And saying that Blu’s productions isn’t as good as Oddisee, because Oddisee is more experienced, is probably the craziest nonsense I’ve heard in a while! DJ Premier is a better producer than Exile, but that doesn’t change the fact that Exile has put out a masterpiece this year, where Premo has been hiding in the shadow.

Overall, I believe everybody that commented on this issue has made some valid points. Some I disagree w/ strongly, but fuck it, that’s life. There’s been some reviews where I wanted to bap the shit outta sean deez, but then he might turn around and write some ish that i can completely connect wit. I will say though, that In the Ruff deserves to be in ppl’s top 10 at least, that is if you’ve been keepin’ track of hip-hop albums this year. But that’s my take on it.

I think instead of putting the blame on writers for asserting scores, put blame on the self for not being able to contain the self for scrolling down and reading the score, then doing and commenting as you please.

Read the review and see what kinda score that transpires. The words are a lot more powerful than the numbers.

Opinions & comments are something I personally appreciate a lot from the readers on a review. It’s great to hear how others interpreted the album no matter if they agree or disagree with you. I think the problem is when disagreement becomes hostility. You don’t have to attack someone to dismiss their opinions. The best debaters understand both sides. Just point out where you disagree with a review and why you do.

And to the album, too me 84 is good range score for it. And to be honest, no I did not agree with Jon’s Sene review w/ the 88 score. I’ve found Sene to be boring for the most part & it was no different. But that doesn’t mean his review is wrong. An opinion can’t be wrong, reviews are not an objective fact. If this was a review slamming the album & scored it in the 60s or low 70s, I could understand some extreme displeasure but it wasn’t that. 80+ is an extremely postivie score, to quote Jon’s last line “The Diamond District has put out one of the most solid projects of the year.” Not an indictment of an album to me.

Don’t get me wrong In the Ruff is a good album. Oddisee is the only one that is intriguing to me as far as rapping. The production is top notch from front to back. However, I think there are some other albums that lyrically are better than this (Fashawn, Sha’s, Sky’s, SH, Rae, etc). People may not agree with that, however my opinion.

Anyway….we’re a team here and we have to stick up for our teammates. That’s the point guard in me.

Now when you started cursing at Jon, saying “fuck your opinion,” you took it to another level. It’s just flat our disrespectful and as the site owner, I took offense to it. Am I gonna lose sleep over it? No. I’ll just say my peace and move on to the next one.

All of the points you made comparing Blu to Oddisee are valid, there’s no argument there. You make a strong argument as to why In The Ruff should be a better album. But is that going to change an opinion? Oh yeah, you’re right, Oddisee is more experienced as a producer and yeah the rhymes are better on In The Ruff.

To me (and this is my personal opinion) when I say I like an album better than another, it’s usually because I just like it better. There doesn’t have to be a reason. If I find myself wanting to listen to Sene & Blu’s album more than Diamond District, that tells me I like it more. Realistically, no one can tell anyone that an album is better than another. All they can say it that they like one over the other.

now: to kevin, jon garcia, any other writer on this site who is gonna agree with kevin because they are scared to voice their opinion, how can any of you honestly think sene -a day late and a dollar short was better than diamond district. how can anyone? i even bet sene & blu think in the ruff was better. this is one of the first projects where blu is at the helm as producer (not counting his instro albums), and hes OK at it. OK. decent. but his production isn’t even in the same planet as oddisee’s. we are talking ODDISEE. right now, one of the top 5 producers in ALL of hip hop. more than a decade of producing. you’re eccentially telling me that blu out-produced oddisee. which is insane. i mean, just typing that sentence makes me uncomfortable. and then we get to the rhyming. sene vs. y.u, x.o., & oddisee. or, did you all think it was just two guys rapping in diamond district? i know jon garcia did. seriously though, how is there even a sliver of an arguement on this one? sometimes just admitting you fucked up is the way to go.

arguement & disagreement is good for the site, hell it’s good in life. i mean, come on, you usually get 2 comments, if that, on most other posts. but when there is some strong debating going on, like so, 33 comments. not bad. regardless of the comments, scores, who out produced who, it’s all for our love of hip hop. why else would we take time out of our days to type paragraphs of this shit? i bet we can at least agree on that. but probably not.

I thought A Day Late and a Dollar short was a better album than Diamond District.. and I can probably name a handful more albums I liked better this year than Diamond District (Fashawn, Tanya Morgan, Brother Ali… I won’t give away my whole year end Top 10 list). Does that make In The Ruff any less dope of an album? No.

If we’re debating scores, anything in the 80s is a score given to a really solid album, whereas 90s are rarely touched. Opinions vary and in this case, you’re debating great to greater. It’s like someone biting into a Big Mac for the first time and saying it’s a damn good sandwich. Would you go off on them for not saying it’s the best sandwich in the world? lol

Sorry, I just had to chime in. I respect and love the fact that we have really smart readers with valued opinions, but blasting one of my writers for his own opinion is just nonsense. Reviews are nothing more than an opinion, and as the old saying goes, “opinions are like assholes.” Maybe once you start writing for “an established hip hop site” we’ll value your opinion a little more.