REVIEWS
DJ KHALED - KISS THE RING ‘Working all winter, shining all summer…’ DJ Khaled is back again to heat up the end of summer by bringing together some of Hip-Hop’s biggest players on his sixth studio album: Kiss the Ring. Following on from the success of his last album ‘We the Best Forever’, Khaled has been busy creating an even bigger record, jampacked with artists ranging from Rick Ross & Lil Wayne to Plies & Kirko Bangz. With so much star power on one album, there’s no way it can disappoint… Can it? The first track on the album is called Shout Out to the Real (Ft Meek Mill, Ace Hood & Plies) and it is an emphatic start to the album from Khaled, as the intro gives off a royal feeling before jumping into a booming drum beat and fire lyrics from both Meek Mill & Ace Hood. Overall, this song won’t fail to get you pumped up and head bopping ready for the rest of the album. The album then leads onto B*tches & Bottles (Ft. Lil Wayne, T.I. & Future), continuing the theme from the first song, this is another club banger with an ear throbbing beat provided by Mike Will. T.I. is the standout performer on this track as his bars go perfectly with the beat as he boasts of his massive ego. The third track of the album is titled I Wish You Would (Ft Kanye West & Rick Ross) and any song featuring Kanye West is always going to be a high quality track. The upbeat tempo of the song is perfectly suited for Mr West’s rhymes and he even lends his voice to sing the chorus, baiting haters by saying ‘I wish you would try to play us’. Rick Ross is also a great addition to the song and gives another strong and consistent performance. When there is a DJ Khaled album about to drop, there is something you always expect from him and that is a heavy hitting lead single. This song definitely fits this category. Take it to the Head (Ft Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne) is a star studded track with Chris Brown crooning through the memorable chorus and a star verse coming from Nicki Minaj as well as appearances from Rick Ross and Lil Wayne. Track number five is They Ready (Ft J.Cole, Big K.R.I.T. & Kendrick Lamar). The song samples an old soul song which has been creatively chopped and screwed to create
a catchy beat. Plus, the three featured artist’s vibe off each other perfectly switching up their flows from slow to fast effortlessly, my favorite song on the album so far. The seventh track on the album is Hip-Hop (Ft Scarface, Nas & DJ Premier), Khaled proclaims at the beginning of this song ‘this sh*t is special’, that comment is most definitely an understatement. Nas & Scarface bring their experience and expertise to tell us the story of how Hip-Hop has changed from when they both started in the game and educating the new crop of rappers on how to treat her (HipHop). Their wordplay and double entendres are even more amazing than you would expect from the two legends. The song is then complemented by the simple but effective beat created by Justice League to produce this thought provoking track. I did it for my Dawgz (Ft Rick Ross, French Montana, Meek Mill & Jadakiss). This track is probably the weakest on the album so far, with a repetitive chorus and generic sounding beat that sounds like it could have been recycled from a previous Maybach Music Group song. Don’t Pay for It (Ft Wale, Kirko Bangz, Tyga & Mack Maine) is the next track and it is a catchy, more upbeat song which is a nice change from the two previous, although it is not too far ahead in terms of quality. Wale’s verse is brilliant as you would expect, however, Tyga’s verse starts off poorly but is rectified later on in his bars. Ultimately, DJ Khaled succeeds in surpassing his level from his last album. Kiss the Ring is what you would expect from a DJ Khaled record; huge production with boisterous beats as well as countless of your favorite Hip-Hop artists on the same tracks. The album starts strongly and continues that trend throughout until running out of gas towards the end. Overall though, it’s an album I’ve enjoyed listening to with some star tracks, some average ones, let’s see how it does in the charts. Kiss The Ring is available on iTunes now for $9.99/£6.40 and in all good music stores (Where prices may vary). If you decide to get it, Be sure to go to our facebook page (www.Facebook.com/BeatzMag) and tell us what YOUR opinion of it is.
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