How were your favorite artist(s) last release? Worth the dough or not?

Cunninlyguists-Dirty Acres, was a nice follow up for me but not as good as A Piece of Strange

GZA-Pro Tools, I was actually a little disappointed. I mean Grandmasters blew me away! It was a good album but I was honestly hoping for more.

8Ball & MJG-Ridin HIgh, it's a fun album and there most commercial yet but can't hold a candle to most of their previous efforts especially COH and OTOTW. Damn Puffy! It's good to work out to though.

Esham - "Sacrificial Lambz" - Dope album. 4/5 for me. E returned to a darker side which has been some what void for quite some time now. The album contains a little filler and some tracks are wayyyy too short. But in all, dope record.

Wu-Tang Clan - "8 Diagrams" - 4.5/5 - Blows The W and Iron Flag out of the stratusphere (however its spelled) It didnt really seem like a Wu album. The chemistry doesn't seem to be there as it used to. Ghostface was only on about 3 songs, and ODB's absense really got me down on it. But still a damn good album.

Tech N9ne - "Sickology 101" - 4/5 - I'm really feeling it. Some tracks seem a little bland, but for the most part, to me, it's better than Killer.

Ice Cube - "Raw Footage" - 3/5 - Disappointed, as expected. I really dug Laugh Now, Cry Later, but this really didn't have much I wanna keep on rotation, except a few select songs.

Three 6 Mafia - "Last 2 Walk" - 3/5 - A step down from The Most Known Unknown (which was my favorite album of 2005) but still had its share of bangers. The album had a little too many commercial filler tracks, but I still enjoyed it to an extent. I hope they get their Mystic Stylez back, seriously though.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - "Strength & Loyalty" - 4/5 - A little too polished sounding for my personal tastes. But still a damn good record. I didn't care for the song with Bow Wow, Akon and that Candy Paint. Plus, Bizzy and Flesh's absense fucked me up for a while, but still Krayzie and Layzie did their thang on here. Wish wasn't too bad, but I never was the biggest fan of dude.

Paris - "Acid Reflex" - 4.5/5 - This dude right here...is what Ice Cube should be today. Dude never bites his tongue and keeps it hard since day 1. Dude has never disappointed me with any album. This is no exception. Hard beats and rhymes from the P-Dogg, if y'all ain't got this, go get it! Especially if you dig the political hip-hop.

Haystak: Natural II- 4/5, a lil short but dope as usual

Sandman: To Whom It May Concern-4/5 dude didn't have creative control and it shows, still dope songs on here though

Bizzy Bone: Back With The Thugs-4/5 dope but very short

POS: Never Better-4.5/5 close to being classic

Chino Xl: Poisen Pen-5/5 complete classic

Immortal Technique: 3rd World-4/5 dope but you can tell it's not a proper album, can't wait for Revolutionary Vol 3 and Middle Passage

Tech N9ne: Sickology 101-4/5 dope but the album loses a lil steam in the middle

and some dudes that dropped this year I'm really digging but are only one album deep: Liquid Assassin and Alex King.

Royce Da 5'9"- The Album: 4.5- 5 Stars in my book. Great album

K-Rino- The Blood Doctrine: Another 5 stars. Probably my favorite from him

One.Be.Lo- The R.E.B.I.R.T.H.: 4.25-4.5 stars. I originally gave it 4 stars because of all the Rocky samples and other samples at the beginning/end of songs, but I can just skip past those. Great album, with a couple of my top 10 'Lo songs

Talib Kweli- Eardrum: 4.5-5 stars. Don't skip a single track on here, but a couple at the end are a tad weaker than the rest

KRS-One- Maximum Strength: 4 stars to me. Not quite as good as Adventures In Emceein', but still one of my favorites from '08.

Co-sign Shon on Royce and K Rino.

I was definitely feeling that Eardrum. I think it was one of his best ever with only competition from Black Star and Reflection Eternal.

As far as Poison Pen goes, totally worth the scrilla. However Here to Save You All is still my favorite.

The Jacka - Tear Gas - DOPE - go buy it... not as dope as the Classic JACK ARTIST! But close.

Yeah, Tommy Gunns album The Nickel Bag only fell second to Nas

Nas- Untitled: 5 stars- One of his strongest lyrical performances ever, and very deep and thought provoking. He's without question the best rapper alive IMO and this album is further proof of that. My second fav album of 2008 next to.....

Q Tip- The Renaissance: 5 stars- Tip's best lyrical performance since Midnight Marauders. The perfect album to play when you're just chillaxin.

The Roots- Rising Down: - 4.25 stars. While it wasn't quite on the level of Game Theory, Black Thought continued his streak of excellence by never releasing anything under 4 stars. The guest appearances were excellent, but Black Thought STILL stole the show!

Jadakiss- The Last Kiss: 3.5 stars. I orginally gave this album 4 stars, but over time it doesn't have the replay value of his past material. His lyricism is still top notch, but Jada isn't an MC that needs to go commercial. He should have just stuck with the dark, grimy, clever punchline lyrics that made him famous in the first place.

Lupe Fiasco- The Cool: 4.5 stars. I don't care what the haters of this forum say, this album contained some excellent wordplay and subject matter. Lupe is a thinking man's MC. If not for "Hi Definition" and "Go Baby", I'd rate it a classic.

GZA- Pro Tools: 4.25 stars. Another Wu-banger by the Clan's best lyricist. I love how he murked 50 Cent on Paper Plate.

Ghostface Killah- The Big Doe Rehab: 4.25 stars. While it wasn't as epic as Fishscale, it's still a beast of an album with many bangers on it. Ghostface is like the Whopper from BK, still great after all these years and NEVER goes out of style!