Reviewed and written by Dende (Aaron T.)
In the last decade, many hip-hop artists have strived to create the greatest albums of all time. In that endeavor, some have tried to combine their strengths with other artists. For most famous artists, it means making the attempt to only show off their strengths and conceal their weaknesses. Artists like Jay-Z and Kanye West, who created “Watch the Throne”, Nicki Minaj and Eminem who produced “Romans Revenge”, and Damian Marley and Nas with “Distant Relatives” are just a few examples of these types of collaborations. As did their predecessors, this week, Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y decided to unite and release a new collaboration album titled 2009.
Some would ask, why in 2019 should two hip-hop artists name an album 2009? Well, back in 2009, those same two artists created a collaboration mixtape known as How Fly. This mixtape took these two popular, local artists in their respective states of Louisiana and North Dakota and put them on the map for the crown of “International Collaboration Kings”.
It seems the deep connection that made How Fly fantastic hasn’t been lost to the sands of time. Wiz over his last 13-year career has somehow crafted and honed his straight-forward style to the point where it’s very apparent in this new album. As for Curren$y, he has not let his net worth of over 3 million go to his head – to the point that it’s noticeable, at least. He continues to astound us in 2019 with his classic, smooth, vibrant-but-seemingly-effortless charm.
The front of the album shows off some of their most popular albums on a shelf of a fireplace alongside some classic racecars and a classic Sega Mega Console. If you had to put a visual to this entire album this is what it should look like. Not only could the entire album be featured in a grand theft auto game, but some of the sounds feel like they should be inside of a Sega Mega System.
Overall, the question with any collaboration album should be “could it measure up to every other great collaboration?”, and “if you listened to it five years down the line could it still hold up?”. As for me and my opinion, the album has a lot of promise and shows just how talented these gentlemen truly are. However, compared to other great pop and hip-hop albums that have been released in the past few months, the beats are not unique enough to stand up on their own. Think about “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” by DMX – a classic song. You know what song it is and who it belongs to in the first few seconds of the song. With the album 2009, I did not hear any truly distinctive songs.
Album rating: 7.5/10 stars
