At least a third of the tracks are songs I could do without. The other two-thirds show that whether you love or hate the modern day Marshall Mathers, he's still as relevant as he ever was.

The "Issa Album" was a full course meal while "Without Warning" ends up being more of a snack.

Rag'n'Bone Man needs to think more thoroughly about what exact story he wants to tell. Until then, Human is a heartwarming, mature pop album. Maybe it's been a wise decision to tone down the artist's hip-hop and rap background for now. But just the same, it could also have played a credible role.

Only "Friendly," another lightweight track recorded a few years back, makes Common Sense end with a question mark. ... With only one mixtape and one album J Hus has been able to enter the top ten in a competitive market, and Common Sense shows why, hitting the right notes with its expert composition and overall emotive quality.

On paper it sounds all over the place, but it somehow works. There is method to this madness and Gang Signs & Prayer owes much to how serious Stormzy considers the album format in 2017. Grime LPs are few and far between.

He's a mover and shaker who has every right to look back in pride, in personal pride. Godfather is the reaffirmation of a status.

7 Days is certainly the record to go for if you want that core Krept & Konan experience, and with strong showings from the three big names in UK rap (Stormzy, J Hus and Skepta)--it's definitely worth checking out.

Tricky isn't trying as hard to be all things like he was at the turn of the millennium, and he's not phoning it in to pay the bills like he's been doing for the past few albums. He's making music for the love of making music, and the results are pretty satisfying.

There is a fair amount of glitchy electronica, but there are also more straightforward loops. They compliment Open Mike's melodic delivery and the wistful yet angry mood of the album. Sammus and Has-lo also offer verses.

Big K.R.I.T. does a good job of separating the two personas at the end of the day. If the album was about 5 or 6 minutes shorter, it could have fit on a single disc but perhaps at the expense of the narrative. The double disc format really helps to drive home the point when the listener wants to switch from Big K.R.I.T.'s "Get Away" to Justin Scott's "Keep the Devil Off."

It showcases Rapsody's indisputable excellence as a lyricist and rapper, and it sets up the next stage of a career that will keep everyone in the industry watching closely.

Jidenna is good enough as a singer that if he did it full time I'd respect his hustle, but I like his wordplay, breath control, punchlines and swagger as a rapper enough that he'd be just fine only rapping. That he chooses to do both and do them both well shows he won't be defined by you, me, or anyone else.

While the beats are mostly good, it feels like Macklemore missed out on an opportunity to really set his solo career apart from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

It's the depth of lyricism that continues to impress, months after release.

As for today's singing rappers, Vert fits in comfortably next to the likes of Fetty Wap and French Montana, and I have little qualms with calling him a better writer than the latter. The production is a little bit more of a mixed bag.

There's not a single track on Imperius Rex that I didn't dislike or even skip.

There are flashes of this kind of openness, honesty and personality throughout but a whole album of "Tango" type tracks would have been really special. As it is though "Still Striving" isn't a bad release.

Neva Left is unfortunately, yet predictably, another mixed bag. The good tracks are effectively updates to proven formulas, which when matched to more imposing beats, show Snoop hasn't lost his touch.

On Ctrl, SZA proves that you can be confident yet insecure, sexual yet crave affection and genuine connection, and empowered and still prone to falling for bad boys and all the drama that entails. SZA is the real deal and yet another example of how some of the most interesting, complex, sophisticated art being made today is being made by R&B artists.

Even though there's little to nothing of intellectual nourishment for the majority of "Jungle Rules," there are slick songs like the Beat Billionaire produced Young Thug feature "Black Out" that you can literally do just that to.

For better or worse the album also achieves a certain bland uniformity at times by staying so true to the trap aesthetic and having Metro Boomin produce so much of the music. It's not ill-conceived, it's just that it all winds up becoming a bit monotonous if you don't randomize it and/or mix in some songs by other artists.

That's not to say there's no "Boom and Proud" anywhere to be found on Nothing but it's not "Shut 'Em Down" level like those old Bomb Squad albums from the 1980's and early 90's.

Lyrically, Jay-Z still has his gift for wordplay and flow. For what he does not display in terms of technical emceeing ability on this album, he makes up for it by dropping clever gems filled with knowledge.

This is a star studded line-up with Drake ("To the Max"), Future ("I Can't Even Lie"), Nicki Minaj ("Nobody"), and a few of your "grimy" favorites like Fat Joe and Raekwon ("Billy Ocean"). So are you going to enjoy all 80+ minutes of this double album that COULD have been a single disc? Unless you're not a fan of Migos and Travis Scott, yes.

Big Fish Theory sees Staples evolve as a rapper and an artist, and prove himself as a singular talent in hip-hop.

The danger though is that The King & I turns into a new version of the "Duets" album, simply rebranded as a Faith Evans album featuring snippets of her late husband. This is exacerbated on the second half of the album by one rap all-star cameo after another.

While it's disappointing that Bada$$ doesn't offer more inspiring rhymes, it would be a mistake to write off "All-Amerikkkan Bada$$" because he isn't the second coming of Ice Cube.

"U N Or U Out", "Marcberg" and "Reloaded" means he has the three outstanding records in the bag, but his recent work hasn't quite reached those heady heights of uber-braggodocio.