Being from Syracuse, I have been following Gym Class Heroes since they dropped their first album, “For the Kids.” It’s not really fair to the band to compare the initial incarnation of the group to the new stuff, since money can pay for some great engineering. I loved the first album for its uniqueness, although I suppose I was partial to the hiphop band since The Roots are my favorite hands down. But it was a good album, and I also enjoyed watching the band evolve over the next two albums. Which brings us to this album. The production is amazing, the beats stand out on almost every song. I love good music regardless of genre, and more and more of GCH’s new shit is going towards a category of music I like to call “universal.” I put people like The Roots, Blackalicious and K-Os in this category. By “universal” I mean there’s a little it of something for everyone in their music. Travis is dope I don’t care who you are, so the lyrics are always on point and funny. IB said it best when he said that Travis is our age exactly so the things he talks about and the inside jokes he makes about growing up resonate with us especially well. His flow is always fresh and unique, a joy to listen to and he inspires me to flip up my flow when I’m writing my own stuff. My favorite cut is “Don’t Tell Me It’s Over.” Now this review is over.
-MATTY J
FLOW - 3 1/2
LYRICAL CONTENT - 3 1/2PRODUCTION - 4
ALBUM-NESS - 3 1/2
OVERALL - 3 1/2
NOTE:
all of the ratings will be out of a 5 point system. obviously we won't be rating horrible albums, so all of the albums SHOULD be in the upper range, but who knows, one of us could be having a bad day when we do the review. BUT DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT!
flow - is how the emcees ride the beat and what their cadence is. this may also include evaluation on the emcees' voice and tone.
lyrical content - is what the rappers are ACTUALLY SAYING. we know that nobody listens to anything but the beat nowadays, but bear with us.
production - is the quality of the beats and other musical content on the album. thank god for 9th!
album-ness - how all the songs are cohesively arranged on the album and the overall feel of the album.
overall - self-explanatory.
