"My Name Is My Name," by Pusha T (HHES Album Review)

Here's my review of the Pusha T album "My Name Is My Name," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

"King Push" is a solid song and starts the album off well. The lyrics are really dense and it definitely helps to bust out the Rap Genius annotations here. Pusha's delivery in this song is menacing and always compelling.

"Numbers on the Board" is one of the outstanding tracks on this album and of the year. The production is sparse, purposefully putting the focus on lyrics and delivery. That's a good idea. The beat is good, but the words are superb. The song barely has a hook, but it comes in at just the right time to tie things together and cement what's being said in the rest of the song.

I originally didn't pay much attention to "Street Serenade," mainly because I don't particularly like the hook. But after hearing it live, I really got into Push's verses, particularly the repeated Rick Flair "woo!" in verse 2, which kills live and seems to really stand out upon further listen on the album, too.

"Hold On" is one of the more introspective songs on the album and it benefits from some backing vocals from Kanye and, surprisingly, a Rick Ross verse I don't hate. If Ross was always like this, I might like him.

"Suicide" has another simple but powerful beat and some great wordplay from Push, but guest Ab-Liva just isn't on Push's level, bringing the song down a bit.

"40 Acres" shows that when it comes to lyrics, Push doesn't play and he is kind of light years ahead of most other rappers in the game. More sparse production leaves the power of the song all in the hands of Push (and the hook by The Dream) and he delivers.

"No Regrets" shows the one weakness this album has--vocalists other than Pusha T. Every time Push gets going good on a verse, a subpar hook comes in or a guest (in this case Jeezy) comes in and the contrast is strong enough that you're like "alright, let's get past this so we can get back to Push." This is far from the only song that happens on. In this song, when Push does return, he leads in with a triple metaphor "Presidential I came back," which refers to Obama's re-election, Push's return to recording after the end of his Clipse days, and the fact that he's back on the track after Jeezy's weaker (my word) verse. More of that would be better than more of the guests.

"Let Me Love You" contains the first great sung hook, this one by Kelly Rowland. The song is more upbeat, less gangsta, and more Clipse-like than any other track here. Those are compliments. The rest of the album is so hardcore this is a nice break that helps add weight to the other tracks. Push also varies his flow more here than in other songs and it works very well.

"Who I Am" takes it right back to the hardcore and brings back both Pusha rapping the short hook and the Rick Flair "woo" sound that appears on several earlier songs to very good effect. The 2 Chains comes in and puts me to sleep. He has 14 bars and 4 of them include "I got a bad bitch in my swimming pool." Big Sean is a bit better on his verse, but still doesn't hold rise to the level of Push.

"Nosetalgia" is not only the best song on the album, it's one of the two best songs released in 2013 (along with Schoolboy Q & Kendrick Lamar's "Collard Greens"). Here's why: 1. Push hits harder than anywhere else in his career. 2. Kendrick destroys the guest verse. 3. Awesome KRS-One samples. 4. Vivid storytelling and imagery. 5. Diverse flows. 6. A spare but perfect beat that, as with the rest of the album, gives the vocalists the spotlight and enhances what they do. 7. Probably the best wordplay on the album. If you don't know this song, you aren't listening to the best rap coming out these days.

"Pain" can't possibly follow "Nosetalgia" that well, no song could, but it tries by providing a more interesting and layered beat that might be the best on the album. One of the better (but still not great) sung hooks follows and then Pusha comes in with more top-notch rhyming that both provides some new references we haven't heard yet and ties the song to other tracks on the album.

"S.N.I.T.C.H." features Pharrell, but not at his best. The production is pretty simple for a Pharrell track, in trying to keep with the mood of the rest of the album, but Pharrell just isn't as good at it as Kanye. Pharrell's hook is worse, going down to the level of the album's other hooks by the likes of Future. Push delivers here much like he does on the rest of the album, but seems like he might have run out of things to say by this point.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 10. Pusha has a great flow. He rarely fails to deliver fully.

Lyrics: 9. The lyrics here are a bit heavily focused on the same few subjects, but they are very dense, interesting, and entertaining.

Message: 8. Most of the messages here are personal and historical, but you definitely get a pretty good insight into who Pusha T is or was.

Technical: 8. Pusha doesn't go in for too much speed rapping, but his flows always sound melodic and powerful.

Production: 9. Kanye knocks every track out of the park, the other producers don't suck either.

Versatility: 8. For the most part, Push stays in his lane, but when he ventures outside of it, it works well.

Collaborators: 6. There are a few really great collabs here (Kanye, Kendrick, Kelly) a few that are solid (Ross, Pharrell) and a bunch that are wek.

History: 10. This album is steeped in both gangsta rap history and broader history.

References: 10. You can't fully understand this album without Rap Genius, it's so packed with references.

Originality: 9. It goes down some well-worn content and lyrical paths, but it does it in ways that few others have done, making it a very strong take on an old genre.

Total Score: 87. This is one of the best hip hop albums of 2013 no question. This one made me a full-on Pusha T fan. Seeing him perform these songs live makes them even better.

"Born Sinner," by J. Cole (HHES Review)

Here's my review of the J. Cole album "Born Sinner," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

"Villuminati" is a great start. Interesting lyrics, good beat, skillfull flow, good references, bold statements.

"Kerney Sermon (Skit)" is a nice bit of ironic storytelling that illuminates themes on the rest of the album.

"LAnd of the Snakes" is a very interesting track. As with track one, the beat and flow are top-notch. At first glance, the song appears to be a typical "getting laid" track, but the song is much more introspective and uncertain in its moral point of view than most such songs. J. Cole doesn't necessarily love everything he's done in the past, but he also doesn't necessarily trust the motives of the women who want him.

"Power Trip" is one of the standout tracks on the album, with a very entertaining beat and yet another very good flow from J. Cole. The hook leaves a little to be desired, but it's not bad: Miguel has a great voice, but he doesn't always use it well. The song works very well on two levels, in the Common "I Used to Love HER" tradition, speaking about both a woman and hip hop itself.

"Mo Money (Interlude)" is short, but sweet. Another interesting beat, with lyrics that have a great poetic structure that I love.

"Trouble" is kind of the first misstep on the album. The chorus is pretty good, but the hook is weak, the beat is too trap-y for my tastes, and the lyrics and topics are starting to get repetitive at this point.

"Runaway" is the best-produced or performed song on the album, but it has some of the best lyrics. At this point, we're getting to the major theme of the album--men and women and their complicated relationships. And this has some of the best introspection and thoughtfulness on the topic that are on the album.

"She Knows" continues the theme of the last song, a man who is getting approached by women while he's out and about while having a woman at home devoted to him. This one has the biggest earworm on the album with the "she knows" hook and has some of the best production, which is saying something on this album. They personal revelations and deep thoughts aren't as good on this track as on "Runaway," but the cultural and hip hop references are better.

"Rich N*ggaz" goes back into the deeply revealing lyrics of "Runaway," but moves on to topics related to manhood and the industry. It's marred by one of the worst hooks on the album, though.

"Where’s Jermaine? (Skit)" leaves me wondering why it's included.

