audio review : Lessons ( album ) … MC Eiht

audio review : Lessons ( album ) ... MC Eiht

I like B-Real, but starting an MC Eiht album with a verse by anyone other than MC Eiht is unfitting to say the least. He and Chill go on to pay heavy-handed homage to the Cypress Hill frontman by mimicking their old vocals. Once you get past the blunders of that first song, this is a decent “2020” rap album.

As usual, the best parts are the beats; Bluue Wave, the extra “u” of which is a mystery to me, is a potential classic ruined by a lame hook; but there are subliminal Lessons to be learned in the lyrics, especially if you happen to live in a hood that’s taken you under. For MC Eiht, it’s the gangland streets of Compton.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

video review : Hell Or High Water

video review : Hell Or High Water

The Tanner and Marcus characters; a bank robber and Texas Ranger; are a bit over the top. It’s their partners; one in crime, the other in justice; that serve as their relatively normal counterparts if there is a such thing as normal people in Texas.

Hell Or High Water is a game of cat and mouse that’s both fun and mildly riveting from the start. That’s mainly due to the plot’s balance of humor and tension money-rolled with a tender backstory that’ll have you rooting for the purported bad guys.

my rating : 4 of 5

2016

audio review : Shutdafukup ( mixtape ) … Juicy J

audio review : Shutdafuckup ( mixtape ) ... Juicy J

The title may as well be directed at Juicy J. His vocals provide the scenery; imagine a Rover full of weed-smoking gun-toting Niggaz pulling up to a Memphis nightclub full of big butt hoes; but what we really want to hear is the music.

That comes in the form of an assortment of go-hard (bass-heavy) trap beats produced mostly by Suicideboys. Those thumpers are the best part of the set; a thoroughly decent DatPiff mixtape that could easily fit the criteria of an actual album.

my rating : 3 of 5

2018