This is more like it

evil_seed

Finally rappers are back to gettin lyrical.
DMX - Lord Gimme a sign
Ludacris - tell it like it is
Method Man - things they say
Busta - through the storm

Its lookin good with all these droppin new albums in the near future, bar busta who has already dropped the big bang. Plus the roots are coming soon too:D

Makaveli

The Roots album is really good. Album of the year.

me and the biz

Makaveli wrote:

The Roots album is really good. Album of the year.

for sure.

I think I prefere it to Tipping point


maybe after a few more spins

Sm0ke

DMX is brilliant! man im glad hes back with more, and with that song its looking like hes not rappin like a crackhead again lol

lovin that luda song too havnt listened to him much but that song is completly diffrent than any of his others ive heard

WOOF WOOF! no more barkin D ,please!

Makaveli

Well after some more listening Game Theory is a solid album throughout. No dodgy tracks that plagued Phrenology (Break You Off, ugh) and sounds more gritty than the over produced (imo) Tipping Point.

It could have gone all pear shaped, what with it being a Def Jam release and the threat of a few too many people wanting to interfere with the album, but it seems that they were allowed release the album that they wanted to. It has a darker sound to it than the more recent albums and I love it. There isnt a bad track on the album and it's one you will listen to straight through almost every time.

Black Thought is strong lyrically and Questlove does his thing with the drums and production. Great album. Too bad it's not out til 29th August.

Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening, em hell yes! Super album, starts where you feel he left off with The Lectures and sucks you in and ends very strongly. Well paced album and if you like the Cut Chemist style this will not disappoint, unlike some other DJs, he hasn't strayed away from the sound he knows works well.

Standout track on this album has to be Storm featuring Edan and Mr Lif. I love this song, absolute banger. The Garden and 2266 Cambridge are other standouts for me. Again, like The Roots album there's no filler here, all the tracks deserve the time it takes to listen to them.

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DJ Shadow - The Outsider. Eh, it's bad. Not all bad mind you but it will send you running to Endtroducing just so you can feel clean again. Starts off like something epic is going to happen, with the intro and voiceover through it, then it leads into This Time and you're thinking hey this isn't too bad, got a bit of Brainfreeze vibe to it, cool. Ha, don't be fooled, honestly the next track will have you checking to see if you're still listening to the same album and leave you wondering did some record over the album accidentally with some other crap?

I'm sure you've heard 3 Freaks? Yeah, well if not you're not missing out on anything. DJ Shadow does Hyphy! It's bad, really bad. Then it's followed up with another slap to the face with Turf Dancing. More hyphy bullshít. At this stage you want to turn it off, but like morbid curiosity you keep playing and it looks bleak. Keep Em Close is next and it's more of the same, the lyrics are pathetic and the beat is poor. Next is the David Banner track, the beat picks up but I dunno it's like a crunk hyphy mish mash and although it may do it in a club it's just not that good.

So at this stage you're pretty much ready to make a frisbee out of this album, however things start to look up a bit at the mind way point. For what it's worth, the tracks that aren't featuring someone are actually pretty good. Good enough to listen to while avoiding the hyphy crap. The track featuring Phonte (Littlebrother's Phonte in case you're wondering) is a nice track. Not what you would expect from Shadow but hell at this stage you just want to find anything redeeming from this album and well here is a shining light. Phonte is Phonte so you know what to expect.

Then it moves onto the track Triplicate Something Happened That Day, hmmm, an instrumental, more mellow, is this actually what we're used to? A more typical DJ Shadow track? Well, in a way. It never really picks up and there's no real hint of a beat, but I'll take what I can at this point. Another promising track, that's two back to back, I'm starting to forget about the first half of the album. If this continues I may actually make it to the end of the album.

To be honest this album is all over the place. It has too many styles and lacks any real consistency. It's as if he has taken tracks he has in his back catalogue when he was into different moods and sounds and stuck it all together in one album. It doesn't work for me. It's too hard to get into the album because when you think you're about to settle into it the pace and style changes again. Ironically the most consistent part of the album is the hyphy part but you just want that to be over and done with as quickly as possible (well at least I did).

The Tiger is the next track, and it sounds different to last the track. Vocals on this track by someone I've never heard of so I dunno what sort of music they make. It's not a bad track, but again it's not exactly what you would expect. Indie rock style, but the beat to it is nice. Singing is a bit whiney (I dunno if that's the best way to describe it, maybe exagerated would be a better word).

Just realised I made a bit of jump further back. There is a bridge between the David Banner track and the Phonte track. The two instrumental tracks in between are Broken Levee Blues and Artifact. They are the turning point in the album and are decent tracks. Honestly, if you take the intro and track two and then jump to track 8 you'll be doing yourself a favour.

After The Tiger it all goes a bit indie. The beats are DJ Shadow beats but the vocals don't really do them any favours. Had they been left as instrumentals they would be better appreciated imo. Still at least they are sounding like DJ Shadow of old.

Then the next track goes in yet another direction. Guitar laced track, female vocalist, it's not a bad track but I dunno where it's come from. Really this album is a mess. No consistency. Endtroducing and The Private Press worked, they made sense as albums there was a flow to them, not this though you'd get motion sickness from the chops and changes in styles.

Erase You feat Chris James (shouldn't that be Chris Martin?) Coldplay all the way with this track. If you like Coldplay then you'll like it, if you, like me, think Coldplay are bland then you'll be less than impressed, however be glad you're listening to that rather than another hyphy track.

The track with Q-Tip and Lateef is meh. Beat is all wrong, out of place and ill suited. Still at least it's not hyphy *sigh*.

Right well to sum it all up, the album is a mess. Ends stronger than it starts but that's not difficult. Listen to it for the novelty that it is. If you listen to it expecting another Endtroducing or Private Press you will be bitterly disappointed. I dunno what DJ Shadow was thinking when he made this, maybe he was thinking about making big bucks out of it, if so, well I wish him luck, maybe he'll go back to making good records then.

Wow, that went on a bit longer than I meant it to.