Posts Tagged ‘death row records’

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February 2022 – Music Edition

March 8, 2022

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Saba – Few Good Things

Top 25 Most Played Albums of February 2022 (* indicates new album in February)

  1. *Saba – Few Good Things
  2. Cordae – From a Birds Eye View
  3. *Big K.R.I.T. – Digital Roses Don’t Die
  4. The Roots – How I Got Over
  5. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
  6. *Snoop Dogg – BODR
  7. Kanye West – Late Registration
  8. Macklemore – The Language of My World
  9. Ludacris – Release Therapy
  10. Kanye West – The College Dropout
  11. Ludacris – Chicken-N-Beer
  12. Ludacris – Word of Mowf
  13. Fabolous – Real Talk
  14. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
  15. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
  16. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch the Throne
  17. Ludacris – Back For The First Time
  18. A$AP Rocky – TESTING
  19. *EARTHGANG – Ghetto Gods
  20. Shady Records – SHADYXV
  21. Ludacris – The Red Light District
  22. Kanye West – Graduation
  23. Styles P & Havoc – Wreckage Manner
  24. Kanye West – Yeezus
  25. KIDS SEE GHOSTS (Kanye West & Kid Cudi) – KIDS SEE GHOSTS

Comments: Not hard to see what happened here. That new Kanye West documentary on Netflix sent me down memory lane, revisiting Kanye’s entire discography. I’d actually never really spent much time with the 808s album and I can’t believe I’ve slept on it all this time. It is truly great. Truly innovative for the time. I already have some personal anthems from it. I also spent some time with Luda’s discog. I had been thinking about my top 100 or so rappers of all-time and I realized I didn’t know much about Luda. I made it through his first five albums and thought they were all good. I hit a snag on album #6 though and haven’t finished my project as my life has been kind of turned upside down recently and my focus has shifted. As far as new albums go, Saba’s album is really, really good; I’ve listened to K.R.I.T.’s album a few times and it’s different but enjoyable; Snoop’s album was completely forgettable; and EARTHGANG’s new project is brand new and a clear step down from their last one, but I’ve heard some dope songs on it.

The 25 Most Played Artists of 2022

  1. Kanye West
  2. Saba
  3. Che Noir
  4. Lil Wayne
  5. The Roots
  6. Ludacris
  7. The Weeknd
  8. Cordae
  9. J Dilla
  10. Nas
  11. Little Simz
  12. Ghostface Killah
  13. Big K.R.I.T.
  14. Snoop Dogg
  15. Roddy Ricch
  16. AZ
  17. Conway the Machine
  18. Gunna
  19. Baby Keem
  20. Jazmine Sullivan
  21. Macklemore
  22. Mos Def
  23. Eminem
  24. Roc Marciano
  25. FKA twigs

Follow me on Apple Music @DarkKnight1717 to add my playlists
2020s Bangers Playlist
February 2022 Additions:

Cordae, “Sinister” (feat. Lil Wayne)
Dr. Dre, “ETA” (feat. Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, & Anderson .Paak)
Saba, “Stop That”
Saba, “If I Had A Dollar” (feat. Benjamin Earl Turner)

Comments: I was listening to a lot of older stuff in February so I didn’t add too many tracks to my Bangers of the Decade playlist.





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Dr. Dre – The Chronic (1992)

August 15, 2020

Dr. Dre – The Chronic (1992, Rap)

Release Date: December 15th, 1992

Song Rating Scale

1. The Chronic (Intro) ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg – N/A
2. Fuck with Dre Day (Everybody’s Celebratin’) ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg & RBX – 4.5
3. Let Me Ride ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg & Jewel – 5
4. The Day The N****z Took Over ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Daz Dillinger, & RBX – 4
5. Nuthin’ But A G Thang ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg – 5
6. Deez Nuuuts ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Warren G, Daz Dillinger, & Nate Dogg – 4
7. Lil’ Ghetto Boy ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg & Daz Dillinger – 4.5
8. A N***a Witta Gun – 3
9. Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat ft. RBX & Snoop Doggy Dogg – 3
10. The $20 Sack Pyramid – N/A
11. Lyrical Gangbang ft. Lady of Rage, Kurupt, & RBX – 3
12. High Powered ft. RBX – 3.5
13. The Doctor’s Office – N/A
14. Stranded on Death Row ft. Kurupt, RBX, Lady of Rage, & Snoop Doggy Dogg – 4
15. The Roach (The Chronic Outro) – N/A
16. Bitches Ain’t Shit ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, & Jewell – 4

Spin Rate: 100+? I dunno. Heaps.
Average Song Rating: 3.96/5 (highest ever, as of August 2020)
3.5+ Percentage: 75%
Cuts: 0
Bangers: 8

Thoughts: I bumped this widely accepted classic to the top of my review list because when I think about my all-time favorite rap albums, The Chronic usually doesn’t come to mind like it does for a lot of other rap fans. If you would’ve asked me a week ago why that is, I probably couldn’t have accurately answered. There are just numerous albums I know that I like more. Don’t get me wrong: The Chronic is clearly a great and revolutionary album with plenty of iconic tracks on it. I’m just not sure it’s a certified masterpiece and I was curious to see if it might be a little overrated.

As I listened to this again, and it started off with banger after banger and multiple legitimately great songs, I thought I was probably mistaken. But I don’t know how anyone can pretend like the middle of this album is elite. I had to listen to “N***a Witta Gun” three times before I bumped it from a 2.5 to a 3. It’s not a good song, but I think the hook is catchy (albeit kind of annoying) and the beat is nice enough that I’m giving it a pass. “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat” and “Lyrical Gangbang” are in a similar boat, even with the latter’s loaded feature list. I can’t be the only one that wishes we could have heard a song with the melody that was playing at the start of “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat”. That shit sounds so smooth. “High Powered” is a good song even though it’s short and only features a verse from RBX, but it does make for a fourth straight song that is notably below the level of the rest of the album. I think this stretch of songs is why I haven’t considered this album the no-doubt masterpiece that a lot of rap fans do. Classic? Yeah, definitely. But perfect this album is not.

The rest of this album is absurdly good though. “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” is one of the best rap songs ever… not much else needs to said about that. I was hesitant to give “Let Me Ride” a 5 because the rapping isn’t exactly elite, but the production and hook are so next level that I had to cough it up. “Deez Nuuuts” is probably the forgotten banger on this album. The beat is soooooooo sick and Nate Dogg’s closing vocals are pristine. One of the most common and obvious trends on this album is that Snoop Dogg absolutely kills it. Dude sounds like a superstar in the making. I can’t wait to hear his solo album!

Dr. Dre has never been an elite rapper and upon revisiting this album, I was kind of surprised how many songs he doesn’t even have a verse on. But Dre can definitely hold his own on the mic and The Chronic has tons of classic tracks on it. The intro, outro, and skits make up 25% of the tracklist, but with the exception of “The Doctor’s Office” they are all pretty dope. I do think the middle sequence weakens the album a bit and prevents it from being a true masterpiece, but The Chronic is still an amazing album and definitely changed how hip-hop would sound forever. The best songs are so good and the production is so revolutionary that I wouldn’t fault anyone for saying this is a perfect hip-hop album, but for me, it’s still a notch below my very favorite rap albums of all-time.

Verdict: 9/10 (Sensational)

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