official liveblog rap album review thread

birdman/t-pain - can't stop

BIRDMAN SOLO... i was not looking forward to this one. oh btw we've entered the boi-1da portion of the album. this beat and the last one are indecipherable... these albums are so fascinating to me because everyone involved seems so obviously bored by having to be involved, and then you have these producers turning in these formulaic & generic stadium beats... i like to think that they trade emails behind the scenes laughing this stuff off. thankfully this isn't even three minutes long.

ace hood/meek mill/big sean/wale/vado - future

"THIS IS THE FUTURE", proclaims khaled. also he says "meek mills" which is poised to turn into the "joe buddens" of this decade. ace hood is so boring... the fact that he has two legit awesome singles imo is a minor miracle. i have no idea how khaled basically staked his whole a&r career on this clown. i know there are ppl that fuck heavy w/ meek mill but i have no feelings about this dude. he has a bit of a boosie thing to him but he seems so regular to me. ha, big sean name drops trick trick on this which is funny to me cuz i feel like trick trick is just waiting to snatch this fools chain. haha big sean just unwittingly copped based god's flow for a second here, which is the most interesting thing to happen on this joint. wale's turn... i guess i'm happy for this guy since he seems decent enough but i've never heard a verse from him where i felt like my life was bettered by having heard it. that's on some final debate in billy madison shit. vado... you can tell that a lot these guys have no idea how to flow on these loping ass beats, but vado's verse is kinda dope. "drop tops like release dates" qualifies as the new best punchline on this album.

akon/b.o.b. - my life

ha, this is like a mix of porch swing reggae & big wailing khaled inspirational choruses and big drums. just on account of including an acoustic guitar, this is the song on the album to most please meh. some of the songs on this album have weird ass structures... like ne-yo doing just a bridge, or akon doing everything on this song but the first verse. and this one has come and gone, had some potential tho.

kevin rudolf/tyga/mack maine/jae millz/cory gunz - a million lights

wow this roster is scaring the shit out of me... a cash money posse cut that doesn't involve wayne, drake or nicki. i'd love for complex to run an INVESTIGATIVE REPORT on where gudda gudda was when this was recorded. i'd like to think that he was at the grocery store or something idk. is "a million lights" more than "all of the lights"?? i guess not right. they should've called this "infinity lights" imo. the beat on this is kinda cool actually, it's at least in a different tempo. mack maine legit has one of the five best verse on this album. he just made a call back to wayne's "every girl" verse. jae millz... i wonder if meek mill is gonna see this dude at a party one day and lose his cool and beat the shit out of him for inadvertently being the root of why everyone gets his name wrong. cory gunz closing the door here... i kinda really hate this fucking guy. on account of being able to flow he lands in the top 10% percentile here. idk.

alright this album is already over. it was really too mediocre for me to even be able to make jokes, honestly. like i said tho, how this collective starpower and (relative) skill can come together for such a massive hurricane of blandness is really fascinating to me. inspirational rap stadium anthems suck tho.

i trust everyone understands why i didn't listen to the mega "welcome to my hood" remix

lmao @ all of that last one

i cannot bring myself to listen to this

haha i got so excited when i saw that this thread was revived, knew exactly what it meant, great job j0rdan

good call on not listening to the "Welcome To My Hood" remix -- i believe i once referred to it as 'Miami water torture'

yes that was a very enjoyable liveblog, props

thx guyz

"i'm the most slept on/& the most hated"

-the game

the game brags very seriously about fucking basketball wives, which i guess is all he's got left at this point.

lol/sad

yeah the line was basically "i fuck basketball wives / no really, i fuck basketball wives"

drake/ross/wayne - "i'm on one"

i think this is one of the best beats of the year, but the song still leaves me cold. even the beat tho could be better than it is, there's some cool guitar sounding stuff lurking underneath that i wish were fleshed out a bit. anyway, i'll stand my ground that wayne's verse on this is an abomination, regardless of whether or not he was aiming for trying to sound super stoned. he sounds lazy & bored to me. the most interesting development on this song is further confirmation that ross has lapped wayne two times over as a rapper and that drake has really gone full asshole recently, it's like he's already entered his 'my beautiful dark twisted fantasy' phase while bypassing the years in between that. but honestly i think it's a good look for him, cuz i never really bought him as conflicted and contemplative. for the biggest rap single of the year, we could have had worse, i guess.

