The Smarks Hip Hop Album of the Week Club

[King Kong Booty]

@Hoss you can give your thoughts on Big L and drop another album

 

[Hoss]

Forgot to say anything about the Big L album. The basic gist would be... shit was good. I had heads several songs off of it after all, and they were kinda the best ones. I can see why he was expected to make a big impact, he really exemplifies that time and place he's from. He'll probably stay in the mix going forward when it comes to playing throwbacks.

I'll share a new album tomorrow, I'm a little conflicted at the moment.

 

[Hoss]

I'll stick with a fun and upbeat vibe for this album once again. Also perhaps our first female nominee. TiaCorine is an up-and-comer from Florida, who has collaborated with a lot of established acts so far, mostly southern based artists like Denzel Curry and JID. Her music is very bouncy, free and has a bit of that y2k vibe, something like a Missy Elliot energy.

 

[King Kong Booty]

Never heard of this artist so let’s see what they got

 

[King Kong Booty]

This album was quite the mix bag for me half of it. I enjoyed while the other half was not so great. There was a couple songs I really enjoyed. boogie and especially rocket. We’re good rocket was probably the best song I’ve heard doing this challenge. I’ll probably give this album. Another listen to to see if there’s anything else I really like on it but for the most part, I enjoyed it just for a rocket alone. It was worth a listen to.

 

[Jimmy King]

I vibed with this one, especially the latter half of the album but I did like some of the early tracks like Chaka Khan. I also really liked the track Birds and the last couple of tracks. Felt a bit more like a pop album than a hip hop album(not a bad thing) but overall I dug it.

 

[King Kong Booty]

That was quick
Here’s my next entry

 

[Jimmy King]

I almost picked Proof’s “Searching for Jerry Garcia” for one of my choices.

I really liked this one a lot. Especially liked the tracks “Waffle House” and “NaNa”. It’s a short but sweet album with some nice beats and flow.

 

[Hoss]

I listened to the Promatic album. This is another somewhat blindspot for me in rap, the "underground" of the 2000s is still pretty unfamiliar to me. I've heard some Proof before but not Dogmatic to my knowledge. No super strong feelings going into this, as I'm neither an Eminem/D12 fan, nor a hater, so no bias there. My experience was pretty unremarkable, which I don't mean as a dig. The album really just kinda came and went. I enjoyed it while it lasted but afterwards, didn't leave me with a lot to say or think about. I really liked the production of Doce Do, that's honestly my biggest note. I looked this up and saw it came out in 2002 which is exactly the year I had in mind based off the vibe I think part of my enjoyment of Doce Do was them mimicking a 90s style rap song, which I actually prefer to their contemporary sounding songs. The early 2000s was not a strong era for me in terms of the sound that was popular. I would say I liked this album slightly more than the Obie Trice one. I also thought it was cool to see J.U.S. on this album, he isn't someone I listen to but have heard him over the years and I know him as part of Danny Brown's Bruiser Brigade. It's so interesting when you have these kinda random rappers who manage to stick around so long without ever really blowing up and going totally broke somehow. I just recently read that Roc Marciano was in fucking Flipmode Squad back in the day and that shit blew me away. I first heard that dude back when I was in high school and he had like "up and comer" vibes I thought. Always associated him with the class of early 2010s boom bap leaning rappers like Action Bronson, Smoke DZA, Joey Bada$$ and them but that motherfucker was peers with N.O.R.E. and Papoose

 

[King Kong Booty]

This was the track of Promatic’s I really dug cuz of its different vibe


But its not on Spotify

 

[Hoss]

@Jimmy King an album for next week perhaps?

 

[Jimmy King]

Another one of my favorites from my youth.

 

[Hoss]

Another one of my favorites from my youth.

Yeah just an absolutely classic album. Maybe my favorite album anyone has brought to the table, though tbf I knew this album quite well already and I could be forgetting some of the other albums we've looked at. I had this CD at one point as a teenager, got it from my cousin. I clearly remember riding around with him during the summers and bumping Half On A Sack like crazy. Peak shit. I hadn't revisited the album as an adult though and I can tell I mostly just listened to the hits back in the day because some of the songs were completely unfamiliar to me. The thing that really stuck out at the end of the album to me was how excellent the production was on the whole album, but especially some of the songs near the end where they deviated from their normal style a little bit more sonically. The beat to Pussy Got Ya Hooked is fucking amazing to me for some reason. Body Parts 3 also was very notable for the unique beat. I was really impressed to hear that variety from them because they are known for having such a distinct style. It's been really cool to see how in the last decade, new rappers are taking a ton of inspiration from Three 6. Hell, they basically have their own subgenre of rap based around people using their samples. I'd be tempted to say that their impact on today's mainstream rap is greater than anyone else pre-Kanye era. They've kinda eclipsed Wu-Tang in that regard I'd say. But yeah, this is a classic all-timer album right here.

 

[King Kong Booty]

Not gonna lie I really wasn’t looking forward to this because I always just dismissed Three 6 Mafia because of their stupid name. But I thoroughly enjoyed it much more than expected. I think my favorite track was the opening track and it was way more upbeat than I was thinking it was gonna be. I’ll definitely give it another check when I make some playlists. @Hoss you’re up

 

[Hoss]

Aight Imma go with Dali Ain't Dead by ZelooperZ from last year. Admittedly this one was somewhat of a grower for me, but over time I came to really love it. Dude is from Detroit and is part of Danny Brown's Bruiser Brigade. He collabs with quite a few artists I like such as Danny, Earl Sweatshirt, Zack Fox and TiaCorine (the overlap with Tia and Shady affiliated rappers definitely inspired the choice a little).

Just know going in that his voice is outrageous at times, but maybe give it time to grow if you hate it at first. Also, chose this project from him because I think it covers the most vibes and genres. Some of his music is pure chaos, some is really smooth, this album showcases basically his whole range of musicality.