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Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Y'all have heard of Watchmen by now, so you should know the emcee they call PRO. His lyrical ability is undeniable, much like the rest of the crew, and he has now released a new album called, I NEED THERAPY.
Artist(s): PRO
Album Name: I Need Therapy
Year of Release: 2011
Y'all have heard of Watchmen by now, so you should know the emcee they call PRO. His lyrical ability is undeniable, much like the rest of the crew, and he has now released a new album called, I NEED THERAPY; which for the most part feeds that inner-lyrical person that enjoyed the sounds of Rakim, Wu and the like. This album, though not as strong as I had hoped for was indeed a good listen.
The intro titled, "Dark Passenger" lives up to its name with the creepy intro; and when PRO begins rhyming, you almost feel like your listening to 90's Rakim. That is not to say it's a bad thing because lyrically, the talent is most definitely there.
One thing that was very clear is that PRO was attempting to paint a lot of stories throughout this album, and he does very well with tracks like "Where" and "Sunshine" that includes singing vocals. Most of the feel for these tracks is deep and soul-ish. It was definitely NOT what I expected to hear, but I kind of enjoyed the fact that it was different, and I appreciated the range of music he implemented into the production. Tracks like "The Truth", "GO" and "Dangerous" were definitely REWIND WORTHY tracks, so be sure not to miss listening to those on the album.
Overall, the Mix on this album was pretty good. Tracks like "The Truth" had some smooth lows, and overall the blends of frequencies were very clean. You can hear a VERY GOOD separation of sounds in the track called "Where".
There weren't a lot of downers in this album, but a few key points to work on that dropped the score a little. "Encontramos" was a good track to bring the bilingual hook, but the delivery could have been a bit smoother on this one to match with the beat. His delivery was great for what it was, but this track needed something with a little less attach on the delivery. "I Will" was not as impressive as it could have been with a better mix on the higher end frequencies.
For those who like LYRICS, this is a GREAT ALBUM and serves its purpose well. For those who are looking for something a little out of the box, it may be a hit and miss for you.
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Friday, March 4, 2011
So, if you are from the bay area, you have probably heard ABOUT or heard Gemstar DIRECTLY. His talent is undeniable, and the young emcee hailing from Long Island; now residing in Florida, has definitely shown his ability to push past the common music of radio.
Artist(s): Gemstar
Album Name: Lessons of Life, The Mixtape
Year of Release: 2011
So, if you are from the bay area, you have probably heard ABOUT or heard Gemstar DIRECTLY. His talent is undeniable, and the young emcee hailing from Long Island; now residing in Florida, has definitely shown his ability to push past the common music of radio. In this latest release, LESSONS OF LIFE, THE MIXTAPE; Gem attempts to portray some "Real Life" content into his music, which actually makes his music extremely relevant to most everyday people.
The opening to the mixtape starts off well with an upbeat tempo that works perfect with Gemstar's flow. It's obvious from the first track that he is definitely comfortable with his own delivery. As the mixtape goes on, there seems to be recurring theme of singing hooks and bridges along with lyrical prowess on the verses.
Quite honestly, the singing is a bit much on some tracks like "Let Go" and "Call Me", but he makes up for it in some tracks like "Got No Home". It's obvious his style mixes in some singing and rapping, but for the most part he's going to want to tighten that up a bit more especially on the tracks that are a bit more dynamic in vocal ranges.
Other than that - this album is simply QUALITY! The range of music and mixture of sounds and style make this album one of the regular rotation. Some HEAT TRACKS to keep an ear out for are "Sent to Me" which has a GREAT MIX and separation of sounds. "Antidote" which features Kensta Lopez is also a great listen as well, with its "FEED YOUR MIND" lyrics. "Call Me" is a great track for the women, and while the guitar is a slight bit grunged out for this feel, it's not too heavy to still enjoy this track.
