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Chadwyck Moore
De Piero
Writing 2
June 6, 2016
Scoring Sound: Album Reviews as a Genre
With little promotion, J Cole released his long awaited sophomore albumForest Hills
Drive 2014. The project charted quickly, earned a Grammy, and added platinum status to its list
of accolades shortly after. The albums release was noteworthy for its lack of featuresan
uncommon decision as featured artists can help split the load of an albumand quiet release,
with Cole announcing the album through offering pre-orders. This release was dissimilar to the
conventional approach to album releases, but still garnered the same question. Is it any good? To
answer this question album reviewers present their argument on the value of the album. The
album review genre is varied in its subject matter, but connected through the emphasis of voice
specifically toneand similar organizational patternssuch as the use of images at beginning
that combine to create a defense of opinion for readers.
The articles to be examined are from XXL, HotNewHipHop, and Pitchfork, each being a
review of J Coles 2014 Forest Hills Drive. Each writer takes a different approach when writing
their pieces, allowing their personal writing styles or voice to show. These similarities continue
into their audience and purpose for writing the reviews in the first place.
Music reviews are written in response to a demand. This demand creates a purpose for
the use of rhetoric or exigence. This exigence is answered by the penning of album reviews,
crafted with the intention of defending the authors opinion. According to Carroll, audiences are
the recipients of the rhetorical message (Carroll 49). The rhetorical message in the case of

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album reviews is the argument from the writer defending the value, represented through a score,
of an album. This defense takes many different forms, depending on the voice of the writer, but
is the universal purpose for writing an album review.
One way these arguments take shape is the writers voiceor original writing style.
The writers voice is an important part of album reviews and a key aspect of how a writer shows
their opinion; how can you show how you truly feel without using your own voice? Since the
writer is writing their own opinion, personal voice is encouraged. The emphasis of personal
voice is universal, but how it is used differs in each piece. For example, Miller uses the arc of J
Coles career to frame his album review as a praise of the album and career of Cole. This
decision is made to connect with the readers and further create a sense of relation between the
author and reader. The emphasis on personal voice encourages direct expression of ideas; there is
no filter between the authors feelings and the audiences. This lack of a wall is important in a
genre that is based on defending ones own opinion. By universally allowing the writer to
express themselves as they see fit, the reviews guarantee variety of opinion and expression
similar to the music they are reviewing.
The writers voice is expressed through many different avenues, one of those being tone.
Tone is how a writer expresses their attitudes in writing and can show how a writer wants their
piece to be absorbed by the reader. Tone is driven by context and can help build a writers ethos
(Carroll 54). In the case of album reviews, the ethos is building towards defending the idea that
the writer is an everyman or one of the people. This goal has the authors set the tone of their
album reviews into varying degrees of seriousness, but completely informal. The range of
seriousness is shown through the appearance of comedy in the reviews. HNHH is willing to end
their review on a pop culture reference but at least this time he didnt let Nas down. (HNHH)

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[a reference to Coles song dedicated to Nas]. Since the authors goal is to appear as a fan, it
behooves them to avoid any tone that can make it seem they are talking down to anyone.
Although individualistic as a whole, the album review genre is united through similar
organization conventions. One such convention is the placement of artist profiles at the
beginning. A profile of the artist is typically placed in the beginning of the review. The depth of
the profile varies, but each one exists for the same reason. The artist profile provides context for
the reader about the artist and album. The reader may know nothing about the album or artist
before they open a review, this profile serves as a method of providing this necessary context.
Miller demonstrates this convention in the opening of his review. Miller provides context for the
album release, framing the career arc of J Cole to provide background for the album. Sentences
like Cole typically plays it safe, straddling the fence of a conscious rapper who can still create
commercial hits and enjoy a good romp in the bed inform a reader of the artists past works and
can show the writers feelings about the artist before the reading begins (Miller). This context
allows the audience, who may be reading the review knowing nothing about the artist, the
background needed to understand his argument.
Album scores are always present in a review. Although the scale differswith each
publication using their own preferred scoring be it out of 5, 10, or letter gradeone is always
present. The scoring system exists to provide a quick reference to the reader to ascertain the
worth of an album, with a high value corresponding to a high score for the album. The album
scores vary due to the differing opinions of the writers. Since the genre is so individualistic, the
scores can vary widely even when the same album is covered. This is evidenced by the
difference between Pitchfork and HNHH scores for the same album. Pitchfork gave the album a

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6.9 while HNHH gave the album an 85% (can be considered an 8.5 for comparisons sake). This
varied score is evidence of the convention, although universal, still has individual expression.
Images are also used in album reviews. The images used are typically the album cover
and are placed at the top of the album review. Each album review has 2014 Forest Hills Drives
album cover at the beginning of the article. This image is typically the album cover and is
typically placed at the beginning of every review. The album cover is provided so fans can have
some idea of what they may end up purchasing-- the cover art is an important part of an album
and can influence the decision to purchase.
I believe that the differences exist because of pre-existing site formats and the focus on
individual expression in the genre. The site formats affect where the album scores appear, font,
layout, etc. These specific site conventions are unique to each source and create a difference
between each review. The album score placement is arbitrary and only placed where they are
because someone decided to put them there. The styles shift because different people have
differing opinions and writing methods. Bazerman noted that voice has its source in an
independent self (Bazerman 657). This independent self is integral to the genre and is the
primary cause of the stylistic differences. Some writers prefer to write more casually, others
more formal, these differences are to be expected in a genre based on defending ones opinion. I
believe the heavy use of adjectives and descriptive language exists because the nature of the
genre is describing sound. Since they are describing something to a reader who has possibly not
heard the album, the language must be detailed leading to descriptive phrases such as coyly
referential samples through milky instrumental embellishments (Jenkins).

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People should learn genre because understanding what makes up a genre can help a
reader grasp the information. According to Dirk, knowing genre helps a reader see how
specific choices that writers make result in specific actions on the part of readers (Dirk 254).
Knowing genre will help a reader identify what is being presented and help them decide how to
best approach the text. Genre is important to everyone. Writers must understand genre so they
can follow the conventions of their genre to fit in. Readers must know genre so they are better
equipped to break down what they are reading. For example, by knowing that artists profiles are
always at the beginning, an album review reader can confidently open a review of an album by
an artist they have never heard of and still have needed context to comprehend what is written.
Understanding genre provides the tools for deciphering a genres writings.
Album reviews are a genre that exists to provide information for questioning music fans.
The style of the review may vary but the genre is united by its use of similar conventions. Album
reviews will continue to serve as a resource for curious music fans.