The Source Crowns Bun B's "Trill OG" a Hip-Hop Classic

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

LOL

Fuck whoever reviewed the album for Source, that dude dead wrong.

smh @ ppl thinking he deserved to get it just for his "career".

The Source reviews albums, not careers.  What kinda bogus ass shit is that..

So when this dude come along that has consistently released shitty albums drops a 5 mic album, he'll get 1 mic in the review just because his career has been shitty upto then?

[operation stackola]

This is FAR from a classic. Shit, I think this is the worst out of the Trill albums. I'm a big UGK fan and they deserve their dues, but I'm thinking someone must have paid The Source for this review, lol. Big Boi, The Roots, Nas & Damian, and Reflection Eternal albums shit all over this one.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

This is FAR from a classic. Shit, I think this is the worst out of the Trill albums. I'm a big UGK fan and they deserve their dues, but I'm thinking someone must have paid The Source for this review, lol. Big Boi, The Roots, Nas & Damian, and Reflection Eternal albums shit all over this one.

Yup, there are plenty of ways to give artists they dues without putting your publication and readers at risk by delivering some sham review.

I know the head editor goes over all the reviewers submissions before printing, so dude shoulda maybe asked for the rating to be changed... 

Bad reviewer, bad editor..

[k1000]

btw who was the Sources last 5 mic album? The Fix?

With the recent announcement that Bun B’s brand new album, Trill O.G. received a perfect 5-Mic rating from The Source, it’s only fitting that we take a look at all of the albums that have received the coveted rating.

44 albums in the magazine’s history have been given a perfect rating. 29 of them have been given retroactively. The other 14 were received at the time of release. It’s those 14 that we’ll be focusing on here.

The Source was dogged in the early 2000s amidst accusations that a good rating, which had become as important as a Grammy Award, was bought by the artist. While many of their ratings were valid, there were more than a few head scratchers in the magazine’s later years.

A Tribe Called Quest
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm


I remembered two Tribe albums getting five mics, but I always thought it was The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders that got a perfect score. But lo-and-behold, research proves that Marauders only got four mics. While it’s very difficult to listen to an album 20 years after its release and get back to the mindset of the hip-hop fan in 1990, I honestly can say that I never viewed Tribe’s first album as a classic. Does it have classic songs? Most definitely. “Bonita Applebum,” “Can I Kick It?” “Footprints,” “Luck Of Lucien” are all hands down some of the best that hip-hop has ever seen, but the album feels a bit uneven and scattered.

Eric B. & Rakim
Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em

This is another album that I never realized received a perfect rating. Why? Because Eric B & Rakim’s albums got progressively worse as their four album career went on. Rhythm being their third album was not as good as Follow The Leader, and definitely not as good as their debut, Paid In Full (which was awarded 5-mics long after it’s release… a rating I highly contest due to the inclusion of songs like “Chinese Arithmetic,” “Extended Beat,” and, depending on the day you ask, “Eric B Is On The Cut.”) Rhythm’s title track is classic status, as is “Mahogany,” but once again, I never saw this album as being five-mic material.

Ice Cube
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted

Ice Cube’s split from N.W.A. was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to the rapper, who penned most of the group’s lyrics. His defection from the group led him to leave the west coast for the east where he linked up with the legendary Bomb Squad production crew, who produced all of Public Enemy’s classic albums. The switch in production crews wasn’t as different, as a lot of N.W.A.’s sound had that Bomb Squad-esque, chaotic collage feel. The result of Cube’s collaboration with the Squad resulted in an album that built upon N.W.A.’s penchant for shock factor and married it with Public Enemy’s politics. This album was very unique at the time of it’s release and deserved it’s five-mic rating.

Brand Nubian
One For All

Brand Nubian were almost like a 1990s Miami Heat with three legit soloists-Lord Jamar, Sadat X and Grand Puba-creating a hip-hop rarity: a group with no weak link. Puba’s salacious wordplay was balanced by Jamar’s rugged baritone and Sadat’s nasaled tales from the hood. Hailing from the outer reaches of the New Rochelle they extended the hoods borders a little further north incorporating the 5 Percent teachings with break beats funky enough for the radio and the clubs. One For All spawned two classics “Wake Up” and “Slow Down” along with the title track of this undisputed masterpiece.

