While going through the archives of Defsounds.com, I noticed there was no real outline for reviewing albums. So while most if not all of the album reviews are pretty accurate, certain scores may seem inflated. So in an effort to clear up the reasoning for some album grades, I have decided to break down my reviewing scores and what is the highest possible score that someone can get.
First of all I personally feel it is virtually impossible for any artist to get anything lower than a 5 because the simple effort of compiling your work and putting together an album is a task in which not many people can do. Although many artists make it look easy, the development of an album can be a long arduous process which is both stressful and difficult. So for that every album that I review will automatically be given 5 points just for the purpose of respect. If there is ever an album that receives anything lower than a 5, I suggest that you destroy any copy of the album that you ever see, because it is worth nothing and will offer nothing to you or anyone in this lifetime.
So now that I have made that clear lets get into the breakdown. With every album already getting a 5 that means that the average album can receive anything from a 5 to a 10 or a 10.5 for that perfect album. So here is how it goes.
5- Plain and simple the album sucks, its pointless, boring repetitive, has no purpose, and I'm not sure why I was asked to review this. The lyrics are lower than subpar and upsetting. The production is horrible blotchy and at times makes absolutely no sense. This album is one that I would never listen to again and will strongly suggest you to do the same.
5.5- It also completely sucked but I didn't wanna be cruel.
6-This album also sucks, but is not completely garbage, it touches on some topics but is very vauge, the production is inconsistent but not a total plauge to my ears, and the lyrics are not completely wasteful but they're nothing at all to brag about.
6.5- See 6... but had a song or two that was very enjoyable.
7- This is a fairly decent album on a scale it would be seen as average. Offers a lot of good songs, but nothing that really stands out to blow you away. It has topics and the artist does a good job of sticking to them, but it is still missing the "it" factor that transform a good album to a great album. Lyrics are enjoyable and make sense. There are a couple of moments where you may wonder what the artist was thinking, but over all its an album that is enjoyable and may even make your MP3 playlist. Re-playabilty varies.
7.5- A little higher than decent but still not good enough to be called above average, mostly used to appease the stans who are enraged when their favorite artist isn't given an 8 or higher.
8- This album is not a decent album, it is a good album, the production is above average, the lyrics are not only good but have a little bite to them, offering quotables that many listeners will use. There is a clear point and purpose to the album, and it has no trouble staying on topic. This rating is for an album that is clearly better than an average album but just dosen't have all of the intangibles that make a great album.
8.5- A very good album, which has pretty much the same as an 8 but did something that gave it a little extra push that brushed up the score some.
9- This is a great album, which for most listeners will be one that you can listen to straight through without skipping. It is one of those albums that you can listen to ten years from now and still enjoy, but leaves you wanting a little bit more. It is an album that is talked about by everyone love it or hate it, but is still flawed in someways.
9.5 -Almost there but not quite a ten.
10- This album is exactly what it says it is, a perfect album. The production is amazing, the lyrics are outstanding, the subject matter is a step ahead of everything out and the album is for lack of better words timeless. Very few albums will ever get this rating if any at all.
10.5- This album is Perfect in every sense of the word, and is the album that every other rapper will look to when trying to put together an album. It is in every sense of the word a "Work Of Art", and not only inspires listeners but has the ability to change the climate in music as of that moment. This album is timeless and has the ability to break through any genre and still earn its respect. It receives a 10.5 because although it was flawless in every way shape and form, the artist still found a way to take it to a level beyond what even some of the greatest artist were ever able to achieve. There are only a select few albums that have ever done this. Here is my list in no particular order.
Life After Death- 10.5
The Blueprint-10.5
Illmatic-10.5
Reasonable Doubt-10.5
Ready To Die-10.5
COMMENTS
your dumb.....i like this....cause there are so many dicks on here who talk shit.....about the reviewing on here....
the only problem that i have is that none of Pacs albums are up as a 10.5??!!
all eyez on me- 10.5
marshall mathers lp-10.5
Doggystyle-10.5
strictly4myniggaz-10.5
all eyez on me-10.5
honestly those are great albums by great artist but there are also albums dat are dat great but the artist doesnt turn out dat way so that great album never gets full on recogniton... for example its dark and hell is hot by dmx, mobb deep murda muzik, capital punishment big pun, and aquemini by outkast
2pac had atleast four classic albums with the others being good ones.
