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[HiResDes]

Albums Over $1 (Retail)

1.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds Like – Brooding crime legends narrated in unparalled detail in first person perspective by a highly calculated street poet with an atmosphere as dense as any decent film-noir

2.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Natti's solo album sounds as full and soulful as any recent CunninLynguist album, Kno's production is somehow both innovative and retrospective in nature creating such a heavily layered soundscape for Natti to float through with a southern soul-flow reminiscent of heydey Goodie Mobb and the like.

3.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds like - An album that questions law, science, and religion in a somewhat dense and highly thought-provoking affair.

4.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds Like – An swagged out take on trap rap that is centered around infectious hood anthems and melodic flows with a goofy machismo that makes the listening experience so much fun

5.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds Like – Aesthetically N64 owes a lot to dark Memphis gangsta rap and west coast legends Bone Thugs, but the subject matter is much more conscious and socially aware. Curry weaves through a bunch of dark topics with an incredible intensity and at a neckbreak pace only stopping occasionally to show his range on a few downtempo'd wavy tracks.

6.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds like - A bleak futuristic sounding rap album with a fatalistic tone and a vivid storyteller whose confessions seem to seeking out a choir rather than preaching to it.

7.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds Like – A pretty well-rounded affair with a few brilliant intimate moments and enough great beats to make the best of the free-fire multi-syllabic fuckery. It's biggest weakness is its lack of cohesion and personality.

8.

Sample Song
Sounds Like- An unrelenting ode to strippers, dank weed, and big guns with dynamic orchestral beats bombastic enough to blow out ya speaker system. You don't throw this album on unless you're about to get loose.

9.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Starlito has this rap style where he sounds as if he's just on the edge of sobriety and is liable to pass out at any second. What I find most appealing about Starlito and Cold Turkey is this intense existential contemplation that is constantly being woven into the subtext of every track.

10.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – This is some heydey West Coast gangsta shit, that boastful ridin music and these two legends haven't lost a single crip-walking step.

H.M.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – An ode to a lost love by a hopeless romantic with skill for weaving highly sensual innuendos and lovely similes into all of his verses.

 

[HiResDes]

$1 or Less Albums

1.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – A multi-faceted foray into life's excesses and the downfalls that come from them by a blunt foul-mouthed hooligan.

2.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Free-form bars that toy with becoming personal and intimate through allegories and metaphors, dropped over soulful samples and raw beats.

3.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds Like – Filthy synths and chopped up samples of vaudeville sounding material create an air filled with both humor and fear as if each verse was laced with cocaine and wax.

4.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – A frenetic swagged out affair reminiscent of Captain Murphy in both style and form, with countless pop culture references and an overall disregard for adherence to any single lane at any given time.

5.

Sample Song
Sounds like - A highly animated posse of rappers with a pension for rapping with reckless abandon at neckbreak speeds and about highly uncouth subjects at times, but the tape's best moments are mostly made of its mid to downtempo'd tracks that flirt with conventional yet personal topics.

6.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Key! is a trap rapper who can actually rap, but has enough to sense to know when not to overdo it and let some of the ridiculously dynamic trap beats he's rapping on take center stage, and this skill coupled with a fantastic hook game catapult the highs of Fathers Are the Curse to the sky.

7.

Sample Song
Sounds like - A murderous, perverse account by a soul-leathered thug with a fleeting heart.

8.

Sample Song
Needledrop Review
Sounds Like – Milo is an extremely intelligent rapper with a style that I might dare describe as melodic spoken word, and Calvalcade might be his most complex project to date dealing with various existential philosophies and religious considerations and though that makes it a bit less accessible it also lends the album an absurd amount of depth.

9.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Gawdy ignorant trap music with Versace and gold grill sensibilities. SWAG!

10.

