Album Review: "L.A.X."- The Game

While Game's legions of haters may not see past the negatives, I feel that they are outweighed by his positives, as he is perhaps the most talented and, dare I say, "realest" of all the young rappers with his degree of relavence and popularity. This his third album has featured some very good singles, but will it deliver overall? (This is the clean version by the way which I'm hoping won't screw up this review any.)

1. Intro (Feat. DMX)

DMX found time in between court dates to kick a prayer for the intro.

2. L.A.X. Files

The Game spends no time getting into the name dropping; this is even a bit much for a Game song. I guess this beat isn't totally awful, but the hook and the majority of Game's raps are. A poor start.

3. State Of Emergency (Feat. Ice Cube)

Much better. A gully Cali anthem, kind of like "Compton" from the last album, over a J.R. Rothem banger. Ice Cube only lends the chorus on this which is kind of a shame I guess.

4. Bulletproof Diaries (Feat. Raekwon)

This beat is all over the place but it's crazy. Raekwon's guest raps are pretty dissapointing but Game's last verse is just sick.

5. My Life (Feat. Lil' Wayne)

I'm sure you've all heard this plenty at this point. I, for one, really like it. I think Wayne is bearable on the hook, and while the verses are nothing special, the beat is Cool & Dre's best in some time.

6. Money

A synth-led ode to paper makin. If you're asking, yes it is as unoriginal as it sounds. It's also bad.

7. Cali Sunshine (Feat. Bilal)

This is actually a pretty good idea and I think this beat will grow on me. What is that a banjo?

8. Ya Heard (Feat. Ludacris)

I kind of wonder what Nottz was thinking when he made this beat. You kind of have to hear it, but its just a real mess. Ludacris' verse was actually the bright spot to me I found it pretty funny.

9. Hard Liquor (Interlude)

Game goes to a club playing that old track he did with Dre. Is this supposed to be funny?

10. House Of Pain

This is fuckin gangsta, the first DJ Toomp beat I've liked since "What You Know". Game kind of goes in on this track too. This album is really heavy on the California/Compton tracks which I guess is the point of it.

11. Gentleman's Affair (Feat. Ne-Yo)

The most questionable track yet. Ne-Yo sings the chrous about sex appeal and does a whole verse by himself. These are really not the kind of songs Game was meant to do.

12. Let Us Live (Feat. Chrisette Michelle)

This is the least obnoxious Storch beat I've heard but its just aight. I kind of like the last verse about his beefs and stuff but most of the lyrics on this are pretty bad. Too much singing on this track too.

13. Touchdown (Feat. Raheem DeVaughn)

I would say this is Game going Curtis on us but I guess this is classier than, for instance, "I Like The Way She Do It". I never thought I'd hear this much singing on a Game album.

14. Angel (Feat. Common)

You wouldn't know this was a Kanye track with what sounds like a Parliament sample or something. Game doing a "I Used To Love H.E.R." tribute thing on a track with Common=weak.

15. Never Can Say Goodbye (Feat. LaToya Williams)

The Game actually raps from the perspective of 2Pac, Biggie, and Eazy E. I guess this was the logical next step after referencing them in every other line. He kind of pulls off Biggie's flow which makes me wonder if he was going for that with each rapper.

16. Dope Boys (Feat. Travis Barker)

I've been playing this non stop since it leaked. Again, nothing great lyrically, but this is just a banger and the "Roc Boys" reference is pretty clever in my opinion.

17. Game's Pain (Feat. Keyshia Cole)

A tasteful and heartfelt tribute to hip hop. The last of the singles to appear on the album

18. Letter To The King (Feat. Nas)

A tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. over one of Hi-Tek's better beats in a while. I find it strange that Nas makes a track called "Louis Farrakhan" and now is spitting MLK tribute raps but maybe I'm looking too much into it.

19. Outro (Feat. DMX)

Another prayer thing.


