Timberlake and Timbaland (Timbalake?) are at their best when they rely more on organic soul than samples.

With Joe’s distinct style steering every track, No Love Lost is a much more cohesive and focused work, despite similar fluctuations [to Slaughterhouse's Welcome To: Our House].

In many ways Long.Live.A$AP is an album of the present.

Jesus Piece certainly isn't his best album, but if it ends up being his worst, then Jayceon's doing pretty damn good for himself.

T.I. is more lyrical than he often gets credit for, but it's his "swag" that truly separates him from the crowd, and Trouble Man is dripping with so much swag T.I. should bottle it and sell it.

For two solo albums now Andre Patton has not merely proved that he's a capable solo artist, he's helping to redefine what a hip-hop album can sound like.

O.N.I.F.C. isn't a great album, but it isn't lazy either.

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.

Ultimately, Trilogy is more of a sonic landmark then it is a new work.

We can safely assume that Dreams and Nightmares is the best Meek can possibly muster. And if this is indeed Meek's best, Meek's best is pretty good.

Maintaining the same "burn down the building" energy that your most loyal fans demand while not actually burning down the building is no easy task, but it's a fine line that MGK mostly manages to walk with success on Lace Up.

Ultimately, these songs and all of the songs on the album are stories, and to call Macklemore a storytelling rapper would be an understatement. He only tells stories, most often his own, it just turns out he's the kind of gifted storyteller that can keep you listening.

He's given us all he could possibly give us; an album worthy of being called a classic.

Payback sounds more like a catharsis, an extended musical middle finger filled with the kind of instrumental interludes, frenetic humor and unconstrained personality that will leave heads nodding, and Clear Channel running in the opposite direction.

There's no doubting that he's gone from a freshman to a full-fledged member of R&B's graduating class with Kaleidoscope Dream.

Music this good transcends chronology, so whether you're 85 (what up grandma?), just getting your driver's license or anywhere between, you're all welcome into This Generation.

It has its own moments of pop-leaning lightness, but there's more than enough revolutionary material here to leave the faithful satiated.

While everyone else is solid, there are no epiphanies, no "that artist is the next to blow!" moment that particularly deserves mention.

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

Songz isn't doing anything new, but when he's still delivering music this high quality it really doesn't matter that much.

At 16 tracks, 20 on the deluxe version, this album manages to work in more than a couple joints featuring some of the vicious rap hardcore fans were hoping for.

This is more than an album, this is a moment in music history. Enjoy it.

On his new album, Life Is Good, we're hearing the most locked-in Nas has been in years, and the results are awe-inspiring.

The truth is in the eye of the beholder, and with easily accessible albums like Fortune, there will continue to be a lot of eyes on Chris Brown.

In and of itself, Self Made 2 is a decent album that should find relative success.

Nothing on the album is groundbreaking and it won't go on to sell millions of copies, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a worthy piece of musical art.

Looking 4 Myself isn't a classic, it's just not, but until I hear better, it's the best R&B album of the year.

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