The Official ‘Ask Shyne to Rate a Album thread’

[Shyne]

ok, people seemed to like my rate the mc thread so this is just like that but with albums instead of artist. Now obviously there's going to be a lot of albums I havnt heard so if you see me skipping your post I probably havnt heard the album. as always i'll keep it short and simple so dont expect full blown reviews, just short little blurbs. Ok people, again I say let the games begin.

Also just to keep it easy on me keep it to 2 albums at a time.

10

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - 10/10 - A Classic hip hop/R&B album. Lauryn can out rap and out sing most anyone in the game. It also doesn’t hurt that each track has a good message to it. She doesn’t waste any tracks on this album, classic front to back.

Eminem - the Slim Shady LP - 10/10 - A Classic rap album, Slim came into the game with a style of his own, he was funny and fun to listen to but could still scare the hell out of you at the same time ('97 Bonnie & Clyde’ anyone?). It also helped dude just had a way with words, he could paint pictures with his rhymes, which made his off the wall storys all that much more funny.

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP - 10/10 - Eminems best album easily, so brutally honest and angry, you can feel Ems pain on tracks like ‘The Way I am’, this is eminem trying to come to terms with his new found super stardom, we get to see an mc who finally got what he wanted but now isn’t so sure he made the right choice. Its like his underground roots are fighting against his new found mainstream success

NWA - Str8 Outta Compton - 10/10 - The album that not only put the West Coast on the map, but gangsta rap as a whole. It brought the idea of violent inner city raps to the mainstream, and it did it with the help of some of Hip Hops finest legends (Dre, Cube, Eazy, Ren). Dre held it down on the production while Cube killed it with the lyrics and raw angry flow. One of the most important albums to ever be made.

Nas - Illmatic - 10/10 - possibly the best rap album ever made, from the beats to the lyrics everything is perfect. Nas is at his peak with this album with a flow and lyrics he’s yet to match again. Not to mention that this album contains the greatest verse ever recorded by an mc..AZ’s verse on the track ‘Lifes a Bitch’

A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm - 10/10 - Classic album, this was the first time the world got to hear the unique styling of Q-Tip and the solid mic work of Phife Dawg. Very heavily influned by Jazz music this is the perfect album to vibe too, Tips voiced combined with the smooth Jazz beats are enough to put you into a trance like state. Not to mention that when you actually do listen to the lyrics you’ll hear some playfully fun music. Tribe didn’t spend all their time trying to beat a message into your head, they actually made fun music (see "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo"). The first of many Tribe classics.

Goodie Mob - Soul Food - 10/10 - Goodie Mob was on some other shit when this album came out, at this point in time the South was still pretty much considered a joke, Goodie Mob made sure to put a stop to that. This album has 2 things going for it, 1 is the unique and very dope mc/singer that is Cee-Lo, put Cee-Lo on a track and people are gonna listen regardless of what you have to say, luckily if you do decide to listen to the lyrics then you’re in for a real treat cause reason number 2 is the subject matter, Goodie Mob is on some deep shit with this album. From growing up poor in the ghetto to their own philosophies on life, they don’t really waist any time on bullshit, all very honest music

heltah skeltah - nocturnal - 10/10 - a Boot Camp Classic. MC’s Ruck (better known now as Sean P) and Ruck come with that classic east coast hunger. Ruck is a man that has a way with words, the way he rhymes and flows makes him seem like a true veteran mc, and the Rockness Monstah has such an ill flow that all attention falls on him whenever he starts to rhyme, dudes flow and voice alone will make him shine on a track. The production fit’s the mc’s perfectly with dark, grimy early 90’s east coast shit. Songs like ‘Therapy’ show the group at their most creative with Ruck playing the part of a patient and Rock probing his mind with a series of question. Dope album and a must own for east coast fans.