Sample Song
Sounds Like- Well it's kind of complicated, the attempts at club bangers on this tape are nowhere near as good as Inland Empire. It's also more all over the place, but the variety is somewhat impressive considering the album's best tracks consist of rappity rap and downtempo shit, which is definitely a bit of a surprise. However, their hook game isn't quite as good, and the feature tracks mostly turn out rather mediocre. In comparison to their last tape, Come As You Are is a much more varied affair, but while Audio Push seems to have made giant strides in crafting a larger variety of songs, their knack for creating straight bangers seems to have been a bit diminished. Still this is a great tape for smoking and barbecuing.

11.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Like the drunk punk of trap rap, Life of a Savage 3 is trifling and stupid and all the better for it. Sex, drugs, and violence slathered in bass and guns blasting in one macho exhibition of epic phallic proportions.

12.

Sample Song
Sounds Like –An east-coast up and coming youngin takes back to the "real rap" era with conscious raps over soulful boom-bap tracks all while paying homage to the greats.

13.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – Chance the Rapper with a less high-pitched tone and Drake's pop sensibilities

14.

Sample Song
Sounds Like –Chance the Rapper with the swag of Ab-Soul

15.

Sample Song
Sounds Like – The amazing about Dee is how versatile he is, as he can do the nonchalant weed rap thing just as well as he can do the deep introspective thing without sounding too pedantic. Donny Cash is also a highly varied affair that lacks cohesion, but that's to be expected as a sort of compilation of b-sides from his upcoming release. Amazing potential.

 

[CRS]

Here for this.

 

[Courage]

Daps for theneedledrop links.

 

[Esch]

yay yayyeee

 

[Ken Masters]

Is that a top 10 list in the OP? Might be the worst I've seen in a long time

 

[enzo_gt]

No BOATS II? Trap AotY by far.

 

[Conciliator]

Damn The Needle Drop running the hip hop review game.

I need to check out that Ka thing

 

[CountBlack]

Good stuff Des.

 

[MuddyDonut]

Is that a top 10 list in the OP? Might be the worst I've seen in a long time

I'm pretty sure it's not, but if it is, what's wrong with it.

 

[cdyhybrid]

I'm pretty sure it's not, but if it is, what's wrong with it.

Drake isn't occupying all 10 spots

 

[Snuggles]

I'll have to give that Ka album a listen, but I'm not sure if it's my thing. Trap Lord and Nothing Was the Same are my personal favorites from the last quarter.

I'll be shocked if Q4 hasn't already been topped.

 

[Cerity]

Is that a top 10 list in the OP? Might be the worst I've seen in a long time

For Q3 hip hop releases it is.

Trap Lord and BetterOffDEAD were probably my favourite releases from Q3. Still need to check out Nostalgic64 though.

 

[Snuggles]

What else is there in Q3? You could make an argument for Big Sean or 2Chainz but I'm kinda over both albums already.

 

[Tokubetsu]

All these albums are garbage. Wish Kendrick would drop a new album already on these lames. #KingKendrick

 

[Forbin5]

Night's Gambit is fantastic!

 

[Cerity]

What else is there in Q3? You could make an argument for Big Sean or 2Chainz but I'm kinda over both albums already.

Clear Soul Forces' album also dropped Q3 (thought it was Q2 for some reason). It's also up there for Q3 releases IMO.

 

[overcast]

Is that a top 10 list in the OP? Might be the worst I've seen in a long time

It's retail only, and I am not sure there is anything wrong with it?

 

[Esch]

All these albums are garbage. Wish Kendrick would drop a new album already on these lames. #KingKendrick

 

[CountBlack]

All these albums are garbage. Wish Kendrick would drop a new album already on these lames. #KingKendrick

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

The best part of this interview was when the chick IMMEDIATELY got up and left when she realized she was still sitting next to Ab-Soul.

 

[Cheddahz]

I still need to listen to Trap Lord

 

[siddx]

It's retail only, and I am not sure there is anything wrong with it?

There isn't, Ken Masters is just being Ken Masters.

Thank you Hires, I appreciate the hard work.

