Royal Throne: #AOTY 2014 by @AQueens_Crown

2014 has got to be the  hardest year of my life this far. It just drained me emotional, and spiritual but I managed to make it out alright. Only because of my love music and the energy it provides me. With that being said it was a weird year for hip-hop. With artist albums leaking weeks before the release date, resulting in a lack of sales for a lot of artist. In 2014 only one album went platinum and is was Taylor Swift's 1989 selling 1.2 million in its first week . The music industry has taken a major hit in revenue sales due to these leaked albums. Even so this was a pretty dry year for hip-hop albums in my opinion. Here is my top five best albums of the year.  


5) YG - My Krazy Life

When I heard YG was dropping an album I thought great another piece of trash is being dropped. Boy was I wrong. I loved it and was so surprised. I really liked that is was a story being told in this album about his life living in Compton.  YG's MY Krazy Life made my list of top five for the fact that I played this album a lot when it came out. My favorite tracks are Bicken Back Being Bool, and Left, Right. I know there was a lot of hype around him this year. Hopefully  he continues to live up to it.

4) Nicki Minaj - Pink Print 
I was honestly surprised to actually like this album. I have never been a fan of her music before because of all that pop music crap, but after hearing a couple tracks I was impressed. I really like the track with Meek Mill on it Buy a Heart and Feeling Myself . You can really tell she bared her soul with this album. Talking about the death of her cousin, and the hopes of having a child in the near future. Now I'm not saying I'm a Barbs, but the Pink Print will not get skipped when it comes on. 

3) Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron

You can't tell me that anyone listened to Q's without feeling like a baller futuristic groovy gansta with an attitude. Within it's first week Oxymoron debuted at number one on Billboard's list. That helped earn a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. One of my favorite songs is Prescription/Oxymoron. You can really hear his struggle with drug addiction. That's something you don't hear about from most rappres these days. Instead most brag about it as if its something to be proud of. Afterwards you get haunting vibes from What They Want making me feel like no one can touch me.

2) Childish Gambino - STN MTN / Kauai
I loved this dual sided concept album. Upon first hearing about it I thought it would be an extension of Because the Internet. I was nicely surprised it wasn't. I wrote more about it in my review of the project here.

1) J.Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive

As far as numbers goes this album did really well in the first week considering that he didn't drop a single or do promotion tour. The album itself is a great piece of work. He spoke on a variety of subjects. I really liked this album for the main fact that I agreed with what he spoke about. From the racial tension in hip-hop today, when you have "rappers" like Iggy Azalea doing a terrible job of respecting  hip-hop culture. Making lame pop hits claiming its hip-hop then being rewarded for it. How love is all that really matters. Love for your family, for your friends. We get caught up in the capitalist system of thinking that money will make us happy. So we spend all our time trying to get money only to realize that it can't make us happy. He had a great interview with Angie Martinez on Power 105.1 FM talking all about the capitalistic system we live in, as well as the state of the black man in America. If you haven't given it a listen you can check it out below.

Album of the Year 2014 by @Best_ofda_Worst

2014 was kind of a disappointing year in hip-hop to me. Most albums ranged this year were just OK you know good enough to listen to but not enough to love. However few did stand out and a gem popped up towards the end of this year. Most other albums were just eehhh. I liked Schoolboy Q's Oxymoron, I liked Rick Ross' Mastermind but I didn't love it actually after buying those albums I had this feeling of maybe I shouldn't have made such an impulsive buy. That's coming from a fan of their music. Wiz Khalifa's Blacc Hollywood was dope. If this was a top six review, my list would've definitely been different. Other than Blacc Hollywood, here is my list of albums that was then best of 2014. I ranked these albums according to their content and how they stood out from competition.

Number Five: YG - My Krazy Life

Listening to this album for some reason makes you do strange things. You twist your fingers and do the best you can to make up signs from gangs and block you have no knowledge of, you use strange terminology that might be dangerous around the wrong people. You blast it at loud volumes. At the light you feel embarrassed when an older person pulls up next to you when they hear the lyrics (okay maybe you don't).

