2008 promised to be a great year. Much was made about the numerological significance of the number 8 in the Chinese calendar ahead of the Bejing Olympic games.
8 is my favourite number. I had high expectations for this year.
With new releases from Nas, Common, Kanye West & the Foreign Exchage it looked to have the potential to be a genre defining year in the same breath as 1988 & 1994 & 1998...
I have already shared how pleasantly surprised I was when I heard the Nas album. So it appearedd 2008 was off to a great start. Next up was the Foriegn Exchange. They had arguably the best album of 2005 a personal cla**ic. I was hype to hear their new offering.
The single leaked & Phonte was singing on the whole song. Still decent sonic backdrop by Nicolay but no rap..
When the album follwed a similar suit I was severely underwhelmed.
KanYe released his single Love Lockdown in autotune. I hated it. It was catchy. The Pop ma**es went for it. Not I.
The idea of an entire album in autotune & 808 drums does not excite me in the least bit. I haven't bothered to download any of the songs.
Then Common announced he was releasing an EP. He had 2 solid Kanye produced releases in recent history so I was anxious. Then the UMC single dropped & it was spacey nerdy hipster hip hop. It was Common so when the album leaked yesterday I downloaded it. I was underwhelmed again. It was just as spacey as the single for the most part.
I never thought I'd see the day when new Luda & a T.I. albums were better than Common & Ye albums.
The global recession has hit Hip Hop 2000 & (NotSo)Gr8
Discuss.
Realist shit I done heard all day. But then the grim fact is that T.I. and 'Cris, even though they from the South, can actually rap some shit. They far and away the only two Southern rappers that move me at all, along with maybe Bun B. Other than that The South stupid wack, come to think of it da whole US straight wack at this point.
I mean if Common comin' out with garbage what does that say 'bout da state of Hip-Hop? Still can't believe dat Immo Tech ain't made it to da Mainstream yet. Papoose, Saigon and Tru-Life still ain't come out wid nothing ground-breaking. Wu-Tang came out wid trash earlier this year (8 Diagrams), Fat Joe moved to Miami (like real-life Mobster's do), Young Gunz is stupid overrated, Fabo still cheesy widdit, so that means the East is definitely in a Recession maybe even a Depression. And what da f*** ever happened to Jers' Da Brick City, where's Joe Budden and Redman?
Ain't heard shit from Royce Da 5'9'', Rhymefest kinda invisible right now, Bump J and Young Miles ain't come through like I thought they would, so The D and The Chi, in fact the whole Mid-West ain't poppin' nuthin, what the f*** yo? At least da West still bein' held down by The Game and Crooked I though.
At da Centre, it's Inventor of dis Art-of-Rap / Seida-Crook I'm da Genuine Artefact // Rappers know I spit Godly-Rap, I gave da Industry a Heart-Attack / Like "OH MY GOD-HE'S-BACK"!!!!!!! /
