official liveblog rap album review thread

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

Rick Ross can appear on a good Khaled posse cut without stopping it in its tracks. Shawty Lo can barely even phone in 16 bars when asked (seriously, listen to track 9 on We Global). It'd be mean to say he sounds like a sickly midget because he is a sickly midget, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna listen to him to be nice.

ftr, I like Turf Talk occasionally, in small doses. his verse on "Hustle" does suck tho

actually, same could apply to Shawty Lo

sounding like Jeezy with pneumonia = not the worst schtick in the world

I think comparing Shawty Lo guest verses to Shawty Lo songs is unfair because, yeah he's not a great rapper, he barely even raps. he's got a really different style that works way better on his own tracks (and hooks) where he can slather the whole thing with his crazy overdubbed singsong voice. he uses voice more like an instrument than to just spit 16 bars. consequently no one gives a shit what he has to say, but whatever, if you like his voice then he can be good

^^^otm

It'd be mean to say he sounds like a sickly midget because he is a sickly midget, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna listen to him to be nice.

lmao

anyway, the only nice thing anyone can say about shawty lo is that he's good at hooks, "foolish" being a really great one. but he truly can't rap for shit, and more often than not he literally ruins a song (soulja boy's "bands" that i posted on sms w/ the caveat of ignoring shawty lo). "dey know" was made completely irrelevant by the remix and all the verses on the "foolish" remix are better than anything on the original.

as for lo vs. the officer, for one ross album is better because def jam buys him better beats, but even that ross has a little bit of dexterity when it comes to rapping. he sounds pretty decent over fast beats sometimes and isn't always bad, NOT TO MENTION that shawty lo stole his rapping but not really rapping steez from ross.

he's got a really different style that works way better on his own tracks (and hooks) where he can slather the whole thing with his crazy overdubbed singsong voice. he uses voice more like an instrument than to just spit 16 bars.

ok what i don't understand is: why if this "style" of him rapping at a sloth's pace is unbearable in a 16 bar guest verse why it works for him over the course of a song and/or over the course of an album. (let's not forget here that you said the shawty lo album is better than king.)

deej is confusing not knowing how to rap and not caring with "character"

i disagree about the "Foolish" remix, his verse on that wasn't nearly as good as what he did on the original and the guest list was pretty weak.

im saying, autotuned birdman bringin lols>jones>ross>shawty lo

jim jones is someone who can't rap and doesn't really care but makes pretty good songs cuz he's got tons of personality

deej is confusing not knowing how to rap and not caring with "character"

not at all

ok, big lols at you saying

deej is confusing not knowing how to rap and not caring with "character"

Suggest Ban Permalink
― you brought me home to this funky house (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, December 10, 2008 2:21 PM Bookmark

and then

jim jones is someone who can't rap and doesn't really care but makes pretty good songs cuz he's got tons of personality

Suggest Ban Permalink
― you brought me home to this funky house (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, December 10, 2008 2:25 PM Bookmark

shawty lo >>> jim jones

Also, Lo's album has better beats than Ross'

im not about to play captain save a third-rate dipset rapper but his contributions to "we fly high" & "pop champagne" > shawty lo

jim jones ad-libs>shawty lo rapping -- their best songs are comparable but im not giving either tons of credit

Jones is probably a better rapper qua rapper than Shawty Lo, but Lo knows how to put dope songs together

poll thread

im not about to play captain save a third-rate dipset rapper but his contributions to "we fly high" & "pop champagne" > shawty lo

― you brought me home to this funky house (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, December 10, 2008 5:51 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

bad examples, dude. Jones was involved in a pretty decent run of solo tracks & dipset posse cuts before the desperation of the post-"We Fly High" quest for the next big hit began, Lo literally has like 2 notable songs and a few guest verses on songs that would be undoubtedly better w/o him.

Yeah, "Crunk Muzik" and "Certified Gangsters" >>>>>>> anything Jones has done is the past 2-3 years

actually, now that I think of it Jones' verse on "Crunk Muzik" was pretty dope

it's that up top funk
when the truck stops, dump
this where the buck stops, chump

remember when his schtick was that he'd get really quiet for a second, then go back to normal

uh......yeah

is that jim, m@tt? it reads like it was ghostwritten by juelz

it's Jim... could be ghostwritten, but I wouldn't assume that

have u not heard "Crunk Musik," j0rdan???

yeah i have but i dont remember jim jones' verses verbatim