Release Date: Nov 22, 2010
Genre(s): Rap, Gangsta Rap, Hardcore Rap
Record label: EMI Music Distribution / G-unit Records
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A few months ago, Kanye West tweeted that Lloyd Banks is "prolly the most underrated MC in the game. " Banks, best known as 50 Cent's sideman, is an un-showy virtuoso, rapping in a gruff, sleepy-eyed near-monotone that obscures his wit and rhythmic gifts. His thundering street hit, "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" is a cascade of tightly interlocking, goofily evocative rhymes: "Where my ring and my confetti?/I'm Kobe Bryant ready/ Pink rosé and chronic smelly/While I'm stumbling out the telly.
Hip-hop sequels were all too common when Lloyd Banks’ 2010 release H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger for More 2) hit the shelves, but besides generating sales, the title does serve a purpose. The satisfying third release finds the G-Unit soldier returning to the fire and punch of his debut album, the first Hunger for More, and making up for the sophomore slump he experienced on 2006’s Rotten Apple.
Artists who put out album sequels are often criticized for trying to capitalize on a classic work. No one will accuse G-Unit lieutenant Lloyd Banks of that with the second instalment of his uneven debut. If Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II is The Godfather: Part II of hip-hop, then H.F.M. 2 ….
Of all the New York sequels lined up in the wake of Only Built for Cuban Linx… 2, I’m fairly certain Hunger for More 2 ranks near the bottom of the anticipation list. Lloyd Banks was always the G-Unit member that promised the longest longevity - unable to create a real pop hit and too self-conscious to go full on pop - and he’s done an admirable job over the past decade avoiding a taint on his legacy. But this is still more of an indictment on 50 Cent than Lloyd Banks.
NE-YO “Libra Scale” (Def Jam). If albums had a thread count, the one on Ne-Yo’s “Libra Scale” would be more than 1,000. Plush is the watchword for this album, the fourth by Shaffer Chimere Smith, a k a Ne-Yo..