[Review] Drake - Thank Me Later

Artist: Drake
Album: Thank Me Later
Release Date: June 15th 2010
Producers: Boi-1da, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Kanye West, No I.D., Omen, Crada, 40, Tone Mason, Jeff Bhasker, Francis & The Lights, Arthur McArthur and Al Khaliq.
Guests: Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Young Jeezy, T.I., Swizz Beatz, & The Dream. (Bonus Tracks feature Bun B, Lil' Wayne, & Trey Songz).


Like when Eminem took over the game in the late 1990's, and the hype around 50 Cent in 2002, the Hip Hop industry's richter scale has been sizing up another possible tremor to hit over the past year.

Despite his debut album only dropping this summer, in the ast year, Drake has already had artists no bigger than Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Mary J Blige and of course Eminem recording music for him, as well as rumours persisting last summer of an on/off relationship with Rihanna, and a mixtape that many claimed was better than most albums released in 2009. You sort of get the impression that something perhaps Drake might sell quite a few records.

Having already has major acting roles on US and Canadian TV shows, including Digrassi: The Next Generation, and Blue Murder, plus a role in the next Batman movie, Drake has now switched his talent towards making music. The Toronto born star soon found his way into Lil' Wayne's Young Money circle where he featured on their recent album, outshining all of the other artists in many opinions. Even Jay-Z was unsure whether to put Drake's verse on his Blueprint 3 album, but instead opted for just Drake featured on a chorus - a move leaving many fans wondering why, since Drake had recorded an entire verse for Timbaland to put on the CD, but perhaps Jay learned his lesson from Eminem's presence on Renagade.

Lasy September, Drake released an EP entitled 'So Far Gone' which included 6 tracks inclusing 'Best I Ever Had' which became a hit in the states, and 'Successful' with Lil' Wayne and Trey Songz. The EP has so far sold over 450,000 copies, something I cannot possible envision another new artist to do before the release of any debut material. In fact, to kick start any discography off with a bang like that only suggests monumental things for the future. Weeks later, Eminem has recorded a verse for his song 'Forever'....which he soon used on his 'Relapse: Refill' album.

So finally it is here. 'Thank Me Later' has been simmering for months, with various songs leaked online - some making the final cut, some not. There was even rumours of a mega collaboration with The Kings Of Leon, although this has not meterialised.

The album seems to have an alternative sound to it. Drake comes from a softer direction, in terms of ballad beats with an 'old skool' style rap over it. This seems to be a problem I found with the CD - much of the album sounds very much the same, with not a lot of variation. Most of the songs fail to excite, and often get forgotten once skipped onto the next one. However, 'Up All Night' is very heavy, although features a below average verse from Nicki Minaj. 'Light It Up' is one of my favourite tracks on the CD, and seems like a battle of best verse between himself and Jay-Z, as both are at their best lyrically on this track - I will give Jay bragging rights on this one since Drake easily owns Lil' Wayne's feature.

'Shut It Down' is a song emotionally driven with The Dream, as are most of the songs on the album, but the best track has to be 'The Resistance', which is produced by 40. The song represents everything that the album is about - emotional rap with an alternative sound.

I was not as impressed with the Swizz Beatz produced track, 'Fancy' as I thought I would be. I was hoping the uptempo Swizzy style would elevate into the next single from the album, but I doubt the average hook will enable this to happen.

Overall I was impressed with Drake, who has set a new bar level for new artists simmering in the rap game, but will the fans of Drake's mixtape material feel it? I dont know, but I know there will be thousands for every listener that doesn't.

7/10

[Review] DJ Khaled - Victory

Artist: DJ Khaled
Album: Victory
Label: E1 Music
Release Date: 2nd March 2010
Production: DJ Nasty, Schife, The Runners, & The Inkredibles.
Guests: Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, T-Pain, Usher, Jim Jones, Young Jeezy, Plies, Drake, Nas, John Legend, Schife, Birdman, Bun B, Soulja Boy, Nelly, Lil' Boosie, Ace Hood, Pitbull, Jarvis, Rum, Tripple C's, Bounty Killer & Buju Banton.

