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Mixtape & Album Review

Mixtape & Album Review

Monday, December 23, 2013

The Snooze Button is definitely not an album to be taken lightly or slept on. It's properly titled and boasts a myriad of tracks that will make any fan of Hip Hop remember why they enjoyed emcees in the first place.

ARTIST(S): Annex (@annexhiphop)
ALBUM: The Snooze Button LP

OVERALL RATING:

The Snooze Button is definitely not an album to be taken lightly or slept on. It's properly titled and boasts a myriad of tracks that will make any fan of Hip Hop remember why they enjoyed emcees in the first place. There's a total of 12 tracks, including intro and outro; and the production ranges from hard drops and bass lines to smooth production with insightful lyrics.

The opening track, "Respect My Carpet" jumps off with an authoritative flow and anthemic production. Annex makes it clear he understands the limitations of lyrical emcees, while still demanding the respect for his craft as an artist.

He follows it up with "Over My Dead Body," that features hard hitting production along with the slightly dismissive tone we once knew emcees to thrive off of. In one of his verses, he has the following advice for the younger generation: "Smarten up young thug / they want you talking about the guns and the drugs / they love to hear you ni**as scream no love / it's fuel for the agenda before they pull the rug"

This album has a lot of gems for thought mixed within the wordplay, and it will take a few listens to catch all the lines. The good part about this project is that most tracks will actually make you want to listen again. The delivery and texture of his voice flows well with the production of the tracks; so, it makes for a good listen. His ability to transform his delivery is obvious in tracks like "On My J.O." and "Don't Remind Me."

The features on this project from Laws, Vayga, imagiin360, Knucklez, Mike Mass, Aja Lorraine, Laz, J. Scriptz, B. Worthy and Jae Luis bring their own style to the respective tracks they appear on. His ability to pick good features was one of the things that gave him a good rating. So many times, features take away from the album, and for the most part, his features didn't water down the project at all.

Nonetheless, the few weak points of the album were on tracks like "This World," where the mellow feel was definitely needed, but it lacked the impact it could have had with a hook was mixed with a bit more strength and the production had a few more buildups in the instrumental.

Some of the mixes on the instrumentals clashed a bit as in the track, "On My J.O." that should have probably had horns on a different octave so as not to take from the vocalist. Other than that, the only lacking element from the album was the fluidity between tracks. This could have been a good storyline album, but it lacked the cohesive interludes to phase in between tracks.

Overall, the project was solid and a must have for any Hip Hop enthusiast that loves raw indie rap with no filters. Annex not only found his voice, but stepped his character up a bit more through the years and it shows in every verse he drops on this album. Seeing the growth from the last project was indeed refreshing.

We'll finalize this review with the following Annex line from his outro track: "You're self-driven if you're doing what you love / but understand that even the best of us benefit from a shove."
 
 
ALBUM RATINGS
Production:
Lyrics:
Mix:
OVERALL:
Please click here for more information on guidelines for our bootslap rating system.
 
Thursday, March 7, 2013

With the cover art of William Cooper's "Behold a Pale Horse," and titled, FIELD VISION, A-M-P makes it clear that his art is more than just rap music.

Artist: A-M-P (Tampa, FL)
Mixtape: Field Vision
 
OVERALL RATING:
 
With the cover art of William Cooper's "Behold a Pale Horse," and titled, FIELD VISIONS, A-M-P makes it clear that his art is more than just rap music. Opening the album with an acapella over war sounds on "Draft Day," the feel of the album seems to be more political in nature but definitely takes quite a few turns throughout the playlist. It's safe to say that A-M-P doesn't necessarily stay in any one lane on this album.
 
Tracks like "Good Mood" and "Friends Mutual," put an unexpected twist on his style. Though it's versatile (and versatility is generally a good thing), it could also divert some listeners to pick and choose tracks as opposed to listening to the whole project in one take.
 
An obvious strength of the album is his more conscious tracks like "New Nation" where the wordplay picks up a bit, and his ability to paint the concepts through lyrics work well. A definite REPEAT TRACK would be "Someone to Hold" that has a strong vocalist hook, and the verses tell a clear story for any listener to sink into.
 
The production and arrangement of most tracks give them a good vibe and the mix on this mixtape was absolutely clean. The sound from track to track was even and there weren't much weak points on the mixes track by track. The mix held a lot of the weight in the final overall rating on this review. Minus a few bumps in levels here and there, we couldn't complain about this one on general sound at all.
 
While this project was generally well done, it didn't stand out a lot in regards to wordplay and delivery. The content was great and topics ranged from relationships to 120 lessons, but there wasn't enough fluidity between tracks; and sometimes the delivery was a bit too mellow on some tracks like "Good Mood." There were times when the laid back approach could have used a more lively approach.
 
