Rap albums aren’t position papers they’re more than that.STORY: This retired marine has spent 27 years waiting for his sweetheart to returnLocation: Nuevo Laredo, MexicoEvery Valentine’s Day 58-year-old Esteban Perez stands on this street corner with flowershoping that a woman he met at a nightclub in 1996 will show upPerez fell madly in love with the woman named Cecilia The couple dated for two months before Cecilia ended the relationship(Esteban Perez, Retired U.S. “What makes hip-hop such a durable form is its capacity to scramble fiction and fact,” Hsu writes, “the artifice and the realities that art conceals or amplifies become one.” That’s not all that makes it so durable. And he does so thoughtfully and eloquently (and, like two seconds after the thing came out, too.) But the music, or even the sound of the rappers’ voices, goes unmentioned. Hsu writes a lot about the album’s thematic subject matter, and how the album’s existence represents a current trend of collaboration over conflict in hip-hop, and he places all this in the context of today’s socioeconomic climate. This is the case with Hua Hsu’s review of the new Jay-Z and Kanye West album. Sometimes these other elements get overlooked. There are important elements to it other than the lyrics. Awl pal Jon Caramanica ’s review of the new Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame album in today’s Timesīrings up a good point about rap. He has more gears than most rappers do, a versatile stylist with nothing so old-fashioned as a commitment to structure and the integrity of words. “Gucci Mane, recently released from prison for the umpteenth time, sounds no worse for wear here, managing impressive nimbleness with his mealy mouth.

Gucci mane and waka flocka mixtape