Big Boi Breaks Down Outkast/Solo Catalogue

I always like hearing behind the scenes stories about albums. I decided to post this for those who missed out. This is a dope article I found on the Vibe's website, written by Keith Murphy. Big Boi breaks down his solo projects and Outkast' discography. Its from 2010, which is why  it stops at  the "Sir Lucious Left Foot" album. OutKast has one of the best discographys in Hip-Hop, so I definitely recommend reading this.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)

This was boot camp for myself and Dre. On our first record we were strictly MC’s. All we wanted to do was rap [laughs]. Organized Noize was responsible for all our production, so our whole aim mainly was to let everyone know that we were about lyricism. We just wanted to annihilate every track; destroy every song that was put in front of us. I don’t think we understood how good we were. We were so young. But we knew we had a raw camp and there were niggas who were dead serious about their art.

Throwback Of The Day : Erick Sermon Ft. Marvin Gaye - Music

No lie, when I 1st heard "Music" on the radio I knew it was a instant classic. I even copped his album off the strength of this joint.  My boys can even vouch for me on that. The younger and older audiences can enjoy it. Erick Sermon hit a homerun on here, especially with Marvin Gaye sample, it sounded like nothing else back in 01. Salute to Erick Sermon and Marvin Gaye!

Throwback Of The Day : Next - Butta Love

This song bring back memories Lol. I remember Bet showing it on "Jam Zone" everyday, I was like in 5th  grade. Our Middle School played at our school dance too. Next got mad radio play too. "Butta Love" is a classic 90s R&B song in my opinion. Sit back and enjoy!

The Game - Jesus Piece (Album Review)

Release Date : December 11, 2012
Label : DGC / Interscope Records

There was some controversy with the album cover because he has Jesus dressed up as a gang banger. Game knew what he was doing, it was a marketing ploy at its finest. Now on to the review, "Scared Now" featuring Meek Mill, and "Ali Bomaye" featuring 2 Chainz & Rick Ross have a Southern feel to them, so the featured artist didn't feel out place. They are also produced by Black Metaphor. The King Chip & Trey Songz  featured "Church" is basically a strip club song. "Celebration" featuring Chris Brown, Tyga, Lil Wayne & Wiz Khalifa samples Bone Thugs' classic "1st of tha Month". A lot of people actually hated that song, but I enjoyed it.

Kid Ink - My Own Lane (Album Review)

Release Date : January 7, 2014
Label : Tha Alumni Music Group / 88 Classic/ RCA Records

Over the past few years we've seen the West Coast make a comeback to the mainstream. My Own Lane is one of the first hip hop releases of the year, so can Kid Ink set off the year right and create his own lane or will he follow the current lanes out there? The opener,  Hello World is a catchy track. Matter of fact, My Own Lane is filled with catchy radio songs, like the Chris Brown featured Show Me. And the sing songy Tattoo of My Name, is about Kid Ink wanting a girl to get his name tatted on her (It don't matter whether it's the first, last or initial on that ass/ Legs, lower back of that wedding ring finger/ I appreciate you just for representing me).

DJ Khaled - Suffering From Success (Album Review)

Release Date : October 22, 2013
Label : We the Best/Cash Money/Republic Records

Khaled is back with his 7th album, Suffering From Success. I usually like about six or seven songs from each of his albums, except for Victory and We The Best Forever, which I wasn't really feeling. If Khaled did more beats on his albums, people probably wouldn't criticize him as much. Because he rarely produces and doesn't rap, he just puts the collabs together. He did do some co-producing on five songs though, other producers on here are J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Lee On the Beats, Boi-1da, 40, Young Chop, Timbaland, DJ Nasty, LVM and many more. Anyway the album starts off with Obama (Winning More Interlude), which is audio of the Pres when he came out to Khaleds All I Do Win song. Suffering From Success has some some typical songs, but also has some gems on it, For instance, J. Cole & Bas shine on Hells Kitchen, Cole gives you that Friday Night Lights mixape feel, and his artist Bas held it down as well.