Overall this album was a keeper, and we look forward to hearing MORE of Gemstar's contribution to the Hip Hop game. Maybe a little ease off the singing tip and letting other people do that, or maybe work some more on the vocal trainings, and GEM will most definitely have a GEM of talent as his arsenal. He's already a HOT TOPIC, so DON'T SLEEP on a GREAT ARTIST!
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Thursday, January 13, 2011
Every team has their strength and the Watchmen show their lyrical abilities in this latest release, POWER.
Artist(s):Watchmen
Album Name: Power
Year of Release: 2010
Every team has their strength and the Watchmen show their lyrical abilities in this latest release, POWER. While this release is not as strong of a release as the previous, it would be best to keep in mind that this album comprises of the group's previous non-released tracks from 2006. With a sound a bit more basement than the more current quality of tracks we are used to hearing them on, it provides fans with a bit of a background on how exactly this team developed through the years.
The main thing anyone will realize when hearing this album is that the mixes and production are not very strong in respects to quality, but the lyrics are clearly ingenious. The intro of the album provides eerie pipe organ sounds with cuts of various phrases of lyrics that make it clear this crew is about their emcee game. Tracks like "Bloody Palm" with its classic WU feel, and "Final Hour" with its consistent array of metaphors and similes make it easy to see why WU MANAGEMENT would have picked them up. Again, the mixes are what really hurt this project on tracks like "Dishonor," where the hook completely out-leveled the verses.
One track that is worth mention is "Everyone of Us" that hailed some of the best lyrics with verses like, "You takin' it all in vain / I'm breakin' this ball & chain / You fakin' to stay the same / I'm rakin' against the grain." This track was a definite replay and if they revisited this track with a better mix and some updated vocals to bring that WOW factor into play, it would be a hot classic.
The title track "POWER" was a good feel, though could have used more variety in rhythms, and "Torcher Chamber" ended in the album with considerable force.
Overall, despite the mix and production needs, this was a good album to bring fans back into the previous years of Watchmen. If nothing else, it shows how far they have come since then, and makes a person wonder what they are about ready to bring with the newer releases in the near future.
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Sunday, January 2, 2011
For those who are not familiar with Cambatta and his lyrical content, the latest album, Visionary 2 will serve as a quick reminder that there are still relevant artists in the Florida scene.
Artist(s):Cambatta
Album Name: Visionary 2
Year of Release: 2010
For those who are not familiar with Cambatta and his lyrical content, the latest album, Visionary 2 will serve as a quick reminder that there are still relevant artists in the Florida scene. Cambatta mixes his ability to weave lyrical content into everyday experiences; and makes a definite mark on the Hip Hop scene with this latest addition.
From the start of the album with "The Re-Introduction," he create the very feel Hip Hop is known for, while shooting off lyrics like, "These are visual statements, as far as that pop shit, I have minimal patience / it feels like the end of a civilization, and I'm the only nigga escapin'" to leave the listener even FURTHER interested in hearing more.
Tracks that DEFINITELY stand out a lot on this album, which are far more than just the average two gems in most album are: "On My Way," which seperates Cambatta from the stereotypical rapper; "Unstoppable Bullet," which tells a strong message; "Light it UP," with a feature from LAWS of Justice League; and "Green Light," which describes the double-edged character of money and our need for it.
While there's not much bad to say about this album, there were some slightly low points to the overall album. Tracks like "Stoopid" could have been mixed a bit better with the sample used to make it sound clearer; "Right Back At You" wasn't too impressive compared to the other tracks around it, but the singing was nice; and "Don't Blame Me," which could have used a little more work on the hook to make it stand out a bit more.
Overall, this album was HEAT!!!! This one is a definite MUST HAVE in the collection of raw Hip Hop music. Anyone who ever doubted Cambatta's ability on the mic should definitely give this download a try. Don't miss the track, "Good Ol' Days" if you come from that Golden Age of Hip Hop. You will DEFINITELY RELATE to this!
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Thursday, December 23, 2010
Aych's ability to cross over both radio and indie genres is undeniable, and his dedication is even more proven than his talent. THE CURE II is no exception to that track record.
