Album Review: J.Cole- "Cole World: The Sideline Story"

J. Cole went from an anonymous light-skinted kid on NahRight to one of the most highly anticipated young artists in the game, because that's just how easy it is to become a famous rapper nowadays. He also signed with Jay-Z, who I suppose has some clout in the music industry. I actually think that Cole is a talented kid with a bright future, even if his style is so indistinguishable from his rapping peers (Lupe, Drake, Big Sean, etc.) that you would think Jay-Z created him in a laboratory. Anyway, as I said in the conclusion of my Big Sean review, bring on the J.Cole album!

1. Intro

The album starts with the piano playing and J. Cole states that he is "coming for what I'm owed", whatever that means

2. Dollar And A Dream III

Admittedly I've been sleeping on J. Cole's mixtapes and shit so I've never heard part one or two. The piano from the intro transitions into this song on which J. Cole spits inspired raps about his life. This may be boring musically but the content makes it work well as a more literal introduction, being that it is the first real song.

3. Can't Get Enough (Feat. Trey Songz)

The single with the Reggae flip and Trey Songz. This isn't normally the kinda shit I'm into but it might be the most tasteful Trey Songz feature of all time.

4. Lights Please

This song has to be at least a year old at this point, but it's probably his best-known song and it still knocks so I'm not mad at him putting it on the album.

5. Interlude

In the intro J. Cole says he's gonna tell the story of the day he got signed. The first part of the story, in which he gets pulled over by an undercover and thrown in jail, is told in this interlude.

6. Sideline Story

This album is getting points already for using the intro and interludes to supplement the album, which is rarely done anymore. This track flips the piano from the last interlude into a funkier version of Consequence's "Disperse", which is pretty great to begin with. I loved every second of this.

7. Mr. Nice Watch (Feat. Jay-Z)

This much-talked about Jay-Z feature appropriately sounds like a Timbaland track from the late 90's, not a good one either. J. Cole is clearly better at making deep, introspective songs than showy, braggadocios shit like this and Jay-Z recycles his laziest flows from Watch The Throne. In fairness, this is better than I'm making it sound, it just should be much better.

8. Cole World

This is kind of a banger but the beat is just a clusterfuck of weird noises and J. Cole doesn't sound quite right rapping over it.

9. In The Morning (Feat. Drake)

Another older one, from that Friday Night Lights tape. Again I can see why he or the studio or whoever wanted to throw this on here since it's a well-received Drake feature. They should've thrown "How High" on here too, just for good measure.

10. Lost Ones

A somber ode to aborted babies or some such. I wasn't totally following along to be honest. Whatever the case, this is one of the album's more boring moments thus far.

11. Nobody's Perfect (Feat. Missy Elliot)

When I heard this slow, Southern-sounding beat I thought this would make for a great Bun B feature, but shockingly this album doesn't have one. Instead, speaking of late 90's Timbaland, it's Missy Elliot on the hook.

12. Never Told

J. Cole sort of conversationally raps over a slow, stripped-down instrumental. Think something from 808s & Heartbreak meets any number of Drake songs that fit exactly what I described in that last sentence.

13. Rise And Shine

This one begins with an incredibly apt Jay-Z clip, where he says he's gonna sign the kid thats out there eating Apple Jacks and coming for his spot. Then the appropriately triumphant-sounding beat kicks in with a heavy bass and choir like something Weezy mistakenly passed on for Tha Carter IV. 

14. God's Gift

Another skippable track. Sounds a lot like anything by the Cunninlynguists.

15. Breakdown

This starts off sounding like a Premo beat but ends up being more like everything else on here if not for the drums. Even without the choppy loop, this is still one of the best songs on here, as Cole compliments the jazzy instrumental with meaningful raps about staying strong through hard times.

16. Workout

This single was dumbed-down and disappointing but I guess it really isn't that bad. Musically there are no egregious synths or drums and the fake Roger Troutman is a good touch.

