4. Meek Mill – Dreams & Nightmares (LostFiles)

Meek Mill is pretty much your classic East Coast street rapper circa 2003. When it was cool to wear basketball and American football jersey’s of teams you didn’t even really know of, Timberland boots, Avirex jackets etc etc. But I think the reason he’s found success with the style in today’s age is because he’s adopted the down south 808 drum driven trap sound, that rappers like Waka Flocka and Rick Ross have found success with. 

Now don’t get me wrong. Meek Mill can rap very well, but he can be lazy with the songs he puts out and you can end up feeling like your listening to the same song on repeat even though it’s 5 different songs. Nonetheless Meek’s debut album is a good quality debut and what you’d expect from the Philly rapper. “Dreams and Nightmares” is the opening track and it’s a good song, but the “Nightmare” part of the song is CRAAAAZY!!! Hype isn’t the word for it. 

He seems to find making anthem/party songs and easy thing to do with bangers like; “Young & Gettin’ It”, “Amen” & “Young Kings”. But I really feel like he really went back to the younger gritty Meek he is loved for with his darker tracks like “Polo & Shell Tops”, “Tony Story (Pt. 2)”, “In God We Trust” & “Real Niggas Come First”. Especially with the track “Traumatized” which I think is a very good track, I really like the way how the “I Know, I Know’ voice sample rings in the track to kind of emphasis each type a new part of the beat comes in. 

The only songs I didn’t really like were “Who You’re Around” (Mary J. Blige just doesn’t suit hip-hop hooks any more sorry). Also “Lay-Up”, If it has Wale on it I probably won’t like it (and I was right again) and I just think it’s cheesy to be honest. To me “Believe It” & “Amen” are alright songs, but just very basic if I’m honest. “Rich & Famous” is just a lazy song to me. “Maybach Curtains” is just sub-par for me. With the features on this song I expected more from it…..and I’m getting sick of hearing the word Maybach being used by every rapper and their mum if I’m honest.

Winners: In God We Trust, Young Kings, Young & Getting’ It, Tony Story Pt 2, Traumatized, Real Niggas Come First, Polo & Shell Tops

Fillers: Rich & Famous, Maybach Curtains, Lay Up & Who You’re Around

Honourable Mentions: Believe It & Amen

Thanks For Reading

Hope You Enjoyed It

Stevie 

5. Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions (LostFiles)

With all the TDE members (apart from Jay Rock) it took me a while to get into their music. Schoolboy Q was someone I didn’t really have any interest in knowing anything about when I first heard about him. But then I heard his verse on Kendrick’s “The Spiteful Chant” track and since then I’ve been a fan. Q seems to have a way of blurring the lines of what gangster rap exactly is. 

A lot of the productions on the album sounds like some Sci-Fi soundtrack stuff. Songs like “Sex Drive”, “There He Go” & “How We Feeling” really sound like some abstract futuristic tracks to me. Specially  “NiggaHs.Already.Know.Davers.Flow” and “Nightmare On Figg St.”. These tracks describe Schoolboy Q the best in my opinion. Sci-Fi x Gangster Rap = Schoolboy Q. Both these tracks just contain aggressive lyrics on some eerie production. 

There are also a few New York sounding boom-bap records with songs like “My Homie” (which sounds like an early Mobb Deep beat) & “Gangster In Designer (No Concept)” which is interesting as he’s from Los Angeles. But he does have some West Coast types of production; “Grooveline Pt. 1” (which is an okay track) & “Raymond 1969”. I really like this track because it sounds like old school west coast instrumentation with early New York rap style drum pattern and a major distortion that just makes it sound raw and gritty. 

There were a few songs that I found to be a bit bland, tracks like “Sacrilegious”, “Sexting” & “Oxy Music”. The tracks are just not interesting to the rest of the album to me. “Blessed” is a track I was disappointed in because Kendrick features but the beat is so poor he might as well of not been on the song. I think it’s a waste of a verse from both rappers to be honest. The beat is just terrible to me. 

The “Tookie Knows (Interlude)” is just something that didn’t need to be on the CD. “2 Raw” is an alright track. It could of easily fell in to the fillers category but I’m on and off with the track, sometimes it’s cool, then sometimes it’s just boring. He also has two party bangers tracks I really like in “Druggys Wit Hoes Again” and “Hands On The Wheel”. Both Ab-Soul and A$AP Rocky both did the deed with their respective verses. Both tracks have nice grooves to the point you can't help but nod your head or bounce to the beat.

Winners: Gangster In Designer (Concept), NiggaHs.Already.Know.Davers.Flow, How We Feeling, Hands On The Wheel, Druggys With Hoes Again, Nightmare On Figg St., My Homie

Fillers: Sacrilegious, Oxy Music, Sexting, Blessed & Tookie Knows (Interlude)

Honourable Mentions: Sex Drive, My Hatin’ Joint, Raymond 1969, Grooveline Pt. 1, 2 Raw & There He Go

Thanks For Reading

Hope You Enjoyed It

Stevie 

I'M BACK!!!!.....

.....well I will be around late April....

What's up people?, I know i've been away for far too long and my excuse for my absence is the increasing amount of work i've had to do for university. I'm annoyed that I took the break at the top of the year but it had to be done. 

But in around 3-4 weeks I will return with up to date posts which leads to my next announcement. I had a couple posts saved as drafts saved in my blog which I will release either today or tomorrow, these will be known as my "Lost Files". Any lost files are either incomplete, out of date or both. I may also point out any major mistakes just to clarify what is wrong in the post.

But I thought that I'd at least release the posts as I put a lot of work in to them. They may even not entirely make sense as they might be part of a list or two-parters. As to my posting schedule  I think that I will start posting every month as it is more suitable to my schedule. In fact there may be more than one post a month if there are more topics I wish to review or speak on. So that's pretty much it I guess....

Thanks For Reading

I Will Return Soon!!

Stevie