Born Sinner [review]....by Charlie Mango

Honestly, I didn’t listen to J. Cole’s debut album, Cole World. Oh, I’m a fan of his, many would argue, classic mixtapes (as classic as a mixtape could be): The Come Up, The Warm Up, and Friday Night Lights. But none of the singles from his album moved, touched, or inspired me like so many of his previous tracks. In fact, his songs were too structured and felt soulless; so, I decided to skip the album all together. I didn’t even download it; I didn’t want to hear him flop after falling off.

MCHG [review]....by Charlie Mango

Once again, Jay-Z sets a new bar (not lyrically, but maybe sonically or financially: platinum before the album dropped, never done before) with his latest offering Magna Carta Holy Grail.  Don’t believe me, pay attention to the black bar through his name and on the artistically statuesque cover, no coincidence. Additionally, the title of the album proclaims a new set of rules will be established, a la Magna Carta, while people search for their Holy grail (cue Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code).

Yeezus [review]....by Charlie Mango

   When “Yeezus” first sprang a leak, the internets rushed and gulped it down. Forwarded emails, containing various links to wet transfer and other file sharing sites, were excitedly opened to hear the new Yeezy “Yeezus.” Like many, I downloaded it, but I didn’t listen. Nope. Instead, I went to Twitter, the source of all news and tomfoolery, and looked at the up to date reviews of the barely five minute old unofficial release. And the good folks of Twitter-verse lambasted Yeezus, throwing stone after rock towards this ten-track opus.  These one listen reviews were funny as many proclaimed that Yeezy finally missed, ruining his streak of classic albums. As a result, naming Yeezus the official weed plate (though at the time, no one had a physical copy of the album) of the summer.