Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email [email protected].
The Ballaticians Full Course (Self-released, 2010)
The Ballaticians are a new-ish rap group. They're made up by rappers Dista da Doughboy, Dez, XL, J Rich and Don Casanova. In addition to that, they've also got a large, large network of supporters, a similar business model to Trae's Assholes By Nature corporation.
Released in March 2010, Full Course is a gangster rap album without being entirely a gangster rap album. It's best enjoyed at either a very high volume late at night or as low-level background music while you play video games.
Y'allmustaforgotability: 97 percent
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Best Song on the Album: "Les Do It Freestyle"
Several songs on Full Course feel overproduced ("I Get It"; "I'm a G"; etc), which siphons awaysome of the Ballaticians' effectiveness, a characteristic highlighted by the tapered-back audio environs of Waka's most famous track.
Later in the tape, the Ballaticians are equally effective on the "June 27th" beat. It'd be neat to see them land on some of DJ Don's production, who's typically good about crafting tracks that highlight the part of a rapper's spectrum where that particular rapper exists most comfortably.
Best Argument You Have With Someone After Listening To The Album: If all of your internal organs got into a fight, which one would win?
On "She Got Something," we're given the My Heart Is Arguing With My Brain conundrum. From there, the extension of the conversation is natural: In an internal organ battle royale, which one wins? Of course, we'd have to suspend the whole "The brain controls most everything" thing and pretend they're all separate entities capable of formulating their own fight-night strategies.
And in that case, you'd have to go with the small intestine, right? He's long and lean probably pretty hard to get a hold of. The heart would finish second (because it's made of muscle that never gets tired). The kidneys would be second to last. (Have you ever been punched in the kidney? It's like getting kicked in the balls, except it's in your back.) Last place would be the pancreas, because what the fuck does the pancreas even do?