"Forbidden Fruit" has an interesting sample and drum beat as its underlying sound and this is probably J. Cole's best and most varied flow on the album, but it dips a little too much into a trap sound and the Kendrick Lamar hook isn't k.dot's strongest.

"Chaining Day" is where the album starts to wear down a bit, with repetitive themes, sounds, flow. It's not bad, and might work in another context, but after the previous group of songs, you're left wondering if Cole is out of ideas.

"Ain't That Some Shit (Interlude)" totally turns things back around. It's a totally different sound in every way you can think of. It's upeat, the flow is unique on this album, the theme is different, and it's the first time in a while that the listener is inspired to dance.

"Crooked Smile" and the songs that follow show that J. Cole knows how to end an album. This song is a strong empowerment anthem that you can play for anyone that thinks that rap always hates women. Cole shouts out 2 Pac in the next track, lyrically, but he gives a conceptual shout out to 2 Pac's "Keep Ya Head Up" here and it works well.

"Let Nas Down," to me, is the best track on the album. It not only is built on a great beat and sample, the story and the knowledge it shows of the rap game and its foundations is spot on. It also has some bigger philosophy that really gets across one of the best messages on the album.

"Born Sinner" is another strong track to close out the album, with a great, and unique beat, a solid hook from James Fauntleroy and lyrics that encapsulate the overall message of the album quite well.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 9. J. Cole is good. Very good. He's fast, technically skilled, and varies his flow well.

Lyrics: 9. Other than the excessive use of words that start with N and B, his lyrics are amazing, if a little repetitive as the album moves on.

Message: 8. It's hard not to note some of the contradictions in message from time to time, but for the most part, he's raising big points and nailing his take on them, which is usually a good one.

Technical: 8. He's not in the group of most technically proficient MCs in the game, but he's right below that.

Production: 8. Varied, well-done, repeatably listenable, if a little understated.

Versatility: 4. This is not a strength of Cole or this album. He's very good when he's in his area, but he doesn't wander outside of his main style much.

Collaborators: 6. There are some good collaborators on the album, but for the most part they aren't used very well and they don't add much.

History: 10. This is an album so steeped in history you're bound to learn something about hip hop just by listening.

References: 9. This is another strength of the album, Cole makes good and clever references on almost every song.

Originality: 6. It's original compared to many other current hip hop albums, but doesn't quite get to the level of a Kanye West or Childish Gambino and it repeats its ideas too much, meaning it doesn't have much in the way of internal originality.

Total Score: 77. J. Cole has produced a work to be proud of here, although it isn't loaded with tracks that will be stuck in your head or that you'll come back to over and over again. This is more an album that you'll listen to as a whole from time to time because you like his voice or style, but it falls a bit short of greatness.

"Nothing Was the Same," by Drake (HHES Review)

Here's my review of the Drake album "Nothing Was the Same," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

"Tuscan Leather" has great production and some of the lyrics are pretty tight, but I don't love Drake's flow. He's better here than on some of the other stuff I've heard.

"Furthest Thing" might have my favorite lyrics of the album, particularly the parts of the song that have poetic structures. The beat is kind of mild, but not bad, but the negative, as usual is that Drake is kind of monotone and his flow is largely pedestrian.

"Started from the Bottom" is a song that has so few distinct lyrics it annoys me. It doesn't sound terrible, and he does some interesting vocal things during the song, but it only has like 22-23 distinct lines, with its 8 bar verses and ridiculously repetitive hook. The beat is kinda catchy and I would probably like this song if Drake had actually written some more words for it.

"Wu-Tang Forever" has a misleading title, since other than a couple of references, it doesn't have a lot to do with Wu-Tang, stylistically or lyrically. Drake mixes up his flow here more than on other songs, but his sing-rapping isn't as good as his straight-up rapping, so it's a mixed bag. The beat is, again, so mild as to almost not exist.

"Own It" is kind of embarrassingly bad, lyrically speaking. It doesn't sound much better. If I could forget how dull this song is, and its contradictory pointlessness, I would.

"Worst Behavior" has a bit more upbeat backing track than previous songs, but that isn't particularly a good thing since it's way too trap for my tastes. There are some very interesting lyrical things going on here, though, particularly the Mase shout-out.

"From Time" is mildly pleasant. The beat is solid, if understated, and Jhene Aiko has a beautiful voice. Drake does some of his better rapping on this song.

"Hold On, We're Going Home" is probably the catchiest song on the album, with it's direct attempt to sound like a Michael Jackson song. The beat is maybe the best on the album, but, once again, it's one the laziest songs, lyrically, on an album that is pretty lazy from an artist who is pretty lazy (as a writer).

"Connect" shows some of the contradictions running through this album very clearly. Drake is doing a good thing in singing about topics that are atypical among rappers, but he's throwing around hardcore words that undercut how he's more respectful and sophisticated than other rappers. That, and the song itself, is understatd and monotonous.

"The Language" is a song about how awesome Drake is, using lyrics and beats (and Birdman) that are pretty much exactly like everything else on the radio, so it totally misses the mark.

"305 to My City." I get it, I get it, writing lyrics is hard. Not repeating yourself is hard. Strippers are nice. Next.

"Too Much" contains the best hook on the album, by Sampha. Drake's rapping is pretty solid, too, and for once he tells a story worth listening to.

"Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2" contains the best guest appearance on the album, with Jay-Z, and an entertaining sample from Wu-Tang scratched for the hook. Drake's initial verse on the song is significantly weaker than Jay-Z, but his Paris Morton verse is much better, and is one of his better moments on the album.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 4. I hate Drake's flow. I generally think it's lazy and his shift to sing/rapping hasn't improved that. I have heard him do worse than this album, though, so it could be worse.

Lyrics: 5. This is probably the strong point of the album, but only on certain songs. On others the lyrics are atrocious and lazy.

Message: 4. If there are messages on this album, they're hard to figure out. Not because the lyrics are complex, either, but because it's filled with mixed messages (and NOT in an interesting way) and light on lyrics.

Technical: 3. Drake uses very little technical skill on this album. His raps are easy. His singing isn't difficult.

Production: 4. The beats here aren't terrible, but most of them are so understated as to feel like incomplete ideas. A few of them are solid and almost none of it is horrible, but I won't remember more than 1-2 beats on here.

Versatility: 2. This album is so repetitive, sound-wise, it's hard to listen to for very long, since it sounds like one long song.

Collaborators: 5. Jay-Z, Sampha and Jhene Aiko add a lot to the songs they are on, but they all overshadow Drake, which kind of defeats the point of a guest appearance, right?

History: 4. Drake shows some knowledge of hip hop history on this album, but some of it is misguided and doesn't get the point of the originals, and isn't true to the spirit. I mean, how un-Wu-Tang is "Wu-Tang Forever"?

References: 5. Some songs have quite a few solid and entertaining references, but a number of them miss the point and some songs abandon them altogether.

Originality: 3. There's some credit here for a somewhat cohesive sound and a few nice song concepts, but the last song sounds like the first one and most of this sounds like stuff I've heard before.

Total Score: 39. I gave Drake a chance. I listened to the album with as little prejudice as I could muster. And I was mildly surprised to realize that Drake wasn't as horrible as I thought. He's still bad, but he's no Chief Keef.

