For any hip-hop fans out there:

Check out Lupe's new mixtape, Enemy of the State: A Love Story. The lyrics on a couple of the tracks are crazy.

http://newalbumreleases.net/?p=8490

Love Lupe.

This is what pisses me off with rap today. Mixtape Wayne is hands down the best rapper alive right now. This Lupe is nasty, but get these guys in the studio to record a record and it's all candy coated. I hate it. The Drought 3 from Wayne is one of the best records I have ever heard and then he comes out with the Carter 3. It was good, no lie, but not great.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Seriously though, I thought Lupe killed it on his first two LP's.

I also loved Kid Cudi's debut album, as well as Wale's.

Wayne is falling off imo. I thought 'No Ceilings' was "ok". It had some great lines, no doubt, but as a whole, I felt it still lacked what Wayne USED to bring to the table.

Without launching into too much of an all out rambling "thing"....if you can't deliver in mixtapes AND in the studio, well, then....you're not much.

The mixtape format presents a number of problems for hip-hop, at least in the way that they're put out, and marketed now. So much stock is placed into them, when the reality is, any rapper worth his salt can black out on his (or her) fair share of the "hottest" recycled beats in the game. And when we start to place a ton of stock in mixtapes, it kinda gives a false sense of the genre.

And don't get me wrong, I've loved some mixtapes this year, and I REALLY loved Lupe's (And Dro's, surprisingly)...but I think I can be a bigger fan because I've felt like those two guys have really gotten it done in the studio as well. Well, at least Lupe has, Dro.....he's really getting in his own way, but that's a different thing for a different time. It's not to say that Wayne hasn't, but a lot of his studio stuff as of late, guest verses, etc. has just been sloppy. Really sloppy. No Ceilings was decent in some areas, but lacking in some areas. I don't know. The vibe I get wherever I go and talk with people in that area's hip-hop community, is that he's just not taken seriously anymore.

Well, of course, except in the South. Which is fair, and understandable.

This was way longer than I intended it to be. Sorry.

Makes sense Upper. I just wish guys like Wayne could bring it on both, Mixtapes and Studio stuff.