Featuring a who's who of Hip Hop, the pioneer of Def Jam South is back with a fourth studio album, 'Victory'.

Originally, in what was to be a series of mixtapes, DJ Khaled, whom many rap fans instantly knew as being Fat Joe's Terror Squad DJ from back in the day, has now started a series of albums featuring a collective of the biggest names in today's Hip Hop world. He has worked in the past with some of the biggest names in the world, from Kanye West, T.I., Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg, to putting out tracks that have been so successfull, that names such as Jay-Z have added their verses to them.

In 2007, his second album, and most successfull to date, 'We The Best' was released, and it showed not only the rap world, but also the world that DJ Khaled meant business. The album was up for awards against some of the biggest mainstream solo artists, birthing the hits, 'We Takin' Over' and 'Im So Hood' which became two of the biggest Hip Hop anthems of that year. The follow up album 'We Global' was not as big commercially, despite an even stronger lineup of guests, selling only 294,000 copies in total, nearly half of what the last album sold.

So Khaled has lined up another list of big names, producers and set himself out to hit the top of the charts again. Apart from an intro only to try and boost his ego, featuring random ad-libs from Diddy, the album dives into the first single, 'All I Do Is Win' which T-Pain, Ludacris, Rick Ross & Snoop Dogg. The song by far is the most likely to top any chart, in fact it is so heavy that I can hear it as being a massive club anthem, and possibly an anthem for 2010 Hip Hop...but it failed to make an impact, making a poor #64 on the Billboard, and not even getting into the top 50 in the RnB charts. 'Fed Up' featuring Usher, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Drake & Lil Wayne is another alternative club hit, but in my opinion, Usher's hook just does not suit the The Runner's beat... maybe something from T-Pain would suit this record more. However, Drake once again uses his hype to take the limelight of the track, if only Lil' Wayne could follow his feature with a top verse of his own, unfortunatly he did not.

Overall, the album fails to come close to the previous releases from Khaled. One thing which stood out, was the lack of Fat Joe. There were reports throughout 2009 that there may have been conflict between the two when Khaled was pictured several times without the trademark 'TS' chain which would normally aliegn his association with Joe's Terror Squad crew. This is the first album without a member of the squad rapping on it, and only has me wondering what is going on, if anthing behind the scenes.

I was a bit disappointed with some of the artist features on the album, especially considering I had been looking forward to this as being the first major Hip Hop release of the new decade. The track with Nas as far from exciting, as was collaborations with Jim Jones, Young Jeezy and as was Nelly. The production on the album is also not to the standard that you would expect from The Runners, especially when you hear some of the beats that they have made for the last albums, as well as solo material for artists such as Rick Ross. I am not expecting the album to sell well at all, and those that do buy this, may be wishing they didn't. Even a final track featuring Pitbull, who has blazed the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with his club bangers, failed to provide.

Dont get me wrong, Im not saying that the whole album is a waste of time, but rather that it is a disappointment to previous CDs, despite an impressive guestlist. There were

3/10

[Review] Young Money - We Are Young Money

Artist: Young Money Entertainment (Lil' Wayne, Drake, Jae Millz, Mack Maine, Tyga, Nicki Minaj, Lil' Twist, Gudda Gudda, T-Streets, Shanell & Lil' Chuckee.
Album: We Are Young Money
Label: Cash Money/Universal
Release Date: December 21st 2009
Guests: Birdman, Lloyd, Gucci Mane & Clyde McKnight.
Producers: Tha Bizzness, Kane Beatz, David Banner, Chase N. Cashe, B.Carr, Andrew "Papa Justifi" Wansel & Warren "Oak" Felder.

50 Cent has his G-Unit Records, Jay-Z had Roc-A-Fella and Eminem has Shady Aftermath, and now Lil' Wayne is showing that the Young Money movement that he has spoken about over the years, has some strength behind it - in the form of a new album.

