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

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.

Rhymes: Grieves and Budo - Together/Apart (Review)

Swiped from Okayplayer.com

Seattle based emcee Grieves signed to indie powerhouse Rhymesayers Entertainment back in late 2009. Since then he has been on the road and working on his third full-length album (and first on Rhymesayers) Together/Apart with producer/multi-instrumentalist Budo. Like on his previous albums, Grieves is extremely introspective and personal in his verses. On the spaced out, piano-driven opener “Lightspeed,” he essentially covers his entire life in less than four minutes.

While Grieves is a sharp writer, can craft good sing-song hooks, and be very relatable, Budo seems to be the top performer on Together/Apart. Arguably the beatsmith was up staged by his rapping counterpart on their 2008 effort, 88 Keys & Counting, but this time around he crafts some excellent instrumentals including a wide range of live instrumentation including pianos, synths, horns and guitars. On tracks like “Tragic” and “Prize Fighter,” it’s pretty evident Budo worked hard on improving his drums, as these tracks will have any head bobbing.

The main drawback on Together/Apart is the lack of variety on Grieves’ end. If this is the first Grieves record you’ve ever heard, you will probably find Grieves’ tales of his loss of women, alcohol and drug abuse, and depression entertaining and enlightening. But if you’re familiar with his work, you’ll probably be a little put off by the redundancy of his subject matter. While there aren’t any tracks that I would categorize as a bad song on the album, Together/Apart does seem to be rather top heavy, with most of the stand out cuts at the beginning of the record. The album also seems to drag a little towards the end of the record, which I think could’ve been fixed by including a few more guest appearances. Usually I’m not one for a long list of guest rappers, but a few more features really could’ve broken up the monotony of the record like the tracks with P.O.S. and CunninLynguists did on Grieves 2010 EP, The Confessions of Mr. Modest.

Overall Together/Apart is a very good record, and a few minor missteps from being a great one. Despite Budo’s hardest beat on the record, both Grieves and label mate Brother Ali come a little weak on “Tragic.” And the record could use more up-beat and lighthearted tracks like the Krukid assisted “No Matter What.” This album features more singing from Grieves than in the past. And like “Cloud Man” from 88 Keys, tracks consisting of just singing result in being some of the album’s best tracks. “On the Rock” has Grieves singing to the lonely ice cubes at the bottom of his empty glass, and the epic “Heartbreak Hotel” is easily the album’s best track.

-Zach Gase

BRL Grade: 8 beets out of 10

Rhymes: Grieves - "Bloody Poetry" (Music Video)

Here's the second single off of Grieves & Budo's up-coming Rhymesayers debut, Together/Apart. This is a pretty awesome video to go with a great song that I've been waiting for an official release for a long time. June 21st is the release date. The first official day of summer is sure to be a damn good one.

Grieves - Shark Week Freestyle

Normally I wouldnt post a random freestyle, but a. it's Grieves and b. it's titled shark week. Produced by Budo.


So here's a little something to tide you over until Grieves' RSE debut album and shark week...
Download Here (right-click save as...

from: http://www.djbooth.net/index/freestyles/review/11911/

Rhymes: Grieves - "Cloud Man" (Video)

I've made a few posts about the Seattle emcee, Macklemore already, but here's his friend/frequent collaborator, Grieves. Budo has produced his albums (who also has done production for Macklemore). And Grieves landed himself a record deal last December with Rhymesayers Ent.

This video is off of his re-release of 88Keys and Counting, which was packaged with The Confessions of Mr. Modest, which has been the best release of 2010 (just edging out label-mate freeway). Grieves' sound is quite similar to Macklemore, but it is also very different (as proved by this song), as Grieves is known to use more melodies and sing-song approach to his rapping.

Grieves is tapped to release his RSE full-length LP this fall, and there are also talks of doing a project with CunninLynguists' Kno on the beats.