LL Cool J - Authentic (Album Review)

Release Date : April 30, 2013
Label : S-BRO Music Group, 429 Records

*This review was actually written last year, but I decided to post it instead of just letting it sit around*

After taking a 5 year hiatus, Uncle L returns with 13th album "Authentic". This is also L's first album not under the Def Jam umbrella, it's being put out by S-Bro Music group/429 Records. Originally titled "Authentic Hip Hop", James Todd released "Rachet" as the lead single, but it was panned by critics. I personally thought the song was funny and he was just having fun in the booth. He quickly bounced back with the Trackkmasters produced "Take It" featuring R&B crooner Joe, and everyone loved it. It is one of LL's best singles and the it was the perfect single for him to come back with. A few months later, L took Hip Hop out of the title and put out a new tracklist and album cover. I'm not sure what caused the change, but the new tracklist had way more features than the original album had. But anyway lets get into this review.

Future - Honest (Album Review)

Release Date : April 22, 2014
Label : A1, Freebandz, Epic

This review is kinda short. So lets get right into it. Honest was supposed to be released about a year ago, but it kept getting pushed back cause Future couldn't decide which direction he wanted to go in. Honest was intended to be more pop but the single with Miley Cyrus flopped so fucking  hard they decided to focus on street music. One thing I like about this album is the features, they definitely delivered. Take "I Won" featuring Kanye. Future and Ye explain their love for Ciara and Kim. Gotta respect that. "Never Satisfied" with Drake is dope but its way too short. Future has one verse and Drake does the hook and then the song just fades out. No way thats the full version. So here's my question, can we get as full version of the song someone, anyone?

Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron (Album Review)

Release Date :  February 25, 2014
Label : Top Dawg / Interscope

My upcoming reviews are gonna be kinda short. I been mad busy so I got some catching up to do. Lets get right into it. Oxymoron is a dark album. It starts off with "Gangsta", Q's daughter talks on the intro, then Q spits some dope lyrics over a hard beat courtesy of Nez & Rio and Sounwave (They also produced "Man of the year"). On "Hoover Street" he raps about his gang ties, as well as being real. "Blind Threats" featuring Raekwon is another dope joint to check out. "Prescription/Oxymoron" is about Q's addiction to prescription drugs. And his addiction gets so bad that he ends up ignoring calls from his Mother and daughter. On the second part of the song, Q talks about how he quit dealing drugs.

Rossi - Didn't Take Over Feat. Chantel Taddeo (Unsigned Artist)

In the first post of my unsigned artist section I wanna introduce everyone to Australian rapper Rossi. He cites Jay-Z and Eminem as his influences. Here's a song off Rossi's Our Zones Reality album, its an introspective song called "Didn't Take Over" featuring singer Chantel Taddeo. And its also produced by Rossi. Check it out. On anther note, shout-out to Angela and Infectious Magazine for the recommendation. 

You can find Rossi at the following links

http://rossimusicozr.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/Rossi_OZR
https://www.facebook.com/rossimusicozr
http://www.youtube.com/rossimusicozr
http://theozrstore.bigcartel.com/

Yo Gotti - I Am (Album Review)

Release Date : November 19, 2013
Label : CMG / Epic Records

Yo Gotti is back with his new album I Am. And hes serving the fans up with more of that raw street music.  If you've been listening to Yo Gotti for a while then you already know what to expect, that trap music with the boomin 808s. Songs like LeBron James, Sorry and  F-U featuring Meek Mill are a perfect example of it. Cam'ron fans should recognize the sample in F-U as soon as they hear it. Cam used it on his Confessions Of Fire album, which is the first album I've ever brought, but that's another story.

Busta Rhymes - The Coming (Album Review)

Release Date : March 26, 1996
Label : Elektra Records

Busta Rhymes is one of those artist that cannot be duplicated, from his animated videos to his rapid fire flow to his charisma, just watch A Tribe Called Quest's classic Scenario video when Busta pops with the famous line Rah, rah, like a dungeon dragon, come on now how could you not be a fan of Busta? He's one of a kind and it shows on his debut The Coming. This album sounds like nothing else that was released at the time. The Coming is centered around that Apocalypse theme and like many others, Busta really thought the world was gonna end.

T.I. - Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head (Album Review)

Release Date : December 18, 2012
Label :  Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records

T.I. gets rejuvenated on his 8th album Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head. His 2010 Album No Mercy was rushed and underwhelming, but now hes focused and back to putting out good music. Trouble Man was actually supposed to come out in 2011 but it kept getting pushed back due to not having that monster single his label was looking for. He released videos for I'm Flexin' featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Here Ye, Here Ye featuring Pharrell, but they were just warm up singles. Alot of people wrote him off and labeled him with "fell off" tag. After listening to this album I think its safe to say this is his best work since 2008's Paper Trail.