official liveblog rap album review thread

pusha's not untalented but reverence for him always seemed bizarre and misplaced to me

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 12:54 AM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark

he used to be a really clever rapper but he's not even that anymore. he stopped being clever when he started rapping exclusively about luxury.

one thing this album is making me think about is how much better the 2 chainz album would've been if he had kanye feed him all these beats. every time he comes on he sounds incredible.

i don't think the "Cold" beat is bad per se but it sounds EXACTLY like Drake's "I'm Goin' In"

higher / the-dream, pusha, ma$e

this is apparently another hit boy beat that sounds just cheap as hell. it's pretty reminiscent of that dream song off the chainz album and lo & behold chainz has an uncredited "yeah!!!" on here. terius doesn't sound good on this either... he gets the first verse and the whole thing sounds really meandering. it's kinda weird that after not really doing hook work for a few years he's back on two of the most prominent rap releases of the year. ma$e sounds fucking awful on this song, hell. this is like a bad affion crockett impersonation of ma$e.

i don't think the "Cold" beat is bad per se but it sounds EXACTLY like Drake's "I'm Goin' In"

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 12:58 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah that's true also throwing khaled on it for no reason just makes me think of it as the sequel to "go hard" and no one needed that

sin city / john legend, teyana taylor, cyhi, malik yusef, travis scott

can't believe kanye let a lineup this inconsequential end up on a 12 song album, christ. i guess cyhi opens this? i don't know what travis scott sounds like. teyana taylor is legit like the jessie j of the rap/r&b world, important producers need to stop trying to make her happen. i'm not sure what john legend does on this... this beat has like 13 difference parts and some real ugly, thin sounding bass. a really unpleasant song all the way around.

supposedly there was some kind of favor trading thing of Kanye and Khaled doing "Cold" and "Wish You Would" at the same time and each taking one for their album, which is hilarious because why would Kanye West think "why yes DJ Khaled I will write a song for your album, if in exchange you yell for four seconds at the beginning of a song on my album"

the one / kanye, big sean, 2 chainz, marsha ambrosius

this starts off sounding nice & choral but they bring in some loud martial drums so it goes to shit very quickly. the piano part on this is really cool... more unnecessary ghost echoe tho. marsha's hook kinda echoes "no one" for a bit which is a bit weird. i'm actually impressed by sean on this song only because he still manages to flow over this somber r&b piano beat. chainz sounds nice... rhymes "free gucci" with "free gucci" tho

which is hilarious because why would Kanye West think "why yes DJ Khaled I will write a song for your album, if in exchange you yell for four seconds at the beginning of a song on my album"

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 1:06 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

haha yes

yeah the starpower seems very haphazardly distributed on this album, kinda sad that even We Are Young Money and the MMG albums knew better how to balance things out in that respect

some uncredited singing at the end of "the one" that i only mention cuz i think it might be the second time fauntleroy has a prominent singing part on this album w/o being credited but i can't quite tell

creepers / kid cudi

it's hilarious that cudi has effectively made himself the quiet emo kid in class that everyone are apprehensive to talk to so they just threw him on the end here by himself. this song is kinda hot tho... straight 808s core so it's up my lane. his singing actually sounds kinda nice in places. i'll never listen to this again but it's surprisingly pleasing meh.

how is Kid Cudi in 2012 like the 3rd most popular artist on this label

bliss / john legend, teyena taylor

song number 2 off of legend & teyena's 'cruel bummer' mini-EP. this is apparently a full hudson mohawke production but it's pretty boring. i'm not going to sit thru this nonsense, my mom might like it tho.

how is Kid Cudi in 2012 like the 3rd most popular artist on this label

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 1:13 AM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark

yeah it's weird. this really makes such a terrible case for the label as a whole. i mean it's okay just by kanye's sheer force of will but man the once you get past him the river runs dry really fucking quickly.

hahaha the kid cudi song is apparently produced by that fuckin guy who sang "hypnotize" over "umbrella"

i don't like (remix) / pusha, kanye, sean, chief keef, jada

jada's inclusion on this so puzzling to me, still. i don't really have much of an opinion on what kanye did to this beat but i like ye's verse on this a lot. THEY WANNA FIND ME NOT BREATHING LIKE THEY FOUND MIKE. anyway i think they added some ad-libs of pusha going "bang bang! haha!" i can't tell if it's supposed to be ironic or what

hahaha the kid cudi song is apparently produced by that fuckin guy who sang "hypnotize" over "umbrella"

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 1:16 AM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark

ha fuck i randomly heard this song at the gym the other day and almost purposefully dropped a 45 pound weight on my head

somehow this is only 12 songs. i'm truly astounded... in part because i'm not sure how kanye couldn't get CRUEL SUMMER out in the fucking summer when it only had 12 songs. but yeah this isn't very good, a lot of the songs sound cheap and messy. would've been a decent solo ye album tho.

