Album Reviews Posts

A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory is consistently lauded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. I certainly regard it as a high water mark for its era, even though it’s not even my favorite Tribe album. Here are five reasons why …

Before Luther Vandross became the legend we now know him as, he was already a superstar. In the decade or so prior to the release of 1981’s Never Too Much, the NYC-based singer/songwriter had already performed alongside the likes of David Bowie and …

When Whitney Houston passed away in February 2012, she was in the process of yet another comeback. A sea of personal issues had turned the powerhouse vocalist into a bit of a laughing stock in the new millennium. Her death was the final sad event in…

Back in 1990, LL Cool J dreamed about a girl with “a Fendi bag and a bad attitude.” However, Uncle L’s around the way girl didn’t really exist in popular culture. Even in the music world that created that rap classic, female artists fit one of two a…

Las Vegas native Ne-Yo spent a solid decade at or near the top of the pop/R&B world, as a songwriter and performer. His pen game is what got him in the door, thanks to songs like “Unfaithful” (made popular by Rihanna), “Let Me Love You” (a #1 smash …

I have written more words about Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall than I have about any other album I’ve ever owned. Each time I put (virtual) pen to paper, though, I become intimidated. How do I properly discuss an album that’s so essential to who I a…

I feel compelled to start this review by saying that, for the record, I find the last 12 or so years of Kanye West’s public persona abhorrent. I do not harbor or support his anti-Black or anti-Semitic views. It has been heartbreaking to see an arti…

Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill was one of the ‘90s biggest success stories. Millions upon millions of records sold. The Album of the Year Grammy (in a pretty stacked year for music). Legions of imitators (more on that later). What made this …

The sophomore jinx is real, y’all. Artists have their entire lives to create their debut, and often just a year or two to create a second album. The light shines brighter on you if your debut is a success. The eyes of the public are staring deeply i…

I’ve been trying to think of a good way to describe Huey Lewis & the News, and the most accurate analogy I can make comes from the News’ home base in The Bay. Think of the TV show “Full House”, and imagine The Rippers fronted by Bob Saget’s Danny Ta…

The modern day rap fan doesn’t know MC Hammer from Armie Hammer, and that makes me simultaneously happy and sad. The Bay Area-based rapper was the first all caps POP ICON of hip-hop. His sophomore effort, 1990’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘em spent th…

In 2004, The Beastie Boys released To The Five Boroughs. It was the first album of new music released by the trio since the attacks on September 11th, 2001 that left an indelible mark on the city they (and I) were born in. To The Five Boroughs is a …

Is there a precedent for 55-year-old rappers making good albums? No? Well, of course, count on LL Cool J to break the mold. It’s something he’s been doing for four decades. He was the first solo rapper to have a Gold album. The first solo rapper t…

We’re in 2026. Bruno Mars is, arguably, the biggest male singer on the planet*. His world tour sold out in minutes. He’s already amassed more Grammy Awards than his heroes Elvis, Michael and Prince. It’s hard to believe that once, in the not-too-dis…

When TLC stepped onto the scene in 1992, they broke the mold. While they were created in the image of Bell Biv DeVoe’s “hip-hop smoothed out on the R&B tip with a pop feel appeal to it” mission statement, TLC offered a different perspective. First o…

When 19-year-old Janet Jackson flew to Minneapolis to record the album that ultimately became Control, she couldn’t have had any idea that the recording sessions she signed on for could reshape pop music. After all, the producers she was traveling t…

Michael Jackson is widely regarded as one of, if not the greatest pop stars of all-time. The Motown-era Jackson Five are acclaimed as the granddaddy of the modern boy band. However, the average music fan assumes that the Jackson brothers left Motown…

It’s hard to listen to, much less review, Tupac Shakur’s All Eyez On Me without taking in all that happened in the months leading up to the album’s release, and all that happened in the months after the album’s release.  That feels a little silly t…

Where were you the first time you heard Amy Winehouse? I very distinctly remember my boss pulling me aside one afternoon and saying “listen to this.” “This” was “Rehab,” the cheeky opening track of Amy’s second album. Back to Black was still a few m…

Group dynamics are always a tricky thing. Even if a collective is set up with the intention of being a democracy, there will always be some kind of imbalance. Someone’s gonna get more lead vocals, someone’s gonna get more production credits, fans ar…

1982 was a transformative year for music in many ways. The second British Invasion exploded, thanks to new, fresh acts like The Human League, Yazoo and Duran Duran. Rap music planted its flag with two era-defining singles, “The Message” and “Planet …

The members of New Edition found themselves at a series of crossroads when the Heart Break album was conceived and recorded in 1988. After making their debut in 1983 with “Candy Girl”, the group had established themselves as one of the most successf…