brilliantbrown

Yep, I said it, Mark Ronson’s album, “Version“, is much better than Kanye and 50 cent’s respective albums.  I’ve listened to Kanye’s, “Graduation”, and it is quite the production gem.  Most of the beats are flawlessly arranged and the album deserves multiple spins based on production value alone.  Lyrically, Kanye has progressed somewhat, but traces of his bravado flow is still apparent throughout, not that it’s bad or anything, but most rappers who try to fit into the Jigga mode mostly use the same, “You can’t stop me!”, “Haters, I’m on top!”, and “I’m better than you!” lyrical content.  Kanye doesn’t deviate too far from this formula, although it works very well in the context of his persona as a rapper.  Speaking of haters, I hate to inform you all that after a couple of spins, 50 Cent’s album is not bad.  It’s unforunate that, mainly due to the hype that 50 himself created, some people will use Kanye’s album as a point of reference and judge 50’s album based on that.  The problem here is that 50 and Kanye, though both fit under the large umbrella of hip-hop music, have contrasting musical styles.  50 is more of the “thug”, “street hustler” type lyricist.  With 50, it’s all about banging beats, club anthems, and menacing lyrics.  Kanye, on the other hand, is more the “producer rapper”, “stylish, trend setting” type.  It’s unfair to either man to use a straight up comparison to judge the two albums, it really depends on which genre appeals to you more, but you can also have an appreciation for both in their particular context.

As for the point of the article, as I stated earlier, Mark Ronson’s album, Versions, is superior to both those albums in terms of variety, on par with Kanye in terms of production value, and although not a traditional hip-hop album, has qualities of some of hip hop’s best work.  Versions is actually more of a contemporary pop album, more along the lines of Timbaland’s Shock Value and Sa-Ra’s Hollywood Recordings, with guest artists aplenty.  Mark Ronson offers up the beats and lets featured artists such as Kenna, Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams, and ODB (yep, that ODB) do their thing.  Apparently, the concept of the album is to provide Ronson’s retake on original hits such as, “The Only One I Know”, “God Put a Smile on my Face”, and “Stop Me”.  The album works extremely well, the featured artists fit with their song accordingly and harmoniously.  I bought it yesterday (yep I BOUGHT it, big whoop, wanna fight about it?) and I haven’t been able to listen to anything else.  Fortunately for you all, I’m a nice guy, so I’ll post the album up here per your request, so if you want it, drop a message on the post and i”ll put it up.

 To find out more about Mark Ronson, click here.

AJ