Its no myth that Lil' Wayne has been regarded as being the best rapper making hits for several years now. His wordplay on tracks have made him popular with the fans, and on the mixtape circuit, and with an estimated 2,000 songs tracks that he has recorded, there is no shortage of Weezy verse out there.

So, when I became aware of a Young Money group album coming, it was instantly something that I was looking forward to, especially with the newest sensation, Drake also confirmed for appearance. Potentially, two of the best lyricists in the rap game as of 2009, were going to be making a CD, with several other label mates - it had the ingrediants for an exciting album, helped further by the smash hit 'Every Girl'. The song was a synopsis for what we could expect to hear on the album, and a chance to hear some of the talent that was emerging from the label, especially Drake. Wayne started off with not a one of his best verses, but still strong enough to be ahead of other MCs in the game, but Drake killed it. His flow, technique and delivery was perfect, and I have to say, I was also impressed with Jae Millz and Mack Maine's efforts to. However, I was left wondering whether or not this was going to be an Autotune bashing disc, but I was not too concerned, as Weezy is one of the few artists that has adapted his style to use it...in fact, I think apart from T-Pain, Weezy is the only artist who has used the effect and made it work for him in my opinion.

I needed to hear more though. A second single began circulating the internet a few weeks ago called 'Bedrock' and featured a hook sang by Lloyd, and despite it being an old chat-up line, I liked the sound of it - the beat was tidy, and once again, there was a strong verse from Drake, but again, I was expecting a better Weezy opening. It might sound picky, but I am comparing verses to what he is famous for - remix songs that he has killed in the past, and features on other artist's albums. I actually think that Weezy is like a sportsman. He has a good game and gets picked for the team, but other times he can play bad, and needs substituting at halftime, and other times, damn right shocking and deserves fining a week's wages.

So I made sure that this album was right at the top of my list for 2009. 50 Cent has dropped, Eminem has dropped twice, Fabolous dropped, Jay-Z dropped and now the end of December in the middle of the Christmas season, there was to be another big one. I was just hoping that Birdman did not carry on his tradition and push this one way back into 2010, although I was thinking that if he did do tat, I would just pre order it on Amazon.

So here it is, I sit flicking through the tracks, listening to the verses, and I am loving it, right? Wrong. There just feels like tere is something missing from it. Should the opening line on the album be "Sitting on the toilet..." The intro song, 'Gooder' just does not have the impact that the start of albums usually have, but anyway, it is straight after that that 'Every Girl' comes - probably the strongest track on the album. The next track 'Ms. Parker' feels like maybe it should be a single, but the beat does not give it strength. This seems to be the case throughout, the album has 'average' beats, and Weezy is not spitting at his strongest, in fact, he is outshone on quite a few tracks - this will be a disappointment for most fans,because 90% will buy this because Lil' Wayne has been involved in it, the other 10% get it as a gift at Christmas.

Other songs that I liked from the CD were 'Bedrock' , 'Steady Mobbin', 'Roger That' and 'Finale'. The last of these being the outro for the album, and features several bars from each of the Young Money artists, and despite Weezy seeming to have a much longer verse on the track, it was far from the best. In my yes, Drake is becoming the aplha male of the label, and you can understand where the buzz is coming from. Nicki Minaj, a female rapper on the label, also showed some good lyrical skill as did Mack Maine and Jae Millz.

To some up this album, I would say that its purpose has been to promote the talent of the label, rather than to try and take over the rap industry. The album will be enjoyed by most rap fans, but I feel that the songs on it seem to be 'overcrowded' by artists. Dont be put off by this review, it is a good album, but not a classic.

6/10

[Review] Eminem - Relapse: Refill

Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse: Refill
Release Date: 21st December 2009
Guests: Dr Dre, 50 Cent, Drake, Kanye West & Lil' Wayne.
Producers: Dr Dre, Eminem, & Boi-1da

No matter where MTV rank him in a list of the greatest rappers at current, or where Hip Hip fans place him on the blogs, Eminem is the best rapper alive today in 2009. This is a statement that I can back up with facts, statistic and reason that will also be backed up by millions more that will back the next rapper. Fact.

