11 frenetic, oddball, and extremely original tracks. [Jun 2004, p.154]

Together, they paint devastating emotional portraits, and they sidestep tedium by remaining rap's most lyrically inventive group. [Nov 2006, p.155]

These are antiheroic, anti-anthemic, antiwar gems of abstraction, full of consistently strange and exotic charms. [Oct 2006, p.146]

The sample-heavy results are cohesive yet diverse, a proper canvas for Ghost's finest effort since Supreme Clientele. [Apr 2006, p.151]

Delivers both ass-shakers and contemplative cuts.

The majority of Kala is limp and unfocused. [Sep 2007, p.133]

He's winking, sure, but this time it's through real tears. [Apr 2007, p.134]

Even if it doesn't always work, this is as imaginative an approach to hip hop production as the underground has ever generated. [June 2003, p.157]

Of all the newish dance acts digging on vintage disco and chicago House, NYC-based Hercules & Love Affair boast the smartest cuts and most range. [June 2008, p.66]

She's both deeply personal and relevantly dope, thriving where poetry slams and hip hop beats collide. [Sep 2004, p.231]

His potent fusion of blues, R&B, funk, rock, gospel and hip hop has morphed his sound into something more Bobby Womack than Biggie. [Mar 2004, p.184]

It's been a long wait, but like reborn armies in the night, Third has the blare of revolution. [June 2008, p.70]

The perfect platform for Burke's unerringly tasteful phrasing. [Sep 2002, p.248]

There are still too many touchy-feely songs. [Oct 2005, p.161]

Each song here is crammed with all kinds of Kool & the Gang hand claps and Chemical Brothers bass drops. [Dec 2003, p.218]

An optimistic and heartfelt album. [Aug 2002, p.165]

Even while wearing her sexuality like an honor roll sticker, Ndegeocello is dazzlingly delicate. [Nov 2007, p.98]

It's monumental because it's a culmination of Jigga's natural thoughtfulness delivered with transcendent skill. [Jan 2004, p.120]

UGK 4 Life is a fitting end for the Texas boys. It’s classic UGK--temperamental, turbulent, and trill...for life.

Like prior Roots albums, Game Theory boasts top-notch craftsmanship... but it's continuity that makes this album unique. [Sep 2006, p.211]

Overflowing with passion, honesty, and optimism, Be gets to the root of human experience--all the while staying beautifully soulful and funky. [Jun 2005, p.156]

Blaqkout is an audible feast, filled with Quik’s rich production and Kurupt’s tenacious lyricism.

The craft is meticulous, and the sound so epic, and at times, operatic, with production from Tricky Stewart (The-Dream’s silent partner in his corporation of hits), that moments on this album comprise some of the best pop music of the decade.

It's all tasteful retro treatment for a '60s soul icon, but Burke approaches it with brio. [Nov 2006, p.165]

Finally the loverman is back. [Mar 2008, p.100]

Sparxxx has now crafted a gem, thanks to improved songwriting and nimble production. [Nov 2003, p.157]

Vampire Weekend have suceeded in putting the hips back in hipster. [Mar 2008, p.98]

II Trill draws its cohesion from its production, a stew of juicy grooves, synth patches, and gumbo-thick basslines. But what makes the album tick is an emotional complexity: Like an old sage, Bun B gracefully vacillates between raw fury and weathered wisdom.

Lay It Down is almost indistinguishable from green's past hits. Then again, maybe that was the point. [May 2008, p.74]

It's a typically eccentric tour de force from Mos Def. But this time, he recruits producers capable of keeping pace with him.

Draft is brisk and jaunty, but also finds Dilla at his grimiest. [Apr 2007, p.132]

The risks he takes with the production are a big part of the allure of God's Son. [Feb 2003, p.135]

It sounds like Cee-Lo has found his sonic better half in Danger Mouse. [Jun 2006, p.162]

Doom satiates as both a producer and a lyricist. [Jan 2005, p.84]

Shining brims with clear-cut and fully resolved ideas. [Oct 2006, p.138]

After being imitated for the last seven years, Wu-Tang Clan returns with another chamber for today's soft and silky rap. But don't get it twisted though. Despite their last album, Wu-Tang Forever, leaving fans uneasy, the Wu's third collective work, The W is crammed with nothing but Wu-bangas.

