Weird one to listen. I love the atmosphere this album has, the beats are so unique and you just know when you're hearing a 2009 Tyler song. The lyrics are DEFINITELY NOT the highlight here, but we still shouldn't look over the main message Tyler shares here of rebellion and his relationship with his father. Some songs here are genuinely amazing (Bastard, Pigs Fly) , but others are horrible (Jack and the Beanstalk, Tina). If you wanna discover more about Tyler, this is a must-listen. ... read more

This is by no means a good kid m.A.A.d. city or a TPAB but this could very easily still be any rapper's magnum opus. It's crazy to think about the fact that an album that has a deep concept, a different story when listened to in reverse order, two of the greatest songs of the 2010's (FEAR. and DUCKWORTH.), great production and S-tier conscious lyricism isn't top 2 in this guy's catalog. It falls short on a few songs that, if we're being real, don't rank well ... read more

I think this album was executed perfectly. My rating is a bit harsh, I'll admit, but it's because songs like All Glass aren't to the level of the rest. When I say the execution is perfect, I say every beat was amazing and the rapping was on the same level, but the 2 sub-par songs had a lower ceiling for me overall. Features are all amazing but the overall vibe built throughout this album of pure luxury and calmness is something only The Alchemist could pull off. 1985 is my ... read more

I'll bet the first to admit I don't like old-school hip-hop as much as I should - I don't find some undeniable classics as good as they're made out to be, but this is an exception. This isn't a generational album, this is one that defines the genre forever. To this day, the rapping is insanely impressive and the beats, though limited to being old-school (not something I'm gonna deduct this album from, obviously), are still legendary. I don't know if this could ... read more

While I think Side B is an improvement to this album, this one still gets very overlooked. This is still a GREAT project, that should be ranked amongst the top albums on his catalog. The biggest letdown here might be the fact that some tracks didn't live to their full potential, at least in my opinion. RIGHT NOW, Claires Back and Draymond, though still very good songs, could've been some classics in Gunn's discography, but some artistic choices made here stopped that from ... read more

This is the moment Westside Gunn became the one we know today, despite there being signs on previous projects. And for a first "fully unlocked" project, it's pretty dang good. I didn't find a single track here bad: it's concise, grimy as always and honestly what surprised me most here was Gunn's rapping performance. The rhyme schemes here are really on point, more than his posterior projects, which might be due to a change of intent with his overall music persona, ... read more

Just a neat little LP. It's surprising how famous some of the songs here became, even more surprising how one of then is Love U, a track that is not only super short but I'm also not very into. This is probably one of the best Gunn albums that isn't talked about much. Sure a few songs here are well-known, but it's really a very solid project, with lots of highs. It's nothing crazy, but I feel like that wasn't really the goal here, it's just Westside Gunn ... read more

Man, what a refreshing album. I feel like a lot of people took this era of Tyler for granted for not being as groundbreaking as his previous two, but this is just a vibeeeeee. It's definitely his best rapping performances over these summer-time, dreamy and energized beats. All features do an excellent job and Tyler still gets introspective from time to time. It's just a feel-good album, and there's really no major complaint to be given here. If you like music, you like this ... read more

The hype for this project was insane, and it seems that now people either think this is a masterpiece or a very boring and bloated album. I'd say I'm somewhere in the middle. I'm not very big on J. Cole's personal discography, so I'd argue this is in contention for his best but yes, the runtime is very big. It doesn't help how much more relaxed and slow the 2nd part is, you really get tired towards the end. J. Cole's rapping is of the highest level on this ... read more

Early Kanye was something else man... every track is so charming and even though Kanye isn't the most lyrical rapper ever the music is just universal. And that's what makes it stand out. You can play this anywhere in the world: in the radio, barbershops, at home, in the beach, it the car, it doesn't matter. This is, in my opinion, Kanye's peak. There are such high highs and very little lows to be found. Features all KILL it and this is maybe the only album where the skits ... read more

Tyler was reborn with this project, marking one of the biggest switch-ups in an artist, maybe ever. I'm personally quite a big fan of old Tyler, but even with the nostalgia, you just gotta admit this version is better. His rapper improved drastically, musicality went WAY up, writing improved, basically everything got better except the shock-value lyrics. Love the pure artistry in this. I've always loved his projects for how special, personal and carefully crafted each one was, and ... read more

The album that marked the shift to modern hip-hop, at least to the mainstream. Everyone knows this album, and it's for a good reason. While I don't think it's Kanye's best work, this is still amazing. I might not be the biggest possible Kanye fan of all time, but some tracks here are just objectively groundbreaking and iconic. I'm by no means saying Kanye changed the hip-hop soundscape with this project, but you can see the difference in albums before and after this ... read more

I'm glad Earl is doing way better now but MAN, he made some killer music back then. In all seriousness, this is the most consistent Earl album. 30 minutes of straight heat. I only see 1 debatable skip here and the rest are all FANTASTIC songs, and I'm saying iconic Earl performances over the muddiest and darkest beats you could imagine him over. Features all do an amazing job and this is one of those albums where your favourite song always changes. I've switched that top spot ... read more

Man, what an album this could've been. I'm surprised this is the album Westside Gunn calls his favourite, considering how little Griselda-ness in this. There's just so many trap beats here, and I don't think Westside Gunn raps well on just one of them. All respect to Gunn, I love to see him experiment, but there are just too many bad tracks to consider this an amazing project. And it's a shame, Mama's PrimeTime is my favourite ever Gunn song (that's just my ... read more

AI slop, bad mixing, uninspired verses, underwhelming features and underwhelming beats. A few redeemable songs and beats but, overall, this isn't worth a big review - for anyone.

I personally still have much more time to have with this album, but off my current knowledge - this is a phenomenal album. It really marks a new era in the hip-hop underground and MIKE found what he excels at and ran with it. For the amount of short songs, you'd expect there to be a lot of forgettable tracks but no, I barely find a skip here and I'm absolutely hooked on a couple of songs. I have no idea what though process you have to go through to make something like this. MIKE can ... read more

I have been critical in the past about this album and, while I still think other Mach-Hommy projects deserved more love than what this one got, I've come around Pray for Haiti. I think a Folie Á Deux specifically gets overrated, but some of these songs are undeniable. Having gotten more used to Mach's style since doing my first listen to this last year (my first Mach album listen), I've grown to appreciate almost every song here. Some of the Haitian's best are here: ... read more

Like a lotta people, I had my Tyler, the Creator phase, and it wasn't just a little enjoyment for him - I was ADDICTED to the music. Now that that intense love has died off a bit I can give a more far review of this project and, though it's still hard to not put my bias and personal liking into the review, this is still a great project. It's very often classified as just teenager music but there are so many redeemable qualities in this project. Tyler really improve in this ... read more

One of the most underrated albums I've ever listened to. This pre-Griselda Rome Streetz is so insanely hungry, he's nearly insulting you in these songs but there's something about the ambient this production and feature list create that's so intriguing. It's such a consistent album, it's truly a compilations of hidden gems. If you like Rome Streetz, you'll love this. Alpha Bay, Discretion, Vagabonds Don't Die, Run Da Jewelz, Formation of Mental Objects, ... read more

After over a year of sitting with this album and exploring Rome's catalog, Kiss The Ring has fully clicked for me. This is one of the greatest rappers of this decade rapping on an amazing set of beats assembled by the flyest man alive himself.