"Sorry to Bother You," The Coup (HHES Review)

Here's my review of the Childish Gambino album "Camp," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

If it weren't for Kendrick Lamar's "Backseat Freestyle," "The Magic Clap" would the hardest banging song of the year, maybe of the decade. It was one my favorite videos of 2012 (although not even the best video from this album). And it is one of the best songs of any year. The lyrics are amazing, it's technically difficult, it challenges both lyrically and musically, and it's pretty damned fun to sing along with and dance too. Just plain perfection. And maybe one of the best ways to start off an album ever.

"Strange Arithmetic" is a great follow-up track, elevating the challenge of the album in terms of politics and critical thinking. Not to mention that it is an artistic song with a great concept. And it's another song you can easily dance to.

Just when you don't think an album can start off any better, along comes one of the most wildly creative songs ever written, "Your Parents' Cocaine." And the video is even better. Leave it to Boots Riley to combine kazoos, Anti-Flag, hardcore social commentary, and drug-using muppets. And it works so amazingly well.

After three songs, the album would already be a success, but Riley is far from done. "The Gods of Science" is one of the better rhyme schemes I saw all year, backed with superb production as every other song on the album is. Then that is followed by "My Murder, My Love," which has probably the best hook and a album filled with great hooks.

"You Are Not A Riot" shows Riley's amazing ability to balance incredibly catchy, danceable, original, unique songwriting with hardcore political commentary that doesn't hold back and pretty much always gets it right. It's a powerful combination and if radio and TV in the U.S. wasn't dominated by evil corporate interests, this was, by far, the catchiest set of songs released in 2012.

At some point, it starts to become repetitive to talk about this album, not because the album is at all repetitive, but because all of the adjectives I've used on previous songs keep applying. "Land of 7 Billion Dances" is original, danceable, political, great production, etc., etc. It's not at all like the rest of the album, sonically, and it has a more casual delivery than earlier songs, but that gives you a great break from the hardcore stuff that came before, so those are compliments.

"Violet" has some of the most beautiful music on the album and Pam the Funkstress' hook is a album highlight on an album filled with highlights. "This Year" brings in Jolie Holland as the vocalist and it helps keep the album very fresh, giving a bit of a break from Riley's voice which wasn't getting tiring at all, but that's how good the album is, it switches gears early enough and often enough that you keep being marveled at where it's going and awed at how it gets there.

"We've Got A Lot To Teach You, Cassius Green" manages to shock you with it's creativity and commentary when you didn't think the album could do that any more. And yet it does. Riley tries yet another approach to songwriting and he just knocks it out of the park in a way that you'd have a hard time thinking of anything else like it. Maybe ever.

For "Long Island Iced Tea, Neat," Riley brings in Japanther and damned if that doesn't work out perfectly, too. He continues to vary song structures as well and the production is varied enough that this is one of the few albums, of any era, that is so consistently listenable. "The Guillotine" comes in as a pretty amazing activist anthem and the album closes out on a lighter note, although still very socially conscious, with "WAVIP" which brings in even more amazing collaborators, Killer Mike and Das Racist.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 10. Riley has an amazing flow and he varies it enough on this album to keep it always interesting.

Lyrics: 10. There aren't many lyricists better than Riley and his metaphors and politically-charged rhetoric are right up my alley.

Message: 10. This album is all about politics and it's all about the right politics. Sometimes Riley is direct, sometimes he's metaphorical, but he's always on point.

Technical: 10. Hard to think of a rapper who more consistently tries to different things vocally and he always pulls them off on this album.

Production: 10. Every song is different and yet, they sound connected enough to be coherent.

Versatility: 10. This album tries to do a lot of great things and each song is significantly different than the others.

Collaborators: 10. Another area that is just plain perfect. There aren't an excessive number of contributors and every one of them is used to perfection.

History: 9. With a rapper as political as Riley, it'd be hard for the album not to be dripping with history. This one is, even if not a lot of it is explicit.

References: 8. There are quite a few, particularly if you also include the music videos, and the ones that exist are good.

Originality: 10. Albums don't get more original than this.

Total Score: 97. It's hard to imagine any album ever getting a higher score than this.

"Camp," Childish Gambino (HHES Review)

Here's my review of the Childish Gambino album "Camp," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

"Outside" is a strange way to start out the album. It's not a bad song, far from it, it's just not the typical song to start off a hip hop album, particularly one by a popular actor. It's a deeply introspective track where Gambino talks about peeing his pants in school as a kid. I like how revealing he is, but this seems more like a end-of-the-album track, not the lead.

"Fire Fly" is a great song, and yet still sounds a bit off in the sequence. The hook and the guest vocals here are both great and this song really goes into Gambino's ability to provide masterful wordplay and great references. The backing track is also pretty great as well.

"Bonfire" is the song that got me into Gambino in the first place. It really is just simply one of the hardest banging tracks by any artist in the last decade. Both musically and lyrically it is quite ahead of most of what's being produced these days. It's pure nerdcore, but at the same time it's a hard song that any rapper who respects talent would have to appreciate. And, as "street" and "gangsta" as other MCs are, there are few lines in any song delivered any way that hit harder than the "human centipede" and "Casey Anthony" lines in this song.

"All the Shine" is a pretty awesome track as well, opening up about Gambino's music career and the trials and tribulations he's faced based on his style of rap. Very good flow, revealing lyrics, a good backing track. Not much to complain about.

"Letter Home" is a brief aside that gives a pretty good look into Gambino's heart, once again showing that he has a way of approaching lyrics that a lot of other rappers don't. This isn't groundbreaking, but it's another snippet of information that reveals the bigger picture of Childish Gambino.

"Heartbeat" is one of the few rap songs about relationships that isn't a ballad and totally works on every level. Gambino sings a pretty powerful hook that it's hard not to get addicted to. On top of that, the lyrics describe a relationship that is complicated and unsimilar to any other depicted in any song I'm aware of. Pretty much like Gambino himself.

"Backpackers" isn't the best song on the album, but it continues things well enough to sustain the momentum that peaked with "Heart Beat." Another song taking on critics of his music/personality, it is worth a few listens.

"L.E.S." is the first drag on the album. Up to this point, things are mostly upbeat and fast-paced and this not only doesn't fit that, it seems to slow the momentum the album had up to this point.

"Hold You Down" is the second track in a row that doesn't quite match up to the earlier tracks. It's not bad, but it does seem to be getting a bit repetitive at this point. Lyrically, it's impressive, but the sound just doesn't transcend.

"Kids" helps get things back on track with one of the better beats on the album. Gambino's imperfect singing makes the hook more original and catchy than it might otherwise be.

"You See Me" really brings things back with the best beat on the album and some of Gambino's best wordplay and flow. The song is very technically difficult and switches styles frequently enough to catch just about anyone's attention, even if its racial and gender politics is awkward at best.

"Sunrise" is a fun song that has some great lyrics and wordplay in the verses, but probably could've done with a better hook and maybe a loss of some of the jarring backing vocals.

"That Power" is an interesting end to the album, with a initial track that is pretty similar to a number of other tracks on the album, but continuing well past that "song" into a lengthy monologue from Gambino that is loaded with his personality and entertaining, showing that Gambino is a good storyteller.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 10. I love the way Gambino flows. He's probably my favorite rapper right now in terms of the way words come out of his mouth.

