Kurupt
Streetlights
Release Date: Apr 20, 2010
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: Penagon
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Album Review: Streetlights by Kurupt
Acceptable, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Nearly two decades after contributing to Dr. Dre's monumental Chronic album, the Dogg Pound founder whose name has graced a number of greatest-MCs-of-all-time lists (Kool Moe Dee, for instance, ranked him above Slick Rick in his book There's a God on the Mic) might be considered washed up by many fans who once lauded him. Combining with L.A. beatsmith Terrace Martin, Kurupt makes a commendable effort to prove his detractors wrong on the impressive Streetlights, defiantly proclaiming "I don't sell a lot of records 'cause people ain't like me" on the intro as if to say that he's an artist for whom street cred matters most.
Based on rating 3.0/5
Attempting to top a critical smash can be daunting, especially for cult rappers with limited commercial viability, who have to scrap for their careers in an increasingly hostile, whirlwind-moving landscape. In 2009, West Coast hip-hop fixture Kurupt teamed with DJ Quik for BlaQKOut, a record of charisma-dripping rhymes and blistering grooves that left most of last year’s hip-hop output in the California dust. But in an age when even Karl Rove uses Twitter, things move hastily and keeping up is vital.
Based on rating 4.8/10
California rapper Kurupt plays well with others. Never begrudging his role as a right-hand man, he's always seemed pleased just to be in the fold. One of the more recognizable characters in the past 20 years of West Coast hip-hop, Kurupt earned his stripes as a snarling, smoked-out, dangerously funny guy who bears a cross that the best character actors do: Often responsible for his projects' juiciest moments (nearly all of his tracks on Dre's 2001), he's soon resigned to the background.
Based on rating 2/5
Kurupt's career has seen hiccups in recent years, most notably during his transition from Death Row to Dogg Pound Records. Streetlights (out on Fontana) is a shot at reinvention, but the result is an unmemorable wash of West Coast rap influences. [rssbreak] The lead-off track/single, I'm Burnt, finds Kurupt using underwhelming wordplay over a beat that sounds like an E-40 B-side.