17. Nothing Lasts Forever

A piano-laced tribute to the one that got away that's very reminiscent of Ye's "Blame Game". Maybe not as good, but still.

18. Daddy's Little Girl

The album goes out with a whimper thanks to another Drake-esque song about teenaged girls that can take shots to the face.

Best Songs: "Lights Please", "Sideline Story", "Breakdown"

Comments: Yawn. I still think that J. Cole is a very good MC and this album confirms that if anything. That said, Cole World had a serious shortage of bangers and one too many piano-led, introspective songs that all sort of meshed together. "Blow Up", for instance, would have been a welcome addition to this album instead of one of the other re-hashed songs they used. Still, a solid debut release.

Backpacks On Packs On Packs: PropsOverHere's Rock The Bells Recap

    Normally I'm not into seeing concerts, but when I heard about the all-star cast of 90's rappers performing at Rock The Bells in New York City, I decided it would be worth it to make the trip. I was planning on documenting the events in real-time but I clearly overestimated mobile blogging technology. So instead, two and a half weeks later, here's a brief recap of what I saw in nine hot, exhausting hours at Governors Island.

Black Star
Rating: 4.5/5
Breakdown: Black Star was the first performance on the event's main stage and lived up to the top billing. After pleasing the huge crowd with "Astronomy (8th Light)" shit got real when "RE: DEFinition" dropped. My favorite moment had to be when they did "Children's Story" to the Slick Rick beat, because that's how lame I am. It can't be easy being the first big performer at a highly anticipated event like this but Black Star set the tone for the rest of day.

Black Moon
Rating: 4/5
Breakdown: Black Moon was also fucking great, doing Enta Da Stage with a live band and a guest appearance by Tek & Steele. After teaming up with Black Moon for "Black Smif-N-Wessun", the duo performed their own classic, "Bucktown", which might have actually been the fan favorite. I remember being impressed by Buckshot who still kills it live despite his advanced age.

Mobb Deep
Rating: 5/5
Breakdown: Havoc and P rocked the crowd with The Infamous plus just about every other Mobb Deep song you'd want to hear, including "Quiet Storm", "It's Mine", "G.O.D. Pt. III", and "Drop A Gem On 'Em", which they entered to. The one questionable moment came when 40 Glocc did his west side dedication that only served to piss of the partisan east coast crowd. Appropriately, "Shook Ones Pt. II" as the finale received the craziest fan reaction of the day.

Raekwon & Ghostface
Rating: 4.5/5
Recap: The only negative about the entire day was that Rae and Ghost were scheduled twenty minutes before Nas, so everyone had to choose between two can't-miss performances. I got nice and close to the stage for this because no one was trying to see Childish Gambino who was on before them. Luckily, the three songs I saw before heading over to the main stage were "Criminology", "Incarcerated Scarfaces", and "Ice Cream", all of which were as great as I could have imagined.

Nas
Rating: 5/5
Recap: All of the performances I saw at Rock The Bells were incredible, but this one was historic. "New York State of Mind" was as hype as expected, then AZ came out for his legendary verse on "Life's A Bitch" and the duo did "Mo Money, Mo Murder". Then Pete Rock came out for "The World Is Yours" and faced off in a DJ battle with Premier in what was one of the coolest moments of the day/my life. In addition to Illmatic, Nas did some of his earlier joints that probably hadn't been performed live in eons. He brought out MC Serch for "Back To The Grill" and Akinyele and Fatal for "Live At The Barbecue", both of which were insane.

Overall, Rock The Bells was incredible. Scheduling fuckups caused me to miss most of Liquid Swords and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, but what I did see was more than enough to make it a success. The venue was great, the atmosphere was awesome, and the performances couldn't have been better short of Biggie coming back and doing Ready To Die.  

Album Review: Game- "The R.E.D. Album"

A few weeks back, I forecasted on this site that The R.E.D. Album was going to be garbage. In the meantime, I've heard a few songs off of the album that strongly indicate otherwise. Is this the album I anticipated, full of R&B hooks about sipping Patron, or the new Documentary?

