The simple truth is this is the kind of music you're best off not thinking too much about.

Most of Fear of God feels like detached, competent, common-denominator, major-label hip-hop, which would be fine if we weren't already aware what he's capable of.

Unapologetic is by no means a bad album, it'd be nearly impossible to combine the music industry's best songwriters, producers and Rihanna's charismatic delivery and not create quality music, but as an album Unapologetic has no real core, no real theme; unless you count "making hits" as a theme.

Based on a T.R.U. Story isn't a great album, but was anyone expecting a great album from 2 Chainz?

The rapping isn’t the problem, it’s his singing and eccentric sounds that leaves me with Van Gogh thoughts.

Her talent and voice makes up for the fact that Lioness isn't really an album, but more like a collection of unfinished business.

He’s obviously still capable of moments of greatness, but right now those moments are so dulled by surrounding mediocrity they’re becoming lost.

Influenced by what The Pharcyde did two decades ago, what Drake perfected a few years ago, and what many others have attempted since, Ink’s melodic tastes and rhyming style draws from all of these influencers. The problem is, he can’t quite charm like Wiz Khalifa, rhyme like Big Sean, or create art like Drake. Yet.

There is very little to write home about here, and for the most part it feels very hastily made.

At its best, the California singer offers sweet but forgettable elevator music.

It has to be said though that the places where WZRD struggles most are the places where Dot and Cudi leave their hybrid sweet spot and try to go straight rock.

Nothing on par with the classics but he has plenty of moments where his strengths are showcased.

At 12 tracks long, Evolution may lack any real oomph or spectacle, but it also contains little filler, which is an achievement in today’s singles dominated, bloated albums.

This album is about keeping Brown relevant and making the musical man child marketable again, and on that level it's a moderate success. He's still got a long way to go before he regains his previous stature.

The tracks do not really flow into each other or sound good in sequence, but individually some records do shine.

Maybe he's burnt out, maybe he just doesn't care as much anymore, but whatever the reason, Tha Carter IV just doesn't feel like one of the biggest albums of the year – at all.

These are good songs, but we don't come to Waka for good.

We'll simply have to look at I'm Gay as a sign that B might not prove to be the flash in the pan that so many haters hope he is.

Lacking the dynamic between repulsive brutality and oddball humor that made Earl so uncomfortably riveting, Doris is both tonally fragmented and occasionally monotonous: an ocean of griminess broken up by earnest confessional rhymes.

The young Somalian is far from the first artist to have to figure out "their" sound while sweating under the spotlight, and by the sound of Silence he's still figuring things out.

Here both the production and Nicki's delivery border on absurdist theater, at one point devolving into Nicki literally making noises.