Top 5 Disappointments of Recent Years

Ahhhh...disappointment.

I'm a Knicks fan. I used to being let down *cue violins*. I don't take it personal. Ever. 

This entry will deal with what I consider to be my top 5 disappointments of the past few years. Sometimes, you just feel like something coulda been better than what it was. Damn us for having expectations. I hate(d) blue balls and these things are the equivalent of such. Here goes:

5: "Kingdom Come" by Jay-z: Amazed and in awe. If you all search through my old blog posts, you'll stumble across footage of Jay-z @ Hot 97 spitting to the "Grammy Family" instrumental. This was right before KC dropped. I consider it to be Jay-z's best freestyle even with Flex making his usual shrieking fellatious noises in the background. 

Enter Kingdom Come with a first single of "Show Me What You Got". Budweiser connects. The Monday Night Football slot. A Danica Patrick cameo in the vid. Hova talkin fly shit as usual, but with even more bravado, as he became more of a BUSINESSman. 

Ya'll know by now that I'm a die hard Jay fan, but I gotta call it like it is. This album was bad. I know what it takes for an album to be made. You have to A&R it, the legal with sample clearances and such, deadlines, the marketing and artwork and the whole process. It's tougher than it is to the eye of the general public. This is his weakest body of work to me (I personally dont see how people shit on Volume III). It just seems like forced and not genuine. Like "Hey, look at me, I'm more 'mature' and cultured". ....Don't get me wrong, there's some serious bangers on there like "Oh My God" and some nice introspective joints like "Beach Chair" and "Lost Ones", but the overall album is just enh, especially when you add the fact that it's a "comeback album". I put the "Grammy Family" Freestyle as a bonus track and it kinda helps the album out. It's definitely my least listened to Jay-z album and I wasnt a big fan of Vol II either.....

4. "Wolverine": Huge Wolverine fan. The "do it myself" attitude. The healing factor. The claws. The yellow and brown ensemble. The eternal beef with Sabretooth, who is one of my favorite supervillains as he's a direct mirror of Logan's dark side. So when I get a chance to hear that they're making a Wolverine solo flick, I'm happy as shit. That was my bad. When the unfinished version (with stunt wires and incomplete animations) of the flick hit the net, I got a chance to view the flick and I was disillusioned with the storyline:

• It took them that long for a Gambit cameo? And his scenes in the flick werent that mindblowing to being with (pause)......
• Liev Schrieber made a GREAT Sabretooth so what were they thinking casting Tyler "Cowardly Lion" Mane in the first X-Men flick?....
• Deadpool ends up being an experiment with different powers? Really? Ryan Reynolds was a perfect Wade Wilson and reportedly, they're doing a DP flick, but they butchered the shit outta "Deadpool"
• They coulda saved Lady Deathstrike for this film instead of having her in X2.

I'm not really a big fan of DLing movies before they come out. If I like what I see in commercials, I will support the flick. I usually dont go by word of mouth because it's all relative anyway. However, in the case of this flick, I'm glad I didnt waste any money watching it in theaters. Shoutouts to torrents.

3. "The Last Kiss" by Jadakiss: This album was extremely disappointing as it had no particular theme. People can talk shit about Ross but his album had a consistent thread, even if he was exposed. For all the hoopla about Jada signing to the Roc, I had higher expectations for this joint. A verse from Beans or Hov, nah, let's not do that. An actual impactful lead single, scratch that too. I have it! Let's put out a mixtape that's actually better than the album!! And there you have "The Champ Is Here II" mixtape which was actually weaker than "The Champ Is Here", but I digress.....

We all shoulda known that with "We Run This" (a song that featured a Hov diatribe and not an actual verse) and the weak "lead" singles "Can't Stop Me" and "By My Side" featuring Ne-yo, we were in for some shit. I do recall that "By My Side" didn't get a big reaction in clubs (as least as far as I've seen). The video seemed like "Make Me Better Part II" with a Nuvo and Gucci sponsorship. I will credit Pharrell for giving Kiss two solid songs in "Stress Ya" and "Rockin' With The Best", but the album didn't seem cohesive enough to stay in my rotation. "Cartel Gathering" was pretty dope, but over all the album's lack of an overall theme makes it Jada's weakest album to me. For someone who's "top 5 DOA", I honestly consider Jadakiss on mixtapes to be better than Jadakiss on solo albums; I also think Styles is a more complete artist than Kiss is. His best work is still "Kiss The Game Goodbye"......

2. "Transformers II": Major disappointment. I'm a huge fan of Transformers. I like seeing Megan Fox (preferably on mute). I like explosions and guns and fast cars. Heres a way for you all to see how I felt and for me to increase my hits. Mhuauauahahha.Enjoy.

1. "Loso's Way" by Fabolous: This is gonna be fun.....

I'm a HUGE "Carlito's Way" fan. It's a tale of conscience. A tale of a man being pulled in two directions: the streets and being a better human. It's just a great film. It ends tragically and if you haven't seen it, you suck at life. *end elitist rant* but for real.....

So....Fabolous announces that he's making an album called "Loso's Way" and we, the general public, assume it'll be a riveting album rife with street tales over dope beats. Fab's always had a decent ear for instrumentals and I saw footage of him in the studio with Sean C and LV vibing to what would later become "Bang Bang". What more do could we expect? Label formula states that every album needs a song for females, so personally I wanted something with a "Bonnie and Clyde"/"She'll put pistols in her panties like Karen Hill" direction for the ladies.....

Consistency.

I expected more "grime" with this album. I mean, with it taking direct inspiration from a movie about the street and how it can affect a man's morality, is that too much to want? Shoot, call Styles P or Beans in...they woulda been perfect on this joint for some hood balance.Hell, even Kiss is versatile enough...

"The Way (Intro)" is one of the most scathing tracks I've heard this year, with Fab being more aggressive than he usually is....then you have songs like "Throw It In The Bag" (it's catchy as fuck though) and "Makin' Love" featuring Ne-Yo (-__-) that have NO correlation to "CW" at all (FYI: "Last Kiss", "Deeper Than Rap" and "Loso's Way" ALL feature misplaced songs featuring Ne-yo). The reworked "When The Money Goes" isnt too bad, but it probably wouldve been better if I didn't hear Hova on it first. I will say that Fab was more personal on this album with tracks like "Pachanga","Stay" and "Lullaby" and even displays some storytelling ability on "I Miss My Love"; that's ALWAYS a plus especially when you consider his flashy playboy persona. I just dont get how some of these softer sounding songs made the album. I understand that it's a business first and you have to admit that Fab's probably top 5 right now in balancing the street/"commercial" line, but c'mon...Even the posse cut with Freck and Red Cafe was underwhelming (no shock there). For good measure, I added 3 bonus tracks that affected my second initial decision to like the album: "Bang Bang", "Toast To The Good Life" and "Welcome To My Workplace" (<-----is one of the hardest "coke raps" in recent times). Why these tracks didnt make an album with a theme like this one is beyond me but I dont make label decisions. For real though , The Dream on an album that takes inspiration from "Carlito's Way"?

I didn't like the album, then I liked after a few more spins....now I must say it was a bit disappointing in retrospect. I think Ghetto Fabolous is his best album. 

*Loso's tweets did not affect any decisions in my rating this album #1 disappointment of recent times.*

Honorable Mention: promotional efforts for Clipse albums, The NY Knicks, Christina Milian post Def Jam, NBA Live, "The Solution", "Brothers From Another", Air Jordan Retros, Spiderman 3