Overall: The album of the year without question. This could have (and should have) been so much better if they would have just toned it down with the vocalists, but there is too much good stuff on here to overlook. Right now I'd have to say it's about as good as "Doctor's Advocate" though I think I'd need to hear the real, dirty version on a decent stereo first.

Best Tracks: ""Bulletproof Diaries", "House Of Pain", "Dope Boys", "My Life"

Album Review: "Pro Tools"- GZA

The GZA has always been one of, if not the most lyrical of the Wu-Tang. Unfortunately, his flow and delivery, which was never exactly hype to begin with, just borders on borng nowadays, maybe best proven by that album with DJ Muggs on which he sounds half asleep the whole time. Overall, other than the unbelievably good Liquid Swords, I've never been a fan of solo work from the Genius but some of the stuff I've heard off of this has sounded promising. So will this be the next Wu Banga or another snoozefest?


1. Intromental

An instrumental intro (see what he did there) which I guess is the source of the sample for Common's "Hungry".


2. Pencil (Feat. Masta Killa & RZA)

This Mathetmatics beat kind of sounds like something RZA would do if he could still make beats. RZA kicks a super long verse on this which isn't all that bad but I can only bear that flow in small doses.


3. Alphabets

This flow wouldn't sound out of place on Liquid Swords and the verses are pretty good themselves. This beat by True Master (where has this guy been?) is pretty good but kind of monotonous after a while. The chorus is the alphabet in 5% language or some shit.


4. Groundbreaking (Feat. Justice Kareem)

I think Bronze Nazareth tends to get overrated by those Wu-affiliate stans who roam the internets but this is good stuff. He lets his son finish his lines in the second verse which was just an all around bad idea. GZA should have just written him something.


5. 7 Pounds

This is one of the best Black Milk beats I've ever heard, though I haven't checked the new Elzhi yet. These verses aren't as good as others on here but aren't terrible though I do wish that the GZA rhymed with a little bit more energy to match the beat.


6. 0% Finance

One of those GZA tracks where he throws in a million references to something like "Labels" and the one about animals. This time it was with car terms (manufacturers, parts etc.) and its pretty cool but this beat is the worst yet.


7. Short Race (Feat. Roc Marcy)

The use of Chinese music here is pretty questionable. I like the Roc Marcy guest verse, though after all these GZA verses he sounds pretty lightweight lyrically.


8. Interlude

A guy details his encounter of somebody with a Wu Tang W tattooed on his face.


9. Paper Plate

I didn't know the two had beef but GZA takes shots at 50 Cent for wearing minks and gators and selling less than Kanye and a bunch of other stuff. This beat is the first by RZA on this album and it is boring as expected.


10. Columbian Ties (Feat. True Master)

This beat isn't seeing the first one Bronze Nazareth did but its pretty solid. GZA kicks some extra grimey shit about wars and stuff.


11. Firehouse (Feat. Ka)

Ka, a scratchy voiced rapper who isn't very good handles all the rhyming on this. I'll take this as an interlude of sorts.


12. Path of Destruction

A song about a kid who became a criminal at a young age and was killed selling drugs later in life. At least something like that. Jay Waxx Garfield provides a good beat and GZA's storytelling is on point.


13. Cinema (Feat. Justice Kareem)

GZA raps about being in a haunted house or something over a sort of cheesy, theatrical sounding beat. He also raps in a whisper like he's trying not to wake someone in the next room which doesn't really add to the spooky effect it just makes it kind of more gay.

14. Intermision (Drive In Movie)

Some '80's R&B interrupted by the tune of one of those Kung Fu movies sampled in an earlier Wu-Tang record.

15. Life Is A Movie (Feat. RZA & Khan Acito from Outlines)

A surprisingly good RZA beat which actually recalls "Swordsmen" from Liquid Swords except worse, naturally. The only thing I can say I don't like about this is the chrous which sounds like its jacked from some '60's rock which I guess is what the RZA is into these days.

16. Elastic Audio (Bonus Live Performance)

This is from a show he did I guess but to be honest I'm not sure I'd care to hear this one in CD quality.

