Tag: music

audio review : The Slim Shady LP ( album ) … Eminem

audio review : The Slim Shady LP ( album ) ... Eminem

“I wanted an album so rugged, nobody could touch it,” Eminem proclaims. If he’s referring to rap albums, this LP might just be that. I’ll say here and now with no hesitation or reservation that Eminem is the best rapper I’ve ever heard. No popular rapper you can think of, alive or dead, even comes close. I might’ve been saying the same about guest Royce Da 5-9 if he weren’t upstaged by a rapper whose comedic wit, clever wordplay and sheer rhyme skills near genius.

There is very little filler in Eminem’s verses. Even when he’s lacing them with unnecessary profanities; the Slim Shady persona is a deviant (white-trash) druggie who aims to offend; almost every two bars are a quality set and many of those sets are classic quotables. Unless he’s cheating it somehow, his creativity is close to amazing. He even does his own sound effects. The beats are also impressive, so the album’s only major drawbacks fall on Faulty choruses and silly skits.

my rating : 4 of 5

1999

audio review : The Marshall Mathers LP ( album ) … Eminem
audio review : Hell [ The Sequel ] ( album ) … Bad Meets Evil

Total Slaughter : Hollow Da Don versus Joe Budden

Total Slaughter : Hollow Da Don versus Joe Budden

The battle judges say it’s Joe Budden, but the real loser is anyone who paid their hard-earned money to watch this overhyped fiasco. Both rappers had months to prepare but neither manages to come-up with anything spectacular, and hardly anything clever or interesting, to say about the other. Hollow’s puberty voice and tough-guy act are annoying, so all the while I’m hoping for him to lose, but he’s generally a decent rapper, so I thought he’d do better than this.

His lamest moment comes during the third (final) round when he stops rapping to play Captain-Save-A-Ho, threatening to beat-up Joe Budden for hitting women, which makes him (Hollow) look like a total idiot. Budden’s lamest moment comes during that same round when the rapper lets crowd booing get to him. “If yall keep booing,” he says, “I will stop rapping completely.” How embarrassing. He should’ve just kept going. It’s not like he was being slaughtered or anything.

my rating : 2 of 5

My Infamous Life : The Autobiography Of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy ( book ) … Prodigy

My Infamous Life : The Autobiography Of Mobb Deep's Prodigy ( book ) ... Prodigy

I’m not a fan of Prodigy as a rapper. This book, an autobiography grammatically molded by Laura Checkoway, is better than his verses. That assumes everything portrayed here is the truth. It’s hard to tell. He cries over a girl, which even I consider a sucker move, but doesn’t fear fighting big dudes and getting shot at.

In either case, aside from him occasionally swaying from the story to express his thoughts on race and religion, it’s an interesting read. As far as the concept is concerned though, his life before becoming famous should’ve been limited to the prologue so that he could devote more of the book to the Infamous parts.

my rating : 4 of 5

2011