official liveblog rap album review thread

"welcome to heartbreak"

more of the "love lockdown" drums. big tribal thump, kanye singing about emptiness and not having a fulfilling life (paraphrase: "a friend's kid showed him his report card/ all i got wa a new sports car"). more synths pushed way in the background and i'm not feelin the autotune on this one cuz it makes it sound like he's singing thru an answering machine or something (kinda strokes-y treatment). another outro with swelling strings with an ascending piano and kanye sounding like a lil kid wailing "and i won't stop". good not great. this whole thing sounds like the lost 300 soundtrack or something

"heartless"

i think this is the weakest joint that i've heard off here even though the kiddie "next episode" keyboards are awesome. heavier bass on this one, def going at his ex on this one. idk nothing else too memorable. in the chorus he filters off some background vocals in diff directions and when they finally come together w/ the main vocal it sounds pretty good.

"amazing" (ft. young jeezy)

mournful piano with these clicky drums. lots of these sounds start out sounding real ugly before they move into another part. this chorus awesome, kanye repeating "it's amazing" over big drums and more backing vocals. this one is totally goth and foreboding, i think he pitches jeezy's ad libs way way low in this one so he sounds like a drill sergeant. poppiest hook on here so far. jeezy sounds like the god on this one after kanye drops the track out. jeezy can't do shit wrong right now and his emo raps are the shit esp. after the hook kicks back in after his verse

"love lockdown"

dunno what else to say about this one except that i think it's really great, esp the outro which if kanye actually arranged them then he's got more in him than i thought. the drums throughout this whole song are just huge imo esp after "amazing" which has these grasshopper drums that are aight i guess.

love lockdown outro (((d-_-b)))

"paranoid" (ft. mr. hudson)

haha this is totally shameless 80s. overtly dance vibe is weird and kind out of place esp this chorus which sounds like a disco chorus kind of. this synth sounds cheap and ugly, i think this is the first song where the cheap production worries are actually held up. melody in the verses here is cool, catchy repetition like "amazing". another hilarious outro on this that sounds like chromeo kinda.

"robocop"

i'm concerned about this one. this song is the first time i've had a problem with kanye's singing. the verses have these great violins and they need some delicate singing or something and ye + autotune sounds a little too raw for them. this one has an aiight chorus but it's too long. ok lol @ the glockenspiel on here. the orchestration on here is really nice. i was about too type that this one is too long but the second half has kanye really trying to sing and it's sweet.

"street lights"

song has the best verse to chorus build + release out of any of the songs on here i think. the synths scratching out here in the background sound kinda like animal collective or something. more choral backing vocals. really nice look but maybe im just a sucker. do these sound like snow patrol or something? that would be cool with me. for some reason i liked the demo better. this is the song that needs a huge outro but there really isn't one.

"bad news"

most autotuned out vocals here. "i just heard some real bad neeeewwws". this one sounds like the weakest so far. kinda just patters out. i started reading about keyshia cole's mom.

"see you in my knightmares" (ft. lil wayne)

weird synths here (the songs have more elegant pianos and some string compositions i think). kanye doing his alien voice here but it actually works i think here cuz this voldemort dungeon music fits it here more. he drops the autotune to drop about trina or superhead i guess. kind of a good verse. wayne hits on his weird sort of psychosis imo actually. kind of a dirge of a song though.

"coldest winter"

more huge drums a la "love lockdown". synths are good too. this could be fleshed out into an m83 song i think. i like this one but i wish it went out with a big outro instead of peeling its layers and fading out.

dunno if i accomplished anything here but i like this record a lot though im not sure how much

is anything not autotuned yet? xp oh damn that's the whole thing?

it's all autotune except it doesn't sound like "put on" autotune or even love lockdown autotune. motly it just makes his voice rougher.

its kinda funny kanye jumping all over autotune now when he considers himself such a tastemaker

robocop is hilarious

ya it is

i'm not feelin the autotune on this one cuz it makes it sound like he's singing thru an answering machine or something (kinda strokes-y treatment).

haven't heard the song you're referring to but that seems like a pretty apt description of all the vox i've heard on this record

man...this totally going to get a critical blowjob, isn't it?

you think? it seems like it's going to be pretty divisive as far as reviews go, and definitely not as well reviewed as his other albums.

Ultramagnetic MCs's Critical Blowjob

yeah i dunno...just like a "adventurous" non-rap-album-by-a-rap-artist-that-most-rock-critics-know-by-now...seems like it would be in that "love below" zone

a lot of this album is on some u cant be serious shit

yeah I've seen people operate on that assumption..."oh he's singing and making stuff-white-people-like indie/techno, critics are gonna go nuts," but really compared to the critical reception of his first 3 albums there's nowhere to go but down, and I think it's gonna go way way down with this album, aside from pockets of apologists here and there.

yeah you might be right.

based on the songs i've heard so far i think i like chinese democracy better than this.

haha that's been a Taking Sides going on in my head ever since those 2 albums ended up on the same release date.

i suspect there is an equal amount of autotune on each album, some of axl's high notes sound pretty suspect

I pretty much decided that I'm going to end up listening to both and hating myself for it, but I will only contribute to Axl's ego by actually purchasing his CD.

xpost

"paranoid" (ft. mr. hudson)

when i saw this i was like oh word, he did another song w/ Eric Hudson from "Flashing Lights" and actually gave him a feature credit for the beat? but then it's some British douchebag signed to Kanye's label, i guess.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Theater_of_the_Mind.jpg

what up, sunday posters, won't you come and join me for my liveblog of the new luda album?

