The Best Rap Album of July 2017 - Peddler Themes EP by Skyzoo

Despite his foolish allegiance to the New York Knicks (www.knicksloseagain.com) I must bow down to greatness and give the brother his just due.

Two time Underground Music Award winner Skyzoo has once again blessed the streets of Brooklyn with a gift for the summer in his Peddler Themes EP which just also happens to be the best rap album of July 2017.

 In a time when being a lyricist gets you very little credit Skyzoo sets out to prove in Peddlers Theme that his pen game is Lebron James level and he succeeds. Those of us who enjoy clever and witty rhymes laid on top of a fire ass flow live for this cat's music.

In Peddlers Theme Skyzoo pays homage to the D boys of the day, not to glorify at all but much like a book of New York City street photos by Jamal Shabazz, Sky gives you a view of the recent past on the streets of New York musically. A time when gentrification was still only talk in the exclusive clubs of politicians and landlords, Basquiat was adding to canvas and then taking away and young black culture strong armed the entire planet and shook it until a bag fell out.

If you still fiend for that New York hip hop sound and need something new this is your album. Get it.

The Best Rap Album of June 2017 - 4:44 by Jay Z

I had to take an entire year off from this website. I got really frustrated with the direction rap music.
Dumb shit ruled the airwaves and strip clubs and I just refused to participate in it all.

Today, I got my wake up call when I heard Jay Z's new album, 4:44 this afternoon.

Jay does a masterful job of hitting on grown man topics of love, fatherhood, spirituality, generational wealth and legacy without putting on the reverend collar and clutching a bible.

4:44 is Message to the Blackman in America 2.0 which is why it is the album of the month. Actually it's the album the first half of 2017.

The Best Rap Album of March 2017 - Rather You Than Me by Rick Ross

Two things get better with age, Rick Ross and a good wine. But I am as far from being a sommelier as Rick Ross is to being a real drug dealer so let's keep this about rap music.

After 20 years in the game Ricky Rozay aka Rick Ross has dropped what might arguably be his best album to date, Rather You Than Me.

We still give juvenile songs like She On My Dick but in his other songs we clearly hear a man who is extremely fortunate for his life and success.  

Rozay is not simply bragging about things but reminiscing about the journey from poverty and eating government cheese to being one of the most successful rappers of our time.

Add those mature lyrics with, to me are, the tightest production in the business and it was very easy to select Ross' ninth studio album as the best rap album of March 2017.