Hopsin - Raw (2010)
Back in 2011, I listened to this album after all of my friends were freaking about "OMG HE'S SO GOOD, HE'S THE BLACK EMINEM" and even at that time, I didn't get the hype, and I didn't even fucking like Eminem! Lemme get the positives outta the way: I think "Hot 16's" is a great opening track, it has a good beat, and Hopsin's flow is pretty excellent, much like it is on the rest of the album, and I think making a track showing regret for abusing his girlfriend in "Heather Nicole" is actually really mature and ballsy to do, as to get it out of the way before it could get exposed to the public, effectively saying "before I (hypothetically) ever hit the mainstream, I did something fucking awful and I need you to acknowledge it" and I think that's just like when Slug of Atmosphere would acknowledge his horrible tendencies with wome- FUCK, DID HOPSIN PULL A SLUG WHILE PULLING AN EMINEM? FUCK. Anyhow, some of these songs are nostalgic for me, and some are even enjoyable in a novelty kind of way, like "he was HOW old when making this?" to the point where it might as well be actually labeled as a comedy-rap album, because just like you've most likely come to recognize, Hopsin is just.. So fucking mentally immature. He has to be one of the dumbest motherfuckers alive, not in a mental retardation kind of way, but in a "you're a fully mentally-functional adult and you're still so ignorantly in the dark about so much shit" kind of way, which I guess can also be said about the majority of his fanbase.
I'm not even going to get into the ignorant, dumb, and/or hypocritical shit he says on this album because I'm sure we'd be here for hours, but damn, he can truly be an appalling enigma in the worst ways possible. On the musical side of things, just like I said, his flow is actually pretty excellent and I dig his voice, but his beats are just a notch above generic FL Studio beats, and if you really listen to them, you can just imagine actually watching a lot of these beats play out in FL Studio, and God, don't get me fucking started on the majority of these hooks. There's actually a few songs on here that I enjoy, but at this point, I'm so far deep into the "ironic" side of the pool that I don't know if I genuinely like them because Hopsin did a good job, or the idea of listening to a grown man rap about how marijuana smokers are fucking degenerates, women who enjoy sex are whores, or complaining about mainstream pop-rap being mainstream pop-rap is just fucking hilarious to me. Speaking of that thing about marijuana, have you ever listened to "Ill Mind of Hopsin 5" while high? You'll fucking laugh your ass off between his rants about weed and imagining white kids saying "OH MAN, HE'S SPEAKING THAT -REAL-" when he starts trashing black people as being a species that can't evolve from being neanderthals. Fuck, dude, the fact that this man actually managed to get a fanbase that treats shit he says as fact is truly the eighth wonder of the world.
6/10
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