hop Albums 20-11
We are down to the last two days of the WYDU's Mid Way report. We'll be covering my top 20 albums of the first half so far. No instrumental albums and no EPs, just albums. Some mixtapes might have found their way in, but the line between proper albums and "mixtapes" are more blurred than ever before.
This year started off hella slow. It wasn't until the last couple weeks of March until things really took off. Even then it's been rather streaky, with a couple weeks on fire, then we don't hear anything for awhile. The landscape continues to change, with lots of free albums blessing the listeners. I'm not sure how I feel about the first half so far. There are some damn good albums, and I still cringe when cats say hip hop is dead, it's not dead, you are on just on some lazy shit or can't adjust your tastes. Either or, I'm still finding lots of music that entertains me. It's never going to be '88 again, or '96 for that matter. Get over it and find something that interests you.
That's my rant for the day. The second half has some things I'm anticipating. Of course the Paten Locke joint has me feigning. If Cunninlynguists does get Vol. 2 of Strange Journey out by the end of the year, that has the chance to be something big in my book. Arablak from the Social Light Sounds has let me hear a couple teasers from his upcoming album that building the excitement. So what I'm saying, the verdict for the year is still way up in the air and could go either way at this point in time. Now we'll just jump into the bottom half of the top 20....
20. Mr. SOS - How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb
Sounds Like: Stanley Kubrick came back as a MC and is tripping off some bad acid. No really, that's supposed to be a good thing.
Summary: I've been waiting for a Mr. SOS solo album since he got the boot from Cunninlynguists back in '04 or '05. In my opinion, he was a major importance in the Southernunderground LP from Cunnin'. It's taken forever, but How I Stopped Worrying & Love the Bomb finally dropped. At first, I didn't know what the hell to think of this LP. It's nothing like I was expecting, it's not your traditional hip hop at all, yet it is. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't listened to it, but the LP is supposed to be based in the future, and it sure the hell sounds like it. It's something like the 2010 version of the Bomb Squad. Insanity on the beats, but refined. It's an impressive LP if you are able to accept it's complexity, which I'm sure some people won't be able to swallow it.
Favorite Songs: "Bionic", "The Balance"
19. Superstar Quamallah - The Invisible Man 
Sounds Like: An old soul, making soulful hip hop
Summary: To be honest, it's the music that makes this album. I've read some places that ding Quamallah for his rhyming on Invisible Man, but Quamallah does what he does, delivering effortless rhymes over great beats. That doesn't change on here, as Quamallah does a great job on the beats, very soulful and moving and he brings back that old school flavor with a twinge of current flair on tracks like "88 Soul" and "California Dreamin". A must have for anyone who loves the soul tracks.
Favorites: "88 Soul", "California Dreamin"
18. Notes To Self - A Shot In The Dark
Sounds Like: A Canadian version of Dilated Peoples
Summary: It was Notes To Self's EP, Warning Shots, caught my attention earlier this year. I picked it up mainly because of Evidence being on the EP, but after listening to it, I had to look into this four man group from Toronto a little closer. Their full length project, A Shot In The Dark, is solid all the way around with a couple great songs. Apparently they've been around for a little while, but this is the first time I've heard of them. While they aren't on some "ol next other shit", they do make a good quality album that should get plays from the underground/backpacker fan base out there.
Favorite Tracks: "Yellow & Gray", "Days Like These"
17. Lonegevity - Sessions
Sounds Like: You found out you next door neighbor could rhyme.....and he was actually kinda nice.
Summary: I don't know how I got Lonegevity's free project, Sessions, or how long I had it. I got an email from my man Jaz of Cold Rock Da Spot saying I should check out the album. Low and behold, I looked in my iPod and there it was. Jaz was responsible for pointing me in the direction of Dagha last year, which had one of my favorite albums of the year. So I immediately hit "play" and the album. What I heard was nothing overly special at first, yet the just appealed to me. Certain songs made me want to re listen to them over and over. Lonegevity isn't the greatest MC in the world, but he does have a nice selection of beats and he makes good songs, which for me is just as important as being the nicest on the mic. Well worth the free listen...
Favorite Tracks: "If You're Down", "Nice To Meet You"
Click below to download Sessions!
DOWNLOAD
16. The Problemaddicts - The Guestlist
Sounds Like: If I were to make a mixtape like Funkmaster Flex did back in the day, but use the current favorites.
Summary: After having one of the better albums that came out of nowhere last year (The Dark Side of Oz), I was kinda disappointed when I heard The Guestlist. Not because it wasn't good, but because they are really only on one or two songs. But then I started thinking about it, and they had a lot of my favorites and upcoming MCs I have my eyes on. Blacastan, Masta Ace, Poorly Drawn People, even Copywrite is present on this mixtape. Most songs are new or exclusive to the projects, so it's a bunch of new stuff. Ironically, some of the material by groups I haven't heard of are among my favorites, such as Black River Sound's "Grow". Despite not spitting on their own project, the Problemaddicts put together a nice little project here that has replay value.