kanye on "i don't like" is the worst verse of the year imo, i have no real opinion whatsoever of chief keef or this song but i'm kind of happy for him that he was able to get the original song's national profile up and out of the shadow of this terrible terrible remix

the 2nd DTP album is secretly the most redeemable modern rap vanity imprint compilation, was also the first time i enjoyed a tity boi verse!

i should check that out. underrated crew, obv.

kanye on "i don't like" is the worst verse of the year imo, i have no real opinion whatsoever of chief keef or this song but i'm kind of happy for him that he was able to get the original song's national profile up and out of the shadow of this terrible terrible remix

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 12:19 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yah otm the remix is garish as hell & ye's verse is an embarrassment

i do think pusha t & kanye rapping about club drugs is one of the corniest moments of the year. pusha t dropping ecstasy is so fucking funny to me for some reason. would put this song as my no. 1 of the year on principle if there was a remix where plies busted in for a verse right when pusha says "blue dolphins".

not sure if i lol'd harder @ this or at some dude staying up past his bedtime 2 read u liveblogging

also <3 this typo

golden sachs

eh today was like the only day this week i didn't have to be up super early. this thread is classic, though, don't knock it.

sarge do you have any opinions on who may have gone hard on any particular songs, and if so did any of them go in

after he takes a listen to the GOOD music album, he looks at it, and all he sees is more sound bites

that was great, j0rdan

It's official: I can save my cash for the Maya comeback

So thanks man, this sounds terrible

The funny thing is that some places (like Insound) were listing Cruel Summer as a Kanye album, I guess because they figured nobody would care otgerwise

tbf the single is credited to "Kanye West featuring" etc. and there's no name on the cover, so i can see how it'd get labelled like that

ah

sarge do you have any opinions on who may have gone hard on any particular songs, and if so did any of them go in

― la goonies (k3vin k.), Thursday, September 13, 2012 6:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this is only for khaled albums :-)

♫♫the whole world is a couch/bitch im rick james tonight♫♫
♫♫the whole world is a couch/bitch im rick james tonight♫♫
♫♫the whole world is a couch/bitch im rick james tonight♫♫
♫♫the whole world is a couch/bitch im rick james tonight♫♫

pusha's not untalented but reverence for him always seemed bizarre and misplaced to me

― some dude, Thursday, September 13, 2012 12:54 AM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark

he used to be a really clever rapper but he's not even that anymore. he stopped being clever when he started rapping exclusively about luxury.

― J0rdan S., Thursday, September 13, 2012 5:56 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Seeing as Terius is heavily involved in it, I think the Pusha T album will be really dope. Exodus 3:16 was good, and he works well on Dope Bitch. The question is whether or not Pusha will be able to carry a hit single, hence when/if it will ever come out.

nahh shoulda been fabolous on 'dope bitch' and any other terius track pusha t is featured on

otm

Well, Terius seems pretty excited about it, so it might well be special I gather. I do agree that Fabolous + Terius is a better match, but I'm not really mad.

fabolous and terius was a good match 5 years ago but i can't see why anyone would care now

there hasn't really been a point in time that fabolous wasn't a better rapper than pusha imo

to the world / kanye & kells

the only voice you hear on this album for the first 2 minutes is kells doing some weird vocal scale exercise. saw various ppl on twitter freaking out over this hook but it's pretty corny to me, and i don't really like when kells is trying to sing LOUDER than really LOUD modern beats. anyway kanye's verse on this is okay... there's some bits about golden sachs and mitt romney on this that might get people talking, but they don't really make much sense so maybe not. by virture of kelly being on this i'll assume it's one of the better songs. there's an uncredited female vocalist at the end of this in typical overblown kanye fashion.

― J0rdan S., Thursday, September 13, 2012 12:29 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

I dig this song tbh, like it when kanye goes in on the feel-good vibes. but I have an unusual high tolerance for corny shit

btw kanye sounds like big sean on this

the goldman sachs stuff made sense to me? like goldman sachs = the 1% = holding everybody else back + mittens doesn't pay tax so why should ye

if you asked me who on this album said "the world is my couch/ bitch i'm rick james tonight," i would've had a lot of guesses before kells

pretty dope album on the whole imo. i like that it feels sorta disposable, i really couldn't stomach another MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY or WATCH THE THRONE right now

god the second half of this album is embarrassing. that keef remix is sorta unlistenable

it did, weirdly, make cold/theraflu sound doper than it did when i first heard it? thought that song sucked when it came out but now it kinda goes

don't know if it's depressing or comforting that kanye still thinks "a frew brews" is funny

def comforting

feel bad for Mannie Fresh that after all that talk he ended up with ONE production credit on the whole album (on a song with three producers)

the kid cudi song is one of the worst songs I've ever heard

and yet it's one of the best kid cudi songs i've ever heard!

otm