Ras Kass - Soul On Ice - 10/10 - One of the best rap albums ever. Ive heard people complain that the production was weak on this effort, that’s something I’ll never understand cause Ras has yet to find production that’s matched him this good. The beats are go from being mellow and laid back to dark and sinister depending on Ras’s subject matter, the crazy thing is this is production that can appeal to both east coast heads and the West. Then the lyrics, you will be hard presses to find ANY mc as lyrical as Ras Kass was when he made this album, the first track alone is so deep and has so many lyrical gems buried in it that ive still yet to understand it all, ‘Nature of the Threat’ will probably be the track most people have heard of, and for good reason too, it’s a masterpiece of a record that needs to be heard to fully appreciate just how mind blowing all the knowledge Ras’s dropping is.

Snoop Dogg - Doggy style - 10/10 - I don’t care much for Snoope Dogg, this album though is still amazing to this day, its like track after track of classic West Coast gangsta music. The production is instantly recognizable and Snoop himself has, and never will sound this dope again. His voice and flow were so smooth and on point that when matched with the G Funk beats it just created an instant masterpiece with so many memorable tracks its sure to be in any hip hop fans collection at some point in time.

2Pac - Me Against the World - 10/10 - Pacs one and only true classic record. If you only own 1 2pac cd then this should be it, every single track on this album is damn near an instant classic, ‘Me Against the World’, ‘So Many Tears’, ‘Dear Mama ‘, ‘Old School’, ‘Death Around the Corner’, the list go’s on and on. Like honestly you can pick just about any track off this album and its sure to be one of Pacs best. The production was laid back enough to chill to but still carried the right amount of energy for Pac to come across with his message. Which is another good thing about this album, you wont find Pac on a bunch of gangsta bullshit with this album, its just a raw and honest record. Easily the best he’s ever made.


9

Immortal Technique- Revolutionary Vol. 2 - 9/10 - One of the Best Hip Hip albums to drop in the last 10 years. I.T. has something most rappers lack nowadays…a purpose. And his purpose is to open America’s eyes to all the injustice and tragedies that are happening right here on out own home land. Tech touches on many many different topics throughout the album. The only real fault is that sometimes a few of the tracks can sound the same, it kinda kills the originality of a song when you spend the whole time thinking you’ve heard it before.

Talib Kweli - Quality - 9/10 - Kweli was so close to perfection on this album. Just about every single track is dope, almost up to his Reflection Eternal standards, ‘Get By’ is still the best song ive ever heard on the radio and Kweli has a little something for everyone. There really isn’t anything wrong with this record its just he didn’t travel very far outside his comfort zone and taken any risk, as a result this is the same Kweli we’ve all grown use to by now.

Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent by Design - 9/10 - Some people have called this the underground ‘illmatic’, well they lied, this album is no where near as good as Nas’s masterpiece. Still though it is very dope. Producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind laces this album with classic production, seriously I doubt you’ll find many producers who can keep up with Stoupe. The Mc’s Vinnie Paz and Jus Allah are the only things keeping this from perfection, while they do have dope rhymes and raw flows their subject matter is so limited that by the time you get half way through the album you feel like you’ve heard all they have to say, luckily some dope guest verses from mc’s like Sean P and Mr Lif help break up the monotony.

Jay Z -Reasonable Doubt - 9/10 - Very dope album, considered by many to be a classic. Jigga came across real strong on this album, with his concept tracks (‘22 2’s’, a track still being copied by mc’s today), with his deep make you think tracks (D’evils). The only thing holding this back from classic status is the corny track ‘Aint No Nigga’ which tries its hardest to fuck up the albums serious vibe.


8

Big L-life of da poor and dangerous - 8/10 - This is one of those albums that’s a cult classic. Its not perfect by any means but it will go down as a hip hop classic. Ever single track is solid and L himself is an impressive mc, its just a shame his subject matter was so limited, it was always battle punch lines and ho’s, and how many times does L have to rhyme Hotty/Shotty?