So when Eminem released his fifth studio album following the 2005 greatest hits collection, it seemed that the world had gone 'Slim shady' crazy again. He may be one of the most controversial musicians of the modern era, but it soon became obvious that when Relapse dropped in the summer, how much this man had actually been missed - the only other artists that could hideaway for four or five years with so much demand for a return, are probably dead and in the music hall of fame. Its a fact, that the backwards 'E' logo, carries with it more than just a white man who grew up in the slums of Detroit, trying to make it big in a game that traditionally didn't play by his rules. From being a Hip Hop misfit, to felling over 80 million records world wide, it is clear to see why Eminem has touched so many hearts.

As I write this, and listening to the second edition of Relapse, I have just finished reading a story about how Scottish singer, Susan Boyle has outsold the first edition of Relapse, which meant she is now the best selling artist of 2009. I am happy for her, but not only that, but I am happy that Eminem is a markstone for who you need to outsell to be number 1. Not even Bono's U2, or another post retirement Jay-Z effort could come close to Eminem's album sales. So maybe MTV should go away, anylise the people who work for them, have then checked out by mental health experts, and then come back and revise another top 10 list of the greatest rappers of the current time, because their last effort was an insult not only to Eminem, but to Hip Hop, and the music industry as a whole. Rant ended.

So what did I make of the first installment of Relapse? I did not think it was a classic, and certainly not top of the list of past Eminem albums. If I were to rank previous material from Mr Mathers, my all time favourite would be none other than his 2002 album 'The Eminem Show', purely on the lyrical depth that he went into, followed closely by his 8 Mile soundtrack album, then 2000's 'The Marshall Mathers LP', 'Relapse', 'The Slim Shady LP' and finally 'Encore' from 2004. That does not go to say that that I found Encore disappointing, just that it didn;t contain as much excellence as the rest.

The album goes deep into Eminem's troubled private life, mainly his drug problems. The album mixes fiction with personal health issues, and a little bit of exaggeration. Not only is Eminem helping resolve his own problems by extracting it from himself via the use of music, he is also helping others around the world to, from album to album, dealing with depression, drug problems, family problems to issues of fame, Eminem offers an insight into not only how he swerved to avoid them, but added a touch of light hearted comedy to the remedy. Sure when he talked about killing Kim, he was only venting his anger and frustration of a troubled marriage through the power of creativity in his music, but as a society, we knew Eminem was never a mennace with a chain saw - only a fool would believe that.

Relapse itself pokes fun at the media's perception of himself, hence the use of interludes on the album which create little sketches around his rehabilitation program. Songs such as 'Medicine Ball', and 'Must Be The Ganja' all look back at drugs, and are explicit warning messages to others. The album itself told a story, that you would only understand if you listened to the tracks in the order on the disc. From being in rehab, to getting cured, from being high, to being depressed, which songs such as 'Old Time's Sake' and 'Beautiful' portray perfectly.

The album may only have produced three distinguished singles, 'Crack A Bottle' with Dr Dre and 50 Cent, which was the first of two 'cartoon' songs by the famous Aftermath trio, 'We Made It' which was a traditional Eminem single, like the days of 'The Real Slim Shady' and 'My Name Is', and finally 'Beautiful', which acted as the aftermath of when a high fades. All in all, the album was cleverly constructed with time and precision. My only disappointment was that I thought Dr Dre had too much production on the album, and I thought his work was quite a long way from his best. I was have felt easier if Eminem had produced more, but with only one track not produced by Dre, I got the feeling that maybe he was not giving Em his best work - a hint that he is keeping some of the good old Dr Dre beats for another up and coming major album... I am actually hinting at Detox!

