96: Below The Heavens-Blu & Exile
This is probably my most listened album outside of the top 10. I discovered this one time collaboration between up and coming rapper Blu and well respected underground producer Exile last year and was immediately hooked. Blu isn't a great lyricist and Exile's beats don't carry the album, Blu isn't some technical wizard with the the mike. So what makes this album so compelling. First off the beats are very good. They just don't make the songs listenable by themselves like, say, Blockheads or the Bomb Squads. No, what makes this album is Blu's sincerity. I think it says a lot about the MC when an album that is unspectacular otherwise pushes me to give it 4 and a half stars based on the raw honesty of the lyrics and delivery. In terms of great songs this is in my top 10 of all time, In Remembrance Of Me, Dancing In The Rain, No Greater Love, Cold Hearted and The World Is (...Below The Heavens) are all spectacular. My favorite track is Dancing In The Rain, a melancholy chronicle of struggling make music while depressed and without inspiration or money. Recommended to any rap fan or someone looking to get into the genre.
Favorite Lyric: Nobody cares if Blu raps about hoes or savin' souls/they just wana' hear that beat rock
Favorite Song: Dancing In The Rain