This album takes you through the life of a gang-banging burglar. For some songs you feel like you're a blood, others you feel as though you're tip toeing in someone's house looking for anything valuable and easy to snatch up. YG was able to make one feel his lyrics and present to you what it's like to walk in his shoes as a Tree Top Piru Blood member. I give this album 2.99 of 5 stars. The lyrics are simple, but did its job of introducing who he is and forces you to feel and love Compton from his eyes.

Number Four: Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print

I'm happy for Nicki. I remember "Starships Nicki" and hated her, but looking at her now I can understand why she did that. She had to play that role to get herself a big enough name. As a female and an MC (who can actually spit), who's actually better than a lot of her male counterparts she had to dumb it down for people. Now with a solidified fan base she has broken all boundaries and stands out as one of the best rappers of this time. In her album she opens up and expressed a Nicki we may not have known about her before. It's an emotional album. I don't want to give away too much so you're just gonna have to listen for yourself. With The Pink Print I can confidently say that Nicki Minaj is the Queen of Hip-Hop and shaping out to be like Beyonce as far as hip-hop greatness goes. She is a master of her craft and loved on a worldwide level and I'm glad to see that happen. Rating 3 of 5 stars.

Number Three: The Game - Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf 

This is your typical Game album. By typical I mean no restraints on what he says. All raw, unapologetic lyrics. If you've listened to the previous albums you know exactly what I'm talking about. This is a good buy (yes I said buy, purchase, you get the drift) and worth the listen if you get a chance. He gives you both sides of hip-hop. There's a couple of deep songs here and there, a couple of turn up have a good time songs, and the nitty gritty pure rap. Game doesn't disappoint 3 of 5 stars.

Number Two: Young Jeezy - Seen it All

Wanna know why I love hip-hop so much? What other genre of music do you have entrepreneurs who talk to you about how they started from humble beginnings? What they did with resources they had available to them? Against all odds they still made it to the top and became millionaires. Seen it All is that album. It is a how to and self motivation album. Jeezy has really lived up to the names of many previous album titles. He is a Thug's Motivation. He's The Street Dream. From start to finish the message could be heard over and over again. "If I can do it so can you," proof of this especially in the song Enough encouraging the listener that hard work one can achieve greatness. This album as far as content goes speaks to the fire in everyone that refuses to give up. That is the same fire that drives you to get yours. I give Seen it All 3.89 of 5 stars.

Number One: J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive

"Do you wanna be happy?" My number one spot has to go to Forest Hills Drive. This album is a classic! I wish I heard this album when I was in my teens. It speaks to me in so many ways. I haven't related so much to an album. It's almost as if Cole was telling my story (well, not exactly though). I goes from regretting not being a better son to his parents to how he lost his virginity. Another song he explained how he wished to live a life like his homie, who in turn envied his own life. 2014 was really a year of content. I've heard better bars from Cole on previous projects but the message in each song far surpassed anythinghe dropped thusfar. I give this album 4.5 of 5 stars as the best 2014 had to offer. This is the classic that everyone needs to hear. Alright, stop reading and listen to the album. Thank Me afterwards.Thank me afterwards.

Opinion - My Krazy Life by YG album review by Niles Cavanaugh

"So this YG album I have to review sucks kind of.  Beats all sound the same."
"Well it's probably made to sell."

That was a conversation I had with my homegirl Jazzy about My Krazy Life. When Ramsey assigned it to me he described it as the gangbanger perspective to the same Compton Kendrick Lamar spoke about in his debut album.  Listening to it on the long and taxing drive home from Cherry Hill, I found that Ramsey was right about it.  This album tells a story, albeit loosely, of a day in the life of a Tree Top Piru Blood in Compton.

