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Flashback Friday Flop

Flashback Friday Flop: “Blunted on Reality”

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Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time. 

This week: Fugees’ Blunted on Reality (1994)

One of the biggest albums of 1996 was The Score, the sophomore album from a New Jersey group by the name of Fugees. While they seemed to come out of nowhere, the trio of Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Pras had actually been around for several years and had already released a major label album to their name.

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Greatness Hip-Hop Nostalgia

The Other Great Rap Battle of 2001

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Everyone knows that an epic hip-hop battle that took place in late 2001, when Jay-Z and Nas brawled for the throne, but far too many people forget that another classic rap clash began that year as well.

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Documentary Tuesday

Documentary Tuesday: “The Story of ‘The Day the Clown Cried'”

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The Day the Clown Cried is a classic film for all the wrong reasons.

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Week in Review

Week in Review (March 11, 2016)

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I’ve been sick all week.

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Flashback Friday Flop

Flashback Friday Flop: “Nastradamus”

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Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time. 

This week: Nas’s Nastradamus (1999)

1999 was a strange time for music, especially hip-hop. The genre was only a few years removed from the deaths of its two biggest stars; Jay-Z had become a superstar; and a slew of young cats had entered the game. At the same time, Napster exploded onto the scene and online piracy immediately turned the music industry upside down, forcing several major rap acts to change their albums on the fly.

The biggest victim of this was Nas, who, after the classic Illmatic and the highly successful It Was Written, had been preparing an epic concept double album titled I Am…The Autobiography for his third release. When much of that album leaked, Nas scrapped both the concept and the double album, recorded a few new songs, and released a single disc mishmash titled simply I Am… in May, 1999.

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Hip-Hop Rap

Classic Non-Album Cuts: Kendrick Lamar

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Kendrick has been releasing music since the age of 16, back when he was still known as K-Dot, so there is a quite a bit of material of his out there that was not released on any of his studio projects and I decided to put together a list of some of my favorites.

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Opinion

The Media Coverage of Bill Cosby Is About More Than Just Race

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Yesterday, as I was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor’s office and trying to read, I kept getting distracted by the TV, which was airing a show called The Real.

The show’s first guest was Maclolm-Jamal Warner, who is still probably known best for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show. One of the hosts asked Warner about the current state of affairs involving Bill Cosby and all of the accusations of drugging and raping leveled at him recently.

While Warner said he couldn’t defend him, he also said he wouldn’t throw him under the bus, choosing instead to focus on the way in which the media is portraying Cosby compared to other men that have been accused of sexual assault crimes:

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Documentary Tuesday

Documentary Tuesday: “30 for 30: No Crossover – The Trial of Allen Iverson”

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Allen Iverson is a beloved, complicated figure. The poster child for the marriage of basketball and hip-hop, he was small, but played with a huge heart, won the 2001 NBA MVP, and did it all his way.

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Week in Review

Week in Review (March 4, 2016)

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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about getting older.

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Flashback Friday Flop

Flashback Friday Flop: “Yeezus”

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Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time. 

This week: Kanye West’s Yeezus (2013)

Kanye West’s Yeezus was a success, both critically and financially.

It was one of the most acclaimed works of 2013. It was ranked as the top album of the year by TIME, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, Spin, The Daily Beast, and Consequence of Sound and was ranked number two by Pitchfork, NME, and Rolling Stone. In short, “Yeezus happens to be musically amazing, too, and in a completely different way from every other Kanye West record.”

It also sold 327,000 copies its first week, debuting atop the Billboard chart, and racking up the best first week sales of any hip-hop album in over two years, all without a traditional major single.

If it was such a critical and commercial success, why is it included here?

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