While most of the album is concerned with asserting that YG is still a G despite his fame, it closes with a trio of protest songs.

This is gritty, grimy, hardcore hip-hop, as nasty as it wants to be.

He's a mover and shaker who has every right to look back in pride, in personal pride. Godfather is the reaffirmation of a status.

Malibu more than lives up to the high expectations facing Anderson .Paak.

He traverses the well-trodden avenues of gun and drug rap, reinterpreting redundant rhetoric into remarkable displays of comic genius, all while sticking firmly to a food motif.

The only complaint one could have about this CD is that it actually may be slightly overloaded with guests, meaning the deep and dusty voice that made him the Wu's first breakout solo star occasionally gets overshadowed.

On “It’s Almost Dry”, Pusha T proves that while he is fixated on selling drugs (almost to an obsessive extent), he is also a truly creative and, yes, original artist.

“Alligator Bites Never Heal” makes sense as a mixtape designed to showcase a star in the making, even if some of the bites of famous rappers may feel a bit on the nose for long-term listeners.

If you like the Cannibal Ox sound, and want to hear 90s NYC grime done 2011 style, then OX 2010 is worth the investment.

This EP cannot be recommended for who I consider our core group of readers unless you are familiar with his previous material and know you enjoy it, but the level of talent is undeniable.

Skyzoo has created an album that may not be the dream we all thought it could be, but it is one that will be playing in your mind long after you've nodded off.

While not as strong as some of her earlier albums, it does rectify the mistakes found on "This is Not a Test" and show that far from stagnating Missy is growing as an artist both in front of and behind the mixing board.

Scott Mescudi may be many things and nothing all at once but he's definitely not the "same lame old same thing."

Everybody Down may try to tackle too much in its 48-minute run time, but even if the story isn't always coherent, the emotions of the characters shine through.

I can say I recommend the entire thing as high quality.

It is very dense and maybe needed more melodies to help digest it all. Adding to that, the production at times lets her down, ranging from excellent to average, with a couple of songs that could well have worked better as skits.

Most of Let It Go is solid, but there are some skippable tracks.

Influenced by many but perhaps literally fathered by none, ScHoolboy Q remains an intriguing enigma whose ambitions presently know less limits than Percy Miller.

This more cerebral music is interesting and challenging, but it is missing some of immediacy of his earlier work.

He has definitely still come back with an admirable album - I'm just not sure that it is as MEMORABLE as it could have been.

I think there’s room for “alternative hip-hop” in the mix, not everything in rap needs to be swaggering cock grabbing male posturing, and the difference between a rapper who sings and a singer who raps has diminished greatly. That doesn’t mean “Pony” is going to take the place of all-time classics like Organized Konfusion in my rotation, but it does mean that I can see a more open-minded interpretation of rap music as not necessarily destroying hip-hop music and culture. Rex Orange County has his place too.

Even if you struggle with the minimal production, “The Book of Traps and Lessons” is still an important album and one worth repeated listens. We are in an age of chaos and outrage, and Tempest offers clarity and compassion. She is one of the great voices of our age, and an essential artist.

Musically, it has only a few elements, but are arranged well, a simplicity the lesser often veer into undeveloped blandness.

Positives of “The Goat” — it’s 47 minutes long, it’s slickly produced, and even when Polo’s voice is Tuned up it’s not to cover up him being mumble mouthed or syrup addled. Negatives — well there aren’t too many.

On the tracks of I Am the West that work the best, he's still got the vintage gruff demeanor, lyrical ferocity and hard hitting beats to claim some significant ownership of the Pacific shoreline. At other times he desperately desires to have a contemporary sound, and that's where things fall apart, but those mistakes can be overlooked or easily skipped compared to the quality of the overall presentation.

Though “Blame It On Baby” is fairly short at only 33 and a half minutes, the bop of songs like the Nils & Wheezy produced “Talk About It” and the title track from DJ Kid and friends prove you can hit skip and land on something good anywhere.

It would be more fitting to say Hell3 is an album that challenges conventional understanding of WHAT beginnings and endings are, leaving it up to the listener to draw their own conclusions, and that's what makes Hell3 both interesting and frustrating--but far moreso of the former than the latter.

Petestrumentals 2 is a worthy follow up to "Petstrumentals," and a must-listen for any fan of Pete Rock or instrumental hip-hop.