Drop a review of your current favourite album of this year (2010)...

RuffDraft
RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
edited November 2010 in The Essence
It's been a year... almost, which is why I've hung back on this years album of the year thread (try late december), as albums like Curren$y's Pilot Talk 2and KanYe's My Beautiful Dark Fantasy start to generate spins... they become under or overrated in comparison to other, more older releases that have been spun to death as the fresh seems to top lists (unfairly, IMO). Therefore, post a review of your current favourite hip hop album of this year, be it the most recent or oldest release of this year....

1277733199_the-roots-how-i-got-over-2010.jpg

Year 2009, "How I Got Over", a single with a video drops by the Roots and suddenly Black Thought reminds all of what it means to be an emcee, with realistic, corner street raps and honest rhymes of being 'all cried out 'cos I grew up cryin'' with tremendous wordplay to boot, Black Thought drops:

When you on the corners too much drama
Livin’ with the police right behind ja’
It's always more than a slight reminda
We livin’ in a war zone like Rwanda.
Before I go back to the heavenly fatha
Pray for me if it ain’t too much botha.
Whatever don’t break me will make me stronga
I feel like I can’t take too much longa.
It’s too much lyin’
And too much fryin’
I’m all cried out cause I grew up cryin’
They all got a sales pitch I ain’t buyin’
They tryin’ to convince me that I ain’t tryin’.
We uninspired
We unadmired
And tired and sick of being sick and tired.

A living in the hood where the shots are fired
We dyin’ to live, so to live we dyin’.
You just like I am.


Black Thought has little problem making every hair on your body rise with every head knock and twist of your neck throughout the track that was arguably single of the year, with wordplay and honesty that is rarely matched on the mic (that's why he's one of the best though, right?). That said, going into 2010 with the premise of a new Roots album with such a strong first single, the Roots were definitely up there with my most anticipated albums and they showed good reason ... Because the day they dropped in June, today was 'going to be the day, it's going to be the day' that the album of the year was released.

With flawless production as has come expected with the Roots over the years, "How I Got Over" shows the growth of ?uestlove and co. as the album opens with "Peace of Light" that sets a vocal and tone that will vary as the album plays through.

"I'm Black Thought, what could be more prolific? For this love, I go above and beyond the limit!" Like the Universe, Black Thought continues to go beyond the limits of a limitless eternity. One can only feel blessed to hear his raps on this record and the guest appearances are just as enjoyable. Blu comes back and makes two rare appearances in 2010 (come on Blu get back with Exile!!!), on Radio Daze which has a nice ass piano line and drums that 'will never leave you alone' to The Day which has a great hook crooned by Patty Crash.

Throughout listening to "How I Got Over", it seems unfair to pick out particular tracks as the standouts, this is an album to be enjoyed over the course of the 42 odd minutes. The Roots showed that the old heads stay fresher than the freshest and a light should stay shined on the Roots for the long and forceable future. One word to sum up "How I Got Over"? Genius.

Sidenote: The Roots also found time to produce a cover album with John Legend on The Wake Up, not a bad year for them, not a bad year at all.

Comments

  • rip.dilla
    rip.dilla Members Posts: 17,412 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2010
    ^^^ My second fave this year
    Kanye-West-My-Beautiful-Dark-Twisted-Fantasy-Tracklist-Cover.jpg

    KanYe West somehow outdid himself on this one. There have been numerous glowing reviews on this album, but I only trust my EARDRUMS.

    Every ? song on this album is a masterpiece in song-writing and production. Eclectic, Psychedelic, Operatic, Soulful, Jazzy, Electronic, Rock all rolled into one.

    And the best thing about it is the album GROWS on your senses everyday.

    "Let's make a toast..."
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2010
    ^^ Nice pick, I enjoyed the album as a whole, the production is kinda outdoing everything of this year, his versatility as you state is something to admire and he does have the ability to craft something out of this world. But for substance lyrically, I don't think it's up there with The Roots and that's why How I Got Over got my pick.
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2010
    sionb55 wrote: »
    hhhmm im still bumping HFM2 & MBDTF ill post a review on them after im finished.

    What happened to Banks having a monotonous voice that nobody could stand for a whole album? I haven't checked it.
  • nyq_guru
    nyq_guru Members Posts: 138
    edited November 2010
    Even though Kanye has been the one getting most plays as of lately (first GOOD Fridays and now MBDTF) I'm going to have to go with either "Distant Relatives" or "How I got over".

    The above post on The Roots basically says it all so I won't add much to it. IMO Black Thought is one of the best MC's to ever pick up a mic and his lyrics are often precisely what I want hip hop to be. The same can be said about the sound and feeling that I get with a Roots album, just pure hip hop at its finest.

    With DR, I think Nas and Damian created something really special. JR Gong certainly brought some thought provoking verses and it seemed that Nas didn't want to do anything less. "Patience", "Friends" and "Tribal War" (shout out to K'naan) are some of my favorite tracks from this year. I think they managed to combine their respective styles into a great piece of work that transcended both genres and ended up being simply good music.

    With that said, I'm probably going with "How I got over" though. Also, Kweli gets a nod for "RPM". I saw both Nas & Damian and Kweli & Hi-Tek this summer, something that I think elevated my opinion of both albums.

    I also wanna give J.Cole an honorable mention for "Friday night lights" (I know it's a mixtape but I don't really care). Can't wait for him to drop so we can see what he's capable of when it comes to crafting an entire album.
  • RuffDraft
    RuffDraft Members, Writer Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2010
    nyq_guru wrote: »
    Even though Kanye has been the one getting most plays as of lately (first GOOD Fridays and now MBDTF) I'm going to have to go with either "Distant Relatives" or "How I got over".

    The above post on The Roots basically says it all so I won't add much to it. IMO Black Thought is one of the best MC's to ever pick up a mic and his lyrics are often precisely what I want hip hop to be. The same can be said about the sound and feeling that I get with a Roots album, just pure hip hop at its finest.

    With DR, I think Nas and Damian created something really special. JR Gong certainly brought some thought provoking verses and it seemed that Nas didn't want to do anything less. "Patience", "Friends" and "Tribal War" (shout out to K'naan) are some of my favorite tracks from this year. I think they managed to combine their respective styles into a great piece of work that transcended both genres and ended up being simply good music.

    With that said, I'm probably going with "How I got over" though. Also, Kweli gets a nod for "RPM". I saw both Nas & Damian and Kweli & Hi-Tek this summer, something that I think elevated my opinion of both albums.

    I also wanna give J.Cole an honorable mention for "Friday night lights" (I know it's a mixtape but I don't really care). Can't wait for him to drop so we can see what he's capable of when it comes to crafting an entire album.

    Nice review, I'm definitely with you on your comments. I too, saw Nas and Damian live, which did help in my appreciation of the album. But I have to say, it's not to my tastes, even though I can appreciate it and have listened to it quite a lot, I can't fall in love with it like others have.

    That said, Kanye is definitely my most played at the moment, I've listened to the album about 6 times now. Bought it on Saturday too.

    But How I Got Over is just a standout for the conscious rhymes from Black Thought and their approach with the album, I love the vocals that they have on there and the way they even put the tracks together is genius, the whole album is seemless and their approach to life and how they 'got over' instead of telling the struggle as most would do is really original and slick. I'm glad that it's got its praise and hasn't been slept on.