Jadakiss - Kiss of Death - 8/10 - this album took a long time to grow on me, but when it finally sunk in I was blown away. Kiss has created the first truly enjoyable “grown man music”, this is the shit Jay Z is always trying to pull off, Kiss does it in style easily flipping from the streets, to the clubs, and even to the deeper real life shit. Tracks like ‘Still Feel Me’ show you just how gifted Kiss truly is. This album has at least 3 wack tracks though, one of them featuring the horrible embarrassing rhymes of Kanye West (‘Getting It In’). overall though this will probably go down as Kiss’s best album cause I cant imagine it getting much better then this

The Roots - Organix - 8/10 - This isn’t the best Roots album in any way shape or form, in fact they sound a bit amateurish on it, but still it was their first true album and as so it interesting to see where they got their start at. Black Thought is, as always a solid enough mc, he’s nothing over the top that’s gonna blow you away but he has a good flow and sense of wordplay and blends nicely with the instrumentals. it’s a solid album but hearing the rest of the Roots cataloge of music you know now they are capable of so much more, im sure it was a lot fresher when it dropped but now as it is it’ll have to do with being just solid.

7

Jay-Z- The Black Album - 7/10 - A solid enough album, I will give J this, there really isn’t any bad tracks on this cd, just some very good and some very average. In typical Jay z fashion he has something for the clubs, something for the thugs, and something for the backpack crowd so regardless of what music you like you should at least find a few dope tracks.

2pac - Makaveli The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory - 7/10 - I have a love/hate thing going on with this album, one second I cant even stand to look at it and the next im bumping it hard. Its like 2pac actually comes dope on this album (check the song ‘Blasphemy’, still an amazing song and one of my fav pac tracks ever), but then you get to the parts where the Outlawz come on, Pac is a very dark and angry mc on this album, you can feel it in every word he spits, the outlawz on the other hand are lucky to even be behind a mic, let alone on some of these tracks. They don’t have the lyrics or flow to match Pacs ferocity on this album and in trying to do so they kill the vibe of whatever songs they touch.

Busta Rhymes - Extinction Level Event - 7/10 - Busta Rhymes is an amazing artist, dude brings so much energy to everything he does, only problem is he’s one of those mc’s that just seems made for guest verses. His solo shit can get very repetitive after a while, dude almost has TOO much energy, it wares you out to listen to him. That being said this is one of his better albums, it runs a little to long for my taste though, had he shortened it by a few tracks it would have been much better.

Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell - 7/10 - The production on this album is pretty much what earns it this score, the Mc Vinnie Paz though seems to be trying his hardest to ruin any of the dope beats he touches though. That’s not to say there isn’t dope tracks, ‘Uncommon Valor’ has one of the most amazing verses ive ever heard thanks to the heavily slept on R.A. the Rugged Man, and tracks like ‘Razor Blade Salvation’ and ‘Shadow Business’ show a much more mature Paz talking about things that actually matter as aposes to his normal ‘I hate everyone and want to kill them’ bullshit. Lyric for lyric though Paz fell off hard and his flow is damn near unlistenable

Obie Trice - Second Rounds On Me - 7/10 - I love this album, dark beats and even darker subject matter, tracks like ‘Obies Story’ are instant classics. Only problem is the album runs a bit long so a lot of the tracks start to sound like each other, there’s at least 3 track where Obie uses a sped up double time flow that sound almost exactly the same, also a lot of times half way through a verse Trice will lose all his energy and we’re left with an mc who sounds like he’s just reading his rhymes off the paper instead of actually flowing them.

50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Trying - 7/10 - Very solid album, only problem is 50 trys waaaay to hard to make everyone happe, he has your stereotypical club track, weed song, pimp song, southern song, ect. Instead od focusing on the type of music he’s actually good at he stepped outside his confort zone and we got horrible tracks like ‘21 questions’ and ‘P.I.M.P.’. The positives though come in the form of an amazing Eminem verse on the impressive track ‘Patiently Waiting’ and the very dope, revealing track ‘Many Men’. Solid enough album but 50 stretch himself a little thin on this album and as a result it feels scattered and confused.