LOL IF 2PAC IS OVERRATED THAN BIGGIE SMALLS SHOULDNT BE MENTION IN THE TOP DOA,BECAUSE BIGGIE TALKED ABOUT THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER=PARTY,BITCHES,MONEY,DRUGS!!!!!!!!!
THE GUY HAD NO STORY TELLING ABILITY AT ALL,COULDNT CHANGE HIS FLOW FOR SHIT HE SOUND THE SAME ON EVERY TRACK.I MIGHT GET TRASH BUT IDGAF.
i feel u if pac aint mention to not mention big cuz day are somewat in the same field.. but sayin big aint have no story telling ability u are surely mistake... his first single off of ready to die juicy was a story, i got a story to tell was a story, warning another one and then kick in the door.... he was a story teller but both rappers we wont kno were they would be if they were alive wat if pac went down like dmx then we would all be sayin he needs to stop this cop bullshit... and if big was alive maybe he would make two hot allbums then turn to 50 cent.. nah mean... and hip hop has been and will also be about dope lyrics nice beats and obviosly the money factor... if it wasnt about the money this website wouldnt be around and ur concerts wouldnt be in no big stadium... i like all eyes on me and me agianst the world but to hail them as classics.. im not sure... i started bumpin pac more after he died so wat does dat really say bout the artist... and if u from the ny u should understand the power of money in ny rap music
HE WASNT SAYN THAT PAC DIDNT HAVE ANY CLASSIC ALBUMS...HE JUST LISTED A FEW CLASSICS AND IM ASSUMING THAT THOSE R HIS FAVORITE...AND HEAMPSTEAD...HOW DA FUCK COULD U SAY BIGGIE HAD NO STORYTELLN SKILL... ONLIFE AFTA DEATH WEN HE WAS TALKN BOUT FUCKN DA BBALL PLAYER'S WIFE WAS FYAA AND HOW COULD U SAY HE RAPPED ABOUT DA SAME SHYT WEN...
READY TO DIE: STRICTLY RAPPING ABOUT DA STREETS AND DA STRUGGLE TO GET BY
LIFE AFTA DEATH: STRICTLY RAPPING ABOUT HOW RICH HE WAS AND HOW MUCH MONEY HE WAS GETTN
U SEE HOW MUCH SENSE IT MAKE...BIGGIE WAS ONE OF THE FEW RAPPERS THAT RAPPED BOUT XACTLY WAT WAS GOIN ON IN THEIR LIFE...UNLIKE PAC WHO NEVA BANGED AND RAPPED BOUT IT...JADA PINKETT EVEN STATED "PAC NEVA STARTED LIVING THAT LIFE UNTIL HE STARTED RAPPING ABOUT IT"...yEA I FEEL UR FRUSTRATION CUZ HE DIDNT LIST ANY PAC ALBUMS BUT DAT DONT MEAN THEY WASNT CLASSICS...U GOTTA REMEMBA IT HIS BLOG U FEEL ME
BROOKLYN STAND UP...BEDSTY, NOSTRAND IS DA AVE COME HOLLA
What's the point of your comment?
it's a blog....you don't like it...don't comment...plain and simple...
Who are you anyway?