Lyrics: 9. Gambino does have a mysterious problem with slipping into stale misogynistic lines from time to time that show a laziness that he doesn't show anywhere else. If it weren't for that, this album would be perfect from a lyrical standpoint.

Message: 9. This album is really about Gambino's personality and the things that make him tic. In that vein, it's pretty amazing. I get a really good feel for the person these lyrics are about.

Technical: 10. Gambino really is trying to do something with the way he raps and he succeeds almost all the time.

Production: 8. It's hard to complain about any of the sounds on this album. They aren't all perfect, but they are close enough to stand up to repeated listens.

Versatility: 7. While there isn't a ton of versatility from song to song, there is so much within the individual songs that

Collaborators: 7. There really aren't too many besides producers. This makes a lot of sense in context, though, since the album is deeply personal and since everyone else does so many songs with guests, he's making a bit of a statement by not having anybody dilute his personal story.

History: 6. Not a lot of history is very obvious here, but there are quire a few pop culture references and some other nods towards what came before.

References: 10. Gambino makes a lot of current and clever references that are both hilarious and powerful.

Originality: 10. If anything else like this exists, I'm not aware of it.0

Total Score: 86. This album is loaded with potential and in quite a few places, it more than exceeds that potential. Gambino is a rapper to watch.

"Wolf," Tyler, the Creator (HHES Review)

Prior to listening to "Wolf," I had only heard negative things about him. I listened to it a little bit and I found his voice and flow interesting, but wasn't wowed. There were a couple of songs that grabbed me a bit, but I didn't think they were world-changers or anything. Then I saw an interview with him and realized that I grew up with guys like him, so I kinda get where he's coming from, even though I disagree with a lot of his choices.

A eponymous first track is almost completely pointless and offensive. It doesn't sound horrible, but the words are horrible. It's followed by "Jamba," which is catchy and well-produced, but once again, contains enough misogyny and homophobia to detract from its quality. The next track "Cowboy" doesn't differ from "Jamba" in any notable way. "Awkward," is kinda different, particularly since it has an actual topic and it reduces the offensive stuff.

"Domo 23" sounds quite a bit different in terms of the production and flow. The lyrics, however, are totally pointless and go back in the more offensive direction. "Answer" shows the production on the album starting to really vary, but the lyrics and flow have been heard a bunch of times already. On this album.

"Slater" is a song about Tyler riding on his bike, and it isn't as exciting as that sounds. "48" is the first time on the album that Tyler really has consistently good lyrics that tell a real story and reveal something about his actual thought process. It also has the worst production so far, despite the Nas samples. Lyrically, "Colossus" is the best writing on the album, with its tale of fan-artist tensions, and the minimalist beat is more than sufficient, even if he still does include some offensive lyrics.

"PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer Lyrics" is a old school freestyle jam that is too mundane to be particularly funny or interesting. "IFHY" is another one of the more lyrically revealing and interesting tracks and although the beat is better than "48," it's still not particularly great. The next track is the most similar to "Colossus," a deeply personal track that gives Tyler the chance to bust loose and show both his songwriting and his vocal skills. The beat isn't amazing, but there are a lot worse on this album. "Parking Lot" is a typical crew shout-out jam, but it's not particularly entertaining. Apparently Tyler doesn't even care for it that much and he said if there's a vinyl version of the album, he'll leave it off.

"Rusty" is a pretty good song in terms of finding a creative way to do something that has been done over and over again, this time it's a combination answer song and "inside the game" complaint song. The lyrics are pretty interesting and original, for the most part, but he once again falls into the pattern of using misogyny and homophobia in a way that is supposedly ironic, but there's no real way to know that unless you've seen interviews with him. On "Trashwang," Tyler and his crew are really angry at someone, but it's not really obvious who. Maybe they're angry at the producer(s) of the album where this is one of the more creative beats and it's not exactly groundbreaking. "Treehome95" is announced as an incomplete song when it comes on. And it is. And it's mostly not Tyler. And it's got an above average beat for this album, but it barely sounds like a Tyler song. Next up is "Tamale," which is the best beat and catchiest song on the album, even if, once again, the lyrics devolve into the same pointless "let's offend just to offend" nonsense. The final song, which includes more of the pointless skit parade on the album. The song is over a totally jacked song (not even a sample) and while the lyrics are above average for the album, the delivery doesn't really match the backing track.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 8. Tyler has an interesting flow, but he doesn't vary it enough and doesn't try to do too much that is challenging. He has two basic flows, his normal voice and his raspier voice. They're both pretty good, but very repetitive.

Lyrics: 7. Most of Tyler's lyrics here are pretty good. He makes two mistakes, though, and he makes them over and over again. The first is the totally offensive language he uses towards women and homosexuals. And he does it so much that it becomes lazy and repetitive. The other thing is that quite a bit, he just randomly throws out lines in a way that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it makes the songs run together and have no real coherence at times.

Message: 3. Most of it doesn't have much of a message and when it does, despite his protestations, it seems like the message is I don't really like gay people (other than Frank Ocean), and I only like women for one thing.

Technical: 6. Sometimes Tyler tries some more advanced rapping techniques, and he usually succeeds, but he doesn't do it too often.

Production: 5. I like minimalism, but it has to be minimal and catchy and connect with the lyrics. That doesn't happen too often.

Versatility: 4. There's only a little bit on the album, most of it is the same thing over and over and over again.

Collaborators: 6. Pretty good people and hot young guys are on the album, but for the most part, they don't stand out and don't add a lot to the album.

History: 7. References: 8. Tyler's a smart guy who has consumed a lot of pop culture (and some history) and that shows throughout the album.

Originality: 6. Tyler's choice of content and his delivery are pretty original, but the rest of what makes up these songs isn't.

Total Score: 63. Tyler has a lot of potential, but he's one of those guys who thinks he's being edgy by using homophobia and misogyny as if that isn't what everyone else is doing. If he got better production and attached as much creativity to the parts of the songs that are anti-woman or anti-gay, he'd be great.

"N.W.A. and the Posee" (HHES Review)

Most people's introduction to N.W.A. was "Straight Outta Compton," but for me and my friends, that was the third N.W.A album, after Eazy-E's solo album and "N.W.A. and the Posee." We were Southern white boys, but this one of a few albums that really shook us to the core and made us see the world in a different way. There is no album I've purchased more times than this one, with it being played so many times that the cassette broke more than once. Or people stole it. Either way, none of us could have a car that didn't have a copy of this in it. We didn't differentiate, either, between the N.W.A. tracks and the songs by others, it was all one big shot of lightning to us. We played this nonstop, getting dirty looks, racist comments and getting ignored by the girls who couldn't believe what we were listening to.

Eazy-E - "Boyz-n-the-Hood": One of several perfect songs on the album, I still know every word to this song today. The album starts off with tremendous production from Dr. Dre and never lets up. Even if the words and messages on some of these songs are terrible in retrospect, it was hard to care about that when they sounded so good. This one was my introduction to gangsta rap and what street life was like in places like Compton. The lyrics are just plain genius, so good that even Easy-E's subpar rhyme skills can't mess them up. His signature voice, though, remains one of the most original sounds to ever hit my ears.

