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Why should YOU buy an album?

© Steve Juon

Nobody ever makes you buy an album just because somebody else says that they think it's good.

What criteria DO you use to buy an album? What criteria CAN you use? Reviews are always going to be subjective and altered by the tastes and perceptions of the listener. Someone like me will find Company Flow to be dark, moody, intense and complicated; someone not like me will find it to be overbearing and too verbose; and someone who doesn't even like hip-hop at all will find it all to be a nonsensical string of syllables over loud harsh beats. And you know what? Each one is to some degree true -- but more importantly, it's true to the perception OF THE ONE WHO WAS LISTENING TO IT.

"If you don't know the history of the author you don't know what you're reading If you don't know the history of the author you don't know what you've read" --> KRS-One

Now bearing this in mind, there are some people on the rec.music.hip-hop newsgroup who I *would* trust based on their opinion; since their tastes seem to so closely reflect mine. B. David Harrison, Kari Orr, O-Dub, Tony1er, Dee Phunk, Mike Burke etc. etc. the RMHH roll call goes on you get the idea.

At the same time, I'm a guy who likes to experiment. Once in a while I'll take a chance on something like an MJG album even if nobody recommended it or most of the regulars don't like it -- and by taking chances I open myself to new possibilities and greater enjoyment of hip-hop music. Nobody could have told me I'd like Chino XL; in fact if you believed the newsgroup at the time it came out it was a booty album. I took a chance anyway and now I'd argue that it's in the all time hip-hop top 100, if not the top 20 for best DEBUT albums ever.

The only way to play it safe is to listen before you buy; and even then you sometimes get burned. You can hear two great singles off an album and the rest can be garbage; you can hear two garbage singles and miss out on a great album. I almost slept on the OutKast debut because I totally was NOT feeling "Players Ball"; however somebody on the newsgroup was selling an unopened copy cheap and I took a chance. Based on what I had heard I would have hated it; based on what's on the album I couldn't like it more.

Bottom line: If you buy an album that sucks to you, what of it? At

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