Beyond Badu's self-appointed role as a teacher, what she does best is create really good music.... It should come as no surprise that Mama's Gun's organic feel comes from the team that helped produce D'Angelo's Voodoo. However, the most important sound of all is her unmistakable voice, making all of her songs like ornately crafted gems - even the unintelligible ones.

Here Nas is on autopilot, churning out uniformly solid but unexceptional material. [Oct 2004, p.183]

Impressive without being pretentious, Two Men possesses an urbane strut that’s perfect for jazzheads--and their country cousins.

Sophisticated compositions and insightful lyrics. [Nov 2004, p.162]

This is his most conventional and guest-heavy work, but also a rewarding reminder that independent hip hop was once something more than a curio. [Apr 2007, p.128]

Rising Down bangs like no Roots work since their popular, populist breakthrough "Things Fall Apart." [June 2008, p.65]

The album is a celebration of LaVette's vocals--burnished, bruised but resoundingly unbeaten. [Nov 2007, p.96]

Excellent. [Oct 2006, p.142]

The Boys make earnest, delicate and occasionally gloomy synth-pop, but they want the pain to be danceable. [Nov 2006, p.161]

Though a few recycled cliches stall the disc... Murs's payback is a big payoff. [Jun 2006, p.164]

Size earns his crown as he breaks through the jungle unscathed on In the Mode. He rises above mainstream neighbors Tricky and Massive Attack to take credit for an eclectic mix of what would have been one painfully long trip if left to any old Limelight DJ.

Ne-Yo is a stronger, more confident man than the one many remember licking his wounds on 'So Sick' from his debut album "In My Own Words" and 'Do You' from 2007’s "Because of You."

In spite of the obstacles--both real and imagined alike--on their second full-length album, Donwill, Ilyas, and Von Pea, collectively Tanya Morgan, have crafted an expansive tour de force.

Disorienting and sometimes brilliant. [Jan 2007, p.109]

While the new direction is sturdy and refreshing, there is something comfortably familiar about it. The vintage shoes fit Saadiq, and he wears them well.

Still, hate it or love it, his albums are always a, what's the word we're looking for... cinematic event.

The middle-aged MCs have forged an album that reflects their belief that skills will always trump bells and whistles. Don’t mistake it for complacency--blame it on consistency. BO2 passes the smell test.

Unlike other albums maniacally programmed to target every pop niche (hello Jennifer Hudson!), Doolittle delivers one of the rarer qualities you’ll find in a contemporary album: a clear sense of who she is.

Sure, the DFA treat their sources irreverently, but their updates are better. [Nov 2006, p.165]

A significant step forward. [Oct 2003, p.179]

Loverly proves once again that she needs no artifice to soar musically. [July 2008, p.60]

They grab hold of genres long stuck in straitjackets and, if only for a few minutes a pop, let them run amok. [Mar 2008, p.99]

Eminem has crafted the best album of the year so far with The Marshall Mathers LP and it comes dangerously close to being a classic.

It's reminiscent of a time when bumpin' L'Trimm's candy-coated "Cars With the Boom" was the definition of fresh. [Aug 2003, p.154]

Though his singles may not rule radio, as far as full-lengths go, this is how it should be done. [Sep 2004, p.233]

It feels somehow safe and experimental, foundational and radical. [Jan 2007, p.110]

Sure, King's occasional lack of originality and sometimes sluggish wordplay could be cited. But that, of course, would only amount to throwing rocks at the throne. [May 2006, p.136]

Frustratingly uneven. [Dec 2006, p.165]

While there's something joyful in the cacophony, the songs remain window dressing on the spectacle. [Oct 2007, p.94]

Diplo and Switch clearly cherish the glitches and low-tech glory of vintage Jamaican music. But they’re much better off when re-imagining as opposed to indulging in tongue-in-cheek mimicry.

