In the LWFC vs BOBS poll we had a quick convo about how those projects were both highly anticipated and ended up either meeting or surpassing those high expectations.

Expectations can kill an album if they don’t stand up. A good/very good album can be seen as wack if they don’t meet those expectations.

On the flip side, an album that meets and even surpasses high expectations can be lifted into the all-time great stratosphere.

What albums met and surpassed your “high” expectations.

And I put “high” in quotes because I’m not talking about albums that you really didn’t expect much from. For example, I’m banging this Dilated Peoples - Director of Photography and this shit is dope as fuck...however I wasn’t expecting much from it. At the same time, maybe that boosts its status for me too. Maybe that could be another post.

GO!

When I heard Mos was using some Madlib joints I was hype, then we got a snippet I was even more hype. Album was amazing....so much so that I don't really mind that it was the last real album.

Others...

Watch The Throne
The Roots-Game Theory
Flying Lotus-Cosmogramma

FlyLo makes me think that the hype for albums are high for me after their last record is amazing to me.

Busta Rhymes-The Big Bang (Busta is on Aftermath? This is gonna be great....and it was almost from beginning to end.) I just went back to this recently, and yeah it's fucking dope...I think it's lack of cohesion is what keeps people from calling it classic....but it is to me.

Kelis-Tasty (I knew that while Kelis & Pharrell were on the outs I really wanted this record to be great because of how great the first and second was, but I didn't know until I bought it that Raephel Saddiq was doing like half the record too....so of course it's great)

Sidebar: Has Saddiq been a part of any project that's been subpar? I don't think he has....

>When I heard Mos was using some Madlib joints I was hype,
>then we got a snippet I was even more hype. Album was
>amazing....so much so that I don't really mind that it was the
>last real album.
>

I didn’t have any expectations for Ecstatic. I had kid of forgotten about Mos at that point so that album was a pleasant surprise which probably made me like it even more.

>Others...
>
>Watch The Throne
>The Roots-Game Theory
>Flying Lotus-Cosmogramma
>

I can’t say any of these were highly anticipated by me. I always anticipate a Roots album but this was the same as TFA coming after IH.

>FlyLo makes me think that the hype for albums are high for me
>after their last record is amazing to me.
>
>Busta Rhymes-The Big Bang (Busta is on Aftermath? This is
>gonna be great....and it was almost from beginning to end.) I
>just went back to this recently, and yeah it's fucking
>dope...I think it's lack of cohesion is what keeps people from
>calling it classic....but it is to me.
>

I did like this album when it dropped but still can’t say I expected much considering Dre’s track record at that time.

>Kelis-Tasty (I knew that while Kelis & Pharrell were on the
>outs I really wanted this record to be great because of how
>great the first and second was, but I didn't know until I
>bought it that Raephel Saddiq was doing like half the record
>too....so of course it's great)
>

I have never listened to a Kelis album so...*shrugs*

>Sidebar: Has Saddiq been a part of any project that's been
>subpar? I don't think he has....

Good question.

>Sidebar: Has Saddiq been a part of any project that's been
>subpar? I don't think he has....

Introducing Joss Stone. Not at all bad, but kind of a meh album.

I had very high expectations. I am a big Aesop fan and loved Skelethon - but this album surpassed them by far and is now my favorite album from a discography I consider extremely strong. Skelethon was my favorite album by Aes until this one. How Aes penned his most personal album and immediate yet while at the same time not dumbing it it down at all technically, is incredible to me.

I loved Skelethon and honestly after Impossible Kid, I don’t even like it as much any more.

It’s like I can see where Aesop slipped up a little because he got everything perfect with TIK.

With that said, Zero Dark Thirty is probably my favorite cut among both albums.

^^^^ definitely

this album probably one of the most extreme examples of this I have

Doggystyle - Snoop
Kid A - Radiohead
The Private Press - DJ Shadow
Good Kid, m.A.A.d City - Kendrick
Midnight Marauders - Tribe
BOBS - Mos Def
DAMN. - Kendrick
undun - The Roots
LWFC - Common
Muddy Waters - Redman

>Doggystyle - Snoop
>Midnight Marauders - Tribe
>BOBS - Mos Def
>LWFC - Common
>Muddy Waters - Redman
>

That may be the best ever example of what Anonymous and I were talking about, in fact. That album had IMPOSSIBLE expectations to reach. And it exceeded them. Like no album had ever been so hotly anticipated, by the mainstream and the underground/streets. And it, at least to my knowledge, satisfied the fuck out of both and beyond.

Can-i-bus' album might be close, maybe Drake, but after The Chronic the antipasti for Doggystyle was off the charts. And the fact that the actual album is arguably one of the top 25 albums of all time is remarkable.

Illmatic's hype was almost as high as Doggystyle's. And obviously it ending up as a top 10 album in the history of hip-hop. That counts for something.

... any album has exceeded Doggystyle in terms of anticipation.

I see you mentioned Illmatic below but I couldn't disagree more. I mean Illmatic definitely had a lot of hype but Doggystyle was just on another level IMO. The entire country was waiting in line at their local record store days before it dropped to get their hands on it. I vividly remember MTV coverage of its pending release and that shit was unprecedented.

It's actually kind of mind blowing to think about, in hindsight. This 19 year old kid has the entire country's ears to impress ... and he absolutely NAILED it. Dre too, of course. But Snoop was something else in those early years.

You're right that Nas' hype wasn't to the degree of Snoop's. But hearing from East Coast heads, specifically those from NYC, illmatic was a big damn deal.