Artist(s): Aych
Album Name: The Cure II
Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating: 
Aych's ability to cross over both radio and indie genres is undeniable, and his dedication is even more proven than his talent. This makes him a definite moving force all within himself, and his latest release, THE CURE II, is no exception to that track record.
The album starts off with a good feel on J. Rusch's production for the intro, where Aych tells them to "Call on" him when they get tired of the nonsense we hear so much. This feel is pretty much the angle where Aych leads most of the album, which is a bit of SOUL mixed with various styles to portray the heart of the artist they call AYCH.
Some of the tracks on this album are SERIOUS REPEAT TRACKS! The one that is worth MUCH mention is "Live'N That Life" featuring AJA Lorraine. This song is seriously a CLASSIC and was stuck on my repeat for about a good 20 minutes the first time I listened. This is undeniable REAL LIFE content.
Immediately following that track is "Letter to My Pop," which shows an even deeper side to Aych. There is no doubt he left himself in the studio the night he recorded it. The dynamic in a son's view of his father was adequately explained when he states, "Never showin' up was some shit I got used to / but that's some bullshit kids should never get used to."
Some of the other tracks to pay attention to would be "Change" featuring Triple X and "Somethin' Special" featuring Dynasty. His dedication to showing various sides of his real life persona is obvious enough to command the respect of other artists.
Now, in ALL the good things to say about this album, there were equally as many points of lows to it with tracks like "Ready for the World" which lacked a bit more on the vocalist end and didn't engage the listener as well. "I'm So Fly" really wasn't too fly at all with all the features, and some of the low ends on the mix seemed to be lacking a bit as well.
Tracks like "U Know My Name" lacked a bit on the production end, even though the lyrics themselves were pretty well planned out. And tracks like "The Come Up" were a bit too repetitive on the hook for my taste. There was a little bit more of that on the hooks than I would have liked throughout the album, but it only really hurt a few tracks along the way.
If you haven't copped it already, peep out Aych's, The Cure II and GET THERAPEUTIC!
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Friday, November 5, 2010
From Xzibit, to Planet Asia, to the Game; the west coast has always brought about some of the best lyricists to the industry.
Artist(s): Melo Kan
Album Name: The Unkomfortable Silence
Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating:
From Xzibit, to Planet Asia, to the Game; the west coast has always brought about some of the best lyricists to the industry. For as much as some people sleep on the west coast artists at times; Melo Kan's latest release will bring back that fervor that fans of REAL LIFE HIP HOP with something RELEVANT will appreciate. I can see most of them making placement on their iPods and MP3 players for this album, as it is definitely a rising artist you WANT to keep an eye on!
The Unkomfortable Silence starts off with a display of lyricism if nothing else. Melo Kan proves in the first few minutes that he is not an amateur at wordplay. He continues this throughout the WHOLE ALBUM without failure. Lyrics like, "You the reason why my people sick and tired of rap / so they sent me to provide what you lack." in Kome Alive make it obvious he's not in this for the popularity or the nonsense.
Most of the album is pretty much a composition of hard beats with a jazz/blues feel, with the exception of a few tracks that were more standard to what most people hear on both coasts. His ability to blend the styles of music and even the dialects of Hip Hop is impressive. He proved clearly he could rock on BOTH COASTS with no problem at all.
Some of the hooks on the album needed work, and it can probably be said that these are his weakest parts of the album. Tracks like The Learning, Klean It, and The Bawse left me wanting a bit more from the hooks, and sometimes lost me in monotonous chants that really didn't lead out of or into any of the verses well.
One thing that can be said is that the engineer was ON HIS JOB with this album. Most of the mixes were clean and well thought out. There were only a few mixes that seemed a bit out of place, such as The Bawse, which suffered from acute crashes that were a bit distracting along with the hook on Blue Lines which could have been edited to make the layers a bit less distinctive and crowded.
