© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc. This feed is subject to our terms of use: http://www.epinions.com/help/rss_terms http://www.epinions.com/user-balogun Recent reviews written by member balogun en-us 121 37 http://www.epinions.com/ http://img.epinions.com/images/epi_images/logos/epinions_121.gif http://www.epinions.com/content_483806580356?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - By 1989, Kool Moe Dee was at the zenith of his career. With two Billboard Hot 100 singles (“Go See the Doctor” and “Wild Wild West”) and a platinum album (How Ya Like Me Now), to his credit, he only continued to... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~483806580356 Fri, 4 Sep 2009 21:01:13 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_483806580356?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_483684880004?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - You know you really ticked off someone else when he does everything short of punching you square in the face. For Kool Moe Dee, well, he seemed not to like LL Cool J very much. Indeed, to him, the hip-hop star was the epitome of a younger generation too... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~483684880004 Thu, 3 Sep 2009 20:34:23 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_483684880004?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_483487420036?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - “I’d love to make another rap album”: Queen Latifah said this back in 2007 in a Billboard.com interview. Few people took notice, and I don’t necessarily blame anyone for the lukewarm reception. Given Latifah’s musical... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~483487420036 Wed, 2 Sep 2009 07:29:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_483487420036?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_482289487492?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Face it: If any of these guys -- Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Royce da 5’9,” and Joe Budden -- had a scintilla of a chance at hip-hop superstardom, that came and went a while ago. Ortiz left Aftermath, a label lorded over by the revered yet... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~482289487492 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:50:01 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_482289487492?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_482146487940?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - No way, this can't be happening. Fabolous? F-A, B-O, L-O, U-S? Loso? The dude with the matinee-idol looks and multi-syllabic monotone swagger who can't seem to knock it out of the park every time he steps to the plate?It's about time, though. The... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~482146487940 Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:28:48 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_482146487940?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_479683579524?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - I was afraid -- very afraid. Method Man & Redman -- the hip-hop royal pair of stoners -- were back, but it has been a decade since their first (and pretty successful) pairing, Blackout!. And well, at this point, I don’t really need to... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~479683579524 Sat, 1 Aug 2009 11:14:14 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_479683579524?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_478604660356?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Built of fragments of groups that are either extant, dimming, or barely matter, it was never clear whether La Coka Nostra, formed in 2005, would ever release an album, although it was arguable that it would help to confirm and justify the sum of their... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~478604660356 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:48:28 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_478604660356?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_478327115396?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Perhaps with the exception of Fat Joe, no one in hip-hop has quite had such an ebb-and-flow career as Twista. Just when one is about to write him off as nothing more than a Guinness World Record-honored fast-rapper, he manages to, every now and... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~478327115396 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:33:38 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_478327115396?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_476962918020?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Take it from me: Scarface could have done without The Geto Boys. At best, the group is a tad overrated, being essentially a Southern version of N.W.A., but even more outrageous. (Trust me, they make the crew from Compton sound like choir boys – try... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~476962918020 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:03:58 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_476962918020?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_476585692804?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Masta Ace wasn’t having it, and it is hard not to align what was going on in hip-hop at the time with his own professional travails. By 1993, gangsta rap had become the dominant subgenre in hip-hop, sullying the culture with a level of misogyny and... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~476585692804 Tue, 7 Jul 2009 12:53:36 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_476585692804?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_476442758788?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Michael “MC Serch” Berrin was -- and still is -- an anomaly among white rappers. While others extended hip-hop culture with their white identities (be it from affluent suburbia or working-class neighborhoods), MC Serch basked in it... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~476442758788 Mon, 6 Jul 2009 11:11:30 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_476442758788?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_476385349252?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Following up to a landmark album is always a daunting task. And it was no different for Marvin Gaye, especially considering that 1971’s What’s Going On forever delineated his graduation from failed jazz-pop crooner subject to a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~476385349252 Sun, 5 Jul 2009 23:02:31 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_476385349252?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_475134004868?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Quite frankly, I didn’t get the hullabaloo about Asher Roth. I didn’t get it when DJ Drama and Don Cannon endorsed him with production in his Greenhouse Effect Mixtape. I didn’t get it when XXL magazine endorsed him with... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~475134004868 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:21:19 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_475134004868?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_474430279300?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - It was tantamount to reaching the peak of a mountain, only to throw oneself off it in a suicide plunge. For Will “The Fresh Prince” Smith, the “mountain” was 1988’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” a... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~474430279300 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:42:54 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_474430279300?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_471651815044?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Somewhere in the early 2000s, after a profitable career of scene-stealing guest verses, earth-shattering hits, and a string of platinum albums, Busta Rhymes lost his mojo. Blame it chiefly on a hardened image: 2002’s It Ain’t Safe No... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~471651815044 Mon, 25 May 2009 19:24:21 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_471651815044?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_471548857988?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Until the mid-'90s, there seemed to be an unspoken, unofficial rule: As a female rapper, unless you are a member of a group and “commercialize” your sound, good luck enjoying the same platinum-album proceeds as your male counterparts -- and... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~471548857988 Sun, 24 May 2009 21:14:25 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_471548857988?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_471175761540?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Relapse, Eminem’s latest album, opens with the protagonist, after an extended period of inactivity and drug dependence, embarking upon a path of rejuvenation and sobriety, which is a fitting metaphor for what Eminem’s life had... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~471175761540 Thu, 21 May 2009 10:32:47 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_471175761540?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_469651525252?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Note: Virtually all internet retail stores and information databases -- including this one -- inexplicably list the CD with its artwork as some sort of Kool Moe Dee compilation called Best -- a record that does not exist, and even with the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~469651525252 Fri, 8 May 2009 01:48:06 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_469651525252?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_468609502852?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - So let’s see what transpired between the time Latifah had her breakthrough hit with 1994’s “U.N.I.T.Y.” and her return with her fourth album, 1998’s Order in the Court: a baggy-clothed teen named Da Brat became... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~468609502852 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:54:52 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_468609502852?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_468274089604?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - In a crew bubbling with so much individuality (yet even as strong, if not stronger, as a unit), it was quite easy for every single member of the Wu-Tang Clan to stand out when they shook the rap world with their 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~468274089604 Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:08:00 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_468274089604?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_468050284164?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - Oh boy, KRS-One did not start the ‘90s particularly well. Discounting that high-profile guest appearance in an R.E.M. song, KRS-One had major problems to contend with. 1990’s Edutainment drew ire from critics who felt he had become too... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~468050284164 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:20:23 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_468050284164?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_467720179332?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - The gold plaques that Boogie Down Productions garnered for their second and third albums, By All Means Necessary and Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop proved that there was an audience for Afrocentric-spiked social consciousness in... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~467720179332 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:51:34 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_467720179332?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_467352981124?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - In 2001’s smoldering diss, “Ether,” when Nas accused Jay-Z of “stealing” the title of his recent full-length effort (The Blueprint) from a KRS-One album, I’m sure more than a few fans were left scratching their... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~467352981124 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:39:20 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_467352981124?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_467216862852?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - If KRS-One was still too young, at the age of 21, to have fully blossomed into a socially conscious poet by the release of Boogie Down Productions’ debut, Criminal Minded, a most unfortunate incident that occurred only five months... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~467216862852 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:29:09 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_467216862852?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_466587586180?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author balogun - For a while, it appeared that the rap’s first supergroup would be—or was supposed to be—a one-album affair. Save for a song here and there—most notably "It’s the Holidaze" from the Friday After Next... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~466587586180 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:11:16 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_466587586180?linkin_id=8003929