N.W.A. - "8 Ball": Another perfect song, sonically, from the evil gremlin voice of Eazy-E to Dre's amazing beat that showed already that he was one of the best and that he was willing to use good sounds to make his songs, even if they seemed inappropriate, such as the Beastie Boys samples here. This is one of the few songs in history that specifically made me buy a product. We drank a LOT of 8 Ball because of this song.

Fila Fresh Crew - "Dunk the Funk": The first misstep on the album isn't Dre's fault, his beat is still dope. And it's not D.O.C.'s fault, he's tight. The rest of the Crew, though, just can't hang and they really seem out of place on an album with Ice Cube. This song is a throwaway and we used to hit fast forward here a lot.

Rappinstine - "Scream": This one was always a bit better than "Dunk the Funk," but we usually fast forwarded through it as well (until they took it off the album for the reissue). It's not terrible, but lyrically and delivery-wise, it just doesn't belong on this album.

Fila Fresh Crew - "Drink It Up": This one is the highlight of the Fila Fresh Crew tracks. It's a silly song, but damn if we didn't laugh our asses off and sing along with it over and over and over again.

N.W.A. - "Panic Zone": One of the flaws of this album was that there wasn't enough Arabian Prince. His voice is amazing and this is a perfect vehicle for him and another great slice of the gangsta life.

Eazy-E and Ron-De-Vu - "L.A. Is the Place": While Ron-De-Vu isn't on Eazy's level, this song is kind of the early gangsta rulebook. It's not in the top five songs on the album, but is just below them.

N.W.A. - "Dope Man": Perfection. This ridiculously awesome introduction to Ice Cube made me a hip hop fan for life. No matter how many crappy family movies he makes, Cube gets a lifetime pass from me because of this song, which still remains the best explanation of drug dealers and their lifestyle ever written.

Fila Fresh Crew - "Tuffest Man Alive": The biggest problem with Fila is that anyone who isn't D.O.C. sounds like they are rapping in 1981, as if they never learned the smoothness of flow that later rappers have. Stilted and awkward and less rhythmically valid. Another throwaway song.

Eazy-E and Ron-De-Vu - "Fat Girl": Even then I knew this song was horrible, but it hit hard and as teenage boys we thought it was funny and we hadn't figured out women yet, so we had a lot of that virginal anti-woman stuff running through our heads.

Fila Fresh Crew - "3 the Hard Way": The best of Fila's straight ahead songs is propelled by an amazing beat and hardcore rhymes from D.O.C. It's a little light lyrically speaking, and the jokes in it are kinda stale and weren't that funny then, but it definitely belonged on the album. The inclusion of the band members doing the dozens at the end is also an important document and was really funny at the time (even if it's less funny to me as an adult).

N.W.A. - "A Bitch Iz a Bitch": This replacement song was added to get more Cube out there and it improved the album. It was this song that helped make it clear to me that rappers are fictional characters and their words shouldn't always be taken literally. Cube makes it clear that he's not calling all women bitches, he's describing a particular type of woman that is materialistic and out to exploit a musician. N.W.A. even gave women the chance to jump on the track and argue back, which was quite entertaining.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 8. Cube, Arabian Prince and D.O.C. are amazing, Eazy's solid, Ron-De-Vu is passable and the rest are kinda weak.

Lyrics: 9. While a lot of the non-N.W.A. tracks are weak lyrically, the N.W.A. stuff is so important and powerful that it makes things better.

Message: 7. A lot of misogyny, fat hatred, and homophobia run through the album, which are obviously problems, but the album is a great opening document for what became known as the "CNN of the streets." As a description of a lifestyle and historical document, it's important.

Technical: 7. The same guys I mentioned who were good on flow are good here, but the rest are subpar.

Production: 10. Near perfect. Dre already knew what he was doing and his use of samples and beats to compliment the raps is unparalleled even 25 years later.

Versatility: 10. Again, look at the list of performers that came out of this album and see how different they are. The topics aren't super varied, but the voices and delivery styles are.

Collaborators: 9. A couple of rappers probably didn't belong on this album, but this is damned near a supergroup album.

History: 8. Music history is very well mined here and this is an important historical document about L.A. street life in the 80s.

References: 9. Many of them are musical or samples, but there are a lot of them and they are well-chosen and well-placed.

Originality: 10. This album didn't just change my life, it changed popular music. Cube and Dre alone are responsible for the majority of what hits the charts these days. There was some gangsta stuff before this, but everything became more gangsta after this, to the point where Miley Cyrus is giving shout-outs to Jay-Z.

Total Score: 87. It's far from perfect, particularly the Fila Fresh Crew songs, but this album changed my life. And much of it still stands the test of time and it set the table for so much that it's hard to ignore the importance of this one.

"good kid, m.A.A.d city," Kendrick Lamar (HHES Review)

Here's my review of Kendrick Lamar's album "good kid, m.A.A.d city," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

The first song, "Sherane" isn't a great start to the album. It isn't a bad song, but it's not my type of song, kind of a slower, getting laid type of jam. It's better than most songs like this, but that's not a high bar. The transition to the next song is great, with the recording of Kendrick's parents being fun and entertaining.

"Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" is a much better song. I had to hear it a few times for it to sink in, and I don't love the title, but the rest of the lyrics are just plain poetry and Kendrick is opening up about his internal thoughts and feelings like few rappers do.

The next song is one of my favorite songs of 2012. "Backseat Freestyle" bangs harder than just about any song in the last 10 years. The production is perfect and while the lyrics don't exactly tear the world up, Kendrick's delivery is complicated, varied and just plain amazing.

"The Art of Peer Pressure" is the N.W.A. song written by the smart, quiet member of the gang. The guy that's the opposite in attitude of Ice Cube. It's totally some "CNN of the Streets" type shit and it's an impressive song, even if the production is a little more subdued that I would like. It matches Kendrick's vocal style, but he's so low-key at times, you underestimate him.

If anything on the album jumps in your head and sticks, it's the repeated "ya bish," on "Money Trees," another downtempo song that continues the ongoing story that effectively makes the album a "hip hopera." It's a song that grows on you over time and is hard to get out of your head once it gets in.

I'm a big fan of conceptual puns and the next song, "Poetic Justice," is built on a pretty good one, with a Janet Jackson sample being the driving force of the track. Janet played "Justice" in the John Singleton film with the same name as the song. It's catchy, but it's far from my favorite song on the album, lyrically speaking, as it revisits the themes of "Sherane."

"Good Kid" is a bit jarring at times, because Kendrick's speed, which is impressive, frequently outpaces the beat and the hook. The lyrics are are pretty thoughtful examination of gang life and, again, are more personally revealing than most songs of the same genre.

"m.A.A.d city" probably has the best production on the album aside from "Backseat Freestyle." I get the brilliance of having laid back, downtempo tracks matched up with Kendrick's very fast and diverse delivery, but I'd like more of hearing him work with faster, harder beats. This is one of those times and it stands out. MC Eiht adds a great guest appearance to an album that doesn't have many of them.

On "Swimming Pools (Drank)," you probably have the most successful example of the slower beat/faster flow phenomenon I just explained. This song also has one of the better hooks on the album. It's also a good enough rumination on addiction that it would've been at home on a Macklemore album.

