By KEVIN JACOB
Staff Writer
Welcome all to another edition of Kickin It. I finally have some new music to review this week and I’m pretty happy with what I found for the most part. There was one project that literally made me almost stop listening to music entirely but I found some stuff that saved my musical interest. Maybe that last line was a bit dramatic but you’ll get why later on in the review.
Also since I usually speak on mostly whatever’s going on within the music scene, I noticed our Rose Rock chose being Chris Wallace. No, not Christopher Wallace the heavy MC from Brooklyn. But CHRIS WALLACE. After doing some research besides this guy having a million views on a Youtube video for one below average song I couldn’t find anything else on him. I’m just wondering how Saint Rose dropped the ball this year. From all the chatter I’ve been hearing it sounds like nobody voted for this guy and the response I’ve been hearing has been very overpowering with negativity. I know I didn’t vote for him and for good reason because the dude is trash. But here’s my one thing. If we vote for the Rose Rock act, yet somehow, get an act that nobody is happy with. Should there even be a point in voting at all? That I can’t answer. But I will predict that although I may check out this year’s Rose Rock to critique it, I’m guessing there will not be many people there.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s move on to some reviews!
Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience
– I reviewed this album mainly off of how good it was and I was not disappointed. JT and Timberland definitely went all in on 20/20 and the results came out to be really dope. The album starts off strong with “Pusher Love Girl” and continues with “Suit and Tie” which has actually really grown on me in the last couple of weeks despite that really lazy Jay-Z verse. The horns on “Don’t Hold the Wall” are crazy and “Strawberry Bubblegum” is probably my favorite song on the project overall. I thought overall that the album was pretty good and really creative. It’s definitely going to be one you can bang out of the droptop when summer finally arrives. I plan on hearing this one a lot.
Rating: 8/10
Jay Ant – The Blue Money Tape
Now that we got that weezy album out of the way let’s move on to something that I’ve actually been really digging. I was on twitter the other day and someone I followed mention this tape so I checked it out and was really impressed with it. Jay Ant is part of the The Invasion which is artist IAMSU’s crew. The whole crew hails from Oakland and are definitely on the come up in the ranks of west coast hip-hop. This whole mixtape has everything you need from laid back songs such as “Aliens” or “Do That” which is a straight up heater. Jay Ant’s impressed me with this one.
Rating: 8/10
Lil Wayne – I Am Not A Human Being Part II
Back when I was a freshman, which is almost three years ago, there would be certain times when certain music would be banging in the hallway. During that October, the artist of the month was Kid Cudi. So during all of October we played Kid Cudi. Before Cudder though Lil Wayne released his first installment of I Am Not A Human Being. Now at first I didn’t think that version was all that great but due to the extensive play it received in our hallway, it really grew on me. Now a few years later we have Part II. And I hate it.
They say hate is a strong word but I think it could be closely associated with this album. And I used to love Lil Wayne. Honestly. I was a huge fan back in high school and I’ve actually seen him in concert twice. But ever since he’s come back from his Rikers Island term, the guy lost it. The album starts off with “IANAHB” and honestly when it starts I had the feeling it was going to be a good song and a good start to the album. And then Wayne opens his mouth and it turns into pretty much any verse that Wayne’s spit in the past two years. “Curtains,” “Romance,” “God Bless Amerika,” are all forgettable and just completely awful. This whole album is weak. It’s a joke.
Despite how much I really didn’t like this thing I somehow managed to find a little bit of light on the project. “Gunwalk” isn’t bad and I even kind of like “Lay it Down” which is low key, a banger. “Rich as ****” isn’t bad. The only other thing I could say I even remotely liked was Gunplay’s verse on “Beat the ****,” which reminds me that I’m hyped for Gunplay to release his debut album because he’s vastly underrated.
Out of every album/mixtape/etc I’ve ever reviewed for the column, this is the one project I’ve hated the most. It literally pained me to write about it because I had to re-listen to it to describe everything. Seriously, this thing gave me a headache while writing about it. I’ve come to face that with Lil Wayne practically at deaths doorstep that we may not get much more from him musically. Somehow I can deal with that because if he keeps putting product out like this I’m not even going to bother with it. Guess I’m just going to have to keep bumping some old weezy. *puts on da drought 3*
Rating: 0/10
That’s all for another edition of Kickin It. Next week along with hopefully some other things to go over I will be reviewing Tyler The Creator’s “Wolf” and why it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard so far this year. Until then, Peace.
