rae sremmurd - sremmlife (6 jan 2015)

So am I tbh

i dont think ill like it but im excited to hear it if only bc it sounds potentially...something

i appreciate that he was like, fuck it, and doubled down on the rock critic pinterest board aesthetics

All my favorite stuff on the album is the loud, obnoxious stuff, obv: "Start a Party," "Real Chill," "Shake it Fast," "Set the Roof," "Over Here"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, August 17, 2016 5:05 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

haha "shake it fast" hits every one of my spots, such a banger, but if it had been the lead single it might have seemed a bit generic? one of the strengths of the album really is how they balance the different things they do, and the variation even within the bangers/ballads - like, "start a party" and "shake it fast" are very different kinds of bangers, lurching and distorted vs choreographed dance moves, and among the crooners "take it or leave it" leans very r&b but i don't think you could say that of "look alive" or "black beatles"

it's weird to me that imago thinks they're jock bullies, they're lovable scamps to me. class clowns if we're going by high school archetypes. think they don't cleave to typical alpha male macho swagger that much esp compared to usual rap modes. it's much more about hedonism than aggressive assertion of power imo. actually i hear more female rap influences in what they do than with most male rappers.

they're the ones at school who'd have pantsed you, called you a fat virgin and left turds in your locker

― imago, Wednesday, August 17, 2016 7:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is more odd future to me

'shake it fast' and 'set the roof' are p much obv the two worst songs of their career, certainly more superfluous than any of the bonuses

feels like someone at the label maybe panicked somewhat idk. like if they had to have lil jon and juicy j on there for frat boys and whoever else is in a passé aesthetic quagmire then sure but they could have easily slotted onto several other tracks here instead of these boilerplates

(tracklist in general doesnt really add up either imo - series of pairs, kinda uncreative)

altogether i'm finding myself a little bit on the fence with this album... steps forward in small interesting ways but steps back in (deceptively admittedly) basic appeals, immediacy, clarity of vision

otoh this is so the cliche awkward second album that it's kinda comically endearing for it

"just like us" really pushes the envelope towards R&B. I wasn't even sure if I liked it at first but I think that's a sign that I do

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 22:01 Bookmark

i knooooow u do... i know u doooooo

odd future are the weird nerd psychopaths who'd burn your hamster and spike your juice with laxative. idk

damn fortunato, back at it again with the amontillado

one of the amusing ironies of the imago caricature is that swae is among a very few rappers around lowkey florid enough to occasionally insist on effete mannerisms like "small world all her friends know of me..."

"Set the Roof" is the album's worst, agreed, although I'm not fond of the extra tracks, "Just Like Us" excepted.

"over here" is the only one i find myself skipping, sort of tries a bit too hard

the poignant genius of 'just like us' is when it's built up your expectations for the big 'safe sex pay checks' anthemic chorus and then instead turns all the way down for "i done seen... stars... a million times..." ;_;

see lil jon would have been great on 'over here' to cosign the pastor troy karaoke

Over Here is the one that doesn't do anything for me.

i like "shake it fast" cuz i think the beat briefly touches part of the southern rap universe that rae sremm hadn't really visited before? like... kind of a early 2000s david banner sound? which is kinda funny since they're really from mississippi

idk i find the forward thinking records here a lot more meaty than much of the stuff on their debut in terms of creating a new coherent aesthetic that feels apart from everything else.

which track/what verse strikes u as a notable breakaway original

well im not saying they dont build on the general tools of the first one, it's not a radical break more a further push, but the verging-on-R&B melodics & harmonies. that ppl are describing this album as being "like synth pop" which no one really said about the first one. 'black beatles' 'take it or leave it' 'came a long way' 'look alive' 'now that i know' 'just like us'

I haven't heard these guys yet but their Puma ads are all over my subway and I find them really annoying, like just the most generic, warmed-over "lol old school amirite?!" looks and poses.

That and their name.

In fairness they did poop in LJ's locker

finally heard "just like us" today and looking forward to the 1975 cover

haha yes

fantasia sounds like shura

lol

This album... man... The first one had two killer singles and one really good single and some really good tracks, but this is kicking my arse on each one. Black Beatles is the current fave - 'she's a big teaser'

Black Beatles is the best song out atm. Wish it could be huge.

it's weird to me that imago thinks they're jock bullies, they're lovable scamps to me. class clowns if we're going by high school archetypes. think they don't cleave to typical alpha male macho swagger that much esp compared to usual rap modes. it's much more about hedonism than aggressive assertion of power imo. actually i hear more female rap influences in what they do than with most male rappers.

― lex pretend, Thursday, August 18, 2016 12:13 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ yup. just makes me think of hanging out with my best mate when we were 17, working on ridiculous music projects, smoking, drinking, mythologising and thinking we're the bollocks

http://theundefeated.com/features/rae-sremmurd-the-fader-photo/?ex_cid=story-twitter

Great read and important regardless of yr opinion on RS

It's a lovely article. But its relevance to RS extrapolates from literally one photo, and one that isn't without its ambiguities - how do you square it with the Set The Roof lyrics and video, for instance? My uncharitable reading is that the photo simply positions them as heterosex symbols in a particularly current way

people are reading a little much into a photo of two guys who probably used to take baths together

'Just Like Us' is remarkably sweet, especially for these guys. Love the line about 'seeing stars a million times/how come they only come out at night?'

Over Here is the one that doesn't do anything for me.

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, August 18, 2016 1:47 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nah this is maybe my 3rd or 4th favourite. There's some weird/interesting stuff going on with the vocals and that repetitive 'Aye, aye' thing. Plus there's that noise that sounds like you left the car door open. they used it on the last album but I can't get enough of it.

Just haven't been able to stop listening to this over the last week. It's such a step up from the first one, and that was a great record.

"roof on fire" is the first time I've heard scratching on a non boom bap throwback song in forever

https://twitter.com/annkpowers/status/775407953587400704

idgi

ask ann i guess

in any case, this was my reminder to finally listen to the new Sremmurd, which i will do now as penance.

(reading your comments with whiney earlier regarding spongedoodlebob rap evolution while listening to Start a Party is clearly the RIGHT WAY to get into this album)

wow so this is fucking great huh

http://media.giphy.com/media/efUcLJePY6RkA/giphy.gif

the bass is pure on this record

i'm not gonna lie, i just jumped around my kitchen a whole lot just now

Love this.

yeah i really ended up getting into this one, seems like giant leap over the first one

it's loads better than the last one, which is saying something

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