The Source Nov. '94 - Thug Life Vol.1 Review

[aerroc]

The Source's review of the TL album, they gave it 3 mics out of 5.
What's interesting is that the reviewer says that Biggie has the funniest line on the album.. i guess we all know what that means lol.. if you ever wanted to know who was listening to the TL promo tape with "runnin from the police" in '94 before the album came out

[Hack Wilson - real]

LMAO


the source had some fucked up ratings


I have the Feb 1996 issue which gives ratings to these albums:


Eazy e "Straight off the streets"   3.5 mics
Lord Finessee  "The awakening"  3 mics
Young Lay  "Black and Dangerous"  3.5 mics
"Bay Area Playas" compilation 3 mics



yet all the reviews were extremely positive minus a few comments about Finesses's production

[DeeezNuuuts83]

The Source was always biased as fuck anyway, it doesn't surprise me.  They even admitted that they gave Life After Death five mics because Biggie died, and not necessarily because it deserved it... though that's not to say that it was a bad album or anything (definitely 4 or 4.5).

[Hack Wilson - real]

yet they had no love for Eazy E on his first LP after he died  smh

[M Dogg™]

Yeah, Source in those days use to get mad hate from the west, mainly because they hated on the west. Ice Cube dissed the "critics of the NYC" on Westside Connection, not eastcoast rappers. Rodney O and Joe Coolie really got on the magazines in New York on Fuck New York, not the New York rappers. That's were the tension started was that the Source wouldn't give the west it's props.

[GangstaBoogy]

That magazine was always extremely disgustingly biased. If you were from NY you had an automatic 4 mics.

But to be honest Eazy fuckin sucked and 3.5 is being generous for anything other than Eazy-Duz-It.

[Hack Wilson - real]

That magazine was always extremely disgustingly biased. If you were from NY you had an automatic 4 mics.

But to be honest Eazy fuckin sucked and 3.5 is being generous for anything other than Eazy-Duz-It.

not OC's debut

[Jimmy H.]

That magazine was always extremely disgustingly biased. If you were from NY you had an automatic 4 mics.

But to be honest Eazy fuckin sucked and 3.5 is being generous for anything other than Eazy-Duz-It.

I'm somewhat with you on this.  I think there was a bias in a few areas.  Neither of Dre's Chronic albums received the 5-Mic rating and I think Doggystyle got something like 3.5. But with some of these other albums, I think people are looking at them through the wonderful joys of hindsight mixed with little nostalgia. Not every West Coast project was "classic". Thug Life was a cool album and all but if I'm a music writer who is reviewing this as a piece of Tupac music, prior to the major controversies and his death and this whole romanticized image birthed from looking at all his lyrics as prophetic, it's not the same album.

[Blood$]

The Chronic, Doggystyle, Me Against The World, and All Eyez On Me got 5 mics no?

smh at 3 mics for Thug Life though I never knew that, must be the lowest rating for a Pac album

[midwestryder]

The Chronic, Doggystyle, Me Against The World, and All Eyez On Me got 5 mics no?

smh at 3 mics for Thug Life though I never knew that, must be the lowest rating for a Pac album

No they did not get 5 mics.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

^ Correct.

But The Source did some issue later where they went back and re-rated some albums, basically giving 5 mics to albums that became classics regardless of how far off they were originally with their ratings.

[M Dogg™]

Originally, Chronic got 4.5 because the reviewer didn't like Lil' Ghetto Boys, Doggystyle got 4, Me Against the World got 4 and All Eyez On Me wasn't reviewed. The editor at the time did an article on how he wanted to give the Chronic 5 mics, but he also had a no 5 mic rule after the Source gave 5 mics to like 5 albums in their first year. He wanted it to mean something, so when the person reviewing gave it 4.5, he accepted. Another reviewer gave Illmatic 5 mics, and he didn't want to, but because the guy was so insistent and he had no real argument on the album's flaw, he let it be and that sparked the smaller albums with no fillers movement as to how you get 5 mics, which no one really could achieve but many attempted it. He also wished he gave Ready to Die 5 mics, and he wasn't part of the Source when they re-reviewed albums and gave 5 mics to classics they missed. I always wondered if they'd take away some 5 mics, like Lil' Kim.

[Jimmy H.]

Yeah, that 5 mics for Lil Kim's album, I still don't know where that came from.

[MOBNigga06]

So if you're looking in The Source magazine and don't see me
It's cause the fucking East Coast is the enemy.

DJ QUIK is one honest nigga. Fuck the fag niggas at The Source.

Oh yeah and don't forget this line:

"Y'all want to gank our style and not give us no dap?
I'm no longer a supporter of East Coast rap"

[Blood$]

I have the 250th issue from like 2001 and they had a spread of all the 5 Mic albums where those were all mentioned but if those were re-rated that explains everything lol