What I post up here are BLOGS, not factual content, not editorial content, BLOGS. They are of my opinion and of my opinion only. They don't represent the opinion of Defsounds.com as a whole and are meant to either invoke thought or entertain. Do I really need to post up the retard heat map again? Must I continue to reiterate that anything posted in blogs should be taken with a grain of salt?... this was posted by joksta... if the writers of blogs only want to talk bout wat their main point is then mayb ushould juss write for a local high school paper or sumthin cuz u let other ppl voice their opinions then u wanna say thats not wat we talkin bout dats cool and all but im a grown ass man ill talk about watever i want especially if i can express myself in an intellictual manner
how tha fuck is tupac overrated he done touchecd every topic, you can still bump classics like to "Live in die and LA" today, he can switch his flow, i was always more pac than big, Big had lyrics but so did Pac, and he touchd on everyday topics on every album, very rarley screaming about being a millionaire
what you gonna choose: "Hit em Up "or "Who Shot Ya"
Tupac is worldwide success unlike Biggie, Biggie is mad hot dont get me wrong, but he wernt on "it" as much as Pac.
^^^what is the point of this blog?
answer: cause some people have different standards on what a 7 is or what a 8 is or whatever number and he is specifying what he means when he does reviews so that stans dont start throwing a temper tantrum because their fav. rapper didnt get a 10---he basically is letting u know why it isnt a 10 and why its a 8 or 7, etc.
whoever said that Biggie had no story telling ability is a fucking idiot!
"whoever said that Biggie had no story telling ability is a fucking idiot!"
hahahahaa i was just gonna post that....
"who the fcuk is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning...
crack a dawn and now i'm yawning...
wipe the cold out my eye....
see whos this paging me and why?"
......nuff said
OOK REMEMBER WHEN I TALKED ABOUT THE LAX ALBUM AND I KEPT COPYING AND PASTING NOW THIS MAKES MUCH MORE SENSE....MY APOLOGIES I GUESS LAX IS OK WHAT THE RATING U GUYS GIVE IT BECUZ IT REALLY DIDNT BLOW ME AWAY LIKE THE ALBUM HE DID BY HIMSELF.....STILL GOOD SONGS ON LAX THO
Nice list. Here are a few I woulda put on there too: (At least in my humble opinion):
ONLY BUILT FOR CUBAN LINKS - Raekwon the chef
All eyez on me - 'Pac
Makeveli: The 7 Day Theory - 'Pac
StillMatic - Nas
Lifestyles of the poor and dangerous - Big L
Doe or Die - AZ
$It's Just My Opinion$
Youre right about your 10.5 list but there are other 10.5s that you missed. 2pac-All Eyez on Me, 2pac- Me Against the World, Eminem- INFINITE(It may be more underground but that album can beat out almost any album straight up), Bone Thugs- East 1999, Dr.Dre- The Chronic, Snoop Dogg Doggystyle, and after awhile people will realize BOTH of Lupes albums can be considered.
Soulja boy don't even deserve a 5, he deserves a 0
good shit man. i woulda put a few more albums on the 10.5 list u had there but i believe u were prolly just givin a couple examples. but blueprint a 10.5 really? it was outstanding dont get me wrong but there r a few songs id skip on it. but whatever. but for real, CHRONIC 2001 IS AT LEAST 10.5 IF NOT 11. it is the definition. put out damn near ten years ago i still bang that shit n keep turnin the volume up on every song. good post tho lotta people bitch about their favorite album not gettin a good score.
on a side note, carter 3 shoulda got less than a 7 dude there were like 3 good songs on it. keep it real
But pac still put out pleny of good cd's! Me Against The World or Better Dayz or All Eyez on Me should defiantly be up there. atleast one
all eyez on me and me against the world are both 10.5 can enjoy each all the way through without skipping a track.. same with both the chronic and 2001..to me a perfect album is just one that you dont have to skip through at all, and each song isn't just listenable, but makes you want to listen over and over.. good review criteria though
Eminem is the most overrated, not Pac. Don't get me wrong, he's in my top 10 or 12 all time but cats put him at #1!
Just compare the albums and singles:
Me against the world
Singles-Dear Momma, So many tears.
Marshall Mathers LP
Singles-Stan, The way I am...
Close but advantage Pac if you listen to the entire albums.
Makavelli
Singles-Hail Mary, Against all odds(not a true single but he shitted on a few of your fav rappers.)
