Hip Hop Album Of The Week

One nerdy dude's opinion on solid hip hop and rap, served out in weekly doses.
Week 5: Kanye West- Late Registration Had to do a Kanye album early. What’s cool about Late Registration is that you can feel the tide turning for Kanye. The production is some of his usual bombast of soul and classic hip hop, but there’s more electronic and rock elements creeping in. Kanye’s production pedigree at this point was top shelf, but when it came to his own albums, he played it safe. That isn’t to say there isn’t fantastic stuff on The College Dropout, but this is the album where Kanye West became epic in his own right. This album is a production. It has the confidence to fill arenas. It doesn’t just talk about being great, it walks the walk. And that walk is more of a strut. And it all seems so effortless. In fact, it all makes sense. If Kanye could produce Jay-Z with arena-ready anthems, why couldn’t he do it for himself? Well, it turns out he got it right on the first tries. The lead singles were “Diamonds are Forever” and “Gold Digger,” two juggernauts that became instant classics. There was never really a time when Kanye West didn’t have a lot to say on an album (or elsewhere), but this was the first time where he used the album as his medium and everything clicked as being as epic in practice as it was in the man’s head. Kanye was already a solid rapper and a legendary producer. This is where he became a game changer.

Week 5: Kanye West- Late Registration

Had to do a Kanye album early.

What’s cool about Late Registration is that you can feel the tide turning for Kanye. The production is some of his usual bombast of soul and classic hip hop, but there’s more electronic and rock elements creeping in. Kanye’s production pedigree at this point was top shelf, but when it came to his own albums, he played it safe. That isn’t to say there isn’t fantastic stuff on The College Dropout, but this is the album where Kanye West became epic in his own right. This album is a production. It has the confidence to fill arenas. It doesn’t just talk about being great, it walks the walk. And that walk is more of a strut. And it all seems so effortless. In fact, it all makes sense. If Kanye could produce Jay-Z with arena-ready anthems, why couldn’t he do it for himself? Well, it turns out he got it right on the first tries. The lead singles were “Diamonds are Forever” and “Gold Digger,” two juggernauts that became instant classics.

There was never really a time when Kanye West didn’t have a lot to say on an album (or elsewhere), but this was the first time where he used the album as his medium and everything clicked as being as epic in practice as it was in the man’s head. Kanye was already a solid rapper and a legendary producer. This is where he became a game changer.

Week 4: Mos Def- Black on Both Sides I think if I had to sell someone on hip hop in one song, I’d pick “Hip Hop” by Mos Def. It’s not because the name of the song is “Hip Hop,” or that the lyrics are an explanation, history lesson, and personal take on the genre all at once. Those are very nice layers to have, of course, but the real reason is because it so perfectly encapsulates the mood I feel when I think of hip hop. It’s the mix of real instrumentation (Mos himself plays the bassline) and old school breakbeats and horn samples. It’s the way the song sways with confidence and style that sweep you up into it in the best way. His flow is perfect over the song as well, the right mix of melody and light aggression. Mos Def can convey his passion for every word he says through the way he enunciates without getting preachy or boring. You’re on board with every word he says before you even figure out what the hell he’s talking about. Also great about this song: the dropoff at the end. A cliffhanger. Sure, he could convince you to like hip hop in one song, but now you’re going to need to see what’s next. And the rest of the album just keeps it going.

Week 4: Mos Def- Black on Both Sides

I think if I had to sell someone on hip hop in one song, I’d pick “Hip Hop” by Mos Def. It’s not because the name of the song is “Hip Hop,” or that the lyrics are an explanation, history lesson, and personal take on the genre all at once. Those are very nice layers to have, of course, but the real reason is because it so perfectly encapsulates the mood I feel when I think of hip hop. It’s the mix of real instrumentation (Mos himself plays the bassline) and old school breakbeats and horn samples. It’s the way the song sways with confidence and style that sweep you up into it in the best way. His flow is perfect over the song as well, the right mix of melody and light aggression. Mos Def can convey his passion for every word he says through the way he enunciates without getting preachy or boring. You’re on board with every word he says before you even figure out what the hell he’s talking about.

Also great about this song: the dropoff at the end. A cliffhanger. Sure, he could convince you to like hip hop in one song, but now you’re going to need to see what’s next. And the rest of the album just keeps it going.

