Amara and Robert's Wedding

For those of you who didn't know, Amara Ogbonnaya and Robert Whittlesey were married in Chicago on September 27th. It was an absolutely lovely wedding. You can see a picture of the happy couple below, and the ceremony was just awesome. I think Amara's dad was the key part of the wedding and everything was just so lovely. Plus they used purple for the wedding, and everyone knows how much I love purple. Killa Cam knows.

In addition to the wedding, I was also able to see all my people, even Julia who actually lives in West Virginia now. It was a great trip and totally worth it despite missing a lecture by Dr. Kleinberg the following Monday.

For the Musically Inclined

It has been a long time since I sent out a review of music, and that's mostly due to my laziness. Below you will see listed some CDs which have come out within the last 6 months, and what I thought of them.

Rick Ross, Deeper Than Rap - This CD was awesome. I've been a Rick Ross fan since I first heard him on the All About the Benjamins soundtrack, but I really caught on when I met him during a visit to IIT. At the time I was a DJ for the radio station and he came through to promote his first studio album Port of Miami. That track Hustlin was hot and Speedin with R. Kelly was a good track, but he really hit his stride in Trilla with the track Maybach Music. The Justice League production crew's fingerprints are all over this album and it really gives the album a smooth flavor. The guest appearances are all great except Foxy Brown, but I just don't like her, and the CD bounces back and forth between the hardcore mafia music that used to define rap and a more relaxed vibe that may come to define it in the future. My only knock is that rips against 50 Cent are very prevalent; I have no problem with the beef, it just takes up a little too much time.

The Dream, Love vs. Money - The Dream picks up the ball from where Love/Hate left off and goes in for the dunk. Totally ignoring the exceptional production that he has done for many others, The Dream's new album stands as an awesome mix of high level synthesized beats, futuristic experimental baselines and melodies, and his signature voice which oscillates flawlessy between club jamz and booty music. Every track on this is hot, and there is something on this for the thoughtful person in us and the person that is just depressed about a recent break up. Really the only negative thing I have to say is that track 1 is nothing, it's just an empty track. Regardless this is a must have, and I think I will label it my R&B album of the year until something better comes along.

Busta Rhymes, Back on my BS - This album was kind of disappointing, which I guess every Busta album has been since Genesis. There are good tracks on this (Hustler's Anthem, Conglomerate, We Want In) but there isn't really anything awesome. It's too bad for Busta Rhymes that I have such high expectations for him because in reality this is a solid album. There's some new stuff, some fun stuff, good guest appearances, and frankly any CD with Mike Epps in it is bound to be dope, but I just feel like there's a bad mix of new Busta and old Busta. I think we all enjoyed his old stuff, and his new stuff is cool too, but it just doesn't mix well. That really is too bad because there's some good vibes on this disc and if it evolves it will be a big thing in rap.

Eminem, Relapse - This is a tough album to review, because there are some really great things about this album and some really whack things. First of all, this album is a lot less funny than other Eminem stuff, which sucks because that was alot of what made him so awesome - pulling humor out of everything. This CD is very dark and sad and frankly unpleasant most of the time. About half the songs are about Eminem's addiction to various things and he does a great job of making you feel the pain of helplessness and perpetual self-destruction. Unfortunately that's not really something I like, I didn't like Requiem for a Dream, and there were parts of Ray that were just uncomfortable for me. If you dump the druggie self-loathing parts of the album, there are some cool tracks (2, 8, 9, 13, 17, 20). Overall, this album was better than Encore, but still not really as enjoyable as Eminem's other CDs.

Method Man and Redman, Blackout 2 - I heard someone describe this album as "a Kevin Smith movie in a rap CD". I hate to admit it, but that is absolutely true. The first Blackout was so dope and I was so pumped to hear that Redman was coming out with another CD, that when I heard about this I was sure it would be awesome. Realistically this album is okay, better than much of the crap that comes out, but not really the fun loving mix of comedic and gangsta rap that defined earlier stuff. Most of the tracks are a generic mix of booty and weed, with similar NY street court beats. This is a fun album, but not really anything special.

Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3 - This is a great album, a really great album. Actually, this might be Jay-Z's best album, which is pretty incredible after Volume 2, The Black Album and The Blueprint. I didn't even mention American Gangster but that might even be better than The Black Album now that I think about it. He has time and again produced great music (and on this disc he keeps reminding you of it) and this CD is just chocked full of more. There are plenty of singles on this album and a real shift in gears from old Jay-Z. Each song bounces back and forth from a new jack vibe to new-age stuff and the production on this album is absolutely flawless. I can't say enough good things about this CD, and really the only thing I don't like is the guy on the chorus of the first track. I also really like autotune music, so I don't really care for the song Death of Autotune.

Jeremih, Jeremih - Good, not great. This CD is a cool mix of The Dream and Chris Brown and that's what I like about it. What I don't like is that it can be kind of boring at times. There are some cool things here, and Jeremih's voice definitely has potential, but the production isn't really pushing any boundaries. We'll see where he is in a little bit, but for now this CD is good enough to enjoy on its own.

Sean Paul, Imperial Blaze - I'll get back to you on this later.

The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. - I like this alot, but I'll get back to you later.

T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz - This awesome was dope, although I'm not sure it's better than Epiphany. I really like almost everything about this CD, except that there isn't really a slow jam on it. More on this later.

Twista, Category F5 - Some tracks are good, but overall this album is only mediocre. I hate to say that, because I love Twista so much, especially Kamikaze. Even so this album is not really the greatest, with only maybe 5 good tracks on it. Some of the songs are just really boring, which seems basically impossible for Twista. It's really good to have a new Twista CD out though, so I'll still call this album good despite the fact that it is not as good as much of his other stuff.

Akon, Freedom - This is a cool album, although Trouble is still better. I love the mix of electronica and autotune and I think the only way the album could be better is with a little more rap on it. I'll write more later.