the Makaveli album took me some years to really "get." I don't think I really appreciated it until like 2008. On the flip, I loved All Eyez On Me right away. And I'd still consider Me Against The World my favorite 2Pac album.
Digable Planets were great. I'll get there for sure.
For now, it's a pretty un-scientific method of why I'm writing about each album. Basically, whatever CD's I happen to find get added to a pile. Then I try to listen to each one and write some thoughts on it before filing it away in the collection.
So...
DOOM - Unexpected Guests
This collection of (mostly) rarities is really good, unless you're a rabid DOOM fan. If you've followed his career closely than suddenly a glaring flaw comes into light: this could have been so much better. Most of the issues come from being too unfocused a set. While the variety is nice in having collaborations, solo b-sides and tracks that DOOM has produced for others, it seems that Gold Dust tried to cram too much onto one disc which results in a lesser compilation. For instance, considering the vast amount of rarities to choose from, why waste precious minutes on album tracks? Certainly any fan of DOOM already owns Operation: Doomsday, so the inclusion of "?" is baffling. Likewise, seeing "Angels" show up here is strange as well considering it was on 2009's Born Like This, though in fairness this appears to be the earlier mix with less drums that originally surfaced several years earlier. There's also the off-putting inclusion of partial songs. Scienz Of Life's collaboration "Yikes!" doesn't even feature Scienz Of Life on this one, instead just fading in and out of DOOM's verse giving it a mixtape feel that it doesn't need. So while there's no bad songs to be found here - which makes it a successful compilation - it also could have been the first of several amazing compilations had more thought been put into it.
Jay-Z - S. Carter: The Remix
So this is a weird one - an official release that nobody seems to know about because it was bundled with sneakers rather than sold in stores. So consider it a promo for both Hov's brand of kicks and The Black Album. What's surprising is that there's at least a real effort to make this feel like a solid album rather than a throwaway mixtape. Recorded during the fad of constant Black Album remixes, this seems to be the only collection of actual Jay-Z approved ones. Just Blaze shows up a lot here, and all of his remixes are good though hardly necessary. His take on "December 4th" is a really great somber affair, but it also takes away the feeling of celebration from the original for instance. Similarly his take on "99 Problems" sounds a lot like the original but employing Rick Ruben's sampling work from three decades earlier. It's an interesting, but feels more like a demo than a reimagining. Madlib shows up to remix "Threat," with a pretty unthreatening beat that unfortunately only lasts for a verse or so being ending abruptly. There's a couple of nice collaborations included - Dead Prez for one and a remix of Talib Kweli's "Get By" with Kanye and Mos Def. While none of this is top shelf material, it certainly comes close. And part of the problem may just be the unfortunate urge to compare it to The Black Album proper. In truth this is surprisingly solid even if not amazing. And it's definitely an interesting and overlooked sidenote to compelling era of Jay's work.