New Kodak Black tape, drops tomorrow (I think).

Honestly the cover art had me interested. Kid is pretty dope, he kinda sounds like a Carter 1-era Wayne and Gucci Mane hybrid.

When the hell is Birds in the Trap gon' drop? That's what I wanna know.

Also: have you by any chance revisited Pablo since agreeing to do so?


If not (or if so, whatever) make sure you listen to that shit in these two essential environments:
1. In the car with a decent system and the audio settings tweaked to bring out the bass but with the mid and treble still quite high.
2. On headphones ... I didn't listen to the "final" mix on headphones until fairly recently, and there's a whole lot of shit going on that's easy to miss if you listen any other way. For instance, I didn't realize until, like, the day before yesterday, that "Famous" contains a recurring sample of Nina Simone's "I've loved you better than you're own kin did... I just wanted you to know" playing on loop throughout pretty much the entire song. It's extremely soft and subtle and actually damn near impossible to notice unless you're paying attention, but it really has a powerful overall effect. Throughout the bam-bam section, Nina's singing away in a ghost whisper loop at the very bottom of the track, and it's almost revelatory when you notice it. It's like it puts a sheen on the song, and keeps the whole thing grounded despite its fragmented parts.

I don't think this effect was in the early versions. But it's there, mark my words. And it's glorious.

Wow, that's saying something. You got it man. I'll put it on first chance I get. I've been meaning to find some rap treasures to fall in love with again. But I feel no desire to play any Wu (for SOME reason).

I shall listen and get back to you. I expect to be absolutely disgusted.

I never heard that Nina Simone sample in my car or in my game room. Damn. I only listen on headphones when I'm at the supermarket, and that's usually jazz haha.

Revisiting Pablo right now, got the latest version.

@ Sev

When I first heard it I thought someone was singing the song, like, right next to me in a really low voice... I was blasting "Famous" on my headphones and I thought someone was fucking with me for a second. Then I stopped what I was doing and really listened, and I was kind of blown away. That song has always just really appealed to me, and I think that loop may have been kind of affecting me on a subliminal level. Once I actually heard it, I just thought it was beautiful.

TLOP is not really the sloppy mess Kanye wants it to be. It's a deceptively intricate album.

The production on Famous is absolutely beautiful and so next level.

Feedback is still crazy.

"Awesome, Steve Jobs mixed with Steve Austin"

His screaming at the end hahahahaha.

This album still doesn't do much for me, sorry. Some great moments here and there, but overall.. no. The mixing didn't make much difference. At least I tried.

Finally listening to the Joey Purp mixtape.. featuring Chance and other people from his camp.

Great project. "Girls @" with Chance is actually the weakest song.

my daughter loves to make feedback on her karaoke machine. she's gets a thrill out of holding the mic to the speaker. it's sick. we're all dysfunctional non custoday base heads but there's love around.

Jesus Christ, that Kodak Black tape is some hot shit.

Get it here: http://www.livemixtapes.com/download...l-big-pac.html

Well, thanks for trying. Glad you at least appreciate some parts of it that you didn't before.

Still my hands down album of the year though.

True. Famous finally hit me and I can agree with y'all that it's an amazing song (especially due to the production). Probably the best on the album.

That's understandable. I get why other people love it so much, it's just my personal opinion.

I feel like you guys just ganged up and bum rushed my post.

I woke up this morning wanted to hear TLOP but said NAW!!! Ill pass.

thinking about some Outkast or Kendrick untitled or paul's boutique.

Speaking of OutKast, I listened to Aquemini today, and I remembered louder saying that Bey's "All Night" sampled "SpottieOttieDopaliscious."

I'm, like 100% certain that the two horn parts are not the same. Straight up. Partly because of the major key changes in the "All Night" that just a aren't there in the reggae-derived horn loop in "Spottie..." (See the chorus at 2:30-2:40, and you'll hear notes and phrasing that aren't in "Spottie" at all).

So I just wanted to throw that out there. I DO know that people from both Bey and OutKast camps noticed the similarities between the horn parts, and that OutKast was given a post-release songwriting credit that appears on all pressings of the album except for the first.

But... It's not a direct sample of the song. It has a very similar sound, but the key is different, and the recording of the horns is very obviously of a higher quality on "All Night."

Anyway, not trying to be a dick, but that's my verdict and I stand by it after listening to the songs back to back a few times. I thought it sounded odd that the horns came from Spottie, but I held my tongue cause y'all tend to know more about this shit than I do.

