1) Celph Titled & Buckwild
Nineteen Ninety Now (No Sleep Recordings)

2) Madlib Medicine Show No.10-Black Soul (Stones Throw)

3) N*E*R*D Nothing (Star Trak)

4) Jneiro Jarel Fauna (Kindred Spirits)

5) Pitbull Armando (Mr. 305 Inc.)

Lots of new releases on this latest chart, care of Luis at the San Francisco Amoeba store, including in the number one slot Celph Titled & Buckwild's Nineteen Ninety Now on No Sleep Recordings. It finds the perfect pairing of the famed D.I.T.C. DJ & producer Buckwild with the Florida emcee Celph Titled (of the Demigodz and Army of the Pharaohs fame) and the results are most impressive. Killer production plus lots of tasty cutting and scratching (care of Mista Sinista of X-Ecutioners) perfectly compliment Celph Titled and the other emcees (many fellow D.I.T.C. folks) that guest throughout the 16 track CD, including Sadat X, Grand Puba, AG, Diamond D, Treach (Naughty By Nature), R.A. The Rugged Man, Apathy, Chino XL, and Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks. Lyrically, Celph bears it all and tells it like it is (and was), even addressing his bygone beef with Cage from a decade ago.

1) Eminem Recovery (Aftermath, Interscope, Shady)

2)  Skyzoo & Illmind Live From The Tape Deck (Duck Down Music)

3) Black Milk Album of the Year (Fat Beats)

4) Waka Flocka Flame Flockaveli  (So Icey Ent./Asylum Records)

5) Gucci Mane The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted (So Icey Ent./Asylum Records)

New releases on the latest hip-hop top five chart from the Hollywood Amoeba Music store include both Gucci Mane's third & latest (and best) album to date The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted and the anticipated debut from Mane's protege, Waka Flocka Flame, which surprisingly does not disappoint. Note this rapper's cameos to date had been kinda lackluster and the subject of much dissing on the Internet. (If you haven't heard it, check out the Shawt Bus Shawty parody that spoofs him, Gucci, etc.) Titled Flockaveli (no doubt in a nod to 2Pac's Makeveli), the 23 year old Waka Flocka Flame (known round the dinner table at home as Juaquin Malphurs) is part of the popular Atlanta based So Icey Boyz (signed to Gucci Mane's So Icey Entertainment) and also is a member of Gucci's Brick Squad. Waka appeared on Gucci Mane's last album, 2009's The State vs. Radric Davis. Also last year he created a buzz with his mixtape Shoot Me Or Salute Me. The title would prove to be darkly ironic considering that the rapper was shot some months later (January this year) in a roadside robbery when he stopped at a car wash on National Highway in GA. 

1) Eminem Recovery (Aftermath, Interscope, Shady)

2) The Roots How I Got Over (Def Jam)

3) Drake Thank Me Later (Cash Money Records)

4) Nas + Damian Marley Distant Relatives  (Republic)

5) Vinnie Paz Season of the Assassin (Enemy Soil)

As witnessed by this week's Amoeba Hollywood hip-hop chart, with repeat appearances of several recent hip-hop albums, there are some strong 2010 summer releases. One of these top records is Eminem's Recovery, which all agree is a better album than last year's Relapse. That 2009 release was originally meant to be the prequel to Recovery but then the artist changed that plan after wishing to distance himself from what he admitted was an inferior product. Another release that should remain on the charts throughout the summer is The Roots' recommended latest How I Got Over. It's a great release from an equally great band, who, thanks to being the house band for the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show over the past year, are getting wider exposure than ever before. A few weekends ago in Philly on June 5th the band hosted their 3rd Annual Roots Picnic with performances from Vampire Weekend, Jay Electronica, Mayer Hawthorne, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, The Foreign Exchange, Clipse, and hometown hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff, to name but a few. The band themselves also played, of course, and by all accounts it was the best Picnic yet. See video of the event below and read a report here. 

The problem with having an all inclusive tag like the "Dirty South" prominently featured in the title of a big television tribute production such as the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors The Dirty South, that premiered on the music television network two nights ago & is viewable in full on VH1.com, is that by definition certain expectations accompany such a title. One would expect a "Dirty South" honors show to recognize and represent certain key Dirty South entities such as the successful, influential Cash Money Records and its high profile star Lil Wayne. However, neither the artist nor his label were included in the night's honors. Nor were such other prominent Dirty South acts as Three 6 Mafia or Young Jeezy, to name but two most important contributors to the regional rap sub-genre. Meanwhile, both OutKast and Goodie Mob were recognized (barely), but could have been celebrated a whole lot more.

Of course, I am being picky and, perhaps unrealistic, since there is no way that a mere two-hour TV show, even one the scale of the well choreographed annual VH1 live concert presentation, could possibly include every Dirty South entity. But that's too bad, because otherwise this year's VH1 Hip-Hop Honors The Dirty South, the seventh in the annual event, was truly a top notch production as awards shows go -- especially for rap music awards, which are historically prone to such negatives as awful sounding live performances and outbreaks of violence. Nothing like that marred this fun, extremely well-paced, excellently executed, nicely mixed & highly entertaining event. Yeah, sure, there were a couple of off moments, like the beginning of the 2 Live Crew's set, which was not quite on beat, or Keri Hilson's cameo, which instantly proved that her voice does not match her good looks. But those were just a couple of hiccups in otherwise stellar rap show.

2) The Madlib Medicine Show 1, Before The Verdict featuring Guilty Simpson (Stones Throw)

3) Oh No Dr. No's Ethiopium (Stones Throw)

4) Thavius Beck Dialogue (Mush)

5) Eligh Gandalf's Beat Machine Level 3 (Legendary Music)

The terms "highly anticipated" and "long overdue" each accurately apply to Lil Wayne's Rebirth on Cash Money / Universal, this week's number one hip-hop album at Amoeba Music San Francisco. However, it seems the term "disappointing" could also apply based on the overall negative review the album has received since its release earlier this week. The artist's seventh studio album and the follow up to his 2008 multi-platinum full-length, Tha Carter III, Rebirth is (as written about here) a repeatedly delayed release that should have come out almost a year ago. Due to one thing or another (many speculate that Lil Wayne's label insisted it needed more work & hence postponed its arrival in stores) the release date for the popular rapper's rock/hip-hop hybrid album (with Carter on the cover posing with electric guitar on lap) had been postponed about a half a dozen times in all. But now that Rebirth is finally available, what is the consensus on the music? Overall not good.