The Smarks Hip Hop Album of the Week Club

[Professor Booty]

About halfway through the album, I like a few songs but one I like a lot since @Hoss knows My taste in hip hop I’m gonna let him guess which one

 

[Hoss]

About halfway through the album, I like a few songs but one I like a lot since @Hoss knows My taste in hip hop I’m gonna let him guess which one

My only guess could be Blind Threats but I'm not sure you've made it there yet Would make the most sense though, and I think it's a top 3 track on the album

 

[Professor Booty]

I have and it’s good but Los Awesome is my favorite so far. I like the upbeat shit.

 

[Hoss]

I have and it’s good but Los Awesome is my favorite so far. I like the upbeat shit.

That would have actually been my second guess

 

[Hoss]

I think Pharrell produced that one

 

[Spitfire]

This Professor just saw this in his pigeonhole.

* Going to listen to Die, Rugged Man, Die right now and it will be the first time listening to this album

* Lessons this is great song to open an album. For all albums that first song either draws you in or sends you away. This one reels me like a big fish on the end of a line. The beat and jingle is solid and the words are easy to understand and aren't lost in a mumbled or accent that cuts the ears. I am certainly keen in seeing how this will develop overall.

* Three songs in and three different sounds. A Star Is Born, I don't know but it reminds me of like an American Version of Grime Artist Giggs style of song. It is a song that I could very easily slot in to one of my Grime/USA playlists for a while. The vibe is strong. I feel like there is a strong 90s feel, and yet looking at the date is much later.

* Chains, Dumb, On The Block and How Low have just flown by. I have just gone with the flow and really enjoyed these song as a block of four. Although this normally wouldn't be my go to artist I am pleasantly surprised how much I have enjoyed listening to this album.

* After the interlude I feel like the quality of songs dipped slightly. Perhaps the first half was so solid that the second half was always going to be put under pressure. Da' Girlz, They Love Me reminds me of a D12 song that I can't quite place but honestly might be one of my favourites songs on the album. It feels very rough and ready, its got an early garage/rap feel with a mix of that 90/00s "car bouncing rap" I like to call it. Its packed a bunch right at the end of this album. There are a few other songs that I think this is similar too, that I can't quite place to. But yeah. This is a game changer.

* The interludes, skits and outros I generally would pass on though. Maybe its just me, but I never think they add anything.

* I don't think scoring is really the best way to approach this. But I suppose if I was giving it a grade from S Tier to H being the bottom. This is a low B, perhaps a B Minus for me. But with time and perhaps listening to the rest of his songs this could increase. I am very glad I took time to listen.

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[Chris]

I didn't recognize near as many of these songs as I thought I would, I assumed I had just absorbed them during college since Schoolboy Q was so popular at the time

 

[Hoss]

I didn't recognize near as many of these songs as I thought I would, I assumed I had just absorbed them during college since Schoolboy Q was so popular at the time

This was basically the successor to GKMC with it being Q's first commercial album release and coming off the back of Black Hippy/TDE's rise. I would say it was that group's second most mainstream album up until SZA came along, and DAMN. and what not have since passed it too.

 

[Professor Booty]

I think Pharrell produced that one

Would explain why it’s more my style

 

[Jimmy King]

I was familiar with ScHoolboy Q before and knew Collard Greens thanks to GTA V. I also knew of Man of the Year, I don’t remember where I had heard that before but that was my favorite track but overall everything was solid and something I’d go back to for a re-listen.

 

[Brett]

Oxymoron and Habits and Consequences I can not joyfully listen to as it was the background to my time spent with my drug addict friends. Those albums, LongLiveAsap, Macadelic, any Wiz Khalifa, like genuine PTSD from the worst of times

 

[Professor Booty]

I finished it up a few more tracks I liked alright but it was mostly a miss for me. It’s just not my style it’s a little slow for me. But I did like it more than I thought I would at least

 

[Spitfire]

* Start off the say with Oxymoron by ScHoolboy Q being the first sound, so I can offer the best and most subjective and objective review I can. Never judge a book by its cover, but the artwork is already giving me an edginess already.

* We are starting hard with Gangsta. (I don't know why but I get major Yelawolf vibes from the accent, but that could just be my British ears getting confused). I also felt Los Awesome slid really well after words and was solid buzzing start to the album.

* There were parts of Collard Greens that I liked, but other parts that I didn't feel connect. I have penciled this down as song to listen back to again though. So far all three songs have been a vibe though.

* I had been enjoying the flow but Hoover Street really wasn't for me. It was jarring, but based on how long it lasted I suspect it might mean a lot more to than artist. Studio was much calmer and more tranquil feeling and I almost felt like someone comedic like Usher or Mario was going to pop up and drop a few bars.

* Prescription/Oxymoron the first half felt very emotional and personal. Like the it came from a real real and was the most honest and true self from the artist, whilst the second half offered a bit of a mixer to dilute the message slightly. I feel like it would have hit harder if it had just been Prescription on its own as a standout song. Not that I am anyone to judge an artist, but the 2-in-1 song felt like a big mistake. The Purge was a lot of fun, I love when Tyler is sprinkled in to a song. It is always a solid involvement form the Creator.

* Blind Threats, Hell of a Night and Break the Bank had good flow and funneled well into each other. Normally as you approach that 10th song you find out whether you have got true content or album filler. There has certainly not been any filler in this record.

* The end of the album for me is where it fell off for me. There were about three songs that sort of blended into each other for me and then Fuck LA just wasn't the sort of thing I really felt anything for.

* Honestly this album is a confusing one for me. As an overall package I find a lot of positives and yet most of the songs for me felt like a one time and done sort of deal, with perhaps a few song I could consider listening to again. If this is your particular style that you really associate with then minus one or two songs I think you might grade this album incredibly high. I would rate it a medium C-grade, but I imagine that others could offer this something as high as an A- and I wouldn't think they had lost their mind. This album was certainly an education, but the content didn't hit home for me.
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[Hoss]

As an album, I don't rate it that highly because it is very disjointed and I'm not sure any thought was actually put into the sequencing and painting a cohesive picture. Which I've never understood because most albums have the ingredients, and you could rearrange to make them more fluid, but sometimes artists don't do that, or maybe it's the label, idk. Anyways I do think sentimentality buoys this album a lot for me, objectively I don't think there's a lot to sink your teeth into if you weren't in the moment with it.

 

[Spitfire]

This club is a great concept though. I am all for as much music stuff as possible