Hip Hop Album & Mixtape Reviews

Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city

Preview & Review

I’ve heard people say that rappers don’t make classic albums anymore, but the truth is we don’t let rappers make classic albums anymore. As I’ve written before, the definition of a classic album is one that stands the... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (73 votes)

Danny! - Payback

Preview & Review

They say the best music comes when an artist raps about what they know, which is why Jay-Z raps about being staggeringly rich, Kanye raps about himself and Rick Ross raps about eating lobster bisque for breakfast. Considering... Read Full Review

Machine Gun Kelly - Lace Up

Preview & Review

A rap blogger never reveals their true age, but let’s just say that I’m old enough to remember when Nintendo first came out. (Nope, not Nintendo DS, not Super Nintendo, we’re talking the OG Nintendo.) So I need to start... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (9 votes)

Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream

Preview & Review

I was in the Viper Room for the 2010 release party of Miguel’s breakthrough album, All I Want Is You, and what I saw was a young performer just coming into his own. A little over a year later, I caught him again at Club... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (9 votes)

MURS & Fashawn - This Generation

Preview & Review

A generation is defined by sharing similar cultural experiences, and in hip-hop a new generation is born every five years. In 2012 Drake, J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wiz Khalifa and Kendrick Lamar are five of the biggest names in... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (17 votes)

Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1

Preview & Review

Two years ago, when the debate around Lasers was raging harder than an ASU keg party, I repeatedly heard the argument that, “If this was an album from anyone but Lupe Fiasco you’d think it was great.” But that was... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (31 votes)

G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer

Preview & Review

That Cruel Summer is ultimately disappointing is one of the biggest compliments I could possibly pay Kanye West. For almost a decade now Mr. West has trained us to think of his albums as landmarks, not simply albums, and... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (26 votes)

Slaughterhouse - welcome to: OUR HOUSE

Preview & Review

Before we dig into welcome to: OUR HOUSE, let’s take a minute to truly understand what we’re talking about when we talk about Slaughterhouse. Hip-hop’s really never seen anything like this particular four-man crew... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (18 votes)

Trey Songz - Chapter V

Preview & Review

He’d never admit it, but some part of Trey Songz had to see Usher’s latest album, Lookin 4 Myself, go number one and silently curse. At this point only Usher Raymond is standing in Trey’s way in his quest to claim the... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (4 votes)

2 Chainz - Based on a T.R.U. Story

Preview & Review

Let’s be honest. It wasn’t that long ago that 2 Chainz seemed destined to go down in hip-hip history as “that guy from that group that had that one big song with Lil Wayne.” And yet, in 2012 Chainz has become an... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (20 votes)

Rick Ross - God Forgives, I Don’t

Preview & Review

Rick Ross isn’t a rapper. Or rather, rapper is only one job title on his increasingly large resume. At this point Ross is more cultural institution than he is artist. What started as William Leonard Roberts II is now Ricky... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (16 votes)

Nas - Life is Good

Preview & Review

In a way, it’s a compliment to say that a rapper’s fallen off. To have fallen, you must have once been at the top, and very few people can legitimately claim to have been the best in their profession, even if only for a... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (30 votes)

Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

Preview & Review

Frank Ocean’s debut album, Channel Orange, was already slated to become a landmark in R&B history before it was even released. Ocean’s breakthrough project, Nostaliga, Ultra, caught fire like musical napalm, and then... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (22 votes)

Chris Brown - Fortune

Preview & Review

History has provided us with a long list of shocking moments: David the lowly shepherd manages to take down the mighty Goliath, JFK is assassinated on a calm Texas day, T-Pain starts singing without Auto-Tune. These are all... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (7 votes)

Maybach Music Group - Self Made Vol. 2

Preview & Review

We tell our children that they can be anything they want if they just work hard and believe in themselves. That, of course, is mostly crap. No matter how hard I work or believe in myself, there just aren’t a lot of NFL... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (6 votes)

Smoke DZA - Rugby Thompson

Preview & Review

Riiiiight!! Smoke DZA is no stranger to The DJBooth, nor is he new to the rap game or to smoking a little herb. Like a drug addiction, the self-proclaimed Kush God’s newest album Rugby Thompson, in collaborating with... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (6 votes)

Usher - Looking 4 Myself

Preview & Review

In retrospect it was stupid of me to think that Usher had someone lost his grip on the modern R&B throne, even for a moment. Yes, it’s true that Here I Stand was the weakest effort of his career. That album showed that... Read Full Review

Avg User Rating: (7 votes)