1) Nas Life is Good (Def Jam)

2) 2 Chainz Based on a T.R.U. Story (Def Jam)
 
3) Nas Illmatic (Columbia)

4) Aesop Rock Skelethon (Rhymesayers)

5) Nas Life Is Good Deluxe edition (Def Jam)

Nas rules everything around him this week at Amoeba Hollywood where life is good for the legendary Queesnbridge NY artist. The emcee once known as Nasty Nas' latest album Life is Good on Def Jam is both number one and number five on the SoCal store's latest Top Five Hip-Hop Chart. The latter entry is the Life Is Good Deluxe CD edition of Life Is Good which boasts four bonus tracks over the regular version. Note that there is also a Life Is Good LP vinyl version (it has exact same 14 tracks as regular CD version) available of this tenth studio album by Nas with featured appearances by Rick Ross, Mary J. Blige and the late great Amy Winehouse. On top of this Nas' landmark 1994 critically acclaimed debut Illmatic has re-entered the chart where it is on the number three slot this week. The other two chart entries are 2 Chainz Based on a T.R.U. Story on Def Jam from the Playaz Circle rapper formerly known as Tity Boy,(see his new video for album track with Nicki Minaj cameo down below) and Aesop Rock's much heralded return after a five year hiatus with Skelethon on Rhymesayers Entertainment which is also available from Amoeba in LP/vinyl format. 

1)  Aesop Rock Skelethon (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

By far the current bestselling hip-hop title in the store is this new self-produced solo album from Aesop Rock, which really shines a spotlight on the man’s originality and talents. This one is possibly his strongest offering to date, with superb production
that really matches his vocals and carves a niche in hip hop that is all his own. One  listen through this, and my immediate thought was “no other person in hip hop makes  music that sounds like this.” Support brilliant original music and pick this up!

Skelethon is available from Amoeba in both CD format and album/LP format.





2) Nas Life is Good (Def Jam)

The latest from [Nasty] Nas is more of what fans should expect from the man: some hot singles, raps about his daughters and his current state of mind, plus his signature voice and flow. Production credits include No I.D, Buckwild and Salaam Remi. This is grown
man rap music that reflects Nas’ life in an honest way that most mainstream artists steer away from. Cool stuff.

1) J Dilla Rebirth of Detroit (Yancey Music Group)

2) Psycho Realm Presents Sick Jacken & Cyni In Terror Tapes 2 (Mb Recordings)

3) Nicki Ninaj Pink Friday Roman Reloaded (Cash Money)

4) The Pharcyde Bizarre Ride II: The Pharcyde [Expanded Edition] (Delicious Vinyl)

5) Aesop Rock Skelethon (Rhyemsayers Ent.)

Thanks to Ray Ricky Rivera at the Hollywood Amoeba store for this latest Hip-Hop Top Five chart that includes such new or recent releases as J Dilla's posthumous, emcee guest heavy Rebirth of Detroit, Psycho Realm's Presents Sick Jacken & Cyni In Terror Tapes 2 - Sick Jacken with Street Platoon artist Cynik which is another, refreshingly hardcore rap presentation from the no-holds-barred Psycho Realm who never fail to disappoint (check out down below the party-hard video for the album track "I'm Gone" Recordings), and
Aesop Rock's Skelethon just released by Rhyemsayers Entertainment - his killer return that, as witnessed by the turnout & crowd reaction at his Amoeba San Francisco in-store earlier this week is a universally crowd favorite.

Album Picks:

Frank Ocean’s music touches such a raw nerve because it’s the rare album that fully appeals on a here-and-now pop level while referencing classic pop — in this case, pop and soul maestros like Stevie Wonder and Elton John — and offering something else entirely. This something else is that human, overexposed, heart-and-mind-on-sleeve content that firmly roots Channel Orange in the social network era. I was late to the game; the first time I heard “Thinkin Bout You” was the day before Ocean very publicly came out of the closet. That happenstance was strange for me — the thing that first struck me about the song, aside from its obvious craft, the kind of instantly memorable hit that combines a suave, easy to follow melody and arrangement with dagger-in-the-heart lyrics, was an indescribable “third” quality beyond music and lyrics that I usually find with my favorite music, whether it’s The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles or, perhaps more relatedly, morose ’90s/'00s R&B hits like PM Dawn’s “Die Without You,” Fabolous & Tamia’s “So Into You,” Lauryn Hill’s “Ex Factor” and so on. It’s that sort of feeling that hits you immediately and reminds you of all the stupid unrequited crushes, moments of indirection, and fleeting feelings of serenity in youth. That Ocean possibly wrote the song about his own unrequited same-sex love made sense to me, since that’s pretty much what the song reminded me of. But beyond any personal affiliation with the song, the ability to communicate such universal but difficult to pin down feelings so instantly is quite rare, and so thus should be treasured in the way rave reviews have been pouring in for Channel Orange. Indeed, I think “Thinkin Bout You” is the best song anyone will release this year, and Channel Orange likely will be the album of the year. Beyond that opening instant classic, Channel Orange brims with power. Take the lush Marvin Gaye-meets-How to Dress Well-meets-Kanye West depiction of new parenthood in “Sierra Leone,” its lyrics offering a welcome balance of vagueness and detail devoid of judgment, communicating feelings of joy and trepidation. He celebrates and also exposes the lives of privileged black youth in a seemingly realistic way, beyond the bling-style fantasies of much of hip-hop, in songs like “Sweet Life” and the brilliant “Super Rich Kids,” which sounds like a hip-hop “Benny and the Jets” playing over an episode of the similarly revelatory reality show “Baldwin Hills.” He creates an sprawling, Kanye-style centerpiece with “Pyramids,” an epic track buoyed by raunchy synth riffs that turn glittering in the song’s sweetly disintegrating second half. And he continues to explore his evolving sexuality on a trio of closing ballads, in which he sounds as comfortable and natural singing about love between men, and between men and women. Though that doesn’t at all overshadow the rest of the album, which has more merits in spades to stand on its own, it can’t be ignored, either, as a huge moment for hip-hop — for all music — as a knocking down of barriers in music, sexuality and male image through some of the most dazzling, yet thoughtful pop music being made today.