“Rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome!”

Goblin is the second album from OFWGKTA’s (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) group leader Tyler The Creator. For those who have not jumped on the Odd Future bandwagon or simply have not been following his music, this album – and many other Odd Future releases – is full of group trademarks such as cynical humor, ridiculous boasts and hard hitting production. Furthermore, the content of this album, like Tyler’s debut, is chalk-full of murderous thoughts and black humor. However, while these stylizations are nothing new to Tyler’s music, the refinement that Goblin presents proves that the output from Tyler is far from boring and demonstrates his ability as not only a creative rapper/producer, but an artist with staying power. With these refinements however, the album is not without missteps, there are moments that make Goblin feel lopsided do to the album feeling like it has lost direction, but there are enough quality tracks to overlook these shortcomings.

If you haven’t listened to Bastard yet, then some might find the start of the album abrupt, but if you have (and I assume most people who cop this album would have), then the opening of the album feels like it’s continued right where Bastard left off: with Tyler speaking to a therapist about his issues. Goblin starts incredibly strong with the self-titled opener showing that Tyler’s production has not only improved, but lyrically he has tightened up his skill-set since his debut.

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Posted by LostMoniker on June 4th, 2011 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews

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Every now and again I can say that an album changed my life. The first of which being Kid ‘n Play’s 2 Hype, and more recently Lil’ Waynes Tha Carter trilogy. I understand, that is not a single album that changed my life, but a collection. That is exactly right. Never has an artist created such a strong offering that I actually dug ALL three albums in their trilogy. It goes to show that crafting a trilogy of albums has a lot of pressure and that only a talented soul can pull off such a feat… To be fair, it would be an understatement to say that Lil’ Wayne isn’t the best lyricist of our time, and that Tha Carter series is only a drop in the bucket of brilliance that is Lil’ Wayne’s album catologue.

Everything about these albums is genius. You have top notch production meshed with Lil’ Wayne gorgeous vocals. While not completely perfect – I would say that out of all of these albums ninety-eight percent of it is flawless with two percent leaving some room for improvement on Wayne’s part – Lil’ Wayne goes hard on every song his voice angelically graces.

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Posted by LostMoniker on April 1st, 2011 :: Filed under It's Weezy Baby,Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: Chopin, David Banner, dice lollipops, Greatest Rapper Alive, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, real talent, revolutionary, Swizz Beats, Tha Carter, Weezy, Young Money Productions

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“If every nigga in your clique is rich your clique is rugged, Nobody would fall cause everyone would be each others crutches”

Yup. Jay-Z is apart of my collection of articles that take a look at unheard-of and underrated Hip Hop albums. Am I crazy? Probably, but really, Reasonable Doubt is a brilliant masterpiece that does not get the recognition it deserves. In many ways, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt is an underground classic, whilst also being the album that propelled Jay-Z to success; unlike most artists, Jay-Z did not take the major label route until later in his career, even turning down a contract from Payday records, and instead started his own label. Reasonable Doubt is the result of this. I guess in some ways it’s ironic to talk about this album now in the context of an unheard of album, but it got slept on by many people who weren’t outside the New York scene when it was released, and by a lot of heads who only know of new-school Jay-Z. In other words, this album IS successful in many ways, but is not nearly as well known as Jay’s subsequent releases or even held in the same regards to a lot of people.

What Makes This Album So Unique?

Lyrically I consider this one of Jay-Z’s finest outings. Arguably you could say that Jay’s structure in terms of rhyme-schemes is lacking in some cases, but the smooth cadence and intricate lyricism make it hard to linger on any sort of structural issues that Jay-Z has from time to time on this album.

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Posted by LostMoniker on March 16th, 2011 :: Filed under Under The Covers: Hip Hop Obscurities
Tags :: Big Jaz, Can I live, Clark Kent, D'Evils, dj premier, Feeling It, Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt, Regrets, Sauce Money

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“Some DT’s took my MPV, I was rollin’ with niggas wildin’, bucking up the block while we listen stop the violence!”