The next track "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst," is loaded with lyrics that continue the album's ongoing story well enough, but the hook is so jarring it turns me off. The production here is amongst the best on the album, but Kendrick's delivery is starting to get a little repetitive by this time on the album and it doesn't help that this song is 12 minutes long.

"Real" improves upon the previous track quite a bit, except for another inexplicably bad hook. "Compton" is another song held back by the "hook," although the rest of the song is pretty good, and an appearance by Dr. Dre gives a nice vocal contrast to Kendrick's voice, which after this point is losing its originality and novelty.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 10. Kendrick has a great voice and he has a lot of range and changes up his style frequently enough that it stays exciting.

Lyrics: 10. Kendrick is a poet with a strong voice, and an honest open writing style.

Message: 8. The messages here are pretty loud and clear, although I'm not sure I love the concept behind the concept album.

Technical: 9. Kendrick does a lot of complicated things on this album and most of them work.

Production: 7. The beats here are mostly very original, but too many of them are downtempo and sometimes jarring.

Versatility: 8. Starts off very strong, but gets into a little bit of a rut by the end.

Collaborators: 8. There aren't many, but most of them are strong, particularly MC Eiht and Dr. Dre. I didn't even notice Drake on "Poetic Justice," which is probably a good thing.

History: 9. This album is all about personal and real world history and it tells a good story. It's lighter on music history, but that's okay, it's not really about that kind of thing, so the absence is valid.

References: 8. Because of the heavy emphasis on the story and ongoing theme, there aren't as many obvious references here as you might find on other albums. But the references that are here are usually pretty good and smarter than your average rapper.

Originality: 10. There aren't other albums like this.

Total Score: 87. Great album, and a higher score than albums like "Yeezus" or "Magna Carta...Holy Grail," that I reviewed recently. If Kendrick can improve upon this on his next joint, he'll have a pretty good case for being at or near the top of the rap game.

"The Heist," Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (HHES Review)

Here's my review of the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis album "The Heist," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

From the beginning of the album, Ryan Lewis' production is top-notch. These beats don't sound like anything else I can think of, yet, at the same time, they don't sound alien. They sound familiar without sounding derivative or stale, which is one of the best sets of feelings a group of beats can evoke, I think. Add to that the complexity and original style that Macklemore delivers on each track, and you're in for something good.

The first song, "Ten Thousand Hours," is a perfect lead off track for a hip hop album. It doesn't cover much new territory, it's about making it in the game and the hard work and new ideas that Macklemore is bringing, but the fact is that he IS bringing new ideas, so the song gives a fresh take on the familiar.

Saying that "Can't Hold Us" is my least favorite single off the album isn't to say that I don't like it, just to say that I don't think it's as good as the other singles, as good as it is. And keep in mind that a lot of people disagreed with me, since they sent this song to #1. In terms of the album, it really just builds off of the first track, continuing those themes, but taking it up a level in terms of the rhetoric, as if this song was written quite a while after the lead track.

There isn't much to say about "Thrift Shop" that hasn't already been said. It's a perfect single, seeming like it's a gimmick song, but not really being a gimmick, since it's credible and its not just making fun of its subject, it's embracing it in a way that no one thought of first, yet in a way that so many people identify with. That's what great writing should do and there are few songs that do it as well as this in recent years.

"Thin Line," is, once again, a surprisingly original take on a well-worn subject in hip hop (and music in general for that matter), the battle that the performer faces in trying to balance the career of an artist with relationships that have normal expectations about what someone is supposed to contribute to that relationship. Again, nothing really original in the topic, but it all sounds original in Macklemore's voice and lyrics.

"Same Love" is most notable not because it's a pro-gay hip hop song, it's most notable for the very personal and accessible way that it tries to convince people of its key message. It isn't preachy and it doesn't talk down to the listener, something that is easy to mess up with such an important topic.

By the time we get to "Make the Money," the topics start to get a bit redundant on "The Heist," with yet another song about the game. Not much is added here that we didn't already hear in "Ten Thousand Hours" or "Can't Hold Us." Going in a new direction, for this album, at least, is "Neon Cathedral," which gives Macklemore's story of his own personal fight against addiction. And, again, the words here are more creative and original than most rappers these days, giving a new take on an old topic. "BomBom" is an odd instrumental interlude that shows that Ryan Lewis' compositions work better with Macklemore's voice than they do on their own.

"White Walls" is an odd interlude on the album, not only because of the guest appearance by Schoolboy Q, but because it's the only song on the album up to this point that engages in misogyny (mostly because of Schoolboy). The guest rap isn't poorly performed, it's just that the lyrics don't make a lot of sense in the context of the rest of the album or with Macklemore's overall image.

At this point in the album, "Jimmy Iovine" leads one to wonder why, if Macklemore is so good at writing the individual lines in the songs--and his lyrics are some of the best I've seen in years--why he's so bad at coming up with original song topics. "The Heist" almost seems to have a checklist of "official rap topics" that it is checking off. As noted above, most of these songs are better than most of the songs they follow in topicality, but wouldn't it be more interesting to write interesting takes on new topics, not just the same old stuff rappers have been talking about for decades? Another case in point is the next track, "Wings," which is one of the best shoe-related songs I've ever heard, but it's still yet another rap track about shoes, so we once again have an artist who really could help move the game forward taking a path that minimizes his ability to do so. And yes, I know that "Wings" is deeper than just being about "shoes," but shoes are the centerpiece of the song, so my point is still valid, I think.

The self-examination is a key to "A Wake," where Macklemore takes a look at his place in the national conversation on race as a white rapper. And, it seems, his reflection is not only a good look at his internal struggle, but a good look at the struggle that artists who care about issues that they aren't personally harmed by. As with "Same Love," Macklemore comes out on the right side of the issue and he does so in a way that should give quite a few others room to think and improve themselves as well.

The extended "Gold" metaphors on the next track are interesting and explore both materialism and the ideal world of the average rapper, but ultimately, the message of the song isn't exactly clear. I'm left wondering what the point is. "Starting Over" is exactly the opposite, where the message of recovery, relapse, rebirth, falling off the wagon and how one individual, even if he gets famous, doesn't have all the answers, no matter how much fans want them to, is not just clear, but powerful.

"Cowboy Boots" is a great closer, and one of my favorite songs on the album. I was originally pulled in by the "PBR" chorus, but the powerful nostalgia, not only of a certain time in life, but with a part of Seattle I visited a few times when I was working there, was what really kept me on board. This is a great song, one of quite a few on this album.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 10. Mackelmore has an original voice that is amplified by the fact that he takes a very original approach to delivering his lyrics.

Lyrics: 10. His lyrics are some of the most creative and original rap lyrics of all time, even when he's talking about tired topics.

Message: 9. On most of the songs on this album, it's clear what Macklemore is talking about, but he doesn't do all the thinking for you, he lets you come to your own conclusions.

Technical: 9. If you've tried to sing along to any of these songs and even remotely get close to Macklemore's delivery, you've probably failed a lot.

Production: 9. I don't think Ryan Lewis' stuff is the greatest in the world, but it's certainly better than most of what's on the radio and it matches up very well with Macklemore's flow.

