New Music Tuesday

Fabolous - From Nothin To Somethin - Fab's notorious for being that BK rapper with the most potential that never really got there. One of the illest lyricists in the game period, his Def Jam debut started out a little nervous, like every release that has come before it. He always comes with the weird left field first single that no one really catches, then goes for the sure fire crossover joint. Thank god for Ne-Yo and Jay who both passed this record and eventually got to Fab. Can't say that there is anything on this album thats worth keeping as its all just slick punchlines over decent production. No growth, no insight and no real big cuts other than "Brooklyn" and slightly better production overall. Not that I'm surprised, but I hear the mixtape is nasty, which they've always been and what seperates the mixtape mc from a career artist that puts out albums. Grade: C-



DJ Khaled - We The Best - Feels like we just had a Khaled album, right? Mixtape albums are tough to get a look outside core hip hop, but Khaled takes a step further by getting anyone who's anyone to drop verses for this. Dope first single to open up the project, though the timing was off, but its almost worth getting the album just for this track, but who does that anymore? First half of the album starts off strong, second half is ehh. I guess I didn't see the Bone Thugs thing ever happening again, but they get a look here too. Stand out tracks are "I'm So Hood" and "Before The Solution." Grade: B-



DMX - The Definition of X - They say once a greatest hits compilation comes out, your career's a wrap. Feels that way now for X. But lets live with this for a second and remember the jewels he's dropped us over the years and recognize that he was one of the most important voices for hip-hop from the late 90's to the early 2000's. Dope compilation, no grade cause it's a bunch of hits.