I was just looking at album reviews and stumbled upon Why? - Alopecia, now I love this album and was glad to see generally favourable reviews, but noticed that included in their score is a 35 from rapreviews.com. Everyone's allowed their point of view of course but this review seems to rely heavily upon how the album isn't 'hip-hop' enough or contain enough rap.

My question is why are such reviewers included, they are quite clearly genre specific and don't give a fair indication. From what I can see as well, this score would take down Why?'s average quite a lot.

Would you include reviews from Kerrang! for the latest Spice Girls album?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dickitch,

I agree that there are often some decidedly biased reviews filter through the system and drop some really good albums off the Metacritic radar.

I hadn't noticed this affecting the Why? album though. Some of us had already start a conversion about how poor the review is though. See

Ah so i see, i did do a search (honest) but failed to notice that it was the most recent post before mine, ooops. sorry!

I don't know if it's affected it that much, but from what i can gather if it weren't for such a low score here it may put the album into the 80s, which is where it belongs in my opinion (and the majority of other major critics)

Rapreviews even give it a 1/10 for lyrics... insane, it's a lyrical masterpiece and altho morbid and 'random' on first listen, never have such 'streams of consciousness' created such vivid images. If ya know what i mean?

Yeah, as soon as I saw the 1/10 for lyrics I know the review was bogus. I mean, I'm not trying to knock on the genre or anything, but how much thought really ever goes into the typical rap lyrics. The only reason I am actually able to stomach groups like Why? and Subtle and the rest of anticon is because they don't write song after song about how they are so much better than other muscians, can get with lots of ladies, and have a very large penis. Even if you can't appreciate the cleverness and dark humor of Why? lyrics you have to at least respect that they aren't trite.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
Yeah, as soon as I saw the 1/10 for lyrics I know the review was bogus. I mean, I'm not trying to knock on the genre or anything, but how much thought really ever goes into the typical rap lyrics. The only reason I am actually able to stomach groups like Why? and Subtle and the rest of anticon is because they don't write song after song about how they are so much better than other muscians, can get with lots of ladies, and have a very large penis. Even if you can't appreciate the cleverness and dark humor of Why? lyrics you have to at least respect that they aren't trite.

How much Hip-Hop do you actually listen to?

quote:

Originally posted by Turenne:

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
Yeah, as soon as I saw the 1/10 for lyrics I know the review was bogus. I mean, I'm not trying to knock on the genre or anything, but how much thought really ever goes into the typical rap lyrics. The only reason I am actually able to stomach groups like Why? and Subtle and the rest of anticon is because they don't write song after song about how they are so much better than other muscians, can get with lots of ladies, and have a very large penis. Even if you can't appreciate the cleverness and dark humor of Why? lyrics you have to at least respect that they aren't trite.

How much Hip-Hop do you actually listen to?

Honestly I don't listen to an awful lot. It wasn't until a few years ago that I even stopped to really listen to anything remotely hip-hop. I have found a lot since then that I can appreciate and respect, but still, everytime someone raves about new hip-hop album, I check it out with an open mind and get the same thing.

Just the other day I discovered a friend of mine listens to Hip Hop, so i asked him to play me a few tracks. I was disapointed. For example, one of the songs he played me was "lollipop". What other genre has top hits that are basically a guy singing about getting a blow job?

I would be very interested in being introduced to some Hip-Hop that isn't all about attitude and status. Themes other than sex, prestige, crime, without a lot of bad language, would be nice. I'm honestly interested. I think there is a lot of potential in the genre, I just haven't found it yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
I would be very interested in being introduced to some Hip-Hop that isn't all about attitude and status. Themes other than sex, prestige, crime, without a lot of bad language, would be nice. I'm honestly interested. I think there is a lot of potential in the genre, I just haven't found it yet.

OK, first, first thing tomorrow (or whenever you get the chance) you are going to go your nearest record store and are buying The Roots new album, Rising Down, trust me.

Second, if you see any albums by these artists in the used or new section I would consider buying them:

The Roots
Common
Talib Kweli
Mos Def

That should be a good start for now and again, trust me, these are some of the best artists/bands currently making music, period.

Beware, Mos Def only has one good album, not including his collab with Talib Kweli called Blackstar, and both Talib and Common are pretty inconsistent, their newest work in particurly is rather dodgy. The Roots are essentially golden, although Things Fall Apart is their masterpiece imo and the perfect starting place.