De La Soul
De La Soul Is Dead

The Long Island, NY trio one-upped their instant classic debut, 3 Feet High & Rising, on the follow-up. De La Soul Is Dead was a conscious effort to abandon the D.A.I.S.Y. Age/pseudo-hippie image that people associated with them based on their debut. The result was one of the most engaging and interesting hip-hop albums ever released. They toughened up their sound and lyrics without sounding like they were fakin’ the funk yet still kept the sense of humor and quirkiness that made fans and critics alike fall head over heels for 3 Feet High & Rising. Is De La Soul Is Dead perfect? Far from it, but its imperfections are what made the album, as well as De La themselves, endearing and an album that still sounds fresh and fun 19 years later. This one deserved it’s five mics.

A Tribe Called Quest
The Low End Theory

The difference between Tribe’s debut album and their second, The Low End Theory, is like night and day. They may sound similar, but for the first time, Tribe put together a focused album. Though it starts to lag a little towards the end (when’s the last time you listened to “Skypager?”), all is forgotten once one of hip-hop’s greatest posse cuts, “Scenario,” closes out the album. Five mic worthy? One could make a case for giving it four-and-a-half, but anything less than that would be absolutely criminal.

Nas
Illmatic
The album that really sparked the whole craze behind The Source’s mic rating system was Illmatic. Miss Info’s five-mic review of Nas’ debut was both a blessing and a curse for the Queensbridge rapper. His subsequent albums would always be compared to this one and each one seemed more and more disappointing. Illmatic was pure NYC hip-hop — raw, intelligent, rewind-worthy, quotable, and it knocked in the whip. The Source got it right on this one.

The Notorious B.I.G.
Life After Death

With Biggie dying shortly before this album’s release, it’s easy to peg The Source’s five-mic review of his second album as just a nod to an MC that died far too soon. And you’d be right. While Life After Death has no shortage of great songs, it’s length as a double album was it’s biggest flaw. If cut down to a single disc, Life After Death probably could have been better than Ready To Die. But the beauty in this album is that most people probably would not be able to agree on what songs to keep and what songs to trash. However, since we are stuck with all twenty four songs, this album probably should’ve been knocked down to a four-and-a-half, at best.

Outkast
Aquemini

Outkast’s finest moment, hands down, and worthy of about six more mics. We’ll even let “Mamacita” slide.

Jay-Z
The Blueprint

I will be totally honest. I was not checking for Jay-Z until The Blueprint dropped. Jay had singles that I liked, but I didn’t consider myself a fan until The Blueprint. The production was fresh. Jay probably hadn’t been this inspired in the studio since Reasonable Doubt. He captured lightning in a bottle on this album. He’s been chasing this album ever since, and hasn’t come close, with the exception of The Black Album. The Source hit the nail on the head.

Nas
Stillmatic

And here is where The Source’s mic ratings all went downhill. After a string of disappointing albums (hello Nastradamus!), Nas probably sounded better on Stillmatic than on any album since his debut, but this album was nowhere near five-mic worthy. Nas’ album of outtakes and leftovers, The Lost Tapes, was way better than this.

Scarface
The Fix

Scarface is one of hip-hop’s most underrated emcees. When The Fix was released, most of us were expecting a monster album, and based on songs like “Guess Who’s Back” and “My Block” it seemed like that’s what we were going to get. But after listening to the album, it’s hard to understand why the album got a perfect score. Perhaps it was just Scarface’s lifetime achievement award?

Lil’ Kim
The Naked Truth

By this point in the Source’s life cycle, the mic rating system ceased to have any sort of meaning. When it was announced that Lil’ Kim had received a five-mic rating for this album, which featured the song “Lighters Up,” most people agreed that The Source had no authority or credibility left in hip-hop.