Even cameos by today's hottest rappers can't shake Blige's nostalgic flair. [Mar 2006, p.186]

Ultimately, the moments of bare beauty on such tracks as "Your Cloud" and "Crazy" set Amos apart as a true original. [Dec 2002]

!!! certainly have talent and energy, but not the heart to self-edit. [Apr 2007, p.130]

He's largely a victim of his own goodwill, sounding consistently exuberant, even when the message--'Politik Kills,' say--seems to beg for more. [Nov 2007, p.98]

Way, way better than just "OK." [Apr 2005, p.168]

The album's most compelling moments recall the Doggfather's early days. [Jan 2003, p.125]

Five albums in, the Keys' reference points stay the same--Hendrix, Zeppelin, White Stripes--as their sound, now produced by Gnarls Barkley's Danger Mouse, grows even bigger. [May 2008, p.74]

Good is comparable in spirit to the everything-is-in-play feel of Clash albums like Sandinista!. [Feb 2007, p.128]

The finished product has glorious results. [May 2008, p.69]

With Kiss of Death, Jada's well on his way to achieving hip hop immortality. [Jul 2004, p.136]

Cole's ability to belt to her heart's content saves the album from its inconsistent production. [Jul 2005, p.137]

Mobb Deep's Prodigy has embraced the chaos, pain and disarray that's cursed much of his life and used to power an angry, pained, and ironically vital album, H.N.I.C. Part 2. Prodigy's physical self may be incarcerated, but his music has never sounded freer. [Apr 2008]

While k-os's antimaterialist ranting can wear thin at times, Joyful Rebellion builds and improves on the rich, organic, live sound that made his debut, Exit, such a left-field hit. [Nov 2004, p.162]

There are crackles of life in his leaden thug poetry. [Apr 2007, p.128]

Here the production of Chicago post-rock maven John McEntire distends their horns... and fractures their beats. [Apr 2007, p.132]

With a vicarious and melodious debut, it's clear that hip-hop's hopeful hasn't shied from his balancing act.

With Xzibit coming with nothing but raw and uncensored lyrics, Restless is not for those with tender ears. Formerly one of hip hop's most underrated artists, it's gonna be hard to continue to sleep on him after this album. Xzibit is finally poised to get the credit he deserves.

Though age has dirtied up Green's once angelic tenor, all it takes is a swaying guitar-organ, cooing harmonies, surging horns, and rapturous lyrics to conjure up his ol' black magic. [Jan 2004, p.122]

If there’s something the gifted singer-songwriter might want to learn, though, it’s the art of writing more memorable song lyrics.

The Eminem Show is a brilliant piece of theater and a guilty pleasure. [Aug 2002, p.155]

In 2008 Kanye struggled through tragedy so great that it forced him to go left. And ironically, at his darkest hour, Kanye has created his greatest album to date.

Recalls the early '90s work of A Tribe Called Quest. [Sep 2002, p.244]

Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, their most contemporary offering yet, is the trio's successful return as ousted royalty destined to reclaim their kingdom in hip hop.

With its ice-cold beats, smoldering bass lines, and shimmering textures, this is one of the most openly erotic albums British pop has ever given us. [Apr 2003, p.178]

Ozomatli's joyful beats... pulse with defiance. [Apr 2007, p.132]

You don't even need to be strung out in a dark room full of beautiful strangers to enjoy it. [June 2001, p.158]

Although Mystikal's last two albums earned him platinum plaques, Let's Get Ready is poised to be the album that will put him over the top.... However, Let's Get Ready does have a few slip-ups. The Neptunes-produced "Jump" - previously available on the Any Given Sunday soundtrack - displays the production team's sloppy tendency to recycle their beats.

His cynical and intimate coming-of-age tales are a welcome twist on British rap. [May 2007, p.116]

Ali fuses formindable mic skills and unvarnished honesty as effectively as Eminem. [Apr 2007, p.130]

His struggles did make for a strong album.

While a few of these efforts fail in the funk department, the album never sounds derivative. [Sep 2005, p.230]

While less preposterous than her second album, The Id, this is still a frustrating piece of work. [June 2003, p.154]