Versatility: 6. There is some repetitiveness on this album that is forestalled a bit by the originality of the lyrics.

Collaborators: 10. While this group is mostly underground an unknown, Macklemore and Lewis did an amazing job of choosing people that complimented the songs. A lot of these people will go on to be more famous.

History: 10. These songs are dripping with history on many levels -- Macklemore's personal history, hip hop and music history, broader history. This is an artist with something to say and he's saying it well.

References: 9. Another area that Macklemore excels at is weaving historical and cultural references into his songs. There are so many of them in some of these songs that you have to have Rap Genius up to know what the hell he's talking about.

Originality: 10. Total originality. It won't be long till we see a bunch of imitators of this, since there isn't really anything like it already in existence, there's a lot of room for biters to copy it without being too derivative.

Total Score: 92. This really is an original statement and something new in hip hop, which is relatively rare these days when it comes to radio-friendly albums. One of the best of the last decade and beyond.

Kanye West - Yeezus (HHES Review)

Here's my review of the new Kanye West album "Yeezus," using the Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES).

First up I'll say that I'm really impressed by the overall new direction of this album, which is one of the more exciting directions I've seen a rapper go in for a while. Second, I like that it's short and no-frills in terms of packaging, since the focus really should be on how original the music is.

"On Sight" starts the album off in a brilliant way. The first few sounds out of the speakers give you a very clear indication that this isn't what you've heard before, this is something new. At least from a sonic standpoint. Once the lyrics kick in, you see that this isn't the song where Kanye is going to challenge you with his words, although it does have quite a few good puns and references in it. They key is the production, though, which is possibly the strongest part of not only this song, but the album.

"Black Skinhead" kicks it up a notch. Or several notches. Not only does the song have one of the best backing tracks on the album, one that hits so hard you feel it physically, it's one of the strongest tracks Kanye has ever dropped lyrically. It's not even the best on the album, though, but lyrically it's a very good take on racism and haters that you are likely to hear on anyone's album. Ever.

"I Am a God" isn't quite as great lyrically as the songs that surround it, but it's an interesting response to a critic, particularly in defining how strange a person Kanye is and how big his ego is. The only bigger statement that "I am a god," would be "I am the god." That'll be on the next album. The production continues the theme of the other early songs on the album and continues to be radically different than most things other rappers have done.

"New Slaves" may be the best song Kanye has ever made. It has probably the most intelligent and hard-hitting criticism of the racism in the system by a popular artist since "Straight Outta Compton." It goes off the rails a little with the misogyny at the end of the second verse, but that can't take away from the power of the hard-hitting backing track and the attack on privately-owned prisons and the revival of the prison-lease system. The outro, sung by Kanye and Frank Ocean, adds a beautiful end to a great song.

What had been a near-perfect album up to this point starts to lose it a bit when "Hold My Liquor" comes on. Chief Keef adds nothing to the song which doesn't seem to have much of a point, other than continued quality production. The lyrics are a bit inane, really. The lyrics aren't much better on "I'm In It," which really isn't about much more than getting laid, and is quite a bit sexist.

"Blood On The Leaves" brings the socially conscious part of the album back, if not in Kanye's lyrics, which are about relationships, but in the Nina Simone sample. This isn't the first time on the album where Kanye compares or couples something non-political and seemingly inconsequential beyond his life with political or social content, but this is the place where it works best. The production continues to be epic and most of the songs on the album to this point could easily be part of a soundtrack for a large-budget movie that combines violence and strong emotion, like "Black Hawk Down." That's a compliment. The songs sound good enough that they'd be a great compliment to a scene about life and death.

"Guilt Trip" is far from the best song on the album, but the Chewbacca reference is probably the best line on the album. The song itself is a bit of filler, but it isn't harmed by the Kid Cudi interlude at the end.

"Send It Up" is the best use of guests on the album. King Louie is pretty good, but Beenie Man's outro is one of the emotional high points of the album. The noisiness of the backing track is perfect.

"Bound 2" is another song where the lyrics are pretty pointless, like many of Kanye's previous albums. But sound-wise it's the first song on the album that has a hopeful sound and it's a bit of a palate-cleanser that you need after the hardcore noise and darkness of the rest of the album's sounds (and that's not to downplay how powerful those tracks are, just stating that factually).

Overall Analysis

Flow: 8. Kanye has never had the best flow in the world, but he does keep getting better. This is the best he's done and on songs like "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves," he's damned-near perfect and totally original.

Lyrics: 7. This may be the best collection of lyrics that Kanye has written, another thing that is not his strong point. There are a lot of clever turns of phrase on these songs and

Message: 8. While the message is a little messy at times and a sense of humor is largely absent except in spots here and there, the important messages are not lost. There are few better explanations of the reality of institutional racism than "New Slaves." Much of the rest of the album is the same message that Kanye always sends: I like getting laid, I'm awesome, I'm rich, I work harder than you do, my critics are stupid, etc., but there are enough touches of serious thoughts throughout the album to make you not worry too much about the repetitiveness of the messages from earlier records.

Technical: 8. Vocally, Kanye tries a lot of things here and they pretty much all work. In particular, the punk rap that he does on the first half of the album is amazing and not many other rappers could pull it off without sounding kinda dumb.

Production: 10. This has got to be one of my favorite albums, production-wise of the last 10 years. It is not only adventurous, it's ground-breaking. There might be some other rappers who have had albums with this kind of music behind the vocals, but you've probably never heard of them. And neither have I. This stuff will be around for a long time.

Versatility: 9. The album is too short to offer much chance for versatility, and yet it manages to do it not only well, but better than most hip hop records. The hardcore industrial of the early songs, the sample-led songs like "Blood on the Leaves" and "Bound 2" that totally change the style, the reggae vocals and judicious use of autotune offer a wide range of choices for any current rapper, but especially in 40 minutes.

Collaborators: 8. Vocal collaborators on the album are few and far between, but considering the vision that Kanye is putting forth here, that's legit. Having too many other people voicing these words wouldn't make sense and the songs that have the most additional vocals on them come off the weakest. There are some well-placed verses and samples here and there that are great and the producers on this are just plain amazing, so it seems like most of the choices in this area are very wise.

History: 9. The album shows an amazing mastery of the knowledge of music and rap history in the production and samples. Then it goes into songs like "New Slaves" that give a concise and important look at things like the prison industrial complex. If you don't learn something from this album, you aren't paying attention.

References: 9. The audio references are the most diverse and entertaining, but Kanye has just enough pop culture and rap references to keep the peeps at Rap Genus busy. This is the perfect mix of such things, I think.

Originality: 10. This is not only the most original album Kanye's put out, which is saying something, it's likely the most original album by a popular artist, in any genre, that 2013 will produce. It's hard to imagine anything that will be more surprising and out of left-field than this coming from other rappers. Or anyone else for that matter.

Total Score: 86. A total classic and likely the best thing Kanye will ever produce.

Jay-Z - Magna Carta...Holy Grail (HHES Review)

This is the first album review using my new Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES), Jay-Z's "Magna Carta...Holy Grail."

The first song on the album, "Holy Grail," is probably the best overall track.  It starts off with Justin Timberlake at his best.  The lyrics on the song seem to be examining the rigors of success, family and the challenges of fame.  Not the most profound song ever, but pretty good.  And the Nirvana reference is pretty awesome.

