Journey Into Sound: 10/8/10

First and foremost, follow me on twitter @kreateen (yes, I am a rapper). 2010 is coming to an end, but some good music has been put out. Brief overview for August just in case you missed it: Kanye dropped the Power video, Hip–Hop cash cows have declared Jay–Z the top earner with $63 million, and Eminem’s Recovery has sold two million copies, I’ll type it out for you, 2,000,000. Not my swag, but for those who are into Young Buck, he dropped an album entitled The Rehab under his new found label, Real Talk Ent., along with label mates Chingy, 8Ball & MJG, and Pastor Troy. Breaking away from 50 Cent and his old crew, it seems he’s retreated back to his hunger, doing what he does best.

Low on the radar, Album of the Year, by Black Milk, was pretty good indeed. Being compared to J. Dilla seemed to lift him up rather than leave a chip on his shoulder. Rather than having a hazy, laid back approach, he comes hard with rock samples. Developments in his lyricism give him the thumbs up from me. Label mates, Curren$y, Smoke DZA and Stalley help the producer by laying their voice over the tracks, along with Wiz Khalifa, The Cool Kids, Tabi Bonney and others. Unfortunately, Mos Def’s songs turned into instrumentals because of clearance issues. Haven’t got a chance to listen, but an honorable mention from what I’ve heard is Wake Up! by John Legend & The Roots.

Lil Wayne dropped a new album while in “prison”, entitled, I Am Not a Human Being. I have heard a couple singles, but I can’t really judge the album. Someone tell me how it is, please. Ahh Gucci, Gucci, Gucci. How far street credibility will get you! Due to his love from the streets and dropping mixtape after mixtape, Gucci Mane finally releases an album. The appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted. It’s Gucci, so nothing new.

Now for the big shebang. Every day in class, some classmates and I have discussions about music, mainly rap. During these discussions, we establish who we like and dislike. The person I stay behind till the end is Lupe Fiasco. Though he hasn’t released as many mixtapes other artists, he still puts out music. Now here’s the time to break this down. A rapper is an artist that is good at explaining their life, and their life alone. They may have a couple dance songs or a little bass in their beats, but they are limited to what they know. In contrast, a Hip–Hop artist can expand beyond their dimensions of life and touch on other topics, storytelling and connecting different worlds alike. After realizing this I said to myself, a rapper can’t be compared to a hip–hop artist, so there is no point in trying to explain why Lupe is the best hip–hop artist breathing. In order to get a better understanding of his albums, I advise you to listen to his mixtapes, follow him on twitter, and wait for his next album, Lasers, to come out.