The Deal: New Orleans duo drops an EP out of nowhere and complaints are scarce.

The Good: The 1st track, "Floozy" is instantly in my daily rotation and the title track "Fuck You" is also a must play. "Pop Cork" is a spacey jam that's light on lyrics but could be fun in the club. "Fruits" is a really chill track but the most introspective.

The Bad: Not a lot of room for error on this 5-track EP, if you had to nitpick, "Watchu Say" sounds like an Outkast "The Whole World" remix but even that's hot to me.

The Verdict: Looking forward to their next album now. The 2008 debut, Remind Me in 3 Days, was a critical success but no one really talked about maybe 2010 will be the year they actually become household names.

The Deal: Borderline legendary rap duo drops their long awaited third studio album and checking their track record, it's probably going to be a classic.

The Good: There's no need to EVER question Clipse and Neptunes collaborations. "Popular Demand (Popeyes)" and "I'm Good" are hits, period. Plus, their classic sound is there.

DJ Khalil joins the party and after hearing the epic sounding, "Kinda Like A Big Deal" with Kanye West and reggae-laced, "There Was A Murder," and the cymbal-crazy, "Footsteps." it sounds like he (and Chin) built an instant rapport.

The Deal: Canadian born R&B singer releases debut as buzz builds behind her second hit song in the U.S.

The Good: No real problems with her voice or the production. The singles really are the best tracks. Have to love the single from a year ago, "Give It To Me Right" which samples The Zombies, "Time of the Season" and "It Kills Me."

The Bad: It sounds like movie montage music, if that makes sense. Like all the songs seem like they were written for a movie or TV soundtrack, not regular music consumption. The whole pop soul thing comes off more Disney than Whitney, not a lot of soul involved whatsoever. Could be fitting for a teen movie or MTV show, but not for riding around.

The Verdict: This may have been exactly what she was going for. The Winehouse appeal she may have been going for fails because Winehouse did soul that turned pop not pop that has a twinge of soul. Really wanted to like it, but as far as the listening experience, I'm not really feeling it.

INFO:

SRC/Universal Motown/Release date: Nov. 10, 2009

The Deal: DC rapper's long awaited debut album, Attention Deficit, puts DMV in the hip-hop spotlight.

The Good: You get a little bit of everything. Wale manages to give people a taste of his home, DC, and heritage, Nigeria, with tracks like "Pretty Girls" featuring Gucci Mane and "My Sweetie." An All-Star lineup of guest appearances with Pharrell, Lady Gaga, Rihanna (sampled), Bun B, Jazmine Sullivan, Chrisette Michelle. But the really stand out features came from the lesser known K'Naan on "TV in the Radio" and J. Cole and Melanie Fiona on "Beautiful Bliss." "Mama Told Me" is the younger brother of Jay-Z's "Mama I Made It."

The Bad: Wale tries to be all things to all people and multiple times spits on the pressure of carrying the genre. Was anybody else aware he was anointed the next hip-hop leader? While the guest appearances are dope, they are all predictable. Why not get Gucci on a go-go beat or something else risky. The one that does break away from the featured artists' usual is "Chillin" with Lady Gaga, and it leaves her sounding more M.I.A. "Paper Planes" than "Poker Her Face."

The Verdict: Wale does an excellent job of capturing hip-hop's attention span. Every track can't be a party record or a single and most freshmen don't get that. A dope first showing from someone we'll be hearing from for a while.

INFO

Allido/Interscope; Release date: Nov. 10, 2009

The Deal: Underrated Pittsburgh-bred rapper drops one last mixtape before his sophomore album, Deal or No Deal, drops later this month.

The Good: It's Michael Jackson. The material Jazzy Jeff had to work with was pretty rock solid to begin with, couple that with great blends and mixes with artists like Pete Rock and Kriss Kross and you've got a winner. More Jackson 5 material than expected really shows how good they were. Love the fact that sounds weren't just a chronological journey through the Jackson catalog. Mixing it up was a good thing. Quincy Jones talking about Michael was also a good look.

The Bad: More Jazzy Jeff definitely would have been welcomed. I understand it's a tribute album and you're taking the backseat, but there's a big difference between a backseat and the car behind in traffic. At times, it's just a Michael Jackson/Jackson 5 playlist.

The Verdict: A solid tribute to the King of Pop from a very hip-hop perspective, considering it was free for anyone who chose to download it, you can't really beat that.

INFO:

UNDRCRWN Presents: DJ Jazzy Jeff

He's The King, I'm The DJ

Release Date: October 26, 2009

Download "He's The King, I'm The DJ here

The Deal: Michigan-born former DJ trades his turntables in to re-create the R&B, soul and pop magic of Motown on A Strange Arrangement.