1. Dr. Dre Intro

Dr. Dre introduces Game and re-traces his gang affiliated bloodlines.

2. The City (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)

A dramatic entrance full of singers and choirs and loud percussion bangs like something from "Lion King". Game, in his angriest voice, raps about being the king and everything else while Lamar does the hook and "freestyles" after the beat stops. This goes on forever too.

3. Drug Test (Feat. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg)

I never thought I'd see the day when Dre monsters aren't even produced by Dr. Dre. The Game once rapped that he might "put out Detox myself", but DJ Khalil might actually be able to do that.

4. Martians Vs. Goblins (Feat. Lil Wayne & Tyler The Creator)

Besides this being a song titled "Martians Vs. Goblins", this is pretty sick. Tyler The Creator who I had kind of disregarded as just a wacky mofo, drops a memorable guest verse.

5. Red Nation (Feat. Lil Wayne)

Maybe it's because I'm partial to the "Zombie Nation" beat but I love this shit. Game spits some quality bars and even Weezy's chorus is great.

6. Dr. Dre 1

Another one of Dre's frightening interludes

7.  Good Girls Go Bad (Feat. Drake)

I was expecting this to be pillowy soft, because of the title, but this is a banger. Cool & Dre continue to bless Game with some quality soulful shit and Drake drops a decent verse on here. It has to be said though that a healthy majority of The Game's bars are gossip queen status.

8. Ricky

I remember Papoose did a mixtape joint where he just rapped over the "Boys In The Hood" beat, which is sort of what I thought Game was gonna do here. Instead, the movie samples transition into a dramatic banger that makes perfect use of the horns from the "Boys In The Hood" song. Game completes the track with sincere and triumphant lyrics in easily his best, hungriest performance on this album.

9. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Game tells alibis in rap form in a way that's totally fucking brilliant. The beat compliments his stories perfectly too.

10. Heavy Artillery (Feat. Rick Ross & Beanie Sigel)

This is even gullier than it sounds. Cool & Dre kill it again plus Ricky and especially Beans' contributions were very welcome.

11. Paramedics (Feat. Young Jeezy)

On the other hand Young Jeezy's contribution, not so much. That said, it's not his fault this beat is just  loud and busy and hard to listen to. The rest is just what you'd expect from a Game and Jeezy song, full of raps about hustling and "shitting Benjamins" and what not.

12. Speakers On Blast (Feat. Big Boi & E-40)

Game brings in two rap legends on this one. This is pretty cool, but it don't love this beat. A Big Boi/E-40 feature shouldn't sound like a Jay Rock throwaway.

13. Hello (Feat. Lloyd)

Holy shit, this shit is Charmin ultra soft. It's like Game's version of "Fancy" over some really awful R&B music.

14. All The Way Gone (Feat. Mario & Wale)

Not as bad as that last song, but still...just...terrible.

15. Pot Of Gold (Feat. Chris Brown)

Maybe it's the acoustic guitar or Chris Brown singing like Jason Mraz or some shit, but this has to be the whitest Game song of all time.

16. Dr. Dre 2

Dre's tales of the hood don't sound appropriate right after that string of sweet-ass R&B tracks.

17. All I Know (Feat. Lu Breeze)

Another pop song. Apparently I wasn't totally misguided in my concerns about this album. On a somewhat related note, has anyone seen this new Patron TV spot where the president of the company talks about their corporate social responsibility and shit? If this is, as I suspect, a means of distancing the brand from it's current image of rappers' cocktail of choice at strip clubs, well that's just hilarious.

18. Born In The Trap

As I tweeted when this song leaked, this Premo-produced heater actually does "save the R.E.D. Album". I may be the biggest Premier stan around, but this song is fucking great. Game seems to be inspired by the Premier collab because he drops one of the best flows of his career on this.

