Hip-Hop Reviews

  Rating:
  Review Date: February 1, 2010
  Website: Kats Website
  Label: Free Ice Cream

Kats “I Can Levitate” Album Review
I’ve really enjoyed following the progression of NYC’s Free Ice Cream crew over the past year. A local collective of underground emcees and beatmakers, Free Ice Cream throws Maker’s Mark sponsored barbeques in Williamsburg every weekend during the summer, featuring free food, free whiskey, and free CDs. They drop a new free album monthly, highlighted by the “Almost Fameless” series which feature a huge list of local rappers, producers and deejays. And they follow up most of the releases with concerts featuring a dope roster of artists and, yup, free whiskey. Kats’ “I Can Levitate” is the latest free album by the crew, and definitely worth checking out. (more…)

Rating:
Review Date: January 13, 2010
Website: Sleep Website
Label: Strange Famous Records

Sleep “Hesitation Wounds” Album Review
I heard of Sleep a couple years back when somebody emailed me some material from a Northwest hip-hop collective known as oldominion. But I never got around to listening to his music. Then recently, one of my connects over at Strange Famous Records sent me Sleep’s track Lothar, which I posted on HHL. Then about a month ago, when I stumbled across a video for Sleep’s Orchestra of Strangers, I was so impressed that I immediately picked up a copy of “Hesitation Wounds.” And I’ve been bumping the album regularly ever since. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: November 10, 2009
  Website: Brother Ali Website
  Label: Rhymesayers

Brother Ali “Us” Album Review
This is probably the best album of the year. And that’s saying a lot – because a couple classic hip-hop albums have dropped in 2009. I’ve been listening to Brother Ali’s “Us” consistently for over a month now, and it is almost flawless from beginning to end. I believe this could be the definitive album of Ali’s hip-hop career. It appears to be the accumulation of years of hard work, sacrifice and growth. If you haven’t picked up a copy of Brother Ali’s “Us” yet, now is the time. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: October 5, 2009
  Website: E&A Website
  Label: Rhymesayers

Eyedea & Abilities “By The Throat” Album Review
I’ve been listening to this album off and on for over a month now. To be honest, it didn’t really jump out at me right away, but was good enough to hold a spot on my current rotation. Then after several listens, it really started to come together for me. Eyedea & Abilities’ “By The Throat” is one of those albums you shouldn’t listen to just once: Because once you get past the shock of the duo’s new rock approach, the often-emo lyrical content, and the fact that the album is very short, you’re likely to find yet another amazing work of art by E&A. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: August 10, 2009
  Website: Eminem Website
  Label: Shady Records

Eminem “Relapse” Album Review
Okay – so this album did drop a long time ago. And I am months behind on reviewing it. But being that Eminem doesn’t really fit HHL’s underground niche, I had no plans to talk about “Relapse” on the site. That was until a couple weeks ago when I posted Déjà Vu as quotable of the week and started reading all the negative responses toward it. And it immediately became clear that underground hip-hop fans are hating on Eminem right now – so I had to put in my two cents. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: June 10, 2009
  Website: K-os Website
  Label: Crown Loyalist Recordings

K-os “Yes!” Album Review
K-os is an artist who is just constantly evolving. His first three albums, each a classic in my mind, showed K-os on a different musical journey. And after where he took his last effort, “Atlantis: Hymns for Disco,” I couldn’t really imagine what he had left in him. Where could K-os possibly go next? Well, with “Yes!” K-os has proven that his evolution is not yet complete, and that he is incapable of making a less than spectacular album. And even better for HHL followers, “Yes!” seems to be more hip-hop based than his past couple of albums. (more…)

Rating:
Review Date: May 19, 2009
Website: Mr. Lif Website
Label: Definitive Jux

Mr. Lif “I Heard It Today” Album Review
I’ve got to admit, I’ve been a little disappointed with hip-hop’s lack of awareness recently. While everybody came together in support of Obama, we all just seemed to drop off in the months following the election – as if there was no economic instability, housing crisis or social injustice being done in this country. Luckily, Mr. Lif stepped up with “I Heard It Today,” an album intended to create dialogue about various problems that plague our nation today. (more…)

Rating:
Review Date: May 4, 2009
Website: RNR Website
Label: Indie

Rugged N Raw “Truth Serum” Album Review
For me, Rugged N Raw’s “Truth Serum” is a perfect example of how music videos and free track downloads can help artists find fans in this new age of the hip-hop industry. I picked up this album from RNR at a local show almost a year ago. Being a big fan of his previous release “Another Level,” I listened to the new album right away, and even picked Life’s Purpose to be HHL track of the week in October – before getting caught up in other music. But recently, RNR dropped consecutive videos for I’m Broke and Proud and The Ultimate, and I was so impressed with them that I gave “Truth Serum” another listen – and I’ve been bumping it nonstop ever since. (more…)

Rating:
Review Date: April 6, 2009
Website: X-Clan Website
Label: Suburban Noize Records

X-Clan “Mainstream Outlawz” Album Review
X-Clan is one of those groups that always makes me realize how far my musical tastes vary from the norm. I guess I realized this back in ’07, after I gave “Return From Mecca” five stars while pretty much everybody else dissed it. Two years later, all I can find is negative reviews of X-Clan’s “Mainstream Outlawz,” yet I think this album is super dope – and has been bumping on my iPod for over two weeks now. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: March 9, 2009
  Website: K’naan Website
  Label: A&M/Octone

K’naan “Troubadour” Album Review
I only paid $2 for this album. I guess there was some kind of fuck up over at Amazon.com, because when I went there to preview the tracks, the sale price was listed as $1.99. Realizing this couldn’t be correct, I quickly jumped on that shit and, immediately after purchasing, checked the page again to see the price listed at $7.99. Nice, huh? Especially since K’naan’s “Troubadour” has become probably my favorite album of 2009 thus far. (more…)