Bun B.
Trill O.G.

The Source had the internet all abuzz in the days before it was announced that Bun B’s Trill O.G. had received a five-mic rating. The mag released a list of great albums released in 2010 saying that one of them would receive instant classic status in its upcoming issue. While we have yet to hear the album, Bun B definitely has it in him to release an album worthy of five mics, but is it another situation like The Fix? Is this just a lifetime achievement award, or a consolation for the loss of his partner in UGK, Pimp C?

source : boxden forum

[West Coast Veteran]

btw who was the Sources last 5 mic album? The Fix?

With the recent announcement that Bun B’s brand new album, Trill O.G. received a perfect 5-Mic rating from The Source, it’s only fitting that we take a look at all of the albums that have received the coveted rating.

44 albums in the magazine’s history have been given a perfect rating. 29 of them have been given retroactively. The other 14 were received at the time of release. It’s those 14 that we’ll be focusing on here.

The Source was dogged in the early 2000s amidst accusations that a good rating, which had become as important as a Grammy Award, was bought by the artist. While many of their ratings were valid, there were more than a few head scratchers in the magazine’s later years.

A Tribe Called Quest
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm


I remembered two Tribe albums getting five mics, but I always thought it was The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders that got a perfect score. But lo-and-behold, research proves that Marauders only got four mics. While it’s very difficult to listen to an album 20 years after its release and get back to the mindset of the hip-hop fan in 1990, I honestly can say that I never viewed Tribe’s first album as a classic. Does it have classic songs? Most definitely. “Bonita Applebum,” “Can I Kick It?” “Footprints,” “Luck Of Lucien” are all hands down some of the best that hip-hop has ever seen, but the album feels a bit uneven and scattered.

Eric B. & Rakim
Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em

This is another album that I never realized received a perfect rating. Why? Because Eric B & Rakim’s albums got progressively worse as their four album career went on. Rhythm being their third album was not as good as Follow The Leader, and definitely not as good as their debut, Paid In Full (which was awarded 5-mics long after it’s release… a rating I highly contest due to the inclusion of songs like “Chinese Arithmetic,” “Extended Beat,” and, depending on the day you ask, “Eric B Is On The Cut.”) Rhythm’s title track is classic status, as is “Mahogany,” but once again, I never saw this album as being five-mic material.

Ice Cube
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted

Ice Cube’s split from N.W.A. was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to the rapper, who penned most of the group’s lyrics. His defection from the group led him to leave the west coast for the east where he linked up with the legendary Bomb Squad production crew, who produced all of Public Enemy’s classic albums. The switch in production crews wasn’t as different, as a lot of N.W.A.’s sound had that Bomb Squad-esque, chaotic collage feel. The result of Cube’s collaboration with the Squad resulted in an album that built upon N.W.A.’s penchant for shock factor and married it with Public Enemy’s politics. This album was very unique at the time of it’s release and deserved it’s five-mic rating.

Brand Nubian
One For All

Brand Nubian were almost like a 1990s Miami Heat with three legit soloists-Lord Jamar, Sadat X and Grand Puba-creating a hip-hop rarity: a group with no weak link. Puba’s salacious wordplay was balanced by Jamar’s rugged baritone and Sadat’s nasaled tales from the hood. Hailing from the outer reaches of the New Rochelle they extended the hoods borders a little further north incorporating the 5 Percent teachings with break beats funky enough for the radio and the clubs. One For All spawned two classics “Wake Up” and “Slow Down” along with the title track of this undisputed masterpiece.

De La Soul
De La Soul Is Dead

The Long Island, NY trio one-upped their instant classic debut, 3 Feet High & Rising, on the follow-up. De La Soul Is Dead was a conscious effort to abandon the D.A.I.S.Y. Age/pseudo-hippie image that people associated with them based on their debut. The result was one of the most engaging and interesting hip-hop albums ever released. They toughened up their sound and lyrics without sounding like they were fakin’ the funk yet still kept the sense of humor and quirkiness that made fans and critics alike fall head over heels for 3 Feet High & Rising. Is De La Soul Is Dead perfect? Far from it, but its imperfections are what made the album, as well as De La themselves, endearing and an album that still sounds fresh and fun 19 years later. This one deserved it’s five mics.

