Nas released Illmatic XX for the twentieth anniversary of the classic Illmatic.The album is a re-release of the original album in addition to remixes of the original songs by various producers. You can't really go wrong with Illmatic. Big shout to Nas and happy anniversary.
Ratking released the album So It Goes and although most people will not like it I really found his avant garde' flavor very interesting. It's worth a peek on iTunes or Rhapsody.
Dr. Doom released the album Machine Man under the new name of Mobonix. To all you Dr. Doom heads there are five really strong cuts so check it out.
My favorite song of April is off the new Asher Roth album RetroHash. The album is to all over the place for my liking but you must hear the song Parties at the Disco and as the children say, get your life.
There were a lot of other albums released also but as my regulars know, my policy is if I don't have anything nice to say about your shit i don't say anything at all. On to the two albums that really stood out.
Sean Poppy aka Smoke Dza dropped his fourth album titled Dream, Zone, Achieve and before you accuse me of being biased to East Coast many of his songs sound like he comes straight out of Atlanta. I dig Smoke Dza's ability to choose soulful mind bending melodies to flow over which you never hear from southern rappers with his style.
The entire album is tight and will be one that I'll be listening to for the rest of the year but believe it or not it wasn't my favorite album of April.
Bringing that Ohio sound to the game Blueprint aka Printmatic released my favorite album of April Respect the Architect.
It is going to be very easy for lazy cowards to marginalize Respect the Architect as another "underground" album not really on par with major releases but I have never been on that bullshit about differentiating underground albums with so called major releases. I only care about telling you what I think is the dopest album released each month, period. I am not a hip hop bigot.
If you have never heard of Blueprint don't let that keep you from getting at this album as soon as possible. It is after all the best rap album of April 2014.