Week 3: Big Boi- Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty If not for Kanye West, this would have been the best hip hop album of 2010. Big Boi’s exciting, rapid fire flow livens up every beat (and these are pretty great beats to begin with, great driving album), there isn’t a bad song in the bunch, and there are no skits (there are two end of track little jokes, but they’re genuinely funny and pretty short so I don’t count them). The guests are expertly chosen, from Janelle Monae and Gucci Mane to Big Boi’s OutKast cohort Andre 3000. Even YelaWolf delivers a pretty great, totally-not-obnoxious verse, no small feat considering he is the worst. I’m not even sure I should talk about this album in the context of 2010, though, because it was meant to come out much earlier. In a way, this is the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot of hip hop albums. Big Boi had most of the album finished in 2007-2008, but got into a dispute with Arista Records, who shelved the album for a few years, presumably because it wasn’t an OutKast album. Big Boi, in the interim, leaked a few of the tracks online himself, creating even more interest in the album than there already was. Why Arista wouldn’t want this album released in the first place is a little puzzling. It’s not a tremendous departure from the OutKast style, and in many ways improves upon it and modernizes it. Nevertheless, when Def Jam finally acquired the rights to the album in 2010, it was released to critical acclaim, and rightfully so. This album doesn’t let up, which is a great characteristic for good driving-with-the-top-down-in-the-convertible-I-neither-own-nor-really-want-if-I’m-being-completely-honest music. Right from one of the coolest hip hop intros I’ve ever heard through “Backup Plan,” it’s a long album that doesn’t feel long at all. It makes you want to start the album over again once it ends. High praise, right there.

Week 3: Big Boi- Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

If not for Kanye West, this would have been the best hip hop album of 2010. Big Boi’s exciting, rapid fire flow livens up every beat (and these are pretty great beats to begin with, great driving album), there isn’t a bad song in the bunch, and there are no skits (there are two end of track little jokes, but they’re genuinely funny and pretty short so I don’t count them). The guests are expertly chosen, from Janelle Monae and Gucci Mane to Big Boi’s OutKast cohort Andre 3000. Even YelaWolf delivers a pretty great, totally-not-obnoxious verse, no small feat considering he is the worst.

I’m not even sure I should talk about this album in the context of 2010, though, because it was meant to come out much earlier. In a way, this is the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot of hip hop albums. Big Boi had most of the album finished in 2007-2008, but got into a dispute with Arista Records, who shelved the album for a few years, presumably because it wasn’t an OutKast album. Big Boi, in the interim, leaked a few of the tracks online himself, creating even more interest in the album than there already was. Why Arista wouldn’t want this album released in the first place is a little puzzling. It’s not a tremendous departure from the OutKast style, and in many ways improves upon it and modernizes it. Nevertheless, when Def Jam finally acquired the rights to the album in 2010, it was released to critical acclaim, and rightfully so.

This album doesn’t let up, which is a great characteristic for good driving-with-the-top-down-in-the-convertible-I-neither-own-nor-really-want-if-I’m-being-completely-honest music. Right from one of the coolest hip hop intros I’ve ever heard through “Backup Plan,” it’s a long album that doesn’t feel long at all. It makes you want to start the album over again once it ends. High praise, right there.