― J0rdan S., Friday, July 15, 2011 11:19 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

it's hilarious that even in asshole mode Drake still says things like "apologize if I say anything I don't mean"

yeah the line was basically "i fuck basketball wives / no really, i fuck basketball wives"

― J0rdan S., Saturday, July 16, 2011 10:32 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omg i just listened to this and you aren't even exaggerating!

spotify is definitely about following your worst musical impulses as evidenced by the fact that i am going to listen to this entire album this afternoon.

yeah, think i might liveblog the big sean album tonight

all thanks to spotify

so i actually kind of like the beat on "future"--when the full drum track is in there it actually has some good forward momentum and i like the moody horns.

of course then they start cutting the drums out and it sort of grinds to a halt.

watch the liveblog

the version of this i downloaded was labeled as "flockaveli.zip" -- i'm gonna guess that halfway thru this i wish i was listening to flockaveli

or the lloyd album

itunes should set something up where anyone who chooses "get album artwork" for anything titled 'watch the throne' from 12 am est to 6 am est automatically gets arrested for piracy

no church in the wild ft frank ocean (prod by kanye & 88 keys)

i was thinking that frank ocean's voice might be a bit too thin to work as a hook singer on these songs, but this one sounds alright. someone doing some super bon iver ass warbling on the bridge here. ah, kanye made a "jungle fever" joke in his first verse. sounds about right i guess. when kanye jumps on this it pretty much turns into MBDTF, questionable lyrics about women included. this one is kinda whatever, beat is cool but feels like it could've been way bigger. not that that would've been better, but this still sorta feels MOR in terms of what i'm expecting this to sound like

lift off ft beyone (prod by kanye)

seal has a writing credit on this, which is lol. this beat sounds a lot like the last one... the bass on this is pretty ugly. as an 808s stan forever i'll say that i dig kanye's autotuned out warbling on this. this is kinda clunky, this beat is really ugly imo. idk maybe it sounds better on russell crowe's speakers. they made it one song w/o a metaphor about lifting off into space.

hold on i got a phone call

lol

niggas in paris (prod by hit-boy & kanye)

will ferrell sample! first beat that's really a head nodder, a minimal (by this album's standards) keyboard little thing. jay sounds kinda locked in, then kinda chops his flow up. oh man kanye's flow is really awful on this, elongating the last vowel in his lines in what whiny obnoxious voice. this beat has a music box quality to it that kinda gets old after a bit. there's no way that jay likes "blades of glory" and i bet he's secretly really embarrassed to have that shit breaking into his song. OH SHIT DUBSTEP BREAKDOWN. oh well, maybe not, tho i'm sure one is coming up. i can't really be bothered to pay attention to what ye is rapping on this whole thing, sorry you guys.

otis ft otis redding (lol) (prod by kanye)

this sounds even better in the context of the album so far. just a sample & some drums, two dudes spitting back & forth, no 'is this it' vocal affectations or autotune. not like i need to hear this. i do let it play out on the radio tho, feels good in the sunshine. shouts to my 99 accord w/ peeling tints.

gotta have it (prod by the neptunes & kanye)

i feel like kanye really strong-armed a lot of ppl to get his name on damn near every prod credit. kanye: "lol lol lol oh white america / tryna assassinate my character". jay & ye going back forth, just compared themselves to lebron & wade. chris bosh once again the third wheel. oh man, this one has some clunkers. kanye: "racks on racks on racks / maybachs on bachs on bachs". jay: "i'm planking on a million" <------- s.m.d.h. this one is okay.

^best song imo

new day (prod by the rza & kanye)

oh this is the one about their future kids. this is a pretty cool beat, they sorta bon iver'd up this simone sample, but the whole thing is really kinda meditative & pretty. really nice horns on this. idk i'm not paying attention what either of these guys are saying anymore. i'm sure jay was gonna make me feel something about his son that will be born into elaborate wealth. would've dug this as an instrumental tho.

