We Alright' begins alright. Wayne ruins it though with a generic verse featuring a foreseeable lame pussy line once again at the end of the song. It also didn't need to be 5 minutes long. The following 'Trophies' is solid. I don't like Drake but this goes okay with Drake changing his voice a bit at times. 'Bang' has some reasonable bars and will make you bounce. 'Senile' is minimalistic and basically just boring. 'Induction Speech' is about Euro's come up and is worthy largely thanks to a great sample. I'm not convinced on Lil Twist. Tha song is okay... as is 'Lookin’ Ass'. The dark production feels a bit wasted on the topic Minaj focuses on. 'Back It Up' features production we've all heard countless times.
Next, the Lil Wayne solo, 'Moment', should lessen Wayne fans' hope of the upcoming Carter V being anything new from here, or hope for a return to a time when he was a good rapper. PJ Morton does his best Akon impersonation on the 'You Already Know' autotune assisted hook. The melody of this one reminds me heavily of 'Live Your Life' by T.I. I think that's what I'm thinking of. 'Catch Me at the Light' is a solid pop rap tune. 'Video Model' isn't great, but again Wayne makes it worse with his final verse. He helps the final song 'Good Day' though, with a catchy hook making for a passable tune.
The beats are standard as are most of the topics spat about as one may expect from a Young Money compilation. The leader of the crew, Lil Wayne, needs to retire ASAP. Has anyone in the history of rap, sport, acting, you name it, continued to be in the mainstream despite falling off so prominently? The fact he is still able to sell records is a testament to how many fans he garnered when he was a reasonable rapper I guess. A number of the other rappers are generally nothing more than features, or mixtape rappers, and are not noteworthy either.
Best Tracks: Trophies, Bang, Induction Speech, You Already Know
Not very good, just decent boom bap... I gave this a couple of plays but nothing stood out at all. The production isn't inventive or noteworthy and none of the hooks really stayed with me either. I've said this many times before, but skits/interludes make albums seem sluggish, particularly in this case when it pretty much starts off with 3 of them and has others included in songs.
Best Tracks: Soundman, Shugah Shorty
While Ace Hood may come across as another generic gangster rapper affiliated with We the Best/MMG at times, he separates himself through being more consciously minded, shown lyrically in a number of songs throughout this album. Ace is also passionate on the mic and you'll have to like him as a rapper to enjoy this. Too many of the beats sound alike, not only to songs on this album, but with his past work, along with a number just not being that good. One of those albums whereupon early listens everything will blend in too much together. 2.5/5 after a couple of spins.
Best Tracks: Trials & Tribulations, Pray for Me, Fuck Da World
A pretty good album with a rock/rap feel to a lot of the production. It does drop off a bit in the second half, but there's enough decent music here. It features some legends as features from Nate Dogg, Talib and Eminem, who also provides some production. If you are around my age, you may remember 'Fired Up' from NFS: Most Wanted. 3-3.5/5
Best Tracks: Fired Up, Hush is Coming, Real TV (Clever Lyrics), Superstar
I just revisited Hush's debut and enjoyed it more than I remembered, so I thought it was time I finally checked this out. I remember getting this when it dropped. While his debut had elements of rap rock, this is almost entirely of that genre. While often artists seem to try to hide the least compelling songs in the middle of the album, here tracks 6 and 7, particularly 'Die for Me' are standouts. I enjoy the verses, Hush can flow and writes some attention grabbing bars, but at times the production isn't amazing, as aren't the hooks, with some sounding too similar from song to song. Hush seemed to use the same singer on a number of them.
Best Tracks: Rise Again, Die for Me, Put 'em Up, The Open Book