19. Mama Knows (Feat. Nelly Furtado)

Speaking of incredible flows, Game goes crazy over what sounds like a beat from that most recent Q-Tip album. Not even Nelly Furtado's incomprehensible chorus could ruin this for me.

20. California Dream

The Game raps about the birth of his daughter and at one point there's even a reenactment of the scene of the birth. I can't imagine why Game would have thought anyone would enjoy listening to this.

21. Dr. Dre Outro


Dr. Dre ends with a moralistic message about how being a good guy and raising a family is what's really "gangsta". I might have to disagree with him on that one.

Comments: This album was hot and cold, but good overall. I'd compare it to Ryan Howard, who normally either hits the shit out of the baseball or swings and misses completely. Like Howard, The Game's hits on this album make up for the shittier moments.

Best Songs: "Born In The Trap", "Heavy Artillery", "Ricky"

PropsOverHere Investigates: Are Rap "Beefs" a Thing of the Past?

     A few years ago, "beef" was the most popular thing going in rap, at times even more so than the music itself. Of course such rap feuds were not a new trend. Ever since the days of "The Bridge Is Over", rappers have been going at each other on and off record to air out their differences or maybe just as a ploy for attention. However, rap beef seemed to hit its peak some time in the early to mid 2000's, thanks in part to the infamous Jay-Z and Nas diss tracks, and to the emergence of a new breed of contentious rappers like 50 Cent who sought out a different artist to insult with each recording session. At some point in time, rap music had basically become a giant web of beefs that had become so chaotic and tangled up that I doubt the rappers themselves could even keep track of everyone that they were beefing with and why. Then, all of the sudden, rap beefs were as played out as spinning rims. Jay-Z signed Nas to Def Jam, The Game hit the booth and apologized to Mobb Deep and M.O.P., Shady signed and made an album with Royce Da 5'9", and now I'm hearing that Jim Jones and Cam'Ron's Fly Boys album could be next. Not to mention, when was the last time a rapper got shot? Other than The Game's attention-whoring shots at Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel's salty jabs at, you guessed it, Jay-Z, rappers nowadays seem far more interested in deading their old beefs and moving on rather than seeking out new ones. While I would like to believe that this is because rappers realize how pointless and silly these feuds actually were, it probably has more to do with the fact that beefs are no longer able to drive album sales. Or maybe it's because today's rappers are too concerned with who they're wearing or which color Maybach is the prettiest to hate on each other. So did beef go out of style, or is it simply lying in wait until it makes its triumphant return?

Album Of The Day: Hi-Tek- "Hi-Teknology"

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    This was the first, and best, album by Reflection Eternal producer Hi-Tek. It features an elite guest list of MCs including Common, Mos Def, Cormega, Talib Kweli, Mood, and Buckshot over some of the Cincinnati native's finest work on the boards. One of the best albums of the Rawkus glory days. 

Album Of The Day: Elzhi- "Witness My Growth"

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    This mixtape contains a bunch of unreleased Elzhi material that was recorded between 1997 and 2004, hence the title. The large majority of these songs were simply Detroit underground joints, produced by fellow Motown artists like Young R.J., Waajeed, Kareem Riggins, and the late, great Dilla. His local MC status (which really hasn't changed since, with the lone exception of his verse on The Minstrel Show) combined with his almost unrivaled rapping ability has to make him, in my estimation, the most underrated rapper ever. 

Album Of The Day: 2Pac- "Thug Life"

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    It's almost impossible to believe that a 2Pac album could be underrated, but this one is. Technically it's not a 2Pac solo it's really a group effort between him, his cousin, and his homies, but Pac clearly carries this album. It features some of the more timeless 2Pac classics like "Bury Me A G" and, possibly my favorite Pac song evar, "Pour Out A Little Liquor". Even though All Eyez On Me and Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory get more hype having been released in his post-NY shooting, post-prison, Death Row era, but I'd put Thug Life second only to Me Against The World as far as 2pac albums go.  

