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The “curse of the dope debut” isn’t the most debilitating of curses. Nas has done just fine, despite never topping Illmatic, and Hov’s stuff is still always compared to Reasonable Doubt. Producer Ski-Beatz, of Reasonable Doubt fame, coincidently did his next best work with Bronx hip hop duo, Camp Lo. Their 1997 debut, Uptown Saturday […]

The phrase “finding forever” carries a laundry list of connotations — perpetually finding something, finding the endlessness of time, etc. — none of which are very concrete and none of which can be said to be wrong. But the rendering that seems to describe Chi-town mainstay Common’s latest release Finding Forever is much more ominous: […]

I’ve had Pharoahe Monch’s Desire for a little over three weeks now. The editors here at Drop came to me and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing it, and naturally, I jumped at the opportunity. As someone who had always heard about Pharoahe Monch but wasn’t very familiar with his material, I was intrigued.
Weeks […]

Pastor Troy is an angry man. He grunts, snarls, barks, and screams constantly, giving the distinct impression that he’s mad about something. But then again, you don’t name yourself Pastor Troy unless you’ve got something to be angry about, right? You’ve got to have something that you want to tell people. It’s a shame then […]

DJ Khaled is more like a general manager for a sports team than anything else. On his latest album, We The Best, he’s certainly not a player (he doesn’t rap) and can hardly be considered the coach (he only produced two of the album’s 12 tracks). What Khaled has done on this project is assemble […]

Canibus is quite possibly the greatest existing example of a niche artist. He debuted as an over-hyped disappointment who many wrote off as a one hit-wonder. Soon, he was a low-profile emcee who attracted what seemed to be unprovoked beef with hip-hop giants like LL and Eminem. Then, as he embraced his style, Canibus became […]

Apparently, T.I. doesn’t think anyone in the rap game is worthy competition. Well, nobody except…himself.
On his latest album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., the Atlanta rapper is in a constant struggle with his alter-ego. Here’s the basic personality outline: T.I. is the wealthy rapper; T.I.P. is the gun-toting thug. The album is broken into three acts - […]

Last year, T-Pain’s brand of pop R&B party jams had veejays, deejays, and gentleman’s club emcees… sprung. He was compared to R. Kelly and even Marvin Gaye, but still remained a hip-hop guilty pleasure. Much like falling in love with a stripper, enjoying the attractive sounds of T-Pain (aka Teddy Penderazdoun) is easy, but usually […]

Since their 1986 powerhouse Licensed to Ill, The Beastie Boys have been one of hip hop’s most celebrated outfits, both inside and outside the genre. Originally a punk band, the Beastie Boys have kept their instruments at arms length throughout their innovative twenty plus years as hip hoppers. While their punk roots were clearly evident […]

Fabolous: still monotone, still loves to spell his name, still one too many slow jams.
The Brooklyn rapper hasn’t changed much since his 2001 debut Ghetto Fabolous. But like they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so Fab’s back with another impressive album.
From Nothin’ to Somethin’, his fourth album, delivers nothing unexpected. Fab hasn’t […]