Before we get to the album, I want to point out that there were three “preface” albums in HHAOTW that led to its creation. As such, those three albums will not appear on this site. However, all three are worth your time (to varying degrees). The most notable of the three is Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which is downright incredible. The other two albums fall into the “not mindblowing, but pretty enjoyable category: Watch The Throne, and Childish Gambino’s Camp. So if those are new albums to you, do your homework. Cool? Cool. Week 2 Ghostface Killah- Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry This is an incredibly strange album to be someone’s first exposure to Ghostface, but I had my reasons. For starters, everyone has heard Ghostface before because of Wu-Tang. But more importantly to this project, there are no skits on this album, and despite it being a left turn in Ghost’s discography, it’s still a very solid album. A solid album with no skits is a very good way to attract people to hip hop. So Ghostface went all smooth-ass R&B on us. Kind of. Not really. As far as Ghostface goes, this is about as smooth and soft as it gets. The beats are either club beats or babymakers, and his tone is somber, even apologetic at times, though a bitterness still runs consistently through the album. In short, it’s one of the least romantic R&B albums of all time. That’s perfect considering the man at the helm. It’s also incredibly enjoyable. Sure, there are breakup songs, but Ghost never loses his trademark sense of humor. There are sung choruses and multiple NeYo cameos, so the whole album is pretty breezy and catchy for such a curveball. Songs like “Paragraphs of Love” and “Baby” have a classy (for Ghostface) romanticism and big radio hooks, but are so well done that they’ll be stuck in your head for days at a time and you won’t mind at all. Also notable about this album: it got me to reconsider Kanye West. His verse on the “Back Like That” remix absolute kills. Classic Kanye flow with a great Wu-Tang homage and some fantastic lyrics. Blew me away the first time I heard it, still does it for me to this day. Perfection right there. It may not be the most traditional Ghostface album, but it doesn’t surprise me at all that I love it. This isn’t even close to the last you’ll see of Ghost on this list, by the way. Oh and P.S.: I hate to end on a downer, but skip the bonus track “She’s a Killah.” It’s easy to see why it didn’t make the album, to put it kindly. 

Before we get to the album, I want to point out that there were three “preface” albums in HHAOTW that led to its creation. As such, those three albums will not appear on this site. However, all three are worth your time (to varying degrees). The most notable of the three is Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which is downright incredible. The other two albums fall into the “not mindblowing, but pretty enjoyable category: Watch The Throne, and Childish Gambino’s Camp. So if those are new albums to you, do your homework. Cool? Cool.

Week 2

Ghostface Killah- Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry

This is an incredibly strange album to be someone’s first exposure to Ghostface, but I had my reasons. For starters, everyone has heard Ghostface before because of Wu-Tang. But more importantly to this project, there are no skits on this album, and despite it being a left turn in Ghost’s discography, it’s still a very solid album. A solid album with no skits is a very good way to attract people to hip hop.

So Ghostface went all smooth-ass R&B on us. Kind of. Not really. As far as Ghostface goes, this is about as smooth and soft as it gets. The beats are either club beats or babymakers, and his tone is somber, even apologetic at times, though a bitterness still runs consistently through the album. In short, it’s one of the least romantic R&B albums of all time. That’s perfect considering the man at the helm.

It’s also incredibly enjoyable. Sure, there are breakup songs, but Ghost never loses his trademark sense of humor. There are sung choruses and multiple NeYo cameos, so the whole album is pretty breezy and catchy for such a curveball. Songs like “Paragraphs of Love” and “Baby” have a classy (for Ghostface) romanticism and big radio hooks, but are so well done that they’ll be stuck in your head for days at a time and you won’t mind at all.

Also notable about this album: it got me to reconsider Kanye West. His verse on the “Back Like That” remix absolute kills. Classic Kanye flow with a great Wu-Tang homage and some fantastic lyrics. Blew me away the first time I heard it, still does it for me to this day. Perfection right there.

It may not be the most traditional Ghostface album, but it doesn’t surprise me at all that I love it. This isn’t even close to the last you’ll see of Ghost on this list, by the way.

Oh and P.S.: I hate to end on a downer, but skip the bonus track “She’s a Killah.” It’s easy to see why it didn’t make the album, to put it kindly. 

