Colton’s Top Seven Favorite Albums

Colton the critic. Photo by Shawnta' Jones '14. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School.

Colton’s Top Seven Favorite Albums

By Colton Sierra ‘14

Beyond all of the rap music filled with clichés, meaningless lyrics, and the abandonment of quality,  you will find my top seven albums (since 2008).

There are plenty of hip-hop albums from the past 20 or more years that have broken ground for the genre itself. I enjoy sounds ranging from KRS-One all the way to Kanye West. However, for this article I wanted to focus on what has been happening with rap music in recent times.

I wrote down as many albums that I have listened to thoroughly since 2008 and organized them by year. From there, I realized that I liked too many albums, and I would be obligated to create a top 50’s list. The idea of creating the longest article that MLT has ever posted gave me great fear, so I constructed and crafted a criteria that each album had to fit for it to be truly a great album.

1.) Since an album is defined as a collection of songs issued as a single item, then each song has to be good. Therefore, each album had to have an “unskippable” characteristic.

2.) I had to have great memories behind each album. Meaning: which album captures a great time in my life?

3.) The album and its lyrics and messages had to have given me a new perspective about life and situations that come with it.

4.) The album had to surprise me. Maybe it was a different new sound, or a sound that the artist had before but more polished. Essentially, something that raised my eyebrows a bit.

5.) The final criteria that the album had to meet was if I would recommend this album to anyone. Music is usually a reflection of a person, and if the album couldn’t do that then it did not meet this criteria.

So without further ado, here is my favorite seven albums!

#7.) Paper Trail - T.I.

T.I., the “King of the South,” shows himself in a different light here with this album. In this album he seems to take a step back and look at his life. With uplifting songs like “Live Your Life ft. Rihanna” and “No Matter What,” T.I. sheds light upon his current dark situation. This albums serves as a “everything’s going to be alright” message rather than “poor, broken down me.” That is how T.I’s Paper Trail made it to the hardest list I have ever made.

#6.) The Blueprint 3 - Jay Z

Young Hov’s (Old Hov?) Blueprint 3 was highly anticipated when word first came out. People waited and waited. When it finally dropped, they found out that this album was star-studded both with familiar faces and newcomers that made this list. The final album of the Blueprint series, Jay Z brings old and new faces of the rap game together to emphasize not only his power in rap, but the community you can create from it. Maybe The Blueprint 3 serves as what Billboard would call “the blueprint for hip-hop music to come.”

#5.) Cole World: The Sideline Story - J. Cole

Finally releasing his long awaited album after recent mixtape successes (The Come Up; The Warm Up; Friday Night Lights) J. Cole gives us a view of the sideline and attempts to prove why he deserves a spot on the “court." He has songs that address music industry struggles and emotional occurrences from his young life (“Sideline Story” and “Breakdown”)  balanced with songs that are ready for the radio (“Can’t Get Enough” and of course “Work Out”). Yet these radio songs still excel with the captivating imagery that J. Cole is capable of. With this well balanced album, it gives all who venture into it a good idea of who Jermaine Cole really is.

#4.) Man on the Moon: The End of Day - Kid Cudi

“You’re in my dreams…” states Cudi as the album opens up with an orchestrated beat accompanied by dream-like drums that take you to a different place. The interesting thing from this album is it’s set up like a play (Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV and Act V) and the play is Cudi’s life. What really makes this album what it is today is the way Kid Cudi is able to portray images that anyone can essentially relate to over instrumentals that seem to take a person to an unfamiliar yet relaxed state. Throughout the five acts, Cudi brings you along his journey filled with darkness as well as having a “Heart of a Lion." By the end of it, you are left with a message that makes you think about your inner battles rather than worrying about the outside world. He ends it with “Up Up & Away," a song telling his audience to have a “whatever” type attitude to whoever attempts to judge them on what they do. Kid Cudi and his album has definitely inspired people to think openly and to take on challenges head first.

