Twenty ten, 2K10, 2 thou plus 3 squared add one... whatever you call it is here! Will this year be as big as 2009 for hip hop however? I'm unsure, but so far, so good. I've been reminiscing recently, bumpin' some old skool Busta Rhymes and Naughty By Nature in anticipation for their appearances at Good Vibrations festival in Sydney next weekend - it should be NUTS!
I've also decided to start reviewing albums instead of tracks to give LL some direction. Albums are rated on their bomb factor at the end with a radiation scale of 1 to 5 ☢. The scale? 1 ☢ is not even worth getting paid to illegally download. 5 ☢ is so good it's worth picking up from the artist him/herself and paying in gold bullion. Easy.
I'm a massive fan of Statik Selektah so the timeliness of his third and latest album being dropped last week on Feb 2nd, aside from it being 2 days before my birthday (dopest present ever) was perfect for the first album I chose to review properly for Liquid Lyrics!
Statik Selektah - "100 Proof the Hangover"
I had been looking forward to Statik's new album '100 Proof The Hangover' for what seemed like an eternity after having a musical hangover from indulging in way too much of his last release 'Stick 2 the Script' as well as other mixtapes he has helped produce. Termanology and Skyzoo are just some examples of emcees who have a permanent place in all of my playlists as a result of Statik's previous album!
Despite the sample heavy nature of each of the beats, which I respect and usually enjoy, I was left feeling a little disappointed with the head-nod factor of this album on some tracks. Even with the superstar guestlist of respected and raw-as-fuck emcees that his albums provide I was left expecting a little more! I'm not going to lie though - my expectations for every track on this album were sky high based on the quality of Statik's last album and recent collabos with other artists.
Having got the slight disappointment out of the way, most of the joints are ill no doubt...the beats are spicy hot and the spits are colder than Antarctica before Global Warming. But that's what you should expect from an album with both the producer and the caliber of the artists invovled! Yet I was left disappointed by tracks I really had high hopes for considering the above. "Night People" (featuring Freeway, Red Cafe & Masspike Miles) did nothing for me and nor did "Do it to Death" (featuring Lil Fame, Havoc and Kool G Rap), which was weak considering the accolade of the artists involved.
The good news however is that the album was full of bangers and will continue to grow on you with each and every listen, such is the diversity of this album. The stand out tracks for me were: 'Critically Acclaimed' (Lil Fame, Sean Price & Saigon), 'Follow Me' (Smif n Wessun), 'Life is Short' (Consequence) - still love every Cons track I hear- and "Eighty Two" (Termanology) which is one of the lyrical highlights of the album.
My favourite of the lot however was by far 'The Coast' (featuring Evidence, Fashawn & Kali). The beat is crispy smooth but hard enough to make Busta nod his head to the track. Add to that the verbal genius of these 3 emcees with gems like:
"But now I'm on point like a javelin, way beyond battlin'/
I'd've stayed travellin, haters stop babblin'/
Remember this California's my residence/
All my peoples' dilated - just ask Evidence"
Check out 'The Coast' here:
Check out the track 'Critically Acclaimed' here:
Despite my disappointment with a few tracks, you'd be crazy not to get this album, particularly if you want to boost your knowledge of some of the best emcees in the game in the USA right now. This is because Statik's quality control is second to none and he always ensures he is working with the crème de la crème of artists. If you miss the days when hip hop had feeling, artists worked hard to earn a crust and lyrics had integrity, then you'd be loco not to buy this banger!
☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ 4 nukes!
Peace and love!
Ingers
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