No better way to start this off than with one of my personal favorite hip hop albums. But first, a little introduction to what this little corner of the internet is all about. As someone who became a music nerd through rock and roll, I’d always seen hip hop as a kind of foreign landscape in my younger years, and a lot of rock nerds would probably say the same thing. One thing that always bothered me, however, was the rock fan who would write off rap and hip hop as “garbage” or “not music” based off of biases (some deeper than I intend to touch on this website) and very limited personal experience. The direct comparison in my eyes was like meeting someone who had grown up a hip hop nerd and showing them Creed or Nickelback. Surely that person would write off rock music as garbage and go back into their comfort zone. But experiencing music isn’t just about living in a comfort zone. It’s also about expanding it. All music scenes are diverse and rewarding if given some time, and hip hop is a very alluring and very creative genre of music once you look past the garbage that is usually on the radio (the same can be said for just about every genre).  So I got into hip hop. Let’s fast forward several years here. A few months ago the topics of Watch The Throne and Kanye West came up in conversation with some friends. I made the case that I loved Kanye West’s music, and that, these being friends with similar musical tastes, they would too if they gave My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a chance. They did, and many of the results were what I expected. One of my friends, Matt (this is where I’d tag his tumblr if I knew how to do that) suggested that I help get him into more hip hop as a result of this, and so began Hip Hop Album Of The Week. A few things of note: in no way do I claim to be an authority on hip hop (or anything else, for that matter). This list is purely subjective, and in fact that’s part of the fun of this. Also, I have all these albums if you, dear reader, do not, and would like to listen along. Just contact me. Oh also I was originally going to backdate these, seeing as I’m on week 9 of this as of 1/10/12, but I’ll just post in bunches until this site is caught up. Let’s get started then. Enjoy! Week 1 (originally late November) P.O.S.- Never Better This album is a great way for punk rock fans to get into hip hop. Most importantly, it’s a filler-free, skit-free, absolute blast of an album. There’s also plenty of hardcore influence, from how hard the production hits on most songs, to Stooges, Isis, and Fugazi references (and samples on the latter), to guest spots from Jason Schevchuk (of None More Black and Kid Dynamite) and the dude from Velvet Teen. There’s also plenty of hip hop to absorb. P.O.S. blends old-school and more modern styles, makes references to plenty of rap history (Nas lyrics in the first track, for example), and also makes the album a deeply personal experience without losing any sense of humor or excitement. This is definitely an album that helped me embrace hip hop as a whole. When it came out in 2009, it was my favorite album of that year. I didn’t think a non-rock album could do that. P.O.S. proved me wrong. In a way, it’s where I began my journey into love of hip hop, so it’s fitting to begin this journey with it as well. 

No better way to start this off than with one of my personal favorite hip hop albums. But first, a little introduction to what this little corner of the internet is all about.

As someone who became a music nerd through rock and roll, I’d always seen hip hop as a kind of foreign landscape in my younger years, and a lot of rock nerds would probably say the same thing. One thing that always bothered me, however, was the rock fan who would write off rap and hip hop as “garbage” or “not music” based off of biases (some deeper than I intend to touch on this website) and very limited personal experience. The direct comparison in my eyes was like meeting someone who had grown up a hip hop nerd and showing them Creed or Nickelback. Surely that person would write off rock music as garbage and go back into their comfort zone.

But experiencing music isn’t just about living in a comfort zone. It’s also about expanding it. All music scenes are diverse and rewarding if given some time, and hip hop is a very alluring and very creative genre of music once you look past the garbage that is usually on the radio (the same can be said for just about every genre). 

So I got into hip hop. Let’s fast forward several years here.

A few months ago the topics of Watch The Throne and Kanye West came up in conversation with some friends. I made the case that I loved Kanye West’s music, and that, these being friends with similar musical tastes, they would too if they gave My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a chance. They did, and many of the results were what I expected. One of my friends, Matt (this is where I’d tag his tumblr if I knew how to do that) suggested that I help get him into more hip hop as a result of this, and so began Hip Hop Album Of The Week.

A few things of note: in no way do I claim to be an authority on hip hop (or anything else, for that matter). This list is purely subjective, and in fact that’s part of the fun of this. Also, I have all these albums if you, dear reader, do not, and would like to listen along. Just contact me.

Oh also I was originally going to backdate these, seeing as I’m on week 9 of this as of 1/10/12, but I’ll just post in bunches until this site is caught up.

Let’s get started then. Enjoy!

Week 1 (originally late November)

P.O.S.- Never Better

This album is a great way for punk rock fans to get into hip hop. Most importantly, it’s a filler-free, skit-free, absolute blast of an album. There’s also plenty of hardcore influence, from how hard the production hits on most songs, to Stooges, Isis, and Fugazi references (and samples on the latter), to guest spots from Jason Schevchuk (of None More Black and Kid Dynamite) and the dude from Velvet Teen. There’s also plenty of hip hop to absorb. P.O.S. blends old-school and more modern styles, makes references to plenty of rap history (Nas lyrics in the first track, for example), and also makes the album a deeply personal experience without losing any sense of humor or excitement. This is definitely an album that helped me embrace hip hop as a whole. When it came out in 2009, it was my favorite album of that year. I didn’t think a non-rock album could do that. P.O.S. proved me wrong. In a way, it’s where I began my journey into love of hip hop, so it’s fitting to begin this journey with it as well.