For the Wu-Tang Clan fans out there check out Raekwon's "Only Built For Cuban Linx... II", easily his best work since the first OB4CL. The album features hip-hop legend Slick Rick along with the likes of East coast heavyweights Beanie Sigel, Jadakiss and Styles P. The album also features the majority of the Clan, minus U God, RZA and O.D.B. (R.I.P.), but adds Wu-affiliate Cappadonna to the albums roster. The album, to me, ventures into the Wu-Tang I fell in love with. I'm talking about the Wu-Tang "Forever" style, flow and beats. The album is executively produced by the RZA (big surprise) and features a handful of beats from J Dilla's (R.I.P.) catalogue along with Dr. Dre, Marley Marl, The Alchemist, Erick Sermon, Pete Rock and more. I urge you to pick this album up, it is, to me, what 2009 hip-hop needed.
Check out these tracks: We Will Rob You, New Wu, Kiss The Ring (which samples Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road")
Also, fresh out, is Beanie Sigel's "Broad Street Bully". I've only went through the album no more than twice, so I cannot really give much of a critique. I wasn't disappointed though. Check it out for yourself and let me know how you feel about it.
Finally, the Blueprint 3. I've heard so many mixed emotions about this album. The leaks and singles don't do the other songs on the album justice. Jay still delivers solid lyrics (on some questionable beats), sometimes I feel like he ran out of things to rap about, but for a man approaching 40 this year he is still putting out some decent material. I can honestly say that I love his track "Empire State of Mind", however, I can't say that any of the other songs on the album have struck me like Blueprint, Reasonable Doubt, or the Lifetime series Jay-Z has, but hip-hop has changed and Jay has aged. The direction of the BP3 is not meant to be like any old Jay-Z, and I think that everyone was hoping for old Jay-Z, and under Kanye's direction I doubt that Jay-Z would be moving backwards. That is my two cents.
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