official liveblog rap album review thread

listen to it http://www.zshare.net/audio/525094815dc23112/

yamaha mama ft. sean kingston

loverman jam feat sean kingston = SKIIIIIPPP. well this is kind of good actually on the verses at least. beat is way more layered than a typical soulja boy production and soulja boy is pretty good at these looping sing-song verses that are pretty enjoyable to listen to

wit my yums on

ok this is those big synth hits from the "get silly" beat looped for a commercial for soulja boy's shoe line. lol @ "your shoes are old like an artifact/ all i can say is 'wow'". this song is like soulja boy 4 dummies. chants, catchphrases that he invented, beat sounds like every other. superfluous

go head ft. juney boondata <----lol wtf

haha he opens the first verse by singing the chorus of "turn my swag on". this one is kinda ugly tho the chorus is nice in a mindfuck way. i guess this guy juney boondata sounds like an alien and then soulja boy chops his voice up.

totally cracking up at "Hey You There"

my life might be too gucci mane centered right now

shoppin spree ft. gucci mane and yo gotti

one of my fav rap songs of the year. soulja boy really goes in on this one. "SOULJA BOY TELL EM AKA THE ASSASSIN/ PRINCESS CUTS IN MY WATCH LIKE I THREW SOME GLASS IN" (<-- syllable pacing is nasty). gucci sacrifices to the gods on this track. "cutlass to my chevy/chevy to my lamborghini/ you cant be me or see me unless you see me on tv/shiny and greasy i wonder if stevie wonder could see me/necklace a jungle of vee-ves [?] check my selection of pieces"

i highly recommend this song, also this video has footage of gucci recording his verse @ soulja boy's studio

souja boy tell em

this one is surprising - meandering bass, doo-wop kind of pianos. it's like if soulja boy did "beautiful girls" so it's still pretty menacing and clattering.

whoop rico ft. show stoppas

i think these dudes are signed to SOD but when this single didn't jump off soulja boy juts stuck it at the end of his album. it was meant to be a viral dance hit im sure but the beat is just way too... stuffed to come close. has those creepy xylophone pings like "knuck if you buck" + a screwed-up chorus + random dj scratches and crowd chants. recommend checking this one out just to listen to the beat which is pretty all over the place and kind cool

i pray (outro)

chorus in his totally accurate but blatant whiny t.i. singing voice: "dear god/i pray/for all my/haters". verses talking about how his life as a celeb is hard. mom calls crying about rumors. raps about growing up. nice step out of the soulja boy image. beat has these like hair metal guitar scratches buried real deep. i appreciate this one objectively but it's not very interesting to listen to

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/The_Ball_Street_Journal.jpg

here goes...

1. "The Ambassador"

Okay... the album starts with another Digable Planets sample. XD The beat is kinda sparse with just claps, the sample, and a big synth riff every couple beats. Pretty much a state-of-affairs type dealy. E-40 still has his way with words. Not that I thought he might have lost it.

2. "I'm on One"

Ridiculous beat here, clattering drums and distended synths all over the place. Lots of shifts in direction, too. 1st verse has 40 on absolute fire. "Yola-ology, yayo-cologist". 2nd verse he tries this slower flow that doesn't work as well. Then he does this awesome nursery rhyme thing.

3. "Break Ya Ankles"

Tired-ass Lil Jon snap beat. Shawty Lo. Not looking good. I guess this is the token dancefloor track, but there's no energy. Shawty Lo's verse kinda ruins the song even worse than it was. E-40's last verse where he more or less ignores the concept of the song is good, tho.

4. "Got Rich Twice"

I already know this shit is dope. 40 Water sounds as hungry as ever. "You can check my track record/ I don't like to feud, but if I must, I'll have your head severed." Rubbery syn-bass and big synth swells. "In the heart of the soil, where we think Buicks is Bentleys". The album could consist completely of tracks like this and I'd be happy as hell.

5. "Pain No More"

I know there are about a million exceptions to what I'm about to say, and I'm probably challoping, but r&b hooks on non-pop-oriented rap tracks are almost always detrimental. Basically, this is the hard-times anthem. E-40's verse is alright. Game's is better, but still not great. Snoop says "Big fish in the pond/ Runnin' my triathalon", which is mildly o_O. The g-funk whine, well past the point of empty signifier, appears at the end.

6. "Tell It Like It Is"

Big rock drums. 40 totally going in. Hook consists of E ranting, out of rhythm, about how things just ain't the same for gangstas, which kinda kills the momentum from the verse. But I don't really mind cause shit is entertaining.

7. "Give Her the Keys"

T-Pain collabo. Light and breezy acoustic guitar jam. Wouldn't have stood out as bad on Pain's album. E-40 talking about how great his girl is. Way better than the Akon track as far as chick songs go. "You my backbone, you my rib, you my chick." UH.

8. "Hustle"

Who the fuck are these R. City dudes? I keep hearing them here and there. Total pop hacks. 40 is good on this, but Turf Talk is horrible, and this is otherwise a wack pop joint.

