5. Less Arrests
Seems like rappers still love to hang around with guns and drugs, as T.I. is in federal custody and Lil’ Wayne is about to do a one-year bid from a gun charge. Hell, it seems like DMX is getting arrested every other month. With all the limelight and money making these guys targets, rappers need to show that they’re collectively smarter than what we’ve demonstrated over the years. And if you have to indulge in your guns and drugs, at least have your posse member handle them. As shallow as this sounds, I’d rather have the sidekick catch the charge than the artist; I don’t see the sidekick’s name in my iPod.
4. Summer Concert Series
Specifically, the Paid Dues and Rock the Bells shows. Paid Dues showcases the best that the underground has to offer, and Rock the Bells brings the legends. It’s always a big guessing game every time spring rolls around and the lineup gets announced. Rumors get tossed around (like the rumor that Outkast would headline last year, only to have Big Boi be one of the featured acts) and people begin visualizing their dream lineup. Allow me to use this forum to cast my idea: Dr. Dre headlining. Ice Cube did last year at the San Bernardino show, you should have the album done by then. Right? Right?
2010 is going to be an extremely interesting year for debuts. Among the rappers slated to drop debut LPs in 2010 are Drake, Crooked I, J.Cole, and Nipsey Hussle. Drake’s debut has been one of the most-anticipated releases in recent memory, as he’s made quite a name for himself through his signing to Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment. Crooked I, finally gets his solo debut after enduring a decade of shelved albums, numerous mixtapes, and the Slaughterhouse album. Nipsey and J.Cole both represent new beginnings, as Nipsey seeks to resurrect the West and J.Cole is the flagship artist for Jay-Z’s new Roc Nation label.
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This is one of my absolute favorite things about hip-hop: every year an album comes out by an artist that I’d never heard of and manages to become one of my favorites. Examples from past years include Blu & Exile’s Below the Heavens and Common Market’s Tobacco Road. I’m positive that 2010 will be no exception.
A predictable number 1 choice, but it has to be done. Dr. Dre is running out of excuses for not releasing it, as Relapse, Relapse: The Refill, and Before I Self-Destruct have all been released and Relapse 2 is not far behind. All the signs are there: his headphones are being heavily marketed, he’s in Dr. Pepper commercials playing a song that will presumably be the lead single from Detox, and reference tracks for Dr. Dre to rap over are floating around the internet. The bar has been set impossibly high due to the constant delays, but the early word from artists who have worked on the project all rave that the album is going to be something special. Patience has worn thin, and Dre needs a classic to win back any naysayers. Lucky for him, he knows exactly what needs to be done to make a classic, and the anticipation of that alone makes me that much more excited for this album.
By: Freddie C
6 comments:
Rock the bells ! Blu & Exile below the heavens is such a classic album. Blu is apart of 3 dope albums already i cant wait to hear more from him in 2010
You FORGOT debut of: JAY ELECTRONICA...sorry BIG OMISION. BIG. He is most anticipated right now.
I'm always amused by people who say "Fuck Detox" like they won't listen to it when it drops. Sure, there will be some stubborn holdouts who won't listen to it because they think they're too good to wait for an album and took the delay as a personal affront from the Doctor himself. But why front on a potentially dope album? What about Dr. Dre's track record on solo albums makes the doubters wary?
Then you have people like me who are going to line up at the store just so I can have it as soon as humanly possible. Am I setting my expectations too high? Of course. Dr. Dre made the songs that got me into hip-hop in the first place, and that's a claim that millions of people share. But don't we have high expectations whenever we go and buy an album? I bought Tical 0 because it was Method Man. I bought Blood Money because it was Mobb Deep (on G-Unit! That combo should have worked better.) Both disappointed. But on the other hand, I saw Dark Knight with sky-high expectations, and it blew those away. Same with Avatar. Avatar had people contemplating suicide because Earth can never be Pandora! That's crazy!
I'm not saying Detox will be some cultural phenomenon, but the potential is there. The Chronic was a phenomenon at the time. My high school years were dominated by 2001, I knew that album word-for-word, front to back. Dr. Dre knows what he has to do to make classics, he's done it before, and I'm inclined to think it'll happen.
Also, I haven't taken the time to listen to much JE. But the poor guy is with Erykah Badu, and I've seen what she's done to rappers before, as illustrated here:
http://archive.ohword.com/gallery3/804/living-with-baduizm
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I just read it got pushed back to 2011. FML.
I dont think Jay Electronica is ever going drop an album. An ep potentially but Erykah Badu said
she's even uncertain if he'll drop an LP. And I really wanna know who's rocking at Rock The Bells, as well as the BK Hip Hop Festival. Good read! But damn did Detox get pushed back to 2011? Smh I knew I'd see a Kid N Play reunion before that album (No really they're going on tour)
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