YG - Still Brazy

It's out and it's pretty great. Paranoid g-funk with live instrumentation--the album sounds amazing, especially those drums.

still processing.

Not v into this tbf.

i guess it could be interesting that he narrowed the focus of his sound while widening the focus of his lyrics but this mostly sounded like a retread to me & made me wonder if he stopped caring about writing hit songs or just lost the magic

there's def nothing v memorable here.

twist my fingaz is not a good single either. its just basically
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoSlDXaCpGY
but not nearly as good

idk all the production is like second rate battlecat/ant banks/quik

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/arts/music/yg-still-brazy-review.html?_r=0

'an artisanal, proletarian Los Angeles gangster rap record'

this is an extremely exactingly alright album

ya this sounds ok and all but no good hooks or anything memorable moments really

some ppl seem to think its a classic

hype

I wouldn't go far as to say it's a classic, but I'm definitely still digging it. I think the narrowed focus sharpens the songwriting, even thou GG it limits the radio potential of the tracks. Really though, I'm loving the production value, the way the snares clap, etc.

loss of mustard is definitely felt, especially with the replacements sticking so much with that square-wave-synth sound but not the bouncy/wiggly echoes of g-funk in mustard's sound. on the whole the music doesn't seem pleasurable the way it did on the first album. functional and doesn't get in the way but less affecting/enticing.

on my first couple listens it seems interesting to compare the attitudes sustained on mkl vs this. there, esp with the help of the framing of the warning from his mom, the arrest near the end, there was sort of a wry self-awareness that gave the blend of realism/fatalism their tonality and accommodated more humor. but he always seemed pretty detached, not a big personality, so he registered more as an observer of his own life. even on the more paranoid-sounding numbers on mkl it seemed just like a fact to be accepted, more than the kind of thing that would generate widescreen or oppressive moodiness in the music. the new one seems more serious and flatter, but in a well proportioned way. the touches of attraction to hedonism are still there notionally in the music and some lyrics, but the affect seems more impassive overall, and even though the basic theme of a lot of the songs is critical (gimme, cheating women, donald trump etc.) the motives depicted for those judgments don't really feel personal, and he doesn't seem roused to passionate indignation or whatever, so much as he's just saying it like (he thinks) it is, which means calling out what should be called out. i think on the cheating women song, he says 'you should be ashamed', and that seems like a recurring note. it would be more traditional in the genre to project being unashamed, or to cause others shame through boasting about oneself in comparison (which there's a bit of), but his favored self-presentation is mostly framed in terms of not claiming to be anything he's not, so when he calls out it has a matter-of-fact sound to it - something that has to be said, because someone's doing wrong. (the germ of natural-law-style gender role rigidity in the cheating women song - 'trying to be men' - resonates with that, like the basic issue for him is things not being the way they're supposed to be, but he doesn't care so much to have an expansive idea of the way they should be, say in comparison to kendrick or ab-soul.)

im really into this. its still semi-mustard-y, with some brilliant beats, but its not really that distinct. so its kinda like a retread, but still weirdly satisfying. never really had great expectations for it, i kinda look to YG to simply tick a few particular trad-cum-nu-LA boxes, and it does do that, it just doesnt have any great standouts. doesnt do anything that special but doesnt do anything wrong either. still, it has various little surprises, both beats-wise, and lyrically, that make me want to listen to it far more than the new joey purp or meyhem lauren ones. its superbly, perfectly, decent. 7.5/10.

i dont think its very mustard-y but im not sure mustard would have helped—his sound sticks around a little in the mainstream but is mostly over, and i think it would have made it feel more like a retread of the first

new one makes me wish i was listening to kurupt

yeah listening to this alb just made me go back and listen to the first few Mack 10 releases again.

Tbh I'm just a sucker for west coast classicism so this was always going to be up my street. And some of the modern reworks of old sample staples are so, so good. plus i find it hard to hate an album with that trump song.

"Twist My Fingaz" is the best one but that song is from like a year ago.

I'm surprised by how much I like it. Yeah, it's kinda just a west coast retread, with a few Mustard-ripoffs, I had no idea I needed that.

surprised at the negative reaction itt, i mean i agree it's retready but it's still satisfying enough. he needs a slap for "she wish she was" though

"i got a question" bangs as hard as anything on MKL.

i also like the title track and "police get away with murder"

'an artisanal, proletarian Los Angeles gangster rap record'

this is the most caramanica sentence ever maybe

lol ya

i guess it could be interesting that he narrowed the focus of his sound while widening the focus of his lyrics but this mostly sounded like a retread to me & made me wonder if he stopped caring about writing hit songs or just lost the magic

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 21 June 2016 22:42 Bookmark

yeah politicised back to basics and resentful barely-simmering ennui over fierce kendrick counteraction probably mightve been an arguable angle if the compton tourist industry didnt exist. this just feels like ygame more or less ultimately

great jdot post tho

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/yg-still-brazy

it's interesting how this review is p. trash but in the process manages to light upon lots of pertinent observations of the record

visuals for still brazy are good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQDck3xT9TY

yup, dope song dope video ^^^

otm

anyone else see him last nite?

I enjoyed this in a kind of noncommittal way but it really suffers from the lack of Mustard, they were just such a good fit for one another. 'Bool, Balm & Bollective' and 'Police Get Away With Murder' are both fantastic. 'She Wish She Was' is completely gross though.

Dropped by, it looked like a jam-packed shit-show so I enjoyed the night elsewhere

red friday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BPZoAspZhE

YG now has 2 different songs called "Fuck It Up." I hope he does more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g427cDPBOus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEquRkEmnZ4

new album is not as focused as the last two, but still has about 7 or 8 standout trax

i love it

if he makes a third straight great record, we gotta talk more seriously about YG's place in history

well now that i re-read that it sounds a bit lofty. but i mean...another one close to the quality of MKL and Brazy would be very impresive, is all i'm saying

this album feels very, 'ok' to me

I'm enjoying it a lot. Mustard mixing things up subtly here and there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ9QIB3e2ow

This is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDqOE2JdbJg

so uh
https://pitchfork.com/news/ygs-my-krazy-life-disappears-from-streaming-platforms-following-meet-the-flockers-backlash/

just checked, Ice Cube's Death Certificate is still up with Black Korea

don't love this precedent

changed to "Bhinese neighborhoods"?