Beets, Rhymes, & Life

2011 End of the Year Wrap-Up: Albums 30-21

2012-02-15T18:37:00.003-05:00

30.) Raekwon - Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang

Raekwon continues his hot streak with another great album sans RZA.

29.) Blueprint - Adventures in Counter Culture

The Columbus, Ohio native examines American popular cultures, with one of the most original and creative releases of the year.

28.) Blu - No York!

Blu's major label debut that never was, is one of the most polarizing releases of the year, but was also one of the more enjoyable.

27.) Death Cab for Cutie - Codes & Keys

Death Cab's latest is filled with more optimism than previous releases, and more keys.

26.) The Black Keys - El Camino

The Keys' latest is their poppiest release yet, but it's also one of their best.

25.) Murs - Love & Rockets Vol. 1

Murs teams up with Ski Beatz for his best release in a few years.

24.) Beirut - The Rip Tide

The baroque pop band drops one of the prettier releases of 2011.

23.) Bright Eyes - The People's Key

On Bright Eyes' rumored-to-be last album, Conor Oberst's songwriting covers religion and aliens, but I assure you it's still pretty awesome.

22.) Evidence - Cats & Dogs

Evidence's long-awaited Rhymesayers debut shows the Dilated Peoples rep at his most personal over incredible production handled mostly by Alchemist.

21.) J-Live - S.P.I.T.A. (Said Person of That Ability)

The underground vet drops some phenomenal boom bap vibes

2011 End of the Year Wrap-Up: Albums 40-31

2012-02-15T14:43:00.007-05:00

First of all here is my criteria/rating scale:
I have taken categories and gave each of the 127 giving them each a rating of 1-10, here are the categories
Replay Value - How often did I feel compelled to go back and listen to this album throughout the year?
Vocal Performance - For hip hop albums this included flows, rhyme schemes, cadences, etc. For rock albums melodies, quality of vocals, harmonies, etc.
Production - How good were the beats/ music.
Subject Matter - Lyrical content, song topics
Songwriting - Ability to structure a good song, includes quality of choruses/hooks and bridges
Cohesion - How well did the album flow? Did it sound like one piece of music, or just a bunch of random track?
Originality - How original or creative was the album?
Gut feeling - My initial instinct on what I thought the album should rand 1-10
In addition, I also added a "Fillers" category, which took off a negative point for every song I rated 2 or less stars in my iTunes.
I also had a category called "The Big 300" which awarded a bonus point to an album for every track that was picked as the best 300 songs of 2011.

40.) Pac Div - The Div

Finally after years of sitting on Warner Brother's shelf, the Cali trio unleashed their debut album to world, and it's the group's best work.

39.) Grieves & Budo - Together/Apart

On Grieves' Rhymesayers debut he didn't quite show as much artistic growth as I had hoped for, but his 3rd full-length has plenty of great tracks and phenomenal production from Budo.

38.) The Antlers - Burst Apart

The Antlers follow up their groundbreaking, Hospice album with the beautiful Burst Apart. A few steps back in storytelling, but a few steps forward in musicianship.

37.) Young Jeezy - Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition

Jeezy fights off career obscurity by sticking to the basics.

36.) Yonas Michael - Lost in Hollywood

The former UNI emcee's solo debut is a genre bending, rough around the edges journey through L.A.

35.) Apathy - Honkey Kong

The Connecticut emcee pokes fun at his whiteness, while lyrically beasting over top notch production from the likes of DJ Premier and Evidence.

34.) Action Bronson - Dr. Lecter

The Ghostface-sounding rapper drops his delectable rhymes over some great break beats.

33.) Freddie Gibbs - Cold Day in Hell

The Gary, Indiana rapper drops his first project since joining forces with Young Jeezy, and it shows the promise of the new marriage.

32.) Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

Chris Martin and company dabble in narratives, electronics and Rihanna, and the results are shockingly good.

31.) Killer Mike - Pl3dge

Killer Mike's 3rd installment of his Pledge Allegiance with the Grind series is among his best and most political work, and the ATLien is finally getting the credit he deserves.

2011 End of the Year Wrap-Up: Top 10 WORST albums of 2011

2012-02-14T20:45:00.003-05:00

Okay you've seen the Honorable Mentions list by now, well here's the ten bottom feeders of 2011. Now this list is a tad biased because I don't really care to listen to albums I know I'm not going to like. Most of these albums were projects I was selected to review for Okayplayer or the BG News over the past year.

So are these the worst releases of 2011? No. But they are the worst albums I listened to last year.

Tyler your album was pretty shitty, but not nearly as bad as these albums.

First of all here is my criteria/rating scale:
I have taken categories and gave each of the 127 giving them each a rating of 1-10, here are the categories
Replay Value - How often did I feel compelled to go back and listen to this album throughout the year?
Vocal Performance - For hip hop albums this included flows, rhyme schemes, cadences, etc. For rock albums melodies, quality of vocals, harmonies, etc.
Production - How good were the beats/ music.
Subject Matter - Lyrical content, song topics
Songwriting - Ability to structure a good song, includes quality of choruses/hooks and bridges
Cohesion - How well did the album flow? Did it sound like one piece of music, or just a bunch of random track?
Originality - How original or creative was the album?
Gut feeling - My initial instinct on what I thought the album should rand 1-10
In addition, I also added a "Fillers" category, which took off a negative point for every song I rated 2 or less stars in my iTunes.
I also had a category called "The Big 300" which awarded a bonus point to an album for every track that was picked as the best 300 songs of 2011.

10. Machine Gun Kelly	Rage Pack
09. G Huff & Vice	Where Do We Go From Here
08. Mac Lethal	North Korean BBQ
07. Y-Love	See Me
06. Game	Red Album
05. Childish Gambino	Camp
04. Lou Reed & Metallica	Lulu
03. Lupe Fiasco	Lasers
02. Wiz Khalifa	Rolling Papers
01. DJ Khaled	We the Best Forever

Tyler, the Creator's Goblin just missed the bottom 10 albums of the year, but I felt like he needed to be mentioned because: A. He had so much hype built around his album and it was a total bust. B. I actually paid for the album (unlike the rest of the albums/mixtapes on this list).

Most of these albums I expected to suck (ie: DJ Khaled, Game, Wiz), some I suspected would suck but was curious anyways (MGK, Childish Gambino, Lou Reed & Metallica), and there was one album that broke my heart so badly when I heard it, I didn't speak for weeks (Lupe Fiasco).

Now we here at BRL have been huge Lupe fans from the start, and when Lasers got pushed back time and time again, we totally supported him and rooted for him. Finally the album dropped, and it was pretty evident, Lupe's heart was not into it. Lupe promises to get back to his roots with his next LP, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, but if the success of Lasers and his mediocre Friend of the People mixtape is any indication, the Lupe of old is long gone.