Jay-Z - The Blueprint - 7/10 - I’ll never understand why so many people call this album classic, its has dope production, and Jay comes correct with his lyrics on a handful of tracks, but overall its so shallow. Most the tracks are either clubby pop tracks or shallow girl tracks, both with weak Jigga lyrics. Not to mention its hard to believe Jigga talk about being the best rapper when Eminem blows him out of the water so easily on the track ‘Renegade’. Songs like ‘Girls Girls Girls’, ‘Hola Hovito’, and ‘Izzo’ really hold this album back, especially when put next to the more emotional tracks like ‘Song Cry’ and ‘Blueprint’



6

Lloyd Banks - The Hunger for More - 6/10 - This album had its share of dope tracks (When the Chips Are Down, Die One Day, Warrior pt 1&2) but Banks himself just kills it, dude is sooooo boring. His flow just kills any energy the track might have, you’ll hear this hype beat then Banks gets on the shit and puts you to sleep. This album could have been much better if dude had put more effort and energy into his flow.

Young Buck - straight outta cashville - 6/10 - Buck is a raw street mc, dude aint the most lyrical but what he spits is so honest its hard to hate on him, sure he had some really wack tracks (Shorty Wanna Ride) but he also had some deeper real street shit scattered throughout (Look At Me Now), lyrics like “The people is dying fast and the money is slow” show that Buck, unlike most of the other G-Unit mc’s is actually very aware that the things he may have done in his street life aint the type of shit to brag about. The thing killing this album though is how heavily influenced it is by the rest of g-unit, it feels like Buck was trying to make one record and 50 was tryng to do another so you get very mixed messages from listening to it in full.

Prodigy - Return Of The Mac - 6/10 - I really like this album, it has a great vibe to it and its easy to listen to front to back, not many cd’s I can do that with. Alchemist comes through with dope production on damn near every track and P himself hasn’t sounded this good in years, his lead single for example (‘Mac 10 Handle’) is easily something P would have made back in his prime. Only Problem is even though I said P hasn’t sounded this good in years, that doesn’t really mean he’s still all that dope. His flow is just old and tired now, dude’s trying to give Banks competition for mc that will put you to sleep the fastest, and for someone once prided on being lyrical Prodigy is surprisingly shallow and lyrically weak on this album, often repeating rhymes in such a lazy way it makes you wonder if he may have tried to freestyle it.

5

50 cent - The Massacre - 5/10 - This had a handfull of good tracks, some dark eerie gangsta shit, but for every 1 dope track there was 4 garbage pop songs. ‘Candy Shop’ for example was an abomination to all music. He almost made up for it with dope concept records like ‘A Baltimore Love Thing ‘ but there just wasn’t enough of those moments to save the album.

The Game - Documentary - 5/10 - This is one of those albums that you come back to for the production more then the mc, Game has a lot going for him though, he has an ill voice with a very solid flow and can ride just about any beat, but man his name dropping and limited subject matter kill the vibe, not to mentuon when he doe’s try to make real street music he just makes himself look stupid, ‘Hate it or Love it’ for example makes Game look like a complete retard, the first verse has him talking about some gangsta shit after 50 had just killed it with some honest shit, then in games second verse he talks about how bad he feels for starving poor kids when seconds earlier he was talking about spending all this cash on buying his moms a brand new car, you can tell he’s not honest on this song he’s just trying to make it seem like he’s deeper then he really is. Another example of Game fucking up is the song ‘Start From Scratch’, dude stole this song from Mase straight up, just check Mase’s 1999 album Double Up and his track titled ‘From Scratch’. Album did have some pluses though, ‘Dreams’ was a good song and the production was solid throughout.

