5 mics from the Source??

This USED to be the ultimate crowning achievement for an album to receive. Now? Not so much, still even with magazines credibility somewhat questionable it still means SOMETHING to receive this honor. So I grabbed my board earlier this week and got to surfing. Come to find out The Source Magazine has crowned a new album a 'masterpiece' and awarded it the rare 5 mics rating. Its been 5 years since the Source gave this rating out to some1 *{[(Save that for the end...)]}*, and now the next artist up is Bun B being recognized for his newly released album Trill O.G.

My 1st thoughts upon reading about this? F*ck now I'm gonna have to listen to some South music lmao I'm kidding. I was pretty surprised seeing as Bun B (Trill O.G.) was up against some pretty steep competition. Eminem (Recovery), Big Boi (Sir Lucious Left Foot: The son of Chico Dusty), Drake (Thank Me Later), The Roots (How I Got Over), Fat Joe (The Darkside Vol.1), and Rick Ross (Teflon Don).

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Now I've heard all but 2 on this list (Fat Joe's on deck as I type, and Rick Ross... I just have no desire to listen to this n*gga, still have yet to hear the Jay-Z featured track on his album Free Masons... Cause I do.n't care.. but if tonight goes as planned he'll be up after Fat Joe) and none of them struck me as classic. Maybe Em's but after going back and listening again I'm starting to feel like he just brought back 'classic' lyricism. Big Boi's is so ambitious it's hard to take it all in. For that alone I thought he could be onto something with it but it had too many 'filler' tracks imo. Drake's Thank Me Later was a very solid 'debut' effort just not the best introduction fans have heard from him. Definitely not classic though that mixtape on the hand... The Roots came with a solid album too, only... They ALWAYS do that lol it didn't resonate with me like the others have YET.

Bun B though?? I'ma be real as cotton fields. Bun's album never crossed my I gotta hear this sh*t radar. Call me rapper racist I don't know. I DO know he can rap, and he has classics, and has done so much for hip hop and the culture blah blah... Don't know sh*t about this album, and I'd like to keep it that way until I decide to sit down and hear it through and through (headphones or the whip).

I'm not trying to take anything away from him as an artist or a dope rapper. I just have my doubts... Did you know The Source redid old reviews for albums they felt they dropped the ball on as far as awarding them classic (5 mics) status? Yup. Did you know they did the same thing with albums they felt deserved the honor but could not receive it at the time due to the magazine not having been created? Yup.

Here's the list:

2Pac - All Eyez On Me, Me Against The World

Biggie - Life After Death

Dr. Dre - The Chronic, The Chronic 2001

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

Wu-Tang - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers)

Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full*

Boogie Down Productions - By Any Means Necessary*, Criminal Minded*

N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton

Run D.M.C. - Run D.M.C.*, Raising Hell*

Beastie Boys - License To Ill*

Scarface - The Diary

D.O.C. - No One Can Do It Better*

EPMD - Strictly Business*

Ice Cube - Death Certificate

Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick*

Fugees - The Score

Mobb Deep - Infamous

Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt

Geto Boys - Grip It on That Other Level*

Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead

Main Source - Breaking Atoms*

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(*)= albums that were not out when the magazine was published. ^^ The rest are redone reviews.

Now for the Original 5 Mic classics...

Nas - Illmatic, Stillmatic

Biggie - Life After Death

Eric B. & Rakim - Let Rhythm Hit Em

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory, People's Instinctive Travels and The Path's of Rhythm

Scarface - The Fix

Ice Cube - Amerikkka's Most Wanted

Jay-Z - Blueprint

Brand Nubian - One For All

Outkast - Aquemini 

Critical Beatdown - Ultramagnetic MCs

Lil Kim (lol) - The Naked Truth (lmao)

Bun B - Trill O.G.

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So it's bee 5 years since the last artist received 5 mics from the Source. That artist being Lil Kim for her work on her album The Naked Truth. Now, I AM knocking the fact that she got 5 mics cause that album was mediocre at best. I know because I listened to it frequently upon it's release smh I want those hours back! My only question is this; If they can go back and redo reviews they felt didn't rate albums where they deserved to be in terms of boosting the ratings, why can't they do the opposite to lower ratings? Poor Bun B... The credibility of his album is automatically questioned because of the magazine's 'dark aged past'. Oh well though, like I said I'll be listening intensely in the very near future. Going to make quite the event out of it... Well maybe We'll C..

*dadadadaaaaaa*

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 -/Rebel2Society\-v(**)