Another pain point for this mixtape would be some of the hooks on tracks like "Shut 'em Down" and "Two Bad Chicks," which could have used a little bit of work on the hooks. It took away from the value of songs that had some potential.
 
Overall the album was clean and well diversified. I would like to see a more conceptual project from him in the future where he chooses a lane for that specific project and runs with it. A few of these tracks made it to our playlist. Get your copy online
 
ALBUM RATINGS
Production:
Lyrics:
Mix:
OVERALL:
Please click here for more information on guidelines for our bootslap rating system.
 
 
 
 
Monday, January 28, 2013

We at BootSlap are advocates for Indies with QUALITY MUSIC; so we base our reviews on 4 key components. This system of rating provides us a standard of quality that is not simply left to the bias of the writer or reader.

An overview of the BootSlap Rating System

In every masterpiece, there are various components that make up that work of art in a way that exemplifies it as genius. Whether it is the stanzas in a poem, the movements in a symphony or the components of a Hip Hop record; there are pieces to that work that come together and make it QUALITY MUSIC. We at BootSlap are advocates for Indies with QUALITY MUSIC; so we base our reviews on 4 key components. This system of rating provides us a standard of quality that is not simply left to the bias of the writer or reader.
 

IN OTHER WORDS...

 
The lyrics in music may be as elementary as Kermit the frog with a twist of tight jeans and pocket protectors; but the production is phenomenal, the mix is phenomenal, and the overall delivery of the artist projected well. They may get a good rating.
 
On the other hand; the lyrics may be completely flawless, but the delivery might sound more like a Gregorian chant, and the production is completely mixed like an old school cassette tape playing on a dusty boombox with one speaker working. That might not get a great rating. Just a simple thought to ponder when you make music.
 

WHAT WE'RE BASICALLY SAYING IS…

 
We are eliminating the opinion and trying to observe MUSIC for exactly what it is… MUSIC! So, I guess you want to know the formula, huh?
 

THE OFFICIAL BOOTSLAP REVIEW SYSTEM

 
They look something like this Boot Rating (halves look like this… Boot Rating )
AND BELOW IS HOW WE BREAK IT OUT ON THE SCALE
boot rating boot rating boot rating boot rating boot rating
- 5 BOOTS: FLAWLESS!!!!
boot rating boot rating boot rating boot rating half boot rating
- 4.5 BOOTS: Repeat Alert!!!!
boot rating boot rating boot rating boot rating
- 4 BOOTS: Pretty Damn Good!!!!
boot rating boot rating boot rating half boot rating
- 3.5 BOOTS: This gets a #salute
boot rating boot rating boot rating zero boot rating
- 3 BOOTS: Good Work!
boot rating boot rating half boot rating zero boot rating
- 2.5 BOOTS: It's good, but might need some work
boot rating boot rating zero boot rating zero boot rating
- 2 BOOTS: Definitely needs some work, but it has potential
boot rating half boot rating zero boot rating zero boot rating
- 1.5 BOOTS: It's OK…. (yea, how that sounded in your head)
boot rating zero boot rating zero boot rating zero boot rating
- 1 BOOT: Not really a strong point, huh?
half boot rating zero boot rating zero boot rating zero boot rating
- HALF A BOOT: C'Mon Son…. (insert Ed Lover pic here)
 
 
Like we said earlier… there are COMPONENTS to every masterpiece, so this is how we ask ourselves how to rate projects:
 
LYRICS: Are you on topic, do you articulate well and are you creative with the way you put those words together? Lyricism is the key here, but making sense matters JUST AS MUCH here. What story are you telling me? Do I get it?
 
PRODUCTION: Is the production well composed, constructed and mixed? Does it tell its own story and carry its weight on the project? Is it even original??????? (We have to ask these days….)
 
MIX: Does everything sound clean? Are the frequencies balanced correctly across the record? Does this sound like a QUALITY MIX? Every type of music and genre has its own way to mix and blend frequencies; does the mix match your song?
 
OVERALL: This is done by simply taking the 3 components above; Lyrics, Production and Mix, and calculating the average between them. This then equals the overall rating of the project. Rounding in any way is up to the discretion of the writer. Think of it as a MINUS or PLUS on a test (i.e. c-, b+, etc etc blah blah blah)
 
THIS IS HOW WE COME UP WITH OUR RATING OF PROJECTS. LIKE IT OR HATE IT, THIS IS WHAT KEEPS US HONEST AND KEEPS ARTISTS GROWING. THERE IS NO PROGRESS FOR THE INDIE ARTIST IF THEY CANNOT SET NEW STANDARDS ONCE THEY MEET THE OLD ONES.
 
SINCERELY,
THE BOOTSLAP TEAM
 
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