Granted Nas' hype couldn't have been higher than Snoop's because Nas' 'debut' basically one hype verse on a song that never charted while Snoop got everyone's attention on Deep Cover, which was a single and also featured on a soundtrack, and then took his MC'ing to another level on The Chronic. But Illmatic's quality definitely lived up to the hype in a similar way that Doggystyle did.

>You're right that Nas' hype wasn't to the degree of Snoop's.
>But hearing from East Coast heads, specifically those from
>NYC, illmatic was a big damn deal.

For sure. I figured that's kinda what you were getting @, that the noise in NYC and the East was huge for Illmatic, rightfully so. But yea Snoop was on another level at that point. Anticipation for his album went beyond just hip-hop-head level, beyond street level - it was universal. Dude was already a household name, for better and for worse.


>Granted Nas' hype couldn't have been higher than Snoop's
>because Nas' 'debut' basically one hype verse on a song that
>never charted while Snoop got everyone's attention on Deep
>Cover, which was a single and also featured on a soundtrack,
>and then took his MC'ing to another level on The Chronic. But
>Illmatic's quality definitely lived up to the hype in a
>similar way that Doggystyle did.

Nailed it. Illmatic definitely applies to the general idea of this post.

Black Messiah flew past my already unrealistically high expectations

I was floored after coppin my copy at the Record Exchange on Hillsborough. Took me forever to find a store with a copy though.

I think I got mine from Record Exchange in Avent Ferry before they closed. That was after the first time I asked dude about that album, and he said the group would bring in more copies that week.

I thought they were unknowns before the listening. Was there a long leadup?

So there was definitely an OKP buildup and expectations for that album.

Phonte had 2 hip-hop quotables in a row. Back when that meant something from The Source.

An incredible surprise. Even I, a huge Devo fan, thought they were done for. I was wrong.

I know Santigold (Fresh, Don't Shoot I am a Man), Money Mark (Step Up), John King from The Dust Brothers (Step Up, Cameo) produced songs and all were consulted and their input was used in the final mixes of all songs.

If was arguably their best record since 1982 - that's something I didn't expect a band to put out after being together for 35 years.

I thought - how good could a "remix" album be?

Damn good apparently.

After Phrenology and The Tipping Point (still not bad albums to me), I expected The Roots to bounce back with an album that would be worth mentioning along TFA and Illadelph. Game Theory delivered on all counts. The album hit its stride immediately and really has some serious replay value.....even now.

Sure, there are other Roots albums with stronger singles, but, as a front-to-back cohesive album, Game Theory is arguably in their top three.
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the joint is still in rotation along with De La Soul's The Anonymous Nobody

Jarobi set it off lovely on the Space Program.



*CROCKER*

word booty.

HSUBAKCITS




http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/chowyunskinny/Gold%20Chef/iron_chef.jpg

New tribe was beyond my expectations. De la Soul was more of a met expectations situation. I expected a good album, got a good album. Nothing mind blowing.

I really really needed that tribe album and it was exactly as amazing as it needed to be for a particularly dark week for me. It's like tribe could tell the future.

I tried to have tempered expectations for Tribe's album but couldn't help being hyped and it beat the hell out of what I saw coming. Great call.

And you just reminded me that while I don't really think this album is necessarily on the same level of expectations as a lot of the albums we're talking about in here, I had pretty damn high expectations and was really anticipating Tip's "The Renaissance" back in '08 and it definitely exceeded what I expected from it. That album stayed in steady rotation for nearly 3 full years.

my best case scenario (c) was an "aight" "decent" "it's cool" type album that didn't completely trash their legacy

But fuck all that shit, it's really fuckin dope! great GREAT record

We The People is my shit

Finally a grown man rap album that got it right

I'm confident in saying they've made their 4th classic, because history will be kind to that record in ways we won't feel until years from now. They made the Hip Hop version of There's A Riot Goin' On.

But it is still going strong and I bump it regularly. To see my hip-hop heroes come back and pick up where the left off was very satisfying. Wish it wasn't the end, as they could've even done more but will have to settle for hopefully some more solo stufffron the remaining members. Some joints on the album make me straight emotional. No tears, just nostalgia for the golden age.

Damian Marley-"Welcome To Jamrock"-finally got the sense that duke was coming into his own rap/reggae style...slick production, the right guests and that giant single. Impressive...

EL-P-"Cancer 4 Cure"-EL had to follow up with a project after releasing the masterpiece that is "I'll Sleep When Your Dead", so expectations were huge, and the pressure on cause there were like 5 years between ISWYD and C4C. Too the point, EL killed it. IMO C4C is another creative/hard masterpiece.

who saw THAT coming?

>who saw THAT coming?

I thought the preview snippets were going to be the b-sides or few and far inbetween, "Smile" might be my favorite Hov song, nearly every review or show I've read/watch discuss the album they all say they weren't expecting this from Jay

I think it counts. . . and the "Moonlight" beat is great lol

I love that song, man.

the flow, Wonder sample, his mother at the end, the beat, maaaaan

NoID is something.

Never thought they would come with something this nice after A Piece of Strange.

I had very high expectations for this and every single time I listen to it I'm reminded of how much it blew me away

Bottoms up....and the devil laughs..




http://soundcloud.com/rayandersonjr

I was sleeping on Kast until a few months after Atliens dropped. Then I got into into DF heavy going back to Southernplayalistic and Soul Food and just loving all of that. As a result , expectations for the 3rd Kast album were above high and as soon as I popped in the disc and heard Return of The Gangsta my mind was blown beyond repair. To this day not sure which I like better between Aquemini and Atliens.

"Return of the G" is one of the best album openers in world history.

>"Return of the G" is one of the best album openers in world
>history.

... that beat and how it hits at the beginning gets me hype.

Gonna listen to it now. And like punch a wall or something.