Finally Rich - Chief Keef

Context is necessary but if people are suspicious about the motivations of critics regarding Keef it's probably because the overemphasis on context paired with the paucity of substance seems like the fetishization of something that's been very real for a lot of people in Chicago.

and those latter two things were happening even if deej and i drove into lake michigan in nov 2011 xp

i don't begrudge deej at all for being ahead of the curve and on top of the beat he was covering, or that one of the stories he covered early got very big.

that said, i would barf if i ever found myself writing the phrase "next big thing" with no irony.

HOW MANY UNSIGNED TEEN RAPPERS GET TO MAKE A VIDEO WITH RiFF RaFF?!

how many drinks would it take for me to love keef?

that said, i would barf if i ever found myself writing the phrase "next big thing" with no irony.

― some dude, Tuesday, January 8, 2013 2:29 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark

well al you should know as well as anyone that writers don't write headlines

eh i didn't realize it was the headline, longneck just said he used the phrase

yah umm i didn't write the headline, and the actual piece i wrote contains no arguments w/r/t whether he was going to be the 'next big thing'

that said, i thought that the headline was going to be proven right, but some ppl assumed causation

there definitely is a whole reflexive culture around anything new being reacted to as if it's the NEXT BIG THING that a lot of reactions to Keef were predicated on -- like in the initial days after the Rebecca Black thing hit, a lot of the comments on the "Friday" YouTube seemed to be under the impression that it was the new hit song that a major label was earnestly foisting on the public.

i think it's cool that we have such influential people in the hip-hop business posting to ilx

It was definitely the headline.

Hip-Hop’s Next Big Thing is On House Arrest at His Grandma’s: Meet Chief Keef

ThePartyHater 12 Mar 2012 7:24 PM
Yikes. I love hip hop but this does nothing for me, pretty boring. The Cunninlyguists should be the next big thing, not this shit.

damnedifyoudo1 @ThePartyHater
I agree. Just don't see much there. I really just wanted to chime in and recommend Sage Francis (just one example)

lol at "ThePartyHater"

foreshadowing B. Dot's Macklemore standom

Yikes

"Hip-Hop’s Next Big Thing is On House Arrest at His Grandma’s" reminds me of "God's Gift to Songwriting needs a manager"

(just one example)

I guess sometimes when you refuse to use big words yourself your employers feel like they have to do it for you.

if that was true Interscope would've released the album as Conclusively Affluent

But there are tons & tons of artists who could arguably (i'm not arguing it) fit this description, but this one happened to hit, and while I agree that his symbolic presence is part of the reason that he's resonated, i would virulently disagree that it is The Reason that he in particular is where he is. Basically, I think it's borderline offense for haters OR fans to deny him his humanity & agency in his own success

lol

"I agree that you have a point but I'm going to violently disagree with this thing you didn't actually say and hope it discredits your original point"

what? first off i said virulent, not violent

I don't think anyone believes Keef isn't doing exactly what he wants to do; the argument is about whether it's actually worth listening to.

It's worth listening to.

I don't think anyone believes Keef isn't doing exactly what he wants to do

maybe on ilx

if what i'm saying doesn't discredit your point, then we agree! the virulence is directed at very real criticisms i've read that try to imply that rather than A reason, what he 'represents' is The reason—I wasn't implying i was a priori disagreeing w/ you dan

It's worth listening to.

― dyslectic Christ Brown (longneck), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 2:45 PM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh i wouldn't recommend it to everyone & i'm not surprised dan dislikes it. it's 'divisive' for a reason

Well it's worth listening to if you're inclined to enjoy slow, non-empathic goon music. And if you categorically don't then the discussion probably isn't going anywhere interesting.

"slow" as in tempo or "slow" as in stupid

i like a lot of goon music, i personally don't think he's that great at it. i can't be the only person who loved the Future album and doesn't give a shit about the Chief Keef album can i?

nope

crut you liked a keef song when i shared it w/ you last winter.

"slow" as in tempo or "slow" as in stupid

― Solange Knowles is my hero (DJP), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 8:51 PM (56 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, tempo

And it's perfectly possible to like Future and not Keef - that's the kind of preference that might lead to an interesting discussion

lmao @ crut.xls

yeah i love stuff like waka, gunplay, jeezy, but while i can kinda appreciate that keef nails what he's going for his music does nothing for me

normally I would ridicule the conflation of "song" with "album" but, after trying to get through the Chief Keef album, I completely understand why one would assume that liking one song would automatically lead to liking the whole album

everyone is allowed to like or dislike keef as they wish, what i think jordan & i are bristling at is the implication that there's nothing we could possibly appreciating about his musical approach so it simply MUST be tied to stereotyped views of black people.

IMO Keef is doing the most interesting version fo this type of music right now. I can't think of an artist in this lane that is doing it as well. (And Future, although influential on him, is a completely different kind of artist).

well tbf I am making a distinction between "like" and "give a shit about" - not trying to throw Keef under the bus here, I still like 3Hunna & I Don't Like

xposts

yeah i enjoy "I Don't Like" but i don't really place any more stock in Chief Keef's artistry than Ca$h Out or anyone else with one or two good songs

normally I would ridicule the conflation of "song" with "album" but, after trying to get through the Chief Keef album, I completely understand why one would assume that liking one song would automatically lead to liking the whole album

― Solange Knowles is my hero (DJP), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 2:55 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

see, this kind of dismissal though seems so absurd to me—it's the kind of critique like "he has great beats but cant rap" that crops up EVERY time a rapper comes out in this lane & that suggests to me the person is simply outside the target listenership for that style of music period.

even if you don't like the music most of these songs really don't sound that identical to each other, even less so than Flockaveli

cash out is so much more generic, tho

as rap albums go, Finally Rich is more self-similar than most

i think the aspect of the +ve crit i've read about keef that i take most issue with is the angle that he's doing something innovative or different - really it sounds like slower, less fun waka to me. i mean i fux with "i don't like" but it doesn't work on that level at all, it's just a screwface anthem

one man's consistent/cohesive is another man's monochromatic/repetitive (xp)

oh c'mon deej they sound pretty similar! to the album's benefit i think, it's not an aesthetic that grabs me but it gives the album a coherence and purpose - it succeeds on its terms

i hate bein' sosa, i'll take you to the magic stick

i cant agree. 'ballin' sounds more like a rich kids type track, 'diamonds' has more of a waka sound, 'citgo' is just bleary weirdness, 'love sosa' is in its own world, 'hate being sober' swipes that melody but shifts to an upbeat / major key context, 'no tomorrow' is mike will & has the weird echoing adlib styles ... each song sounds pretty distinct to me

keef does not have even one millionth the pop nous that peak 50 cent did, that comparison is completely ludicrous to me

i think the aspect of the +ve crit i've read about keef that i take most issue with is the angle that he's doing something innovative or different - really it sounds like slower, less fun waka to me. i mean i fux with "i don't like" but it doesn't work on that level at all, it's just a screwface anthem

― lex pretend, Tuesday, January 8, 2013 3:00 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he doesnt actually sound anything like waka, wayyy too casual / laid back style

xp flockaveli is also more diverse than it initially seems (like "no hands" and "grove st party" don't really fit into the big elephantine lex luger riffs thing) but fundamentally yes the songs do all sound the same, especially in comparison to a lot of major label albums these days which are all over the map

He gets compared to 50 Cent?

idk that's just a completely bizarre perspective to me. the keef album almost feels a bit too piecemeal, i was hoping for something MORE cohesive rather than stuff taken from all over the place