Encore
Singles-Like toy soldiers, Mockingbird(People shit on Encore but I thought it was aiight)
Advantage Pac
All eyez on me
Singles-Ambitionz as a Ridah, I ain't mad at cha
Slim Shady LP
My name is, Guilty conscience
Even my favorite Shady joint falls short, adv Pac.
2pacalypse Now
Singles-Brenda's got a baby, If my homie calls
Eminem Show
Singles-Without me,Cleaning out my closet
Adv. Em, Pac's 1st joint is dated, plus Cleaning out my closet, is one of my favorite RAP joints period.
If that ain't enough, look at the fact that Em does numbers with wack singles like, Without Me, and My name is. Pac did it with Dear Mama and Brenda's got a Baby, shit that touched real issues. Flow for flow, Em is one of the best ever, but if that was all there was to it, Cannibus and Cassidy would be right there with him. Pac is one of the ALL AROUND best. If you don't believe that, you don't understand him or the entire movement he started. I bet your favorite rapper does. There is a reason why he's THE ONLY RAPPER who is Bob Marley status, dead or alive, period. Jay-Z could get popped tommmorow(GoD ForBid!!!) and he would never have the impact Pac did, and that goes for any other rapper out there.
SHUT UP I WILL NOT HEAR IT AGAIN!!! 2 PAC IS NOT THE MOST OVER RATED RAPPER OF ALL TIME!!! j/k well i mean to me pac aint the most overrated i mean i dont fully kno how someone who is able to influence most of the game and be admired by most if not all of his peers and enemies alike be consider over rated. he had what it is needed to be a great rapper...charisma, flow, able to paint a picture(and usually he painted both sides of the story), style/image and the ablity to make you want to hear him. i mean real talk pac is on a whole new lvl then most rappers not only did he have a grind from another world he was able to make people who dont even like rap want to hear him...thats legendry thats just my 2 cents. So in the end all eyes on me should for sure be a 10.5 I mean real talk disc one and two went hard and who else then or even now would be able to put out 2 cd’s at once and still have almost every track (expect whats your phone number if I remember that was on there) be good as hell
biggie pulled it off on LIFE AFTER DEATH and honestly i liked dat album over ready to die but both r classics!
WTF PAC OVERATED!? damn yall foos confused or sumthin. Go back listen to his shit again.
ALSO, your forgetin EMINEM, dont tell me atleast one of his albums shoodnt be up there.
shit maybe more than that.
FOO must be an east coast rap fan
no one gives a shit how u rate album
Yeah i dnno about all that, ALL EYES ON ME was serious, Dr. Dre's the cronic was serious, Snoops doggy style was serious, eminem's first album was serious, and for all you haters, I swear i better not hear a word about this nomination, because you know deep down inside this album was the shit
50 CENT--- GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN!!
Co-Sign. How cood i forget bout the Chronic.
like i said only artist to get perfect scores are eastcoast artist? Fuck is up with that.
and i agree with Get Rich Or Die Tryin, but all his other albums were bullshit. Fifty needs to get back to what he was doin at first.
I agree 100 with Dre, Snoop, and 50, but SSLP is prolly a 9.5. Agreat album but had some skip joints.
Well they should have gave hella albums 5 like fat joes album for example should have been a -8,000,000
Lol'in while reading over comments
this a bias list no Tupac,lol, no Outkast-LOL, no Ludacris, be for real all new york artists, no west coast,south, midwest,if north at least Jersey,Philly its always about Jay Z on here or Biggie not hating just stating the facts thety go hard but they aint no only lyrical rappers.
Matter of fact, only one of those albums wasn't from Brooklyn!
These dudes on here most smoke crack blunts, pac da most overated stay off drugs biggie more overated than Pac he only drop about 2 or 3 albums, Pac stayed constient since he drop strictly4myniggaz wake up brah and quit hating on Pac
Do you guys read.... this blog has nothing to do with 2pac nothing at all. The and the list of 10.5 albums are my personal opinion, so it dosent mean that they have to be the only ones. Are Reign and Eddie2110 the only ones who had enough sense to figure out what the point of this blog was. Stop arguing over pac
i thought the point of a blog was to spark up debate or interest... juss because ur da one bloggin dont mean dats all we gotta talk about... i suppose u dont move from one convo to another
lol at Nu Jerzey Devil.