4


3

Cam'ron - Purple Haze - 3/10 - The best thing I can say about this album is it had some dope beats, that track near the end with Twista wasn’t bad either. Other then that this is the same exact shit Cam has been spitting on mixtapes. Half the time dude is just rhyming for the sake of rhyming, it has no real meaning. At least you can turn your brain off and vibe with the beats though.



2


1

[A.T.I.]

Lauryn Hill- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Fort Minor- The Rising Tied
Jay-Z- The Black Album

[Mr.Smith]

Cam'ron-Purple Haze
50 Cent-The Massacre

[B Dope]

Big L-life of da poor and dangerous
Banks-hunger for more
Eminem-slim shady LP

[RaidedX]

Bow Down - WestSide Connection
NWA - Str8 Outta Compton

[Shyne]

Originally Posted by A.T.I.

Lauryn Hill- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Immortal Technique- Revolutionary Vol. 2
Jay-Z- The Black Album

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - 10/10 - A Classic hip hop/R&B album. Lauryn can out rap and out sing most anyone in the game. It also doesn’t hurt that each track has a good message to it. She doesn’t any tracks on this album, classic front to back.

Immortal Technique- Revolutionary Vol. 2 - 9/10 - One of the Best Hip Hip albums to drop in the last 10 years. I.T. has something most rappers lack nowadays…a purpose. And his purpose is to open America’s eyes to all the injustice and tragedies that are happening right here on out own home land. Tech touches on many many different topics throughout the album. The only real fault is that sometimes a few of the tracks can sound the same, it kinda kills the originality of a song when you spend the whole time thinking you’ve heard it before.

Jay-Z- The Black Album - 7/10 - A solid enough album, I will give J this, there really isn’t any bad tracks on this cd, just some very good and some very average. In typical Jay z fashion he has something for the clubs, something for the thugs, and something for the backpack crowd so regardless of what music you like you should at least find a few dope tracks.

[Look At Outlaw Me]

Nas - Illmatic

2pac - Makaveli The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

[Shyne]

Originally Posted by Infamous King P

Cam'ron-Purple Haze
50 Cent-The Massacre

Cam'ron - Purple Haze - 3/10 - The best thing I can say about this album is it had some dope beats, that track near the end with Twista wasn’t bad either. Other then that this is the same exact shit Cam has been spitting on mixtapes. Half the time dude is just rhyming for the sale of rhyming, it has no real meaning. At least you can turn your brain off and vibe with the beats though.

50 cent - The Massacre - 5/10 - This had a handfull of good tracks, some dark eerie gangsta shit, but for every 1 dope track there was 4 garbage pop songs. ‘Candy Shop’ for example was an abomination to all music. He almost made up for it with dope concept records like ‘A Baltimore Love Thing ‘ but there just wasn’t enough of those moments to save the album.

Originally Posted by Baller

Big L-life of da poor and dangerous
Banks-hunger for more
Eminem-slim shady LP

Big L-life of da poor and dangerous - 8/10 - This is one of those albums that’s a cult classic. Its not perfect by any means but it will go down as a hip hop classic. Ever single track is solid and L himself is an impressive mc, its just a shame his subject matter was so limited, it was always battle punch lines and ho’s, and how many times does L have to rhyme Hotty/Shotty?

Lloyd Banks - The Hunger for More - 6/10 - This album had its share of dope tracks (When the Chips Are Down, Die One Day, Warrior pt 1&2) but Banks himself just kills it, dude is sooooo boring. His flow just kills any energy the track might have, you’ll hear this hype beat then Banks gets on the shit and puts you to sleep. This album could have been much better if dude had put more effort and energy into his flow.

Eminem - the Slim Shady LP - 10/10 - A Classic rap album, Slim came into the game with a style of his own, he was funny and fun to listen to but could still scare the hell out of you at the same time ('97 Bonnie & Clyde’ anyone?). It also helped dude just had a way with words, he could paint pictures with his rhymes, which made his off the wall storys all that much more funny.