So overall, I was satisfied in the summer of 2009 when this album dropped, it sold well and fans seemed to enjoy it, so what do I make of the re-packaged version? Is it just a late rally for more sales before Christmas? Or was Eminem so desperate for his fans to hear all of his work that otherwise, may have just been scrapped? Well I will hide no fact that Aftermath records are in serious trouble. They owe parent company,Interscope millions, and it is becoming an issue, especially in the current climate. That is why some of the less selling artists on the label have gone - why spend thousands putting beats together for a B list rapper to rap over, then another million or so on promotion and shooting videos, when the only reason that artist gets 'some' sales is because he has been mentored by Eminem? So for that reason Obie Trice left the label. Stat Quo left the label. Bobby Creekwater left the label, and I have a feeling Ca$his wont be getting royalty cheques from Mr Iovine for too much longer either. As much as I like these artists as a Hip Hop fan and writer, they are not the way forward for a label like Shady Aftermath. That is why in 2009, Dr Dre knew that only the big hitters could come out. Eminem had to put something out there, whether it meant eating less takeaways and getting back into shape and getting back into the game, whethe rit meant 50 Cent had to his the streets with another CD, and of course, whether it meant the biggest myth on the planet since the creation, 'Detox' would come out, then it had to be done. Believe me, Detox will be out soon, it is happening and it has to - Aftermath depends on it.

So Eminem had 'good' sales from Relapse, but they wern't his highest, and maybe the label could have wished for more. Afterall, I remember Eminem saying he would record 30 songs before selecting the best for a CD, the rest hidden away in Jimmy's lost files, never to be heard by the public - so for Eminem to be doing this, you know times must be deperate, and 50 Cent's album sales wont be turning those frowns upside down.

Refill kicks off witha song that only came about by accident. 50 Cent revealed that Eminem had recorded a verse Drake's song, only to next year that Kanye West and Lil' Wayne were also on the finished version of the song. The song is a battle of the lyricists as Drake and Eminem seem to go head to head, the latter victorious in my opinion, with Lil' Wayne and Kanye off form. 'Hell Breaks Loose' is next, and as I suspected, Dr Dre was the producer of this, and the rest of the songs after this on the CD. Theese songs are basically a carry on from what has already been heard on the album, so that is the sort of thing that you should expect.

'Elevator' is by far my favourite of the new tracks on the CD. The song talks about his vision of his career before he met Dre in the mid-late 90's. It talks about how he never expected to sell records, as well as a reminise of the late Proof. Not only does the song then talk about how he can now afford an elevator in his mansion from the success of his record sales, but it also is a metaphor for the direction that his career has taken.

The best beat on the album goes to 'Taking My Ball', which gamers may find familiar from the recent DJ Hero game that was released a few weeks back for Playstation 3 and XBox 360. I get the impression that the chorus may be talking about the fact that although he has become so well respected in the industry, that he has been feared, and nobody will 'take his ball', meaning go against him. Maybe Susan Boyle will play with him (and I meant that as a personal joke).

'Music Box' dark and mysterious song which is hard to understand the meaning of. It talks about being drunk, high and this is reflected in the sureal lyrics. Finally, another Dr Dre beat, which you can tell because he has almost used the same beat that he gave Mary J Blige on 'Family Affair' in a song called 'Drop The Bomb On Em'. The song talks about not his MC career in total, in a battle rap format against a fictiocious character and situation. Hip Hop fans might jump to the conclusion that the fact a current rappers name was mentioned that he is taking shots. I doubt it, but make your own mind up. Em raps: "Boy I told ya boy, Im a soldier boy, Im DeShaun/holding in this b****, Im the proof boy, you're a fraud." Whatever this is about, Im sure this is not an attack on Soulja Boy!

To some this album up, I am unsure whether fans should by this repackaged CD if you already have the first edition of the album. Since Rihanna, Chris Brown, 50 Cent and Lady Gaga have all brought out delux editions of their albums with either new tracks or bonus DVDs or whatever, it will not make this a best seller of 2009. In fact, Em stated that this was to keep fans in the frame of things while Relapse 2 is in the pipeline. But overall, I am a Relapse fan, but if you are such a fan that you would buy the album again for seven extra tracks... then its up to you. Lets see what Santa brings eh?!

9/10