Criminal is a peculiar album in that, the album embodies everything that a classic 94′ album would, but the masses have barely any clue what it is or who it is by. Criminal is the debut album by Scientifik, and it is a shame such a great debut has been lost in the realm of obscure Hip Hop albums. So you would think Scientifik with such a strong debut offering would at least reappear with other works… right? Well,  sadly there is not much known about Scientifik other than that he died shortly after releasing this excellent album; as depressing as Scientifik’s premature death is, he released one brilliant piece of work before leaving, and while Criminal is not the second coming of Illmatic–like some blogs may assert–Criminal is a great piece that did not get the shine it deserved due to a very subtle release and the death of it’s main star.

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Posted by LostMoniker on January 18th, 2011 :: Filed under Under The Covers: Hip Hop Obscurities
Tags :: 94, classic, criminal, scientifik

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“Yo you ever have a day man where absolutely nothing goes right?”

Psychoanalysis is the under-appreciated, somewhat surreal and always eccentric album by Prince Paul.  The album features barely any rapping, and chooses to focus it’s efforts on Paul’s style of skit-hop;  Psychoanalysis is not for the average hip hop listener by any means, and if you are not willing to invest your time in it in a focused manner, you will not get much out of this album. However, if you are willing to invest yourself in this album, seasoned fans of hip hop will find one of the most unique pieces of hip hop music since Dr. Octagonecolegyst (which interestingly enough came out the same year as this album)

What Makes This Album So Unique?

If most listeners are like me, and most listeners are also fans of Prince Paul, they will probably scan through the album, pick out the nicest beats and latch to them. At least, that’s how I first listened to this album. On my second listen however, I listened from track one to track fifteen, and I was not sure what to make of it. The beginning track Introduction To Psychoanalysis (Schizophrenia) starts with bleak synthesizers panning in and out, with voice clips of what sounds like an insane psychiatrist; as the song progresses a break beat comes in and you hear someone, who sounds like what I presume to be Prince Paul, describing his music career and then it branches off into him talking about other topics.

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Posted by LostMoniker on January 3rd, 2011 :: Filed under Under The Covers: Hip Hop Obscurities
Tags :: comedy, dark humour, Drinks (Escapism), Lost Moniker, Open Your Mouth, Prince Paul, Psychoanalysis, Skit hop, Surreal, Surrealism, Under The Cover, Weird, What is it?

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“That girl is a monster, she’s a chicken grease whore, that girl is a monster, tell her I don’t live here anymore”

Dr. Dooom 2 is the sequel to Kool Keith’s “First Come, First Served” album, but less of a concept album than his predecessor and more of a traditional Keith offering. For those who may be unaware of the release prior, First Come, First Served introduced Keith’s persona of “Dr. Dooom”. He’s a cannabilistic serial killer residing in the bronx. The album’s content was unique in it’s satirical nature and horror focused stylization. While Keith has made a worthy sequel here the content doesn’t feel nearly as fresh as it’s debut did. Don’t get me wrong, as this IS the Dr. Dooom you remember and love from the 99′ debut, but there seems to be less emphasis on the character and more emphasis on standard Keithisms.

One of the problems with this album is the same problem with many of Keith’s other albums: The themes start off consistent, but become gradually awkward or feel out of place. The album starts off interesting (with the exception of Simon), but somewhere near the middle, the album starts to feel bland and off point. However, the last third of the album does come back to what makes Dr. Dooom interesting in the first place.

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Posted by LostMoniker on January 3rd, 2011 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: dr. dooom 2, dr. octagon, eccentric, kool keith, underground

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The debut album by producer turned rapper Willie Evans Jr., was one of 2007′s best albums. Now, I know I’m late reviewing this album in terms of release date, despite this I know people have not heard of Communication or the Willie Evans for that matter, so I felt justified – and compelled – to review this wonderful album. Willie Evans Jr is a member of underground rap group The A.B.s and more recently has had credits on The Perceptionist’s debut album Black Dialogue, producing two of the beats. So in this always-growing Underground Hip Hop scene what sets Willie Evans Jr apart from others? Willie is an all in one rap artist, in other words he produces his own beats (with the exception of Slow Adrenaline) and emcees. Now while this doesn’t sound incredibly unique amongst the vast array of combo-artists like so, Willie Evans is a step above the rest in terms of production; with his lyricism being even more impressive.