Overall:

I was really surprised by how good this was. The production was sound and the lyrics were very good which makes this one of the best albums of the year so far. However, the downfall of this album is that, and don't kill me for saying this, it's kind of boring. While GZA is a great MC, he is still dull as anything on the mic and aside from one or two bangers, these beats, while not bad, are fairly monotonous and repetetive.

Best Songs: "Pencil", "7 Pounds", "Life Is Like A Movie"

PropsOverHere Presents: The 15 Gulliest Rap Songs Of All Time

After a few minutes of intense shuffling through my iTunes, I'm proud to present what, in my humble opinion, are fifteen of the gulliest peices of music ever created. Feel free to criticize my choices or if you're in the constructive mood, offer alternatives.



15. Big L- Lifestylez ov the Poor and Dangerous

Big L was probably one of the gulliest rappers ever at least in his earlier, D.I.T.C. days, but lacks that one specifically badass anthem. This is the closest thing to it, as it is in my estimation the gulliest song off of the album of the same title.



14. M.O.P.- Handle Your Bizness (DJ Premier Remix)

M.O.P. personifies rap gulliness, but I had to be fair and allow some other people on here. Every M.O.P. song (at least from that era) was on that crazy, violent jumpoff but this is just one of the grimiest beats they ever spit on, and Premier ever made.



13. Gravediggaz- Blood Brothers

The Gravediggaz were gully on a whole other level when they brought that scary "horrorcore" type shit. This was the best example of that.



12. Smoothe Da Huster & Trigger Da Gambler- Broken Language

I wasn't going to include this because its more notable for the way its structured (or however you'd put it) but those guys were fuckin gully and so is this classic D.R. Period beat.



11. Snoop Dogg (Feat. RBX, The Dogg Pound, & The D.O.C.)- Serial Killa

Classic, west coast gangsta rap over a mean Dre beat, just textbook gully.



10. Xzibit- Eyes May Shine

It's too bad he's made weird faces at hoopties for a living because at one time Xzibit was a gully rapper and a damn good one. His mindstate on that whole album was fuckin serious and this was the toughest track.



9. Beanie Sigel- What Your Life Like

Beans is known to be the muscle of the Roc-A-Fella fam (or what is left of it these days), but this song stands out far above the rest. The beat is just a movie score or something (a gully one nonetheless) but after listening to this its hard imagining anything scarier than being on this guys bad side.



8. Big Pun, Inspectah Deck, & Prodigy- Tres Leches (Triboro Trilogy)

Three all-time gully rappers and the RZA on top of his game makes for a well-crafted, gully masterpeice. The use of the Rakim sample is also incredibly gully.



7. Raekwon- Incarcerated Scarfaces

The gulliest song off of one of the gulliest albums is just about all I have to say for this one.



6. M.O.P.- Ante Up

The hype beat and lyrics about mugging people make this the gulliest of M.O.P. songs.



5. Mobb Deep- G.O.D. Pt. III

This beat is easily one of the all-time gulliest and this was back when P and Havoc dropped those classic, hardcore rhymes. Listen to this song and tell me you don't want to punch someone in the face.



4. Notorious B.I.G. & Eminem- Dead Wrong

This beat is kinda gully but BIG's lyrics are just plain wrong. A lot of dead guys on this list, which makes sense I guess.



3. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg- Deep Cover

The first (right?) of many gully collabs between these two and the gulliest. That beat remains the gulliest of Dre's career after like 20 years.



2. Mobb Deep- Shook Ones Pt. II

By now everyone knows that Mobb Deep were really not all that tough, but musically and lyrically this is quintessentially gully.



1. N.W.A.- Straight Outta Compton

As a song, "Shook Ones" may be gullier than this, but just the fact that this song actually fucking scared people makes this the winner. That is also not to take away from the gully nature of the song, which had stood the test of time. A timeless, gully masterpeice. Enjoy!