Up-and-coming New Orleans rapper CKoolKeys enters the game with his debut solo project CK.O.A.T. In case you're wondering, CK.O.A.T stands for 'coolest of all time'... or as Keys would say ckoolest of all time.
Ckool rappers need ckool beats to match their ckoolness and CK.O.A.T has plenty of that. Production-wise, the beats were pretty dope from start to finish. Some were smooth like the intro CKoat Speaks; others like IF (which samples the Destiny's child track of the same name) had a 'RnB feel' to it while tunes like Gotta Be had more of a 'street' feel to it. Either way all of the beats had that all-important co... ckool factor.
There's swag talk, playa talk, a few tunes for the ladies and hustler talk throughout the 9-track album. For me, IF is the standout track and I believe this was where Ckool was at his most introspective by letting the listeners know about the ups and downs in his life. Aside from that, other standouts were Ckoolest Of All Time and F.Y.G.E.S. KingiKeem also dropped a solid guest verse on The Big Man.
'I've been through a lot and I done did a lot/
think you comin for me you can't have my spot' IF
Solid effort by Keys and as you can see from the above quote, CkoolKeys ain't gonna give up his CK.O.A.T title. Check that out.
FAVES
Beat- IF
Verse- IF verse 2
Feature- KingiKeem
Track- IF
The QB legend returned with his second instalment of The Lost Tapes in mid-July. The Lost Tapes series, for those that don't know, is a compilation album consisting of songs that never made the final cut for his previous albums for whatever reason. On this release, there's recordings from Hip Hop Is Dead that was released in 2006, Untitled in 2008 and the critically-acclaimed Life Is Good in 2012. There's also speculation that there's songs from the album after which some claim was scrapped. The album was released to mixed reviews and I'm playing catch-up so it's only now I've managed to check it out...
Nas can rap with the best of them. Many declare he IS the best of them. His technical ability hasn't regressed and he's never been short on content. He has plenty even on this project... On LT2, he seemingly addresses Jesse Jackson on Who Are You which is about black people who could be deemed as out-of-touch with black society.
And you talking some gibberish, anti-nigga shit
'Cause you marched back with Rosa Parks
...
While our enemies plot, you ain't out of the shot
Matter of fact, you're an easier target
And I respect everything you accomplished
But I hope I never get old and talk that nonsense
Touches on divide-and-conquer as well as his personal evolution on War Against Love.
I went from, semi bummy nigga to money nigga (ha)
Bike nigga to car nigga
Christ nigga to Allah nigga (Alḥamdulillāh)
Then I evolved, nigga (yes)
No religions, my commandments are my standards
His longevity in the rap game on It Never Ends
Did songs with Chubb Rock to Chris Brown, switch styles
Yet to see any heavyweight make it to this round
This that pure champion sound, I wear the crizzown
This is very impressive taking into account that the tunes he did with Chubb Rock and Chris Brown are 20 years apart. In addition to speaking about the legendary Prodigy on Queensbridge Politics, Nas' addresses several topics from Baby Momma drama to artist exploitation on the standout closer Beautiful Life.
How many been married, divorced, their ex lady wildin'
Hires a lawyer, judge awards 'em monthly eighty thousand
Stevie Wonder sent me word that he was in my corner
Blind but still sees the pain of a young performer
...
Her bad, she wanna keep the kids away from their dad
Queens Wolf was a pretty cool concept too. A tribute to Teen Wolf, the track goes from Nas seemingly speaking about his teenage days to actually becoming a wolf known as the Queens Wolf... I f with his creativity...There's no denying Nas' lyrical prowess or his storytelling ability (he has a few 'love' stories on this). This is his main selling point that has led to many, including myself, labelling him as the G.O.A.T.
There's more to rap than lyrics though. Butter needs bread and rhymes need beats. This is where it gets a bit sticky. The NY spitter has been criticised by many for his beat selection. Most notably DJ Vlad who labelled Nas as the 'worst beat picker'. In addition he, being the stirrer that he is, makes a point to ask what seems like damn near everyone he interviews for their opinion on Nas' beat picking. DJ Vlad himself claims that The Simple Life where Nas declares 'Never sold a record for the beat, it's my verses they purchase' was a response to him.
How do I feel myself? TBH Nas is one of the few rappers that I can listen to regardless of the beat because he's that dope of a spitter. The fact he's my favourite rapper may also contribute to why I might be more lenient towards him in comparison to other rappers.
The production line-up was extremely impressive and star-studded. It made me excited for what was in store. Unfortunately I was disappointed with a lot of what I heard sonically speaking. From a 16-track project, I would say No Bad Energy; Lost Freestyle; Tanasia and the last 3 tracks were beats that I would rate between good and dope. The others were more or less meh or worse. You might find it hard to believe that Highly Favoured was produced by the same guy that did C.R.E.A.M. ... that Royalty was also done by the guy that did Niggas In Paris ... or that War Against Love was co-produced by the man that made Money Trees. Their beats on LT2 weren't awful per se but the hip-hop nerd in you might have been hoping for something on the same level of dopeness as the other beats I mentioned.
Credit should be given to Nas on his ability to make classic material out of... unspectacular beats but yo the fans still wanna hear dope instrumentation regardless. Personally, I would love to see someone like Rick Ross or Pusha T assist Nas with picking out beats.
The main factor for me with this offering is replay value. There's definitely some tunes I will revisit but there's also some that I know I won't once I'm done reviewing LT2. Personally I would have cut this album down to like 10-11 tracks max. On a whole though, I give this album a 6.5.
FAVES
Beat- Beautiful Life
Verse- Queeensbridge Politics
Track- Lost Freestyle
