Firstly, this site is really boring with its bandwagoning hatred for particular artists, but anyway... I've liked some MGK in the past. I think he can flow well and on very enjoyable songs like 'Hollywood Whore' he shows this. When he is rapping on this on songs like 'beauty' it's likeable but that doesn't happen enough. There is too much poor emo-like singing and I have nothing positive to say about Trippie Redd.
Best Tracks: beauty, suddenly, hiding in the hills
From the first listen, I thought at worst this was a decent project and seemed to be way too hated on. Maybe Kendrick stans have their knickers in a knot. Dakota West Foss from sputnikmusic, that is somehow allowed as a critic source, nitpicks and accuses Cole of ableism because he uses the word retarded and being something else that is said so much these days that it's meaningless for just stating facts. It's hilarious. I've checked out some profiles of recent ratings of this and some have just 0 bombed Cole's whole discography which explains what we're dealing with here. The production is all decent or better and while at times Cole isn't saying much, he still rides the beats well. I've never liked Cam'ron at all, so he ruins 'Ready ‘24' for me, and 'Fever', that sounds more like something Drake would make, is the worst song, but there are lots of likeable moments throughout this tape that has a number of different production styles. And say what you will about the now removed '7 Minute Drill', but the beats are exactly what I want from a diss track. Their aggressive and dark feel fit really well. If this is just some throwaways before the album, The Fall Off, it should be worth waiting for.
Beats: ★★★☆
Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆
Hooks: ★★★
Best Tracks: Crocodile Tearz, H.Y.B., Stickz N Stonez, 3001, 7 Minute Drill
'Smash Sumthin' is a great way to start which is also found on Redman's underrated 'Malpractice' album. It's hard as nails and I've always loved its energy. From there we have a decent M.O.P. song who come with their usual style. Capone-N-Noreaga's 'Listen Here' is okay and Lil Mo's 'Where's My...' drops the standard even further. 'Greatest of All Time' or 'G.O.A.T.', as it's known on LL's album, is back to something closer to the standard of Redman's opener. Unfortunately from there we have as many interludes as songs. After the more hardcore hip hop feel of the first half, we're given more of a conscious hip hop theme within the second half of the album with Pos, Guru and Pharoahe Monch but there is nothing amazing here. Adam F was a drum and bass producer who released the well received album 'Colours' before getting more into hip hop and he did produce some great stuff, but there isn't a lot of it on show here.
Best Tracks: Smash Sumthin, Greatest of All Time, Last Dayz
This is a decent crime/thriller and closer to a 3.5 than a 2.5 out of 5 as it's engaging enough from the start to the end but it does have issues. I found the acting at the start more forced than it should've been; however, that eases after the opening. The whole thing of him turning the tap off is a mistake I don't think he'd make and how the detectives act like noticing that at the crime scene was such an amazing observation is just poor writing.
As a big MJ fan, this was great and I wish the Estate would spend some time showing this kind of love to albums like Dangerous and HIStory. If only his greedy father and family just let the man tour after Thriller by himself. How different things could have turned out... The only negative aspects for me were that some songs seemed like they were spoken about for 30 minutes, while others like P.Y.T., and to a greater extent, The Lady In My Life, received nothing more than a mention. They also spoke about Starlight, which was the song that became Thriller, which has almost identical instrumentation and melody, but unless I daydreamed for ten seconds, they didn't mention why the change was made. It also would've been better if they talked further about some songs that didn't make the album like The Toy and the amazing Sunset Driver.