 

[overcast]

Just finally got N64 today.

Good list, I didn't know you liked Doris as much as you did. To me it was a good debut, if a bit inconsistent. Trap Lord grew on me heavily.

Thanks for putting in the work Des.

 

[Jitters]

Doris is my favorite on that list.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Thank you HRD. The Night's Gambit is definitely top 10 this year.

 

[Kade]

N64 is great. Glad to see it on here.

 

[Cheddahz]

N64 is great. Glad to see it on here.

Same here, I really enjoyed N64

 

[Jay Sosa]

Thanks.

 

[m3k]

Thanks des, I really liked the last denzel curry release, I didn't know about this

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Does YC the Cynic's "GNK" not qualify as retail?

 

[HiResDes]

Does YC the Cynic's "GNK" not qualify as retail?

Didn't listen to it, even though I have it bookmarked. Have the mixtape list sitting in my wordpad list at home, but I had to go to work straight from my baby momma's...Will be up when I get home.

 

[Pinko Marx]

Thanks again HRD. Theres a few albums on this list I missed out on so I'll def be checking them.
Nostalgia 64 is that shit, though.

 

[Jitters]

I wish I liked N64 as much as everyone else does. Its like none of the songs really bring me back to the album. Its just ok to me.

 

[catashtrophe]

I'm not familiar with A$AP Ferg but after listening to 'Lord' I will never listen to him ever again. Bone Thugs especially Krayzie Bone tore him a new ass hole and put him on MC Hammer level.

 

[HiResDes]

I'm not familiar with A$AP Ferg but after listening to 'Lord' I will never listen to him ever again. Bone Thugs especially Krayzie Bone tore him a new ass hole and put him on MC Hammer level.

The Swag is not strong with this one.

 

[HiResDes]

MIXTAPES UP!

 

[Dereck]

The first 3 mixtapes

I agree so much

 

[PBY]

MIXTAPES UP!

Swag

Far trel is a piece of shit and shouldn't be on this list.

 

[HiResDes]

Swag

Far trel is a piece of shit and shouldn't be on this list.

I think Ross dropped him : (

 

[Cudder]

I'm thinkin you just forgot to put Still Motion up there. It's okay, we all make mistakes from time to time.

 

[Tokubetsu]

The worst thing about the OP, is how much it rates Needledrop. Yuck.

 

[HiResDes]

I'm thinkin you just forgot to put Still Motion up there. It's okay, we all make mistakes from time to time.

FUCK!

Edit: Thanks!...Corrected! Tough to remember stuff when you have things on two separate computers.

The worst thing about the OP, is how much it rates Needledrop. Yuck.

Why are you always such a negative nancy?

 

[Cerity]

I'm not familiar with A$AP Ferg but after listening to 'Lord' I will never listen to him ever again. Bone Thugs especially Krayzie Bone tore him a new ass hole and put him on MC Hammer level.

heh, don't take ferg seriously, he can't rap and he knows it. If you don't have your head bouncing to at least some of the tracks, I don't know man...

e: cheers for the heads up on the taylor bennet tape.

 

[adversesolutions]

The fact that the Rich Homie Quan tape is nowhere on this list makes it hard to take seriously.

 

[RJT]

Thanks again, man. I had no idea Natti dropped a solo album... In fact, I haven't heard a single album/mix from this quarter's list...

 

[Discotheque]

Dat ka album . School kids wait till midterms /finals or other scresssful times

The rest of y'all. When you get fired, or break up, or get evicted, or get the Herps listen to nights gambit and embrace the overbearing negativity in the album. If gets dark but it's great

 

[MuddyDonut]

two chance the rapper mentions

 

[CountBlack]

That Vic Mensa dude really does sound like a Chance rip off.

Apparently they grew up with each other thoo

 

[Dereck]

I just downloaded that Key! album.

That Vic Mensa dude really does sound like a Chance rip off.

Apparently they grew up with each other thoo

This is the opinion that I have that I do not want to have.