What’s so unique about Willie Evans Jr to me, is that his approach to lyricism feels abstract yet coherent. At face value, you may feel he’s speaking all over the place but once you delve a bit deeper it really begins to make sense. Here’s an excerpt from the albums opening song Slow Adrenaline: “The apple in my eye, met her at an educate grind, later stated that the apple had a worm, another nigga had a turn, apple seeds in his eye lids”. His use of wordplay and metaphors is amazing, and there are more then a handful of incredible lines like the one quoted above throughout this album.

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Posted by LostMoniker on November 3rd, 2008 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: 2007, communication, jacksonville pt. 2, rawkus, slow adrenaline, willie evans jr., work it out

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State Of Lunacy is the debut album by UK underground artists “Rhyme Asylum”. Rhyme Asylum for those of you who don’t know, consists of rappers: “Possessed”, “Skirmish” and “Pliskone”; The production is done (for the most part) by new-comer “Leatherface”. The album has been described as: “…what happens if you suffocate the Wu-Tang Clan’s collective vision with a straight-jacket.”, and thats an understatement to their brutal style.

This album is by no means for the faint of heart. Covering everything from brutal battle raps to being locked up in an insane asylum, this group doesn’t shy away from shock factor. The Instrumentals portray these topics perfectly, giving the blueprints for vicious war themes and in some cases, even sounding very dream like. There was not one beat on this album (with the exception of Multiplicity’s remix) that sounded lacking in any way; complimenting this is the groups incredible grasp of language and flawless use of multiple-syllable rhymes. Everyone in Rhyme Asylum holds their own (only ever slipping up a few times), with each member contributing their own unique style to the mix, dropping a ton of quotables that I’m sure many underground heads will be repeating for ages to come.

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 17th, 2008 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: battle rap, depressing, dope, horrorcore, out of the cage, recommended, rhyme asylum, state of lunacy

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Combining Hip Hop’s underground heavy weight ‘El-P’, of Company Flow fame and two very talented New York underground artists ‘Vast Aire’ and ‘Vordul Mega’ comes one of the freshest albums in Hip Hop. Many purists will tell you Company Flow’s ‘FunCrusher Plus’ was a classic in it’s own right due to the unique production and stylized battle lyrics done by El P and Big Juss, and with this you’ll also get the “there’s no album that broke ground like this one”. Well, while Cold Vein may not have broken this ground, it’s just delved deeper.

Now, you’re probably wondering, what’s the recipe to what I’ve already summed up as a genius album? Top notch production and some of the finest lyrics ever heard on a Hip Hop album. Vordul Mega’s style is laced with multiple-syllable flows and a dash of abstract metaphors pertaining to his depressing views on life. Now, to be honest Vordul isn’t the reason this album is still playing on my stereo, his lyrics are good but they don’t have the same level of uniqueness as Vast Aire’s do. However, without Vordul’s input on this album, it wouldn’t feel right. Vast Aire, while not having the incredible flow that Vordul does, makes up for it with his charismatic delivery and genius wordplay. Each track, he laces his lyrics with some of the wittiest line’s I’ve heard in Hip Hop thus far. Lines from Iron Galaxy such as: “You were a stillborn baby, mother didn’t want you but your were still born, boy meets world of course his pops is gone, what you figga, that chalky outline on the ground is a father figure?” leave my jaw still dropping.

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 14th, 2008 :: Filed under Out Of The Cage: Album Reviews
Tags :: cannibal ox, classic, company flow, def jux, el-p, funcrusher plus, hip hop, review, vast aire, vordul mega

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