The next track, "Picasso Baby," is maybe the best stuff, lyrically speaking, that Jay has ever written.  It seems a bit more complex that his usual work and the thickness of the art-related references is kind of mind-boggling coming from a popular rapper.  You'd expect this type of stuff from a underground rapper, but this is the King.

And then he follows it up with a fashion mogul check on "Tom Ford," that is good enough lyrically, but has an amazing backing track that sounds damn near Nintendocore.  Yeah, a Jay-Z song about fashion set over a Nintendo beat.  That happened.

The album was going so good and along comes Rick Ross to fuck it up on "FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt."  The song isn't terrible, but the performance by Ross wastes what is a pretty good backing track and makes Jay-Z's verse a bit worse because he adopts Ross's lazy style for part of his verse.  He ramps it up after that, but closes out with the same kind of lazy shit Ross brings.

On "Oceans," Frank Ocean helps bring it back to the good shit.  So far this is the deepest song on the album, once again with great production and a very good hook from Ocean.  The song touches on the journey from slavery to rich black men riding luxury boats on the same oceans that the slaves traveled in slave ships.  And it does it in a way that isn't preachy or disrespectful of the topic the way that LL Cool J's recent "Accidental Racist" fiasco was.

The next three tracks, "FUTW," "Somewhereinamerica," and "Crown" are pretty standard Jay-Z album tracks.  Which is to say that they aren't spectacular and they pretty much say the same things he's already said a bunch of times.  The production is pretty good, but not as good as the earlier tracks.

"Heaven" steps things up quite a bit.  The production isn't the greatest thing ever, but is a step up over the last three tracks.  But the lyrics are pretty heady stuff for someone in Jay's position.  From dropping R.E.M. lines to telling listeners to question religion, existence and pretty much everything else is pretty impressive for a popular musician.  This is doubly emphasized by a Timberlake hook.  when Jay-Z and JT are telling you to step up your critical thinking, something good is happening.

Too bad "Versus" is only 52 seconds long.  It may be the best 52 seconds of the album.  It sounds amazing and the lyrics are pretty hard-hitting.  They're typical rap boasts, but very good typical rap boasts.

At times I really like what Beyonce brings to a song.  "Part II (On the Run)" is not one of those times.  Jay's raps here are pretty good, better than on many of the other songs on the second half of the album, but they are interrupted by weak Beyonce performances.

"Beach Is Better" is probably only worth its 56 seconds.  It's not bad, but it seems like an undeveloped idea and probably could've been left off the album.

Next up is "BBC" and in his verse, Nas has the verse of the album.  He brings it as strong as he's ever brought it and just a few minutes after listening to Rick Ross, I can't see how Ross even calls himself a rapper when people like Nas bring it.  Jay seems to work with the level of the guests on whichever track he's on.  Ross brought him down, where Nas brings him up.  This has probably the best hook outside of the first track and definitely has the best production of the album.  If this song isn't a big hit, there's a problem with how we choose hits in this country.

The next three tracks are mostly filler.  "Jay Z Blue" probably means a lot to Jay and Beyonce, but doesn't grab me like it should.  "La Familia" is a tried-and-true, but played out hip hop topic song.  "Nickels and Dimes" is most notable for a pretty strong beef with Harry Belafonte that is entertaining and a few other references that are entertaining.  None of these are terrible, but they don't carry much weight, despite good production.

Overall Analysis

Flow: 9. Jay is one of the best (if not most technically competent) of the popular rappers and this is one of his better albums in terms of consistent flow. 

Lyrics: 8. Creative and original for Jay-Z, but at times they seem to go off the rails or get a bit repetitive.

Message: 7. The album starts off with really good songs with strong messages, but comes and goes a bit after that.

Technical: 6. Jay doesn't do the most technically difficult raps, but he does do some creative things from time to time on this album, although there isn't anything here that other above average rappers couldn't do pretty easily.

Production: 8. Probably the best production Jay has had in a while, particularly on the stronger first half of the album.

Versatility: 5. Jay isn't known for his versatility and he doesn't attempt to stretch beyond his normal vocals here, although what he does is far from terrible.

Collaborators: 7. This is mostly a Jay-Z album and the collaborators aren't that vocally present except in a few songs.  Rick Ross and Beyonce are bad, but Frank Ocean, Nas, and the guest producers add a lot to the album.

History: 8. Jay knows his hip hop history and lets that come through in quite a few places.  In several songs he takes on broader history, particularly on "Oceans," and does it well, if not often enough.

References: 8. Some great references on some of the songs, particularly the first few songs, but a lot of bland or repetitive references come in later that drag it down a bit.

Originality: 7. Most original album that Jay has done I think, which is to say that it isn't groundbreaking, but it's different than most of what you hear on the radio.

Total Score: 73. Which means it's a quality album, but not quite a masterpiece.  The album starts off really strong with 4 of the first 5 songs being great before hitting a lull in the middle that it only sometimes recovers from.

First Draft of Hip Hop Evaluation System (HHES)

So after a conversation on Facebook about who the GOAT was in hip hop, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have a conclusion.  There's so much music in hip hop history that it's difficult to pin down that one artist is better than the others.  And as the scientific type, I'm not one to just throw out a wrong answer.  So I said I was going to come up with a better system for evaluating MCs and hip hop artists to determine, eventually, who the real GOAT is. 

I'm throwing this out for discussion and I'll adjust the system before I start actually evaluating artists, but here's what I came up with.  I've got 10 categories, where each artist can be rated on a scale of 1-10 in terms of how good an artist is, giving them a score of 10-100.  These can be done for an individual song, for an album, or for a career.  In terms of a career, however, quantity should also be a factor, so I would add a category for that as well (also on a 1-10 scale), but that factor isn't strictly about just the number of songs, but the number of good songs, so for the quantity, I'll award 1 point for every 10 songs that get a rating of above 70 on the scale listed below.  Thus if you put out 10 albums with 10 quality songs, you'd have a perfect score on the quantity scale for your career.

Anyways, the categories and what they mean:

• Flow: Does it sound good when they spit?

• Lyrics: Are the words they spit creative?  Original?  Do they make sense (or purposefully avoid making sense)?

• Message: Are they really serious?  Are they funny?  What's the point of the song?

• Technical: Is what they are rapping easy to do or hard to do?  Is the rest of the song good enough that an easy flow doesn't detract from it?

• Production: The tracks they rap over, whether they made them or someone else did, are they good, original and add to the vocals?

• Versatility: Do they do the same thing over and over again or do they try to do something new?

• Collaborators: Do they choose good people to work with?  Do they do it all themselves?

• History: Do they show an awareness of hip hop history?  Do they show an awareness of broader history?

• References: A variety of references to politics, music, sports, etc.  Are the references clever, different, appropriate?

• Originality: Does their stuff sound just like somebody else or do they do something new?

One of the goals with this system was to allow for people who have different styles and approaches.  Humor, for instance, is common in hip hop, but not every MC is a jokester, so I put funny and serious in the same category so that two MCs with different approaches could be compared on what they were actually trying to do and not just on an arbitrary division of categories.

All right, what do you think?  Does this look good or should it be revised?