He made a good point Lyrical Thought...A real good point lol.
Oh yeah, I still think the way your rating these albums could be alot better.
just wanted to say i didnt mean no disrespect on ur blog by stickin up for pac... real talk cause i kno it aint about that but i just had to put that out there my man... plus u kno how these blogs are online wit everyone thinkin they cochran on some lawyer shit lmao
Good blog. I rate albums on a scale much like this but instead of starting at 5 and using .5's I just go 1 through 10.
which makes sense.
which blueprint are you referin to. i hope you talkin bout the original from KRS-One. add this to the list, My Philosophy by bdp.
Yea dude needed to do this cuz too many cats go around calling albums that are decent or above average classics.
Jay-Z's Blueprint
@lyrical thought, how can it not be KRS-One's blueprint. jigga the man but he did bite the name.
The Chronic 11.5
Why must people always refer to Biggie when talkin about Pac or vice versa?
both were greats...point blank...
each had their strengths and few weaknesses
nice scale, but I don't think 5 should be a baseline...i've definitely heard pretty bad albums which have been 3/4's out of ten...
if 5 IS used as a baseline, would it not make more sense to just evaluate the album on a scale from 1 to 5?
This guy is obviously a Jay-Z/Biggie stan. Nas put out better work. Eminem put out better work. Pac put out better work. X put out better work. Face put out better work. Gang Starr has put better work. 10.5? How stupid is that? Criteria sucks. Enough said.
Ok. Whats the point in even reviewing albums. Your basically telling us your personal opinion which i careless about. And making reviews for shit can hurt a alum sales. People just come online look at the rating and decide not the buy and support the album. If its a grading scale it should be from "horrible to okay to Good to classic". I really could careless about your criteria why does your opinion even matter like you some sort of hip hop say so criticizer whos always correct. Wrong!!!....
"THE GUY HAD NO STORY TELLING ABILITY AT ALL"
listen to niggaz bleed....
or I gotta story to tell, or me and my bitch, or everyday struggle, etc.. I'm an advocate for Pac, but Big is one of the best ever with the stories, that's one of the special qualities he had.
Paper Trail 10.5
Co-sign.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 10.5
she is the best female rapper of all time plus the bitch can sing. you niggaz seen sister act 2
only one rap song on that album.
I have to go with MC Lyte for the greatest female MC ever.
Reasonable Doubt Of course, Blueprint Duhhh, An Last but Not Least Life After Death... An Ima South Nigga Sayin Tht O An L.A.X Hahahahaha Juz Thought Id Fuk With All Yu Game Fanatikz Hahhahaha
Lupe Fiasco' "Food & Liquor" n 50 cent "Rich or die trying" should get a 10.5
but is all good cuz eminem, dr.dre n 50 cent are coming with a new album, good year for hip hop
i'm a 50 fan but a 10.5 is high b/c i can do without
Blood Hound
Poor Lil Rich
oh and Like My Style
ur a fuckin fag..all you do is give new york albums high ratings you faggot
lol trust me this guys the biggest bitch that ive seen this far, i swear *2 Pacs Greatests Hits* is classic same with *The Game The Documentary*
Honestly listening to Hip Hop the last couple of years you would only think Hip Hop revolves Jay-Z, Big and Pac....
can we expand so the younger generation knows more..
Redman has 3 classic albums...
Method Man with Tical
Rae and Ghost...Dammit Wu-tang in General!!
i know i can name ALOT more but i just woke up so the brain is still in cruise control!!
10.5 Liquid Swords
10.5 Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
LOX- We are the Streets....
10 - Food & Liquor and The Cool
10.5 IWW
Face and Kast have both made flawless albums......