Album Of The Day: All City- "Metropolis Gold"

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I don't know shit about All City, but they were somehow able to recruit the likes of DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Rockwilder, and others to produce this 1998 release. The Brooklyn duo disbanded after this album, but at least they left us with this underground gem.

Album Review: Royce Da 5'9"- "Success Is Certain"

Royce Da 5'9" has been sort of on a roll recently; joining Slaughterhouse, signing with Shady, and then dropping an album with Eminem that landed him some additional notoriety and radio airplay. I wasn't really able to get into Hell: The Sequel as was the case with all of Royce's solo albums to this point even though he is one of the best rappers around. Some of this may have to do with being on low-budget record labels, or maybe a shitty taste in beats that make his non Premo-produced material hard to listen to. Is this going to be the first Royce album that I like or just further affirmation that making a good album takes more than lyrical battle raps?

1. Legendary (Feat. Travis Barker)

A rock-inspired intro appropriately featuring Travis Barker, whose all over rap albums these days. Royce goes hard to match the energy of the track but his punch lines are very hit or miss.

2. Writer's Block (Feat. Eminem)

A high octane banger full of glitchy noises and choirs not unlike "H.A.M." but with Eminem on the hook. I assume that these are the two reasons why they made it a single.

3. Merry Go Round

The chorus on this is so incredibly corny it's a wonder that Royce Da 5'9" even let this be a part of his album. Unfortunately, it ruins a decent song otherwise with Royce reflecting on events that shaped his career path.

4. Where My Money

Royce raps about how he's going to rob hip-hop, or something, with a weak flow and lyrics that make little to no sense. Maybe being a poor, underground rapper has made him completely disillusioned with the music industry, or maybe he's just not very smart.

5. ER (Feat. Kid Vishis)

A concept track with Royce as a doctor operating on the rap game in the first verse then Kid Vishis rhyming as the game "revived" in the second. This might go back to him being a bitter underground rapper, but I don't know why Royce sounds so pissed off on every song. For the record, nothing takes the edge off of an angry verse quite like the word "Twitter".

6. On The Boulevard (Feat. Nottz & Adonis)

Nottz and Royce tell a story about the dangers of growing up in the ghetto through "Kenny", who aspired to be a track star but ends up selling crack. Or something like that.

7. I Ain't Coming Down

This one is more like it. I like this sample and Royce spits witty and occasionally heartfelt lyrics about his beefs and haters and all that good shit.

8. Security

Royce swaps his angry flow for a monotone delivery on this a dedication to Proof, like 4 years later. The first two verses about him and Proof were great but the amount of times he raps about making amends with Em and D12 on this album would make The Game blush.

9. Second Place

This isn't exactly a classic Premo record but it still thumps and it's still better than 98% of beats of out there. His tracks do tend to bring out the best in Royce, though at the end of the second verse he just starts giggling.

10. My Own Planet (Feat. Joe Budden)

I actually thought this was going to be a spoof record when I heard the synths kick in, but then I remembered what I said earlier about Royce's beat selection. Somehow this isn't totally awful, but Royce and Joe Budden just aren't meant to make shit like this.

11. I've Been Up I've Been Down

More emo babble from Royce over a Linkin Park beat to round out the album.

Comments: Royce is still without an album that I like, which I'm sure he cares a lot about. He is definitely a good rapper but he lacks the ability to pick beats and put songs together which results in mediocre albums such as this.

Best Songs: "Security", "Second Place"

Album Of The Day: 50 Cent- "Power Of The Dollar"

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Before the money and the fame, 50 Cent was a no nonsense rapper from Queens with a Jay-Z flow, as exhibited on this unreleased album. Power Of The Dollar was recorded around 2000 when 50 was signed to Columbia Records, right before he famously caught nine shots and was subsequently dropped from the label. On this album, a young 50 Cent displays a creativity and hunger that is completely absent in his newer music, or really anything he's done since 2005. Between that and beats by Trackmasters, Ski, and others, I'd have to say i like this to anything else in Curtis' catalogue.