#3.) good kid m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar, otherwise known as one of my favorite artists from the new era of rappers (also one of my favorite rappers from the West Coast), dropped an album that took the world by storm. Lamar and his group Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) all predicted the future of the group as being extremely successful. Lamar, along with his fellow TDE artists, all came with projects to try and make it apparent. But through Lamar’s effort “good kid m.A.Ad city” he puts an exlamation point on the phrase “TDE!” In his song “*****, Don’t Kill My Vibe” he states, “You ain’t heard the Coast like this in a long time.” And honestly, nobody has heard the West Coast portrayed in this way in a while. This album differs from most of the albums on this list, and it is because the album doesn’t focus on the trials of being famous or the amount of money that he attained in the past year. The album focuses on life in Compton, CA, but more importantly, it goes in-depth about Lamar’s childhood and teen life. It does it so well, especially with his song “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst," it feels as if you just had watched a short film and that is why it’s topping this list.

#2.) Acid Rap - Chance The Rapper

Whoa. After Lupe & Common (and early Kanye), there was only Chief Keef-like hits coming from Chicago. Stupid rap lyrics and saying “3hunna” a bunch of times was what Chicago looked like for a brief second, all until Chance The Rapper came out his free album Acid Rap that he posted himself on his website. What was truly amazing from this album, promoted only by Chance and his loyal fans, was that it made some noise in a world who didn’t know him. After this album came out, his name was featured in many places.

Chance’s Acid Rap is a dark journey into Chicago’s violence-riddled streets and is haunted by the memory of his friend who was murdered. It reveals this pain to all listeners, and anyone is welcomed to jump in the car and drive through Chicago with Chance. This album, like J. Cole’s debut, is well-balanced with poetry tracks and tracks that would cause today’s kids to “turn up”(slang for “go wild”).  His weird voice fits perfectly with his chatterbox rhymes that coincide perfectly with his beat selection. They all come together with a new sound and a new name for rap and I am certainly looking for more. People are taking Chance’s music serious, even if he is just “having fun with it.”

#1.) Control System - Ab-Soul

You might say “Who and why Ab-Soul?” and I could recite a line from his first song on the album that says, “said I was the underdog, turns out I’m the secret weapon…” but that wouldn’t even begin to describe the guy. Ab-Soul is the lesser known member from the TDE Black Hippy Group but is arguably the smartest. He is known for his incredible wordplay, witty elongated lines, and his thoughts about the faults of the government. His album Control System undoubtedly delves right into what he’s about. His second track, literally titled “Track Two,” is a rare vicious Ab-Soul that disparages his competition with boasts such as, “...they couldn’t wait for Soul to reappear, Click. Boom. T.N.T. TDE. We in here” and “...imagine if Einstein...sipped juice, broke rules...beat up rookies on pro tools.” This track alone sets the stage for Ab-Soul to continue on for 16 more tracks of  him destroying a lot soulful and/or trippy beats from producers loyal to TDE.

His most outstanding track is hard to determine given the fact that there are a lot of outstanding

tracks on the album. His song “Double Standards” is a very honest song that points out the wrong doings in young relationships today. Another great track on this album “Illuminate” includes a verse from Kendrick Lamar and they both shine on the Skhye Hutch beat without tension. While Kendrick talks about his expectations about being a new big name next to Dr. Dre and Snoop, Ab-Soul is busy battling his way into the rap game and calling out Jay Z while doing it. With his line “I used to wanna rap like Jay Z, now I feel like I could run laps ‘round Jay Z, Nas ain’t seen nothin’ this nasty, Big and Pac got it comin’ when I pass too.” Soulo shows his mic skills and why he deserves to get far more recognition than he’s been getting.

On his second to last song “The Book of Soul” Ab describes his relationship with deceased girlfriend and TDE singer Alori Joh, and how her death affected his life. He also goes on about how nothing can stop him, and he tells his listeners to not be “dethroned by these systems of control.” He continues “just keep your fingers crossed and get them locks off your soul.” His final song “Black Lip ******* (Remix)” features verses from the other three TDE members (Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q & Jay Rock) and they all come together to help Ab-Soul travel his way along the road to success. At the end of the album, it seems like Ab-Soul still has more to say, and leaves us all wanting more. I wouldn’t hesitate to teach the younger hip-hop heads about this album, and I hope you, the reader, go check these albums out if you haven’t already, just to see for yourself.