Favorite tracks: "Grow", "Hurting"
15. Diamond District - In The Ruff
Sounds Like: The 90's met the 00's and had little 9000 babies....or something like that.
Summary: D.C. is on the map, and it's about time. Of course, we get some music out of D.C., but for as large of a city it is and with the amount of black culture there, it's surprising it's not known more for it's hip hop. Diamond District, which is made up of three DC natives, Oddisee, yU and X.O., dropped an excellent free project for the masses, titled In The Ruff. With banging kick drums and melodic beats from the one and only Oddisee, they handle the mic well enough to even make the album better
Favorite Tracks: "In The Ruff", "Who I Be"
01 Streets Wont Let Me Chill
02 Who I Be
03 Back To Basics
04 I Mean Business
05 Get In Line
06 In The Ruff
07 The Shining
08 The District
09 Make It Clear
10 Off The Late Night
11 Let Me Explain
12 First Time
14. Illogic - Diabolical Fun
Sounds Like: Loud drums, loud riffs, organized chaos and dope lyrics
Summary: I'm not sure what I should like better on Diabolical Fun, the beats or the lyrics. On one hand you have one of the nicer underground MCs in the game the past decade or so in Illogic. He's an MCs MC. But I always found him kind of dull, basically because the lack of quality beats. Boy did ever change that this time around. Ill Poetic, a favorite of WTR and WYDU, did Illogic justice with just loud and obnoxious sounds, which is a good thing. Ill Poetic has gotten even better behind the boards since his own 2007 release and should be someone that gets more work.
Favorite Tracks: "Violent Verbage", "Let's Go"
13. Pseudo Slang - We'll Keep Looking
Sounds Like: Xtracts of Slang and Pseudo Intellectuals got together to form a group....oh wait.....
Summary: While I'm not at all familiar with Xtracts of Slang, Pseudo Intellectuals out of Buffalo NY caught my year last year for one of my favorite albums that came out of nowhere. A couple members from each group got together to form Pseudo Slang. When I first hear We'll Be Waiting, I was thinking to myself, "These dudes sound too much like Pseudo Intellectuals." To my defense, it was early in the morning still. It's a simple formula, but it's a good one. It's hip hop that reminds me of being in a smokey jazz room, listening to dudes kick it with a beret on or something. It's that jazzy.
Favorite Tracks: "Broke & Copasetic", "Bedouin"
12. Marco Polo & Torae - Double Barrel
Sounds Like: Some good ole fashioned boom bap
Summary: I wasn't sure what to expect from this album when I heard about it. In the past I've been a fan of Marco Polo's beats, but Torae never really did much for me lyrically. When Double Barrel dropped, my expectations for Torae were beaten but I was somewhat disappointed in what I heard from beatwise from Marco Polo. That's not to say that the beats aren't good. It's that "smack you in the face" 90's NYC hip hop. That's good, but the bad thing is after awhile, all the beats kinda bleed into each other. Still, I'd rather have good beats bleed into each other than shitty beats. None the less, unfortunately, there aren't many hip hop albums out there like this anymore and it's rather unfortunate.
Favorite Tracks: "Hold Up", "Double Barrel"
11. LoveJones & Phys Edison - Sunday Drive
Sounds Like: Some 70's psych rock mixed with the hip hop monster after one two many hits from the bong.
Summary: Some serious vibin' music coming from Mike Jones aka LoveJones and his producer Phys Ed. I like albums that create moods, and Sunday Drive does just that. There is no music that makes you want to punch a hole through your wall, but there is a lot of music that makes you want to get a fat bag of your favorite vegetation and just kick back and listen to the music. As I've mentioned before, the album came out of nowhere, and I really only downloaded it because the cover looked so incredibly goofy, I was curious to what it sounded like. The album hooked me right away though, and I can see this one moving up even a few more spots before the year is over.
Favorite Tracks: "Downtime", "Sunday Drive Midnight Mix"
LoveJones and Phys Edison's debut album, Sunday Drive.
Sunday Drive Download Link
http://www.zshare.net/download/60344851b10cd088/
Official Track list
1. Sunday Morning(Still Thinking About Saturday Night)
2. Sunday Drive
3. New World
4. Downtime
5. Phys Edison's Brunch
6. Sit on the Moon
7. The One(My SV Shit)
8. Sunday Drive Midnight Mix
9. Had a Dream
10. B.I.G. Dreams
Bonus Tracks
11. The Get Up
12. They Gon Hate
13. Sucka MCs
14. Roll Call(Top City)