Rapreviews is a joke of a website, and so I'm not suprised with their irrationality concerning Alopecia.

quote:

Rapreviews is a joke of a website, and so I'm not suprised with their irrationality concerning Alopecia.

And that's pretty much my point here. I'm not questioning the hip-hop genre at all and am sure that if I delved into it enough I would come out loving many albums. Sadly, to a lot of people all hip-hop has been tarred with the same brush as this childish pop/hip-hop chart topping stuff that seems to revolve around big guns, big money and big arses...

...and back to my point, which was that rapreviews* looks like a pretty bad website as it is and is quite clearly genre specific, why is it included in the official reviews where it can affect the scores of albums that 'aren't hip-hop'?

*Think they left off the C at the beginning when registering the domain.

quote:

Originally posted by Turenne:
Beware, Mos Def only has one good album, not including his collab with Talib Kweli called Blackstar, and both Talib and Common are pretty inconsistent, their newest work in particurly is rather dodgy. The Roots are essentially golden, although Things Fall Apart is their masterpiece imo and the perfect starting place.

No, I disagree with most everything there.

Mos Def's music is good on all accounts. Some people didn't like his last two albums for dumb reasons but his lyrical flow and hooks are all still there. Talib Kweli and Common both have great discographies and I wouldn't refuse one or the other because some albums aren't as strong as others. Their brand of hip-hop/rap is still tons better than a lot of the other junk out there.

With The Roots, start at the beginning with Organix and work your way from there. They have more than one masterpiece but many do claim it is Things Fall Apart. However, they were good from the very beginning and are still the best band in hip-hop, let alone one of the best American bands currently making music.

I dislike Mos Def's last two albums because the production stinks and they are half assed. Hardly 'dumb reasons', and two albums best avoided unless you want to put people off Hip-Hop.

And again, few would disagree that Talib and Common's newest work are their weakest and most uninteresting, and that its best to start from the beginning with both (I assume we agree here). The same cannot be said for The Roots and it is beyond me as to why you would suggest their worst album ahead of the similar but vastly superior Do You Want More.

Personally, I don't think the production stinks on Mos Def's last two albums. And maybe his last one could be blamed for lack of effort but that was because he was trying to get out of his label's clutches. But as for The New Danger, he poured so much attention into that one. From the fusion of rock and hip-hop, to his lyrics about the struggles African-Americans still face, to the cover art and inside poster; there is no way it could be deemed as "half-assed." I mean, do you even own this album or do you just have it saved on your harddrive? So no, I don't think they should be "best avoided."

Yes, start with Kweli and Common at the start, that's fine but true fans will still enjoy their later albums. Both of their two previous albums (Finding Forever and Eardrum) didn't make my top 20 of their respective years but I still own them and listen to them quite a bit. This is because their brand of hip-hop is still so much better than what else is out there.

As for The Roots, Organix is their worst album? I entirely disagree there, no way. I love all of their albums and yeah, Do You Want More?!!??! is better but the first album is a great start to see where The Roots began. It's laid-back and really jamming; I have it on vinyl and it sounds electric.

If Organix isn't the worst Roots album, what is? Although I'm sort of interested in hearing ?uestlove rap Did you hear the new album? I think it's tight as hell, though could use some diversity, other than that it's almost as good as Game Theory.

But yeah rapreviews.com is a pretty crappy site, overall they overrate too many rap albums that only have half-decent lyrics going for them. Why? has made my favorite album of 2008 so far, the nerve they have...

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
to the cover art and inside poster; there is no way it could be deemed as "half-assed." I mean, do you even own this album or do you just have it saved on your harddrive?

Because cover art and additional posters are always indicative of an album's worth, of course.

FKA I'm going to ignore your pathetic remarks about 'true fans' and me not physically owning the album because all you seem to want is for me to insult you in return. Forget about it.

I will just say to anyone interested in The Roots and Mos Def to ignore FKA - his views are very much in the minority - and avoid the likes of Organix and New Danger unless you have bought both artists best albums. Such albums are for collectionists only.

Oh and I feel rapreviews should be excused for its indiscretion, and welcomed back into to the fold by including its review of the new Atmosphere album in the overall score of said album, if only to offset that obnoxious despicable review from Village Voice (who gave it a 3/10).