Eminem is Unquestionably the Greatest Rapper Ever

This post is inspired by a debate I had last night. Let me start by acknowledging that this is a very subjective topic and is strongly based in personal opinion. Everyone is going to have a different favorite rapper, but in terms of the overall greatest rapper there is only one answer. Based on the available evidence there is no question that Eminem is the king of rap. Granted there aren’t many concrete stats to base a decision on, but the stats that we do have point conclusively to Eminem.

Album Review: Watch the Throne

So as everyone knows probably the most anticipated hip hop collaboration album since Nam came out last week and I would be slacking off as a blogger if I didn’t come out with my review eventually. I have been meaning to write this review since I first listened to the album last Sunday night when it was released, but with an event like this I wanted to take my time in order to really form concrete opinions and not rush to a quick judgement. From the moment Watch the Throne was announced following the success of Dark Fantasy last winter, anticipation has been steadily building into a frenzy over what Kanye and Jay Z might pull out of their hats, or perhaps crowns is the better word in this case. Watch the Throne is easily the most hyped album that I can remember in the last decade, and I knew this hype would lead to impossible expectations for the duo to live up to. Because of this I wanted to give it a few listens all the way through so that I could remove myself from the kneejerk reactions and judge the album based on its quality, not my own assumptions of what the album should sound like. I finally have a solid opinion on WTT and without further ado here is WildCard’s take on Watch the Throne.

Yams of the Week

Its been wayyyyyy too long since I’ve found any good new music to post on here. With everyone sitting and waiting for all of the big August releases like Watch the Throne, C4, and hell even the R.E.D. Album is supposed to finally see the light of day (don’t hold your breath on that one) there’s been a bit of a drought in hip hop. However in the past few days we’ve finally had some noteworthy releases, starting with the song that I’m almost positive will be the anthem for the next couple months.

Drake-Headlines

New Rebecca Black Song

So Rebecca Black is back with another song and music video. Wait, do you hear that? It sounds like Rebecca Black continuing to dig her own grave. I can’t believe she is still trying to make serious music. I mean after the shit storm that followed Friday how can she not realize that she’s the least talented singer to become famous since William Hung . She should have kept playing into the niche of hilariously bad songs and basically become a comedian but instead she came out with this gem. This song just once again shows that she can sing about as well as a howler monkey and she has the lyricism of a 3 year old. Just give up Rebecca and stop humiliating yourself. It’s not even entertaining anymore. Pretty soon she’s going to fade away like every other person who should never have been famous in the first place (I’m looking at you Paris Hilton).

Check Out This USA Women’s Soccer Rap…by Starpav

So I saw this on Barstool. I’m not really going to say anything about it except that it is by none other than Sam “Starpav” Tarpav.

The New Rick Ross Single is a Jam

I don’t know if you guys have heard this new Ricky Rozay song but it is an absolute jam. I mean this might be song of the year material….oh wait you mean that’s not actually Rick Ross in the video? Shit, I was totally fooled. This guy pulled off a perfect impression of Rick Ross and even somehow manages to imitate Ross’ incredible lyricism. This just goes to prove that Rick Ross is the most overrated rapper. Literally 90% of people with any musical skill could do what he does. Not to mention the guy is a complete fake. He acts like he’s a real hard gangsta, but in reality he went to college on a football scholarship and was a parole officer before signing a record deal. Seriously, how has no one should Rick Ross yet? Isn’t being a parole officer who raps about being a drug lord the biggest hypocrisy since the Catholic Church molesting little boys?

WildCard’s Take: Sorry 4 the Wait

(Reader Beware: this is gonna be a bit long)

I’m gonna start off this mixtape review by saying that I really really wanted to like this mixtape. Until pretty recently there was no bigger Wayne fan than me. After hearing Da Drought 3 back in 07 (still for me the best mixtape ever) he became my favorite artist. The onslaught that followed where Wayne took over the market by being featured on literally EVERY song basically made his music the soundtrack of my high school years. He started to lose me a little bit when he went through the whole autotune/Rebirth/Rock phase, but still managed to release enough decent to good material to keep me on board (fuck what anyone thinks Hot Revolver is still my jam). Then when I was ready to lose all hope, Weezy dropped No Ceilings and showed me to never doubt him again. This was the Mixtape Weezy I had come to know and love, with unique punchlines that barely made sense and yet were hilariously brilliant at the same time, and a flow that is unmatched in Hip Hop.

