CunninLynguists - My Habit (I Haven’t Changed)

Every CunninLynguists album is superb.  They’re definitely the most consistent hip-hop group I’ve ever known.  Their latest album Oneirology (a term meaning the study of dreams) was released last year, and it was one of the better albums of 2011.  It’s very different from every other CunninLynguists album, and a very unique hip-hop album in general.  Oneirology’s whole musical aura is definitely more emotional and abstract in nature, but it still manages to maintain a very structured feel.

I believe Kno was mostly responsible for this dramatic shift in the group’s sound. He produces all of their beats and raps a decent amount on the album as well, so his emotional standpoint obviously has a huge impact on the group’s overall music.  During the time he was making Oneirology and his first solo album Death Is Silent, he was going through an extremely dark time in his life.  He said making the albums kept him going…and kept him “from loosing his mind”.  Both of these albums shifted from the groups generally upbeat and varied style of raps to primarily soft ambient instrumentals laced with very personal and emotional lyrics.  This is an exceptionally artistic album, but it’s actually my least favorite CunninLynguists album.  I’m used to a lot of variation from them, which makes each song sound special in it’s own way.  Unfortunately Oneirology suffers from a lot of the songs seemingly blending together by having similar tempos, beats, and overall feel.  Don’t get me wrong though, this is an outstanding album, but you really need to be in the right mind state to fully enjoy it.

This is my favorite song off of the album.

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My Song Rating: 9.4 out of 10

Vast Aire - Iconoclasts (Syndaesia & AKS Remix)

This song also featured Killah Priest and Bronze Nazereth, but I edited them out so there’s only Vast Aire’s part. You might be asking, “Why?” Well the answers simple, Vast Aire’s part in this song is far greater than just about any other musical sound you’ll ever come across. This has been my ringtone for a couple years. 

The original was amazing, but for some reason when Vast Aire’s hard hitting flow is laced with blood pumping dubstep, some serious magic happens. For the first month or so that I would listen to Vast aire’s part of this song, I inherent got an adrenaline rush of sorts. There’s nothing like it. I really wish there was more music like this out there.  From the album Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture Vol. 2: Enter The Dubstep.

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My Song Rating (only Vast Aire’s verse) : 10 out of 10

Pigeon John - Before Were Gone

This song is from his album Dragon Slayer…which is lowkey extremely amazing.  It’s easily the best album he’s ever made, mostly because all off Pigeon John’s early albums are unfortunately really bad.  But really though, the album is outstanding chill and definitely something you should check out if you enjoy this song.

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My Song Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Masta Ace - Acknowledge

Easily one of the greatest diss songs of all time, and it’s strong on point lyrical rawness makes any dissing Common and Drake did during their little beef look extremely passive. Parts of it are aimed at High & Mighty, but most of the song targets the hip-hop artist Boogieman.  Ace and Boogieman had a freestyle battle years ago, but it was obvious that the battle was fairly illegitimate, since Boogieman spits raps that were clearly written before hand.  Masta Ace shot back with this song…and Boogieman pretty much fell off the map.  This is off of Ace’s album Disposable Arts.

“And don’t answer back, this is hard shit to follow
And you can’t spit nigga, so you obviously must swallow, motherfucker”

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My Song Rating: 9.8 out of 10

Macklemore - Church (ft. Geologic)

This is a truly beautiful song and one of my all time favorites from Macklemore.  As a Jewish/Humanist I have an exceptionally strong appreciation for this song.  The lyrics are extremely intelligent and well worded, and both MCs portray an ideology that’s unfortunately rarely seen in hip-hop.  Both the beat and soft chorus instrumental are phenomenal and really suit the tone of the song well.

This is from Macklemore’s “The Unplanned Mixtape”.

“The only time I felt like I was talking to God, was in my Walkman walking with Nas”

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My Song Rating: 9.7 out of 10

Atmosphere - Don’t Forget

Just one of the many amazing hip-hop songs from Atmosphere that perfectly demonstrates how real lyrics will always trump one-dimensional/ignorant verses.  This is from their EP “Sad Clown Bad Summer Number 9”.

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My Song Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Mac Miller - Of The Soul (Remix) (ft. Posdnous & Raekwon)

I liked the original version of this song, and it’s definitely a standout on his album “Blue Slide Park”, which unfortunately isn’t saying much since the album is painfully average.  It’s pretty obvious that this remix is much better than the original thanks to the Wu-Tang and De La Soul features (they absolutely kill it), but Mac Miller definitely still holds his own amongst the two legends…mostly because the verse he spits is one his best to date.

I feel Mac Miller’s biggest problem is his versatility, since a lot of his songs seem to just drone on with the same standard Mac Miller flow and subject matter, and adding solid variation to his music in any way inevitably improves his works.  So when this variation comes in the form of two outstanding features, some truly great hip-hop is produced.  You’ll most likely be seeing this on my “Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2012” list.

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My Song Rating: 9.8 out of 10

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