Overall, this album gets a BIG UPS for the artist on the west coast that brings this kind of heat. Melo is not your average emcee, and he is DEFINITELY AN EMCEE without any doubts. Peep out some of the hottest tracks on here, which would be Kreepin' and My World and make sure you put those speakers on BLAST!!!!
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010
R.A.P.P. Quelle - After The Art: We Are Up (Mixtape Review) on BootSlapRap.com | Home of the independant reviews and business.
Artist(s): R.A.P.P. Quelle
Album Name: After The Art: We Are Up Mixtape
Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating:
Most mixtapes are filled with DJ cuts and slices with overbearing DJ's screaming at the mic biding for the attention of the listener as much as the emcee. This was NOT the case for R.A.P.P. Quelle's latest mixtape release, After the Art: We Are Up. Quelle's ability to weave words together as well as the mixtape more closely resembling the track flow of an actual album make this mixtape a good addition to the collection.
The mixtape starts with the eerie song from Pirates of the Caribbean 3, almost making the listener wonder what he means from that. Are WE as Hip Hop the pirates singing our song to the death pursuing perpetual voice in the music market? Nonetheless, the mixtape moves on to the next track resembling the usual shout outs and long intros traditionally seen.
As the first real cut begins with "Why Be Afraid," I couldn't help but think of DMX and his gritty yelling on the mic. R.A.P.P. Quelle does this, but with a twist of his own that stands him apart a bit from DMX. It's more than obvious that Quelle is not your average rapper, and his lyrics alone help him a lot of the way along with tracks like "The Enigma is All Me" and "We Are Up (Light Up Remix)"
Tracks like "Forgot About Wishing" using the airplanes instrumental showcase some of his heart in this music when he states, "I pray none of these words get lost in translation / Hopefully you get every bar that I'm saying." He makes it obvious he has no plans of stopping.
There are some downsides to this mixtape which really accounted for most of the loss in points. One major point is that Quelle's delivery really doesn't range out well. He's pretty much screaming most of the time or at least sounding like he is. The texture of his voice should be a bit mellower on some tracks and lacks that drop in tracks like "All the Way Up" and "PSA."
Some other things to mention are his selection of tracks, which I thought with his delivery, could have been a bit heavier to match his aggressive tone. Not all the beats matched him specifically, but worked out merely on the fact that he got lyrics for days. I would like to hear him on some heavy percussion, low-end drops and tracks that match more of his voice texture.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
G.O.O.D. Music's new recruit Cyhi the Prynce is showing his royal status in hip hop with his new mixtape, Royal Flush.
Artist(s): Cyhi Da Prynce
Album Name: Royal Flush Mixtape
Year of Release: 2010
With a guest appearance on Kanye West's giveaway track "So Appalled" and the BET G.O.O.D. Music Cypher. G.O.O.D. Music's new recruit Cyhi the Prynce is showing his royal status in hip hop with his new mixtape "Royal Flush". Cyhi has a great lyrical delivery and catchy hooks. The album also includes the productions of the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Kane Beatz, Drumma Boy, and more. The Atlanta MC is ready to take over the Hip Hop industry.
The album starts off with "Ring Bells", which uses the famous speech "I have a dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The track sets the mood for the Royal Flush mixtape and takes the listener into the lyrical spectrum of Cyhi. Cyhi street story telling swagger in "Bunch of Rounds" lets it be known that he will not hesitate to put people in their place.
Kane Beatz produced the track "Never Again", Where Cyhi expresses the trials and tribulations of his life. He teaches the errors of his ways and expectations of never having to return to that life.
Cyhi continues to speak on past mistakes and taking a different route in life with the Anita Baker sample on "Hear Me Out." Cyhi da Prynce also lets the ladies know that he is looking for love in "Can't Find Love" with a laid back R&B feel.
The Royal Flush mixtape covers all different aspects of Cyhi's personality. From Cyhi's: street music story-telling, motivational speaker, his love for the ladies and club music. Cyhi da Prynce's Royal Flush mixtape is a great listening from beginning to end. G.O.O.D. music has added another great addition to its roster with Cyhi.