^ this one is my favorite so far

"that's my bitch" (prod by q tip & kanye)

did they just not credit la roux or did they re-record the hook? good hook tho. grimy lil keyboard on this, drums rattling a bit. justin vernon has a writing credit on this, maybe he wrote the hook. this one is dope. oh maybe he's singing write now. would've liked to hear this as a r&b song.

welcome to the jungle (prod by swizz beatz)

it's been funny watching swizz play catch up to these two & pharrell for who can be the most worldly name dropping all types of fashion labels & shit. he can't really pull it off. man, i love swizz and all, but ppl really need to ask him to stop chanting all over every track he produces. this beat sucks actually.

jay on new day is genuinely good emotional stuff which is what i like rare glimpses of

but wouldn't sound quite as good if it wasn't... you know the jay-z talking points weirdo crooked billionaire villain 。。。 always knew he never cut up anyone (as himself skinny nigga on the boat or as rap music lyrical persona) but appreciated the line, unreliable narrator vibe. like all those beans/sieg/face or variations songs. jay comes off as sadder than sigel or face just because of the gleaming sheen of his charm being almost fully intact.

love that nina simone warble thing

who gon stop me (prod by kanye & sham "shake pas" joseph [huh?])

btw in case anyone cares mike dean has a prod credit on like every song here but i don't feel like listing him. oh man this is sooooooooooooooo dubstep. holy. "this is something like the holocaust" says kanye. this really bangs, well it would've if kanye wasn't rapping. kinda the big, stadium dubstep that a lot of stoners i knew listened to. oh the beat switch up on this is really ugly. idk, i'm bored of this now.

love that nina simone warble thing

― dylannn, Monday, August 8, 2011 1:59 AM (9 seconds ago) Bookmark

yeah this is great

that last song would be an amazing instrumental, doesn't really work as rap tho

jay just rapped "MOMA" & "corner", inevitable really

"new day" is like my least fave song lol i hate how they used that sample

but i don't listen to bon iver so maybe i'm not the target audience

FYI i looked up bon iver on youtube thinking it would be some stoned augustus pablo nina simone vibe but it was just a guy singing

murder to excellence (prod by swizz & S1)

another cool beat... chanting choir sample, bongos, some cool metallic production buried. kanye's hook on this is really nice & melodic. cudi has a credit on this, i bet he wrote that hook. man, kanye is challopping like crazy on this album. one of the better ones on here... kanye hasn't done social critique well in a long while tho. oh beat switch up, this song has a good, if not obvious, concept & sounds great. jay just quoted hanibal lecter.

FYI i looked up bon iver on youtube thinking it would be some stoned augustus pablo nina simone vibe but it was just a guy singing

― dylannn, Monday, August 8, 2011 2:04 AM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark

well, his new album is stoned augustus pablo nina simone vibe (i think). his first album is just a dude singing.

idk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ePlc3Gi_8

made in america ft frank ocean (prod sham "shak pase" joseph)

frank ocean sounds pretty nice on this, hook is pretty corny tho. this is actually a pretty good approximation of mr. hudson rap, fluttery pianos & stuff but not in a lame way. actually this song is lame.

why i love you ft mr hudson (prod by kanye west)

why does mr hudson exist? not listening to this one

lol

anyway this album is predictably a monster from a production standpoint. almost all of the rapping is really boring & just uninteresting in every way that doesn't involve jay & kanye's cults of personality. i would fuck w/ a lot of this as instrumentals, cuz you've got a lot of talented ppl w/ the world at their fingertips pretty much, it's just too bad that one of those guys sucks at rapping. i don't think i'll listen to this again unless i feel the need to have more of an opinion on it. not a disaster or anything tho.

yeah I feel pretty much the same way as you do. "gotta have it" and "niggas in paris" are the tracks I'll go back to. but I honestly can't think of one quotable from either of them (besides "planking on a million" lol). not awful, but not something I feel the need to listen to again.

if i was the "racks on racks" dude i'd feel pretty proud of myself

fuck man it's like a good fat biography of hitler or something
even if you know what's coming and you find it revolting on an personal or maybe an abstract level the sheer excess and cruelty appeals in the same way that