Nas – Life is Good – Motivational Review

Great beats, great rhymes, good messages = the formula for a GREAT CD

I feel like Nas laid it all on the line with this CD… The title alone “Life is Good” is motivational. I always say Life is Good don’t let anybody tell you any different.  This CD is honest, introspective, and inspirational.  Many (including me) felt that Nas was past his prime lyrically.  Yep I was completely wrong!  On LIG he is as sharp as he ever was.

The thing is when I do reviews I try to find motivational nuggets on a CD and highlight those.  Typically you only have a couple of songs if that unless you’re reviewing a gospel/Christian project.  With LIG there are so many good ones.

On the song no introduction he talks about his life, his marriage and his mistakes…

Accident Murderers is where he talks about people innocent victims of violence by cowards.  Production is excellent.

Daughters is just an honest song from a father who obviously loves his child but admits he is not perfect.

Summer on Smash is a feel good song about the joys of summer.  Good summer song.

Nas’ song with Amy Winehouse, Cherry Wine is special.  Listening to how great this song sounds kind of makes you sad that she had to leave us.  Good song that inspires us to find our true soul mates.

Bye Baby is inspirational only for the fact that Nas is transparent and honest.  He chronicles his marriage to Kelis.  He does it in a very positive way…

Overall I think this will go down as one of Nas’ best releases.  Life is good can be found on iTunes, amazon (see link below).  I copped the deluxe edition at best buy.

http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Version-Explicit-digital-booklet/dp/B008HYUO4S/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342629543&sr=301-2

 

Best Hip Hop Albums of 2011

For the month of December we are going to be looking at my favorite 30 Hip Hop Cd’s that were released this year.  This is going to be in no particular order and of course I’m not including December releases.  I’m interested in hearing your thoughts….

Remember this is in no particular order although I’m going to try and save the best releases for the end.

Ok First up

Styles P – Master of Ceremonies

This CD dropped on October 4^th.  Styles P is one third of one of my favorite hip hop groups of all time, The Lox (Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P).  I love the Lox because they are some of the best lyricists to ever do it.  I always enjoy their CD’s and mix tapes, both the group and solo efforts.  Hopefully we can get another official Lox Album in my lifetime!! Ha!

In the meantime they continue to put out solid solo efforts.  Master of Ceremonies is no exception.  If anybody follows Styles P’s career or even follow him on twitter (@therealstylesp) knows that he is generally a positive dude.  He is a perfect example of how you don’t have to be “soft” to be positive.   Now this CD is laid back for the most part with chill beats and ill flows.

The intro song is one of my favs How I fly.  First of all, one of my all-time fav producers, Warren G produced the song.  I’m surprised to see him on here but it works.  The beat is smooth and addicting.  It’s very laid back.  Avery Storm comes in perfect with the hook.  Now I’m going to be honest.  Styles is talking about smoking weed lol.  That’s the whole point of the song.  While I don’t smoke at all I still am motivated by this song.  I don’t smoke weed but I still fly high.  Everyday baby!!!!!

My favorite song on the CD is Harsh with Rick Ross and Busta Rhymes.  They talk about dealing with people and situations harshly when things get out of line.  The point is highlighting success and not playing games.  Very motivational.  On top of that the beat is just HARD! All three MC’s bring their A-game on this track.  I wish this song would have got promoted better.  They made a cool video for it though (see below).  Rick Ross’ entire verse is a quotable!  Check out this video (instant classic here)

Another cool song with motivational value is Its OK with Jadakiss.  Here they do their classic back and forth rapping.  They have been doing this for years and its perfect here.  They are basically using their doubters as motivation.  Check the chorus:

“Niggas talk shit about us – but it’s ok!

Game ain’t shit without us – but it’s ok!

No, you can’t live without us – it’s ok!

But go ahead, you can doubt us – it’s ok!”

Nice.  No matter what comes against me IT’S OK!!!!  We still win!  I love it. This is probably the song with the highest motivational value on the entire CD.

All in all this is a dope CD.  One of the best of 2011.  Go pick it up.  Click the link below or go to iTunes.

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Of-Ceremonies/dp/B005P7ABN4/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322841331&sr=301-1

Mary J Blige My Life II… The Journey Continues – Motivational Review

Motivational Review

Mary J Blige – My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1)

Let me first say that the original My Life is my favorite Mary J album hands down.  It was her second cd and had so much emotion in it.  So to do a part 2 after 15 years is a bold move.  She has grown as an artist and a person since then and she runs the risk of not being able to recreate the magic of the original My Life.  The original My Life was very inspirational.  The title track My Life makes me feel strong emotion even until this day.  If you ever had to struggle or go through difficult times to get somewhere then you can relate.  The original also had a strong hip hop influence with the interludes with some of the best hip hop artists at the time (Keith Murray etc.)  Sequels rarely live up to greatness of the originals and this CD is no exception.  Having said that, I did find some great inspiration on this album.  Here are some of my highlights.