A Tribe Called Quest
The Low End Theory

The difference between Tribe’s debut album and their second, The Low End Theory, is like night and day. They may sound similar, but for the first time, Tribe put together a focused album. Though it starts to lag a little towards the end (when’s the last time you listened to “Skypager?”), all is forgotten once one of hip-hop’s greatest posse cuts, “Scenario,” closes out the album. Five mic worthy? One could make a case for giving it four-and-a-half, but anything less than that would be absolutely criminal.

Nas
Illmatic
The album that really sparked the whole craze behind The Source’s mic rating system was Illmatic. Miss Info’s five-mic review of Nas’ debut was both a blessing and a curse for the Queensbridge rapper. His subsequent albums would always be compared to this one and each one seemed more and more disappointing. Illmatic was pure NYC hip-hop — raw, intelligent, rewind-worthy, quotable, and it knocked in the whip. The Source got it right on this one.

The Notorious B.I.G.
Life After Death

With Biggie dying shortly before this album’s release, it’s easy to peg The Source’s five-mic review of his second album as just a nod to an MC that died far too soon. And you’d be right. While Life After Death has no shortage of great songs, it’s length as a double album was it’s biggest flaw. If cut down to a single disc, Life After Death probably could have been better than Ready To Die. But the beauty in this album is that most people probably would not be able to agree on what songs to keep and what songs to trash. However, since we are stuck with all twenty four songs, this album probably should’ve been knocked down to a four-and-a-half, at best.

Outkast
Aquemini

Outkast’s finest moment, hands down, and worthy of about six more mics. We’ll even let “Mamacita” slide.

Jay-Z
The Blueprint

I will be totally honest. I was not checking for Jay-Z until The Blueprint dropped. Jay had singles that I liked, but I didn’t consider myself a fan until The Blueprint. The production was fresh. Jay probably hadn’t been this inspired in the studio since Reasonable Doubt. He captured lightning in a bottle on this album. He’s been chasing this album ever since, and hasn’t come close, with the exception of The Black Album. The Source hit the nail on the head.

Nas
Stillmatic

And here is where The Source’s mic ratings all went downhill. After a string of disappointing albums (hello Nastradamus!), Nas probably sounded better on Stillmatic than on any album since his debut, but this album was nowhere near five-mic worthy. Nas’ album of outtakes and leftovers, The Lost Tapes, was way better than this.

Scarface
The Fix

Scarface is one of hip-hop’s most underrated emcees. When The Fix was released, most of us were expecting a monster album, and based on songs like “Guess Who’s Back” and “My Block” it seemed like that’s what we were going to get. But after listening to the album, it’s hard to understand why the album got a perfect score. Perhaps it was just Scarface’s lifetime achievement award?

Lil’ Kim
The Naked Truth

By this point in the Source’s life cycle, the mic rating system ceased to have any sort of meaning. When it was announced that Lil’ Kim had received a five-mic rating for this album, which featured the song “Lighters Up,” most people agreed that The Source had no authority or credibility left in hip-hop.

Bun B.
Trill O.G.

The Source had the internet all abuzz in the days before it was announced that Bun B’s Trill O.G. had received a five-mic rating. The mag released a list of great albums released in 2010 saying that one of them would receive instant classic status in its upcoming issue. While we have yet to hear the album, Bun B definitely has it in him to release an album worthy of five mics, but is it another situation like The Fix? Is this just a lifetime achievement award, or a consolation for the loss of his partner in UGK, Pimp C?

source : boxden forum

Stillmatic and The Fix deserved their "mics".

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Stillmatic is 5 mics.

If 5 mics is being able to listen to every song with the exception of 1 (gotta have some give).   I dunno if I have too many of those..