Download the Royal Flush Mixtape today.Album Download [
DOWNLOAD NOW]
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Monday, October 18, 2010
BootSlapRap.com Album Review :: Wu-Tang Management presents The Watchmen catches 4 points out of 5!
Artist(s): The Watchmen
Album Name: Wu-Tang Management presents The Watchmen
Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating:
Wu-Tang has never really stood still since their emergence on the scene almost a decade ago. They have released various group and solo albums, as well as movie music and animated adventures. While the last few years we have seen various efforts from each member to extend themselves within their respective styles, there has also been a major recruitment of affiliate groups that the Wu has been pushing out lately. One of those groups coming out of Florida is THE WATCHMEN. A crew consisting of 5 determined artists to make a mark on the WU Map.
Keeping true to the Wu Brand, The Watchmen dropped a double CD, with the first beginning very reminiscent of most albums with intro scripts from old school karate flicks. From the beginning of the album, you can hear a slight nostalgia of Killa Army influencing some vibes, but the crew quickly breaks away into their own style and flow as the album moves on. It's not hard to understand that this group is clearly ABOUT THAT LYRICISM and the use of "poison darts" to dominate the tracks one by one. There are some serious "burners", and much for the most unexpected reasons.
Tracks like "It's Not Too Late," with its signature Wu female vocals and crazy wordplay; as well as "Not Living" with its Soul Music quality combined with great lyric delivery make a clear impact into both the independent and commercial markets. This album has some diversity with tracks like "Cruisin" that brought a very Latin element to the crew. With tracks like these, there may be something the team is onto. It's VERY clear they experiment well.
By CD number two, you can see that the crew can do both old school styles, but have an updated flow to match the younger minds as well. There are some tracks that don't build well for the team in this album. Tracks like "It's a Shame" and "Chinese Split" didn't really stand out at all, and made the forward button look increasingly tempting.
With the mix of the incredible DOUBLE CD that remained oddly interesting from start to finish; the team was able to accomplish not only two CD's, but were varied enough in their sound to keep a listener interested enough to keep seeing what they had to bring next track. We look forward to hearing more growth from this crew in the coming months. Now, to see a performance would probably be THAT much more interesting…
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Thursday, October 14, 2010
From the "burbs" to the "blocks," Asher Roth has undoubtedly been getting some good exposure into the game from various media and releases.
ALBUM NAME: Seared Foie Gras with Quince and Cranberry
From the "burbs" to the "blocks," Asher Roth has undoubtedly been getting some good exposure into the game from various media and releases. His style is original and his insistence on having his own sound is definitely apparent in this last mixtape release he completed with DJ Wreckineyez.
He begins the album with "a quick life lesson" in Muddy Swim Trunks, and introduces us once again to the goofy, yet non-psychotic white emcee who loves Hip Hop. The beat produced by Madlib is a definite mellow feel, and Asher's lyrics definitely blend well with the drops. While this is not the most impressive track on the album, it is definitely one that sets the listener up in the mood that they will probably need to endure for 17 more tracks.
Now, to be totally transparent, I will preface that Asher's lyrical ability is unquestionable, and his choice of production in some cases was great - but the fact of the matter is that this was not really that impressive of a mixtape. There were only a few great tracks out of the 18 that existed on the album. Among these tracks was Con-Fid-Ence, produced by Kanye West; which definitely had a great momentum and delivery to it.
Oddly enough, the 4 tracks following were much better in quality, sound and delivery than the previous tracks on the album. With I'm Eddy, and its great swing to the beat, and Just Blaze's heat on the Rick Smits, this portion of the album between track 9 and 13 is definitely top quality heat.
Unfortunately, the album declines again like a old school storybook, and while the overall album and quality was what you would expect out of such a great artist; it left a taste for wanting something more vibrant. I'm looking forward to hearing a step up on the next project for Asher and his camp.