[YounG AleX]

Talib Kweli-Quality
AZ-The format

[Nikelz]

Busta Rhymes - Extinction Level Event
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

[Shyne]

Originally Posted by RaidedX

NWA - Str8 Outta Compton

NWA - Str8 Outta Compton - 10/10 - The album that not only put the West Coast on the map, but gangsta rap as a whole. It brought the idea of violent inner city raps to the mainstream, and it did it with the help of some of Hip Hops finest legends (Dre, Cube, Eazy, Ren). Dre held it down on the production while Cube killed it with the lyrics and raw angry flow. One of the most important albums to ever be made.

Originally Posted by TheDonKilluminati

Nas - Illmatic
2pac - Makaveli The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

Nas - Illmatic - 10/10 - possibly the best rap album ever made, from the beats to the lyrics everything is perfect. Nas is at his peak with this album with a flow and lyrics he’s yet to match again. Not to mention that this album contains the greatest verse ever recorded by an mc..AZ’s verse on the track ‘Lifes a Bitch’

2pac - Makaveli The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory - 7/10 - I have a love/hate thing going on with this album, one second I cant even stand to look at it and the next im bumping it hard. Its like 2pac actually comes dope on this album (check the song ‘Blasphemy’, still an amazing song and one of my fav pac tracks ever), but then you get to the parts where the Outlawz come on, Pac is a very dark and angry mc on this album, you can feel it in every word he spits, the outlawz on the other hand are lucky to even be behind a mic, let alone on some of these tracks. They don’t have the lyrics or flow to match Pacs ferocity on this album and in trying to do so they kill the vibe of whatever songs they touch.

Originally Posted by YoungAl3xG

Talib Kweli-Quality

Talib Kweli - Quality - 9/10 - Kweli was so close to perfection on this album. Just about every single track is dope, almost up to his Reflection Eternal standards, ‘Get By’ is still the best song ive ever heard on the radio and Kweli has a little something for everyone. There really isn’t anything wrong with this record its just he didn’t travel very far outside his comfort zone and taken any risk, as a result this is the same Kweli we’ve all grown use to by now.

[Ghetto Pharmacist]

Good thread man, stay up..

Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell

Obie Trice - Second Rounds On Me

[Nikelz]

Originally Posted by Venomous Villain

Busta Rhymes - Extinction Level Event
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

..............................

[Cro-Soldier]

young buck - buck the world
nelly - country grammar

[Europe Guy]

young buck - straight outta cashville
lloyd banks - rotten apple
tha dogg pound - dogg chit
jadakiss - kiss of death

[Jay Day]

Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent by Design

[scool]

Cam'ron - Purple Haze - 3/10 - The best thing I can say about this album is it had some dope beats, that track near the end with Twista wasn’t bad either. Other then that this is the same exact shit Cam has been spitting on mixtapes. Half the time dude is just rhyming for the sale of rhyming, it has no real meaning. At least you can turn your brain off and vibe with the beats though.



^^wtf? hater, cam = goat

[Mez Siah]

50 Cent- Get RIch or die tryin
Jay Z Blueprint



and btw imo Purple HAze is a close classic listen to the tracks Down and Out and Lord You Know. and he still ahs other dope tracks on the album

[Houstatlantavegas]

Young Jeezy - Thug Motivation and The Inspiration

[D-TEK1]

finally lol..
list:
artifacts- between a rock & a hard place
ATCQ - People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm
Goodie Mob - Soul Food
heltah skeltah - nocturnal
The Lost Boyz - Legal drugal money
The Roots - Organix
Clipse - Lost Tracks

[GBaller 101]

Jay Z -Reasonable Doubt

[Mr.Smith]

The Game-Documentary and Doctors Advocate
Prodigy-Return Of The Mac and HNIC

[GWest]

Ras Kass - Soul On Ice
Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle
2pac - Me Against The World
Xzibit - Full Circle

[e-playa]

rotten apple

bred 2 live born 2 die

[1 9 9 1.]

Ur Reviews Suck. . .