video review: 'the seven' by talib kweli & styles p (ft. luke james)

Should have posted this a few days ago, but man, I'm so thrilled that I finally worked with Luke, it was a ton of fun.

But it's not the only video up tonight... stay tuned!

video review: 'phantom and the ghost' by styles p

Pretty short review, but still was a pretty solid record that I genuinely enjoyed, and thus there isn't a lot to say about it.

Okay, next up, I should figure out what that whole tUnE-yArDs thing is about. Stay tuned!

album review: 'phantom and the ghost' by styles p

So I'll be the first to admit that as much I've learned about hip-hop over the course of the past several months of reviewing albums, I still have a ton to learn and explore, especially in the underground. Now thanks to the Internet, we probably live in the easiest time to get access to underground hip-hop, but at the same time, it also means my backlog has started to reach startling levels. And thus, given my own preferences, I tend to keep my eyes open for underground MCs that catch my eye based on my own preferences in rap music - a smarter, lyrical focus, real charisma, and the ability to talk about other concepts than standard gangsta rap.

So it wasn't long for Styles P popped up on my radar. Now I remember him a little bit from the charts in the late 90s and early 2000s, mostly due to his affiliation with The LOX, a rap group I mostly like but don't love. Now granted, my ambivalent feelings towards The LOX mostly extend to frustrations I have with Jadakiss, but that's a whole other issue - to me, Styles P was the least direct and outwardly aggressive of the trio, which I found interesting. Most recently, he dropped a verse on 'No Hesitation', a track from the Alchemist & Evidence collaboration project Lord Steppington - and I'll be blunt, it's probably my favourite song from that album. His flow and wordplay have only improved, as has his stage presence, so I made a point to look up his new album Phantom And The Ghost, which was getting positive buzz for being a more thoughtful gangsta rap record. So, how was it?