The Smarks Hip Hop Album of the Week Club

[Professor Booty]

Each week one of our professors will choose an album to listen to and discuss for the week. If you’d like to participate as a professor or ad a student let me know

 

[Professor Booty]

@Hoss @Comrade Khan @Chris

 

[Hosferatu]

Charter member baby

 

[Jimmy King]

I’d like to take part in as a student.

 

[Chris]

Damn my hip hop album list actually isn't that deep but I can try as a professor lmao

 

[Hosferatu]

I'm excited. Someone choose one quickly

 

[Professor Booty]

Ok @Hoss @Chris @Comrade Khan @Jimmy King the first album is

Professor Hoss next album is your pick

 

[Hosferatu]

I have an idea what to expect but it will be a pretty new experience for me.

 

[Professor Booty]

I have an idea what to expect but it will be a pretty new experience for me.

It’s when I discovered him and fell in love… I couldn‘t pick anything else for my first one

 

[Loochblade]

Alright...

Before I dive in:

Spoiler

I'm not a big hip hop or rap guy, so take everything I'm gonna put down in this thread with a grain of salt. I do listen to the genres a bit, but it's mostly old German stuff or extremely mainstream, if anything. ...also, my English is very passable and I have no problems understanding it, but when it comes to rap and hip hop... yea, there's usually that line where it gets kinda hard for me to really consume the lyrics, so to speak. Now, I could listen to it multiple times, before writing anything about it, but I think the first impression of the whole thing is still the best one. So don't expect to hear a lot about the lyrics from me.

Okay, that being said... this was, for the most part, great to listen to. The first 6-7 songs all really hooked me in and I didn't expect all of them sound so different. I dunno if this is considered normal or not, but with all the different sounds and styles being incorporated, especially in that first half of the album, it almost feels experimental. The second half wasn't quite as good for me then. I don't know, Black And White was pretty good still, but the rest I'd even call forgettable, compared to the fantastic three-in-a-row punch of Chains, Dumb and On The Block, which I already added to my personal playlist.

I don't know if we do hard ratings or not, but if I had to on a scale from 0 to 100, I'd give it something around 70-75. Easy to get into with a fantastic first half and solid finish... I think it's a great choice for the first album here especially, imo.

 

[Professor Booty]

Nice glad you enjoyed it
His flow is what gets me
How Low is my personal favorite track on the album. Check out his other albums he’s got 3 more

 

[Hosferatu]

Aight I just blazed through it. First big takeaway is that the production is very well done and creative. I liked the interpolation of In The Club on the first beat. I like hearing beats chopped up, and with turntable scratches and shit. Got that DJ Premier kinda vibe on a lot of them. Anytime things started to feel in a lull, you get a crazy track like On The Block that makes you pay attention. He was namedropping people like The Game on that shit. Then the sample flip on How Low was insane. I would agree that the first half of the album was quite a bit stronger but Die, Rugged Man, Die and Da Girlz, They Luv Me were standouts on the second half. I've only heard Rugged Man sparingly over the years. To compare his style to anyone I listen to is kinda hard, the main person that comes to mind is easily Redman. And I love Redman. Some of flows and lyrics also remind me of Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, who I don't know that well but he has a couple songs I love that are in this vicinity. But yeah, the chemistry with the beats and his voice and delivery was nice, he showed a lot of different styles and flows throughout the album, it's obvious he has a high talent level when it comes to hip hop. Also, it was funny to hear Alchemist called out in the very first track because there's no chance I don't choose on of his collab projects for this at some point. Final grade out of 100 if I'm following Looch's example - I'll go like a 68 but I'm stingy with ratings and that rating could grow with more listens.

 

[Chris]

@Loochblade not sure if you know already but most albums are on genius.com with annotated lyrics that will explain any references or just weird stuff you're missing context for

 

[Loochblade]

@Loochblade not sure if you know already but most albums are on genius.com with annotated lyrics that will explain any references or just weird stuff you're missing context for

I didn't even think of using genius.com tbh. That's a good shout.

 

[Hosferatu]

Hey fuck it, while we're at it, another potentially useful tool for this is Whosampled.

So if you hear a sample in a rap song that sounds familiar but can't put your finger on it, or are just curious where some sounds come from, you can search the song on that site and it will show songs that it samples, and at what points in the songs the sample appears. It'll also show any songs that sample it.

For example, I mentioned the sample on How Low, which was easily recognizable.

How Low by R.A. The Rugged Man - Samples, Covers and Remixes | WhoSampled https://share.google/07DxhQ7oz1PALEtig

If you go to the page, it shows the two songs that How Low sampled. The one I recognized was Trans-Europe Express.

You can then click Trans-Europe Express to hear the part of it that was sampled and it shows where it appears in the Rugged Man song as well.