Being that West Coast hip-hop has been on an upswing the last couple of years (especially with ScHoolboy Q dropping Oxymoron a couple weeks ago), I was intrigued by this concept. As I listened on my trip home, I was sorely disappointed.

My Krazy Life does loosely tell a story of a day in the life of a blood in Compton, or Bompton if you choose. Lyrically and content wise, you aren't being sold a false bill of goods here. The subject matter is somewhat repetitive but makes sense. Smoking drinking, partying, fighting shooting, hanging out with your set f*ckin chicks are apparently what happens in a typical day for a blood around the way. I have no issue with that because you can tell YG isn't bullsh*ttin' listeners in any way shape or form. He's just speaking on what he knows on songs such as BPT or the blood-coded Bicken Back Being Bool. He also frequently uses interpolations of throwback West Coast hits in his rhymes. While he may not have the same lyrical technique and flow finesse as The Game, any of TDE, Fashawn, Crooked I, Murs, or any other left coast MC out there, YG still speaks in authentic language and comes from the heart in most of his raps. He's not going to be in anyone's top 5 dead or alive list, but tolerable lyrically, albeit average.

The main trouble with My Krazy Life is the beats. If you're going to be an average newcomer newcomer in a hip-hop scene that seemingly sees thousands of releases per week, you have to be carried by top-notch production if you don't have the necessary wordplay to stand out. YG doesn't have that. Out of a possible 17-18 songs (depending on the edition you purchased) the aforementioned DJ Mustard either solely produced or at least had a hand in produced or at least had a hand in producing 12 of them. The beats stay true to the album's California roots but largely get repetitive and boring after awhile. I understand that you want any album to have a consistent vibe when it comes to production, but almost all of this sounds the same. In an interview with Hip-Hop DX review, DJ Mustard compared the album to Dr. Dre's classic The Chronic. while that album had a consistent vibe and formula, you could at least tell the songs apart. I got the feeling that the beats were like a modern day g-funk soundtrack of an old video game or something. Combined with the subject matter that's standard at best, you aren't looking at anything Earth shattering.

There are a few gems here, don't get me wrong. I Just Wanna Party is pretty good and comes with a double assist by ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock. Really Be shows that YG can avoid getting completely eaten alive by current California hip-hop king Kendrick Lamar. 1 AM is too short yet solid, and Sorry Momma is the best song on the album. It's an introspective joint co-produced by Terrance Martin and DJ Mustard that survives an appearance by new guy Ty Dolla Sign. Even the bonus track Bompton has replay value. Overall this album has a lot of filler, and like Jazzy implied, this album was seemingly made to sell. There's an obligatory Drake appearance on Who Do You Love? and the radio smash My N*gga (or My Hitta as heard on the radio) sounds like your average irritating hit hip-hop song of today. The original features label boss Young Jeezy and fellow new act Rich Homie Quan. The remix on the deluxe edition features Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Meek Mill. Clearly this was built for spins and nothing else.

Overall, this album fell short of the expectations that I had. While it does show a gangster's view of Compton, it ultimately sputters once you realize that gangsters don't do much and seemingly don't leave the neighborhood in which they reside. Put these stories over mostly bland beats, and you don't have much of a memorable album. It doesn't compare to good kid, m.A.A.d city or Oxymoron because it lacks the rich production and lyrical diversity to keep up with it's peers. This album will have and audience though. Fans of a new school radio rap will find it catchy. People from Compton and like areas in Cali (shoutouts to Tori who also put me on the album) will be able to relate to some of the culture and references and therefore embrace it. At the end of the day, My Krazy Life sounds like other albums before it and will eventually sound like other albums after it. It won't go down as a classic, or make my top 10 of 2014. It'll just kind of something that happened. It was an album that was made to sell and it shows.

Short backstory: hailing from Compton, YG is a Tree Top Piru Blood who is signed to Jeezy's CTE World/Def Jam. He released a number of mixtapes and frequently collaborated with producer DJ Mustard starting in 2010.