I waited patiently while he did his T.I. or Vick Vacation at Riker’s Island, convinced he would come out sober and hungrier than ever. Unfortunately I’m still waiting; his output since his release has been mediocre at best, pitiful at worst. His verses on “Fire Flame” and “Look at Me Now” didn’t do much for me; “John” I disliked at first though it has since grown on me a bit; “Dear Anne” was OK; and “How To Love” is a painful ear-abortion of a single that I pray doesn’t get anywhere near Tha Carter 4 (I recently saw an interview where he compared it to Pac’s “Keep Ya Head Up.” I proceeded to vomit all over my keyboard). When he announced that he would be releasing the mixtape Sorry 4 the Wait before C4 comes out in August I hoped that this would be like No Ceilings round 2 and get me firmly back on the bandwagon once more. The short review: It Didn’t.

Album Review: Lil B “I’m Gay”

Few artists in hip hop in the last decade have been more polarizing than the internet sensation known as Lil B “The BasedGod.” Rap purists consider him the personification of everything wrong with the current state of hip hop.  Considering he is famous for songs like “Ellen Degeneres,” “Justin Bieber,” and ‘Wonton Soup,” (his most famous song with almost 4 million youtube views) its pretty easy to see how he got that distinction. Meanwhile his followers see through the mind numbing simplicity of his Based stream of consciousness raps as a parody of the popularity achieved by current artists such as Waka Flocka and Soulja Boy. I like to consider myself somewhere in the middle of these two camps; I can see what Lil B is trying to do by flooding the market with his swag rap satires, but that doesn’t mean I can actually stand to listen to them. However, after his debut album came out last week with almost no buildup (without a release date, merely a twitter post with a link to the itunes store), and an intriguing title (to say the least) my interest was sparked. Add to that an open letter singing the praises of Lil B by none other than Lupe Fiasco and the fact that B himself put up a free download link just a day after he released it on itunes (Thank You, BasedGod) and I decided I had to give it a listen.

Top 5 Songs by Athletes

We all know that many athletes get bored of the regular spotlight and have big enough egos to think they can actually succeed in other facets outside of sports. Commonly their preferred medium of artistic expression is to release really shitty music. This trend is especially common among, but not limited to, NBA players. So I have compiled a list of the 5 best (best of course meaning the worse) songs by athletes.

5) Kobe Bryant-K.O.B.E.

In 1999 Kobe Bryant took a brief break from raping woman, hogging the ball, forcing Shaq out of LA, and generally being a dick to start a rap album that was never finished or released. While we were never graced with a full album, we did get this gem of a single. It’s good to know that Kobe has a deep side in his life of “basketball, beats, and broads.” And yes, before you ask that is Tyra Banks singing the hook.

4) Tony Parker-Balance Toi

The phenomenon of musical athletes is not solely an American trend. Tony Parker took his musical gift overseas to his native France. The track may not be in English but it sure is a club banger none the less. With skills like this it’s no wonder Tony cheated on Eva Longoria with Brent Barry’s wife.

Album Review: Hell: The Sequel

Recently Bad Meets Evil, a rap duo consisting of Royce Da 5’9″ and Eminem, released a new album titled Hell: The Sequel. I say that it is overall a very good album. The beats go hard from the first track all the way through the album. Perhaps the most impressive part of the album is that Royce not only sticks with Eminem on every track, but there are some tracks (like Fast Lane and Take From Me) where Royce actually outperforms Eminem. The new Shady Records group Slaughterhouse also absolutely kills their feature in Loud Noises. Slaughterhouse is a group to watch out for in the near future.

For those of you who did not like Eminem’s more mature, arguably softer, sound on Recovery will be happy to know that Eminem goes much harder on this album, more like Relapse than anything else. There is one track that fits your classic, more mellow, radio single track and that is Lighters with Bruno Mars. It’s not a bad song but it’s definitely not the best on the album, however I am biased because of my disdain for Bruno Mars. As for a favorite song on the album, I really can’t pick one; I like most of the tracks.

The album does have one fault. A lot of the songs sound similar. The beats and lyrics are all different and enjoyable but all the songs follow the same general line. I consider this a problem because Eminem has been lacking variety in a lot of his new work. One of the best parts about old Eminem albums was that you could always count on getting three distinct types of songs. He himself has talked about having three rapping personas. Eminem is responsible for his more fun, “normal” songs (think Just Lose It and My Name Is). Slim Shady is responsible for his fucked up, dark songs (think Kill You and Criminal). Finally, Marshall Mathers is responsible for his more serious, emotional songs (think When I’m Gone and Cleanin’ Out My Closet). Recently, Eminem has not displayed his three unique personas as often as he used to.

Overall, the album is a good listen for any Eminem fan. The lack of song variety does not make the album bad it just makes it not as good as we know Eminem can produce. Royce shines very bright on this album and hopefully it can get him some mainstream recognition after a long, successful underground career. I would say this is the best Eminem album since Nam (Nam being Eminem’s four year hiatus into a constant drug induced haze).