Comments on: KRS-One & Buckshot: Survival Skills

By: Ari 40 oz. Gold

Ari 40 oz. Gold — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:13:11 +0000

well done! this review was pretty fair.

However I think you forgot to mention something that I was thinking throughout this entire album. HOW DATED THEIR FLOWS ARE! Buck has been running with the same flow for the past like 10 years without switching it up. Krs-One is guilty of this as well.

I wasn’t crazy about the album. It felt like the same boring subject matter (whack mcs, the struggle of being broke, the industry etc.) I don’t want to hear about it anymore. It’s the same sad story that every MC nowadays is delivering. There was nothing extremely experimental on here and to me that is the biggest loss.

6/10

By: old mic

old mic — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:49:38 +0000

this is hip-hop

By: Born in BK

Born in BK — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:12:25 +0000

Wack review. How can you say anything negative about this album. You’re corny, you’ve been listening to to much fergie lately. Booooo…

It’s a gem, a classic, nuff said…

By: Will UK

Will UK — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:38:22 +0000

That 9th Wonder beat is fire!!

By: Deez

Deez — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:46:19 +0000

Great points Tommy, you said what I couldn’t.

One of my first example reviews (written for a website that rejected me… albeit, that drove me to be whatever the hell I am now lol), was Hip Hop Lives. It was a tough review. Because you’re right, I do believe that Krs One is the best to do it… but man, he’s so flawful. Not to mention, you worry that he’s gonna stray into the same story we’ve been hearing from him in the last x amount of years.

Production has been a big problem for him, which is a big reason why he’s particularly elevated here. Their blend is really interesting, its like a ying and yang with these two, and another… Ying Yang…amongst the production.

It’s an interesting blend. Glad you liked the review

By: Tommylux

Tommylux — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:27:49 +0000

Sean, I think this review was great. I understand what you’re saying about KRS being hard to write about though. I think it’s because we’ve seen so many different sides to this guy and he’s had massive high but also terrible lows. The last time I remember him as being truly great was when he dropped that “KRS One” with the Premo productions back in ’95. All the albums after that were either erratic or had something missing, but I’d be hard-pressed to say what precisely was missing cos just listening to the man like that he sounds perfect: perfect flow, perfect rhyming. Maybe it’s cos for the last few years he’s rapped a lot but without really saying that much at times, when you know this is the man who used to preach about self-destruction and getting educated. I’m not saying he’s not touching on these subjects any longer but it’s more subliminal and less aggressive. Think of it, the featuring with Immortal Technique should logically have ended up in something downright militant, but I wasn’t really shook by it. I think writing about KRS is tough cos you know he’s great and he’s got the game all figured out, he can master any kind of rapping style, but deep down you feel let down somewhere. One reason for this could be his choice of beats…

…which brings me to “Survival Skills”. I have to say that Buck is one of my all-time favorite emcees, I’ll buy anything with his name on it without even checking it first, so when I saw he was teaming up with KRS I had high hopes. After listening to the album, I feel that this is nowhere near as good as the two collab albums he did with 9th Wonder. Sorry, but I really don’t feel that any beat really sticks out here. I think this more rugged version of beats doesn’t fit Buck that well and he sounds way better over smooth 9th-style soul loops. KRS, on the other hand, spits best over harder stuff but somehow there’s no real magic in this, as with most of his recent albums. It’s not bad, it’s exemplary hip hop music, but even if you weren’t putting your hopes up too much you’ll still feel disappointed somewhere. Hard to explain why, but for me one major reason are the beats. I love Buck, I love KRS, and I’ll support anything they do, but I don’t think I’ll be giving this much rotation. I’d give it a 70

By: Deez

Deez — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:14:41 +0000

this wasn’t my best review guys.. really sorry. I really find it massively hard to write about KRs One… not sure what it is..

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:23:54 +0000

I haven’t given this album much attention. I’ve listened to it twice now. Maybe I’ll get some time for it soon. Rae, Jay, Ghost, Brother Ali are getting all my spins right now with a little SH and Cudi.

By: bags

bags — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:39:21 +0000

Good to hear some DJ skills on these cuts.

By: DJ Surreal Sound

DJ Surreal Sound — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:30:01 +0000

Those three snippet tracks sound dope. I’m very curious and excited to here the rest. tHIS LAST QUARTER HAS FINALLY put out some quality hip hop!

By: J. Rizzle

J. Rizzle — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:39:41 +0000

Deez has done it again !!!

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:16:59 +0000

Good write up Deez. I like the album and I think Buckshot was ripping it on the entire album. KRS was solid and much better than he’s been lately and I think he can thank being in a duo for that. I wasn’t feeling Past Present Future as much as you though. My favorite tracks are probably The Way I Live, Clean Up Crew, Hear No Evil & We Made It. Copped this album when it dropped and glad I did. Buck/KRS did a good job.

By: KRS-One & Buckshot – Survival Skills | "I do this for my culture..."

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:10:51 +0000

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