Feel Inside is a cool song and frankly is a feel good track.  Me being a hip hop dude I can appreciate the legendary Nas.  This track is just fun.  Content wise she is just trying to be happy in the relationship and she’s telling him how she “feels inside”.  This is a good back and forth between her and Nas.

 

All of my other favorites that have motivational value are all bonus tracks.

You Want This is another feel good favorite.

This Love is For You is a good song and should be a theme song for good people who have great relationships.  This is a bouncy track produced by Tricky Stewart.  I think this is probably my favorite.  Wanna dedicate this to somebody special?  You might wanna do that when you hear this one.

 

While not in love with the song One Life, I’m def in love with the words and message behind the song!  I personally feel like with only one life to live we have to give our best effort everyday.

All in all ML2 is a dope album.  Very motivational.  While I didn’t highlight them she has some cool songs with other artists like Drake and Rick Ross as well.

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/II-Journey-Continues-Digital-Booklet/dp/B0065XYF1Q/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322419062&sr=301-2

DRAKE TAKE CARE – MOTIVATIONAL REVIEW

Drake Take Care – Motivational Review

How can you not be motivated by Drake?  Dude is a huge success and seemingly came out of nowhere just a couple of years ago.  I’m all about success and admiring those who accomplish great things.  After dropping arguably the most successful mix tape of all time, So Far Gone in February 2009, he released an EP with the same title later that September that ended up selling over 500,000.  This is quite amazing because the EP only had 7 songs most of which were already released for free!  In 2010 he released the platinum Thank Me Later.  Drake is on fire.

Here it is not quite a year and a half later and Drake has a huge buzz going for Take Care.  Having leaked a little over a week ago, he is still expected to do big numbers.

Now here are some of my thoughts.  If you’re a Drake Fan you’re going to love this CD.  Hos flow is on point as always.  People can say what they will about him singing and his so-called lack of toughness but there is no denying that he can spit.  From a pure lyrical standpoint he is one of the best in the game period and he shows it throughout the CD.  Having said that this CD is very laid back and mellow which is somewhat of a surprise.  Drake pulls it off well though.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve heard hit first hit single from the CD “Headlines”

There are two other standout tracks that I want to highlight.  “Lord Knows” features Rick Ross and is produced by the legendary Just Blaze (that’s right I said it).  First of all the beat is ridiculously addictive.  Anytime you have 2 of the best rappers in the game on a track by one of the best producers of all time, you’re most likely are going to get a classic.  On the song Drizzy does his thing and dismisses his critics, something you have to do if you want to maintain momentum on your road to success.

My favorite Drake line from this song is:

“I’m hearing all of the jokes, I know that they tryna push me

I know that showin’ emotion don’t ever mean I’m a pussy

Know that I don’t make music for niggas who don’t get pussy

So those are the ones I count on to diss me or overlook me”

Crazy!!!!

Rick Ross is someone else who is very motivational as he has made a huge leap to the top of the rap game in the last couple years.  His verse is full of quotable lines that should motivate anybody that works hard at what they do.  My favorite Rick Ross line is what he says before he starts rapping.

“I’m going so hard my nigga, I swear homie

Everyday is another opportunity to reach that goal”

All I have to say is that I’m addicted to this song.  In sports they call this an “instant classic”.

Listen for yourself:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Ts4mLym-M&feature=related%5D

Another standout song that has motivational value is “Look What You’ve Done”.  Here he basically talks about how he appreciates the people who helped him get to where he is today.  He reminisces about his struggle and how there were people who believed in him.  He looks at his success and tells them “Look what you’ve done”.  He vows to never forget them.  He particularly talks about his mother and other members of his circle that have been there for him.  The Chorus says it all:

“This shit real, should I pinch you?

After all the things that we been through, I got you

Look what you’ve done, look what you’ve done

Look what you’ve done for me now

You knew that I was gonna be something

When you’re stressed out and you need something, I got you

Look what you’ve done, look what you’ve done”

At the end of the song we hear either his mother or grandmother talk about how much they appreciate him.

This is a special song.  There are so many inspirational things that we can take from this song.  To me family is everything.  I can tell you from experience that we ought to embrace those who believe in our vision.  On the flip side we should be there to encourage those that want to do good.  The takeaway for me is that anything is possible especially when you have the support of wonderful people.

Listen for yourself:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clDSc7_Fjq4&feature=related%5D

Take Care is available in stores TODAY.  If you’re like me you can buy it instantly on i-tunes or amazon. Click on the following link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065IAL3C/ref=s9_simh_bw_p340_d1_g340_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1RQY0S69W4EXDEXFD1EA&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1295542782&pf_rd_i=163856011

So what are your thoughts on Drizzy?