1. Undisputed "co-starring" Floyd Mayweather

I never realized how stupid that cover was til I saw it up close and all the people in the background were also Luda in different poses. This had some annoying British accent guy yelling over the first had but once it got going there was a good fast flow.

oh wait i already fucked that up, track 1 was "intro," that I was describing.

2. Undisputed

d-_-b Don Cannon beatz

I already heard it. Decent Luda rhymes. Shit beats.

that intro is so groan-inducing

chris brown joint is aight. Skip to that

3. Wish You Would "co-starring" T.I.

I like this better than "On Top Of The World" already. Not that Luda or T.I. were ever in the same lane or had a lot of potential for dope collabs, but this one works for me. Feeling this beat more than probably anything Toomp has made in the past 2 years, you hating on this one, Whiney? The "whuuut"s at the end of a few lines in the first verse cracking me up. It might be kind of corny that Luda says "I wish a muthafucka would" at the end of the previous song and then the beat transitions seamlessly into this song, but I'm a sucker for that kind of shit, it sounded great.

4. One More Drink "co-starring" T-Pain

Yeah I'm gonna say "co-starring" every time because I still can't believe how dumb the concept is on this album, "every song is a movie," stfu luda. Even though he's like the billionth rapper to jump on the T-Pain bandwagon I'm not mad at him because unlike most of those other cats, Luda actually sounds like he has the same vibe and sense of humor as T-Pain. "Chopped 'N Skrewed" is way way better than this, though, so every time I hear it I wish I was listening to that.

5. Call Up The Homies "co-starring" The Game and Willy Northpole

I was gonna say he's never done a song with Game before but I guess there was that phone commercial with Kanye before Motorola swapped them out for Mickey Avalon. Worst radio personality ever Clinton Sparks comes with some heat on the track.

I should have stayed with the movie theme and wrote: spoiler alert: disappointing album

6. Southern Gangsta "co-starring" Rick Ross, Playaz Circle and Ving Rhames

lol ving rhames intro. my least favorite track so far, even before Officer Ross showed up and made a Public Enemy quote sound lame. Tity Boi's dope, though, that Playaz Circle album was a decent little inconsequential record. Another thought about the cover: why does every different Luda in the theater seem to be watching a different kind of movie or different scene? Some are laughing, some look scared, wtf is going on.

is it possible to be disappointed by a Ludacris album at this late date?

I mean I thought we'd been in this holding pattern for like 4 albums now of Luda going "this album's going to be the classic that puts me in everyone's top 10" and then it being some lame uneven shit, at this point I'm just like whatever, I'll check it out and there'll at least be some decent songs.

7. Everybody Hates Chris "co-starring" Chris Rock

is he sampling the theme song of the show on this? I can't remember what it sounds like. this gimmick of having non-singers/rappers talk on the beat is gonna get pretty old by the time Spike Lee shows up, ain't it. Don Cannon is still the 2008 champ of southern soul beats, though.

8. What Them Girls Like "co-starring" Chris Brown and Sean Garrett

OK seriously you think this is the best track? wtf

9. Nasty Girl "co-starring" Plies

v. disappointed in Swizz for this shit, it still has some of his cool "different random drum sound every other bar" style but the synth line is so loud and cheesy. Luda should never do sleazy sex songs that aren't as fast as "What's Your Fantasy" or faster. even Plies is kinda boring on this, I was hoping he'd at least say something ridiculous or disgusting like he does on all his radio singles.

10. Contagious "co-starring" Jamie Foxx

"Unpredictable" was my jam so I gave this the benefit of the doubt but man this stretch really is a no man's land of terrible R&B songs, isn't it. I like how Jamie pronounces "simply" with three syllables, though.

11. Last Of A Dying Breed "co-starring" Lil Wayne

Ooh a film projector sound effect! Real fancy, Luda. This sample's really been done way too many times for it to work here. I don't think I've ever heard an album where a rapper mentions how many albums he has this many times. lol @ him playing up the O'Reilly/Oprah/Obama controversies like he's some kind of scary outlaw rapper. Wayne sounds kinda heated on this, almost like this could've been recorded in 2007 or something.

12. MVP "co-starring" nobody, finally

Primo's dropped some nice beats lately but I'm not really into this one. You'd think he'd be able to piece together a dope collage chorus of Luda quotes but he probably doesn't actually listen to Ludacris records.

13. I Do It For Hip Hop "co-starring" Nas and Jay-Z

Before Joe Budden, before The Game, Luda was the first MC to constantly whine about how Jay won't give him his respect or do a song with him, so I guess congrats to him for finally getting to the point where Jay will throw him a stupid guest verse. Who is this Wyldflyer guy who keeps getting to do boring beats for big event songs like this and "Black Republican"?

14. Do The Right Thang "co-starring" Common and Spike Lee

OK I kind of like that goofy "wake up" intro. This is a pretty big yawn until the OK last Luda verse, though.