I know there are about a million exceptions to what I'm about to say, and I'm probably challoping, but r&b hooks on non-pop-oriented rap tracks are almost always detrimental.

yeah I dunno, I'm trying to think of good counterexamples, because it seems like there are some good serious/tough guy rap songs w/ singers on the hook, but you might have a point.

yeah Rock City are awful, and all the songs they do have that annoying squawky yell thing

but to answer your question of who the fuck they are, they're more Konvict Music flunkies

9. "Wake It Up"

Akon is borderline unbearable on this. I like him better when he's using autotune more subtly. The synths sound warm in a good way. E-40 isn't really saying anything notable. This ain't terrible, but mostly zzzzzz, and I'm not surprised this never took off.

can't believe I want to go listen to a solja boy album REALLY bad now

10. "40 Water"

Hyphy banger time. Beat prominently features a loud drip and giant kicks. Hook: "I wish I was...FORTY!...I wish I was...WATER!". First verse revolves all around the word "40". Second verse all around "Water". Doesn't bang as much as it threatened to at the beginning, but pretty dope. Turf Talk (40 needs a less annoying hypeman) says "Aquefina on your asses!", which is pretty lol.

11. "Poor Man's Hydraulics"

This is awesome/demented. All about gassing and breaking and dipping. Hook has some dude going "bum-bum-bum bum-bum" in a weird low voice and odd croaking sounds during the verse. 40 is doing a whisper-rap and sounds surprisingly good.

12. "The Recipe"

Oh yay, a crack-making tutorial that samples the Cooking Channel. Ehhhhhhhh. E-40 goes hard tho. "Before you dicide to elect yourself in the game of dope/ Better know that it is cutthroat." Still not quite sold on Gucci Mane. Bun B is on top form. The damned hook takes up way too much of this song.

13. "Hood Boy"

Smooth r&b joint. Would probably work better as a more fullfledged r&b song with 40 just dropping in for a guest verse or something, cause he only really has one good verse here and mostly mucks up the rest of the song.

14. "Earl"

Dramatic piano beat. I kinda hate dramatic piano beats. And the g-funk whine, too. Eh. Feezy makes the most of it tho. What the hell is Ice-T even doing here? All he does is say the word "Earl" a couple times during the hook. Highlight: 40 calls all the newjacks "marshmallows". Okay, that's what the Iceberg is doing here. Bigging up 40 all over the outro. Damn, I could listen to him do that for way longer than he does.

Hook has some dude going "bum-bum-bum bum-bum" in a weird low voice

like the "dumb-dumb-dumb" on "Tell Me When To Go" or something completely different?

15. "Sliding Down the Pole"

Strip club joint, obv. Not sure it really works to that end tho, seems like more of a bay hood joint. 40 is pretty hilarious tho, and Too Short knows what he's doing, of course. Damn does Short sound good on this.

completely different

16. "I Can Sell It"

Woozy synth action. 40 and this other dude Cousin Fik borrowing Jay's "I sell ice in the winter/ water to a well" riff. "I could sell stripes to a zebra/ spots to a cheetah", etc., etc., etc. for the whole track and it is awesome. "I could sell grapes to a vineyard, chicken to the Colonel." The whole auctioneer skit at the end is totally unnecessary and goes on forever.

17. "Big Time"

The hook is way too long. 40 is great tho. "A lot of these rappers don't even sound like they're believable/ But you can ask your daddy and uncles about E-Feezable" XD Beat is kinda uplifting and "gates of heaven opening"-sounding, I guess. Way too much singing on this joint.

18. "Alcoholism"

Beat: ridiculous. Warped metalic sounds, goofy horror synths, old sample of someone saying the title. 40 does his thing alright. B-Legit, too.

19. "Pray For Me"

The srs track at the end of the record. A bit gospel-y, as appropriate. Kinda middle-of-the-scale as far as these things go. Mortality is a bummer. I already knew that. Damn, the part about the 9-yo girl with diabetes is kinda heartbreaking. And then Suga-T goes all heavy-autotune at the end WTF. It works, though. I just didn't see that coming.

b-legit is underrated

'earl' is an awesome song, its got a vid too

Shawty Lo's verse kinda ruins the song even worse than it was.

^would like to nominate this as defining statement about rap in 2008

along with the leader in the clubhouse:

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.

huh i like turf talk, at least that one album the west coast vaccine

j0rdan shawty lo is not that bad -- chillax

also turf talk is not terrible

ok i know i spent my hater points the other day on Webbie, who is not nearly as bad, but c'mon...Shawty Lo is the worst.

in '09 i'ma be on my alex in nyc RAISE YOUR STANDARDS shit

shawty lo really is the worst. although, he doesn't even try to stay on beat because he knows he can't and i find that mildly laudable

non-rappin' CEOs used to at least be affiliated with someone decent in the first place in order to get famous, deej i know you <3 D4L but c'mon we do not need to be hearing the weakest MC out of that whole crew on the radio every day.

i dont think you guys 'get' shawty lo -- hes obv not a lyricist but hes got way more character than like, generic-ass rick ross

'dey know' and 'foolish' were great songs bcuz of him not despite him -- his album was decent, esp when he was paired with other rappers -- he makes great hooks like '2 sides' by killer mike

"Foolish" is dope but I'll even rep for Rick Ross over him.

why