The College Dropout is a refreshing reminder of reaching success in hip-hop through humility and personality, proving that West is not just simply a producer anymore. And that is what today’s sound needs; a subtle aggression that concisely drives creativity in the right direction.
Coming with more beef than your cities meatpacking district, the conflicted rapper’s ‘debut’ release Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is a journey through street tales, gun clapping and all the gratuitous sex and comedic shenanigans that come in between.
Like smart bands since the dawn of time, The Roots could be accused of being more fun to think about than to actually listen to. With their fifth studio record, Phrenology, they finally become what we've always hoped they would be: a hip-hop band that strikes a very funky balance between righteousness and humor, between headbanging grooves and truth-telling.
His vocals are emotional fits, bursting from his lips in a high pitched shrill you will either love or hate after repeated listening. The question, even before he signed to Roc-a-Fella Reocrds, has always been can he keep your attention for an entire album’s worth of material?