I would say the only album I can listen to all the way through and love the hell out of it is Doggystyle.


And for 1-badsong rule records:

Nas Stillmatic

Both of Lupe's albums

Kanye's first 2 albums

2Pac MATW / AEOM

Joe Budden Escape Route (homer pick)


That's where my list stops..

Ready 2 Die and The Chronic on borderline for me...  Illmatic too..  Slim Shady LP.  Maybe 1 of Royce's first 2 albums?  Young Gunz Tough Luv (another homer pick)


It's kinda funny when you think about your personal lists.   What some albums mean to you, and what albums are coming from artists you don't have so far up in ur favorite list..

[doggfather]

for meg there isn't any perfect 5/5 album max 4.5/5, but perfect?!
Don't think so.

[salkku]

lol not gonna say its a terrible album, but a 5-mic, no way

[westsiderider323]

IMHO it does deserve the 5 mics bun b always come correct and to me this has got to be the album of the year best album i heard all year right behind the shit e-40 drop i know yall gon call me crazy for that but Trill OG is prolly better then both his last 2 albums i just hope that now that they done wit this they gon drop that pimp c solo and that last UGK album

[Chamillitary Click]

LOL

Fuck whoever reviewed the album for Source, that dude dead wrong.

smh @ ppl thinking he deserved to get it just for his "career".

The Source reviews albums, not careers.  What kinda bogus ass shit is that..

So when this dude come along that has consistently released shitty albums drops a 5 mic album, he'll get 1 mic in the review just because his career has been shitty upto then?

PREACH!

[50]

album is average.. doesnt deserve 5 mics

[blazeindave213]

Bun B Talks 5 Mic Review & Projected Sales

Bun B recently reacted to his new "Trill OG" album getting a rare five mic rating from The Source magazine. The UGK member talked about what it meant for it to be labeled a classic.

      "For every album labeled a classic, there are dozens of others that people feel deserve the honor. So I realize that people now feel they have to place my album next to others that they feel were more impactful, and argue their case. With social networking being as prevalent as it is in our society, these arguments now take place in a very public arena, which in order to be heard, you often have to be very opinionated and abrasive to stand out. So people, while having no personal hate or malice towards me, will make very loud arguments about The Source's decision, and the loudest ones will probably get the most attention...Having said all this, it is with great honor and admiration that I humbly accept this esteemed declaration from the Source Magazine and it's staff for my album Trill OG, and for those that feel they need to sh*t on me to argue for another artist or album, don't worry. The Trill OG can take it! UGK for life!"

      In related news, Bun B's new album is, based on one-day sales, on route to sell up to 35,000 copies in the first week of its availability. Featuring contributions from his ex-bandmate as well as Young Jeezy, Yo Gotti and Gucci Mane, along with producers J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Drumma Boy and Boi-1da, the disc is now in stores.

[Lunatic]

35K ain't a bad 1st week either.

[BOX5 the best poster on this site yell]

finally heard it,and tho i wouldn't call it a classic just cause the source says so,i give it up to bun, that equal rep's ugk the right way every day, he never spits a wacc verse, and how he handle this shit with class is refreshing,fucc the theatrics, oh and i refuse to say reasonable doubt is a 5 mic classic, and i laugh at most who say it,cause when that shit was out nobody was saying that shit they was saying that muthafucca stole his whole shit from nas and the lox, it got some classic songs on it but overall nah my equal,classics change landscapes or at the very attention brings attention to styles,and in the rare case is so far ahead of it's time that people didn't understand it at the time,but if people say they didn't understand reasonable doubt you just a fucc'n dumb ass hahah, i never was that big fan of the blueprint album but it is a legit classic,that muthafucca changed the way equals was making they shit at the time (even tho others experimented with that formula before jay in hip hop) yell, bacc to bun he's a all around good dude you want to see win yelll

[you gon always be my latin queen bitch]

Havent heard ntire bun album...but if previous solos are anythin 2 go off of...no way buns album is better than nas/damian imo the rest ehhh