Both excellent songs, though.

Yeah "Famous" has pretty much been my pick since the streaming event. It made my jaw drop. But "Fade" has really, really, really grown on me. It's like the most powerful 3 minutes of music I've ever heard. It sounds fucking electromagnetic. Like the pressure and building tension are just going to shut the world off. It kicks fucking ass.

Yeah I initially assumed they were sampled, but they weren't, they just happened to be like, really similar. :)

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off like I was calling you out or something. I assumed you were right. I just happened to listen to the song and went "wait a tick!"

Still, they're similar enough for Bey to make sure OutKast had a writing credit, to avoid any legal bumfuckery. That was pretty cool on her part. Not that OutKast would have made a big thing out of it... It was just courteous.

BTW "All Night" is still one of my favorite songs of the year, and def. my fav on Lemonade. Just sayin' :)

Yo yo yo.

The studio version of "Champpions" by Kanye West and company, first single from Cruel Winter, is fucking out and it's on sale as an actual goddamn single this time! Bought it last night on iTunes. Dope as hell.

Lol it's cool. That's my favorite song on the album as well. I wouldn't've been mad if it was the closing track, but Formation is alright.

Listening to Redman all day today. Muddy Waters and Dare Is a Darkside are his best in my opinion. :) Pretty excited for Muddy Waters 2 that's coming out this year.

You like "Champions"?

I don't think I made it through the full track, simply because it's so long. I thought it was cool but Ye could've trimmed some of the features. I'll listen again soon though.

Has a definite "Cruel Summer" feel to it though, don't you think?

Btw: what the fuck happened to Turbo Grafx 16? Dead before arrival-- or, rather, immediately after announcement-- like I thought?

Yeah definitely.

I'm excited. Part of me is always concerned that GOOD is going to end up being kind of a facade for mining talent, like OVO, without ever having a true roster of integral artists that aren't just being taken advantage of. But with Pusha at the helm, I think it's likely to succeed, and while I have no interest in a whole series of godforsakenly boring label comps like MMG's Self-Made, I think a high profile sequel to Cruel Summer with a similar approach, only, perhaps, less radio-ready, is just what the doctor ordered.

I can't say I'm as excited as you, but I'm definitely gonna be here for it when it drops.

I sense an impending flirtation with the Dark Side in you, child. ;)

Oh HEY! Kanye's going on tour (finally) to support Pablo.

That means my ass is going to see him live. Pumped.

Kanye has released a new track, titled "Saint Pablo" and added it to the end of TLOP.

So I guess I was wrong about the album being "done." But whatever.

It's a really ducking good song, and I haven't even heard the entire thing yet. Sampha does guest vocals. Jay Z had a song writing credit.

I never heard "Closest thing to Einstein" but he utters that phrase in this song. So maybe this is the final version of that?

http://pitchfork.com/news/66109-kany...ablo-in-tidal/

#annoying

whatever. It's a "bonus track" in my head.

@Kayne: Just release the fucking thing on CD and end it already.

Lol. I'm really not that interested in Kanye these days..

Aye, that's what's up. He was awesome when I saw him last year. You're gonna have a blast.

:(

Well, it's a good song.
But it's true that for me, TLOP ends with the nuclear winter that is "Fade." And while I think "Saint Pablo" is the kind of Kanye track that fans (ex-fans?) like louder will be able to get behind, I think it's a bit silly to still add shit to the album.

But at the same time, this has become a pretty unprecedented thing. You mentioned early on that Weezer had been there/done that with Maladroit, but what they did was simply focus group early songs in an attempt to maximize fan reaction (and payout).

This has been a large scale experiment with the album format. It's going to make for some interesting discussions at the end of the year. How are the Grammys going to react to this, for instance? Probably by not nominating TLOP for anything, because the Grammys suck. But what about pitchfork? Well... Pitchfork sucks and is awful too, but their year end lists are consistently better than the Grammys. So, do the changes alter the album's rating? Which version of the album is the "true" version? Ultimately, I think TLOP is whatever each fab wants it to be, while also being a bunch of other things. For better or worse, he's still playing to the beat of his own drum.

EDIT: I think Pitchfork should actually re-review the album because their 9.0 rating came right after the album's 17 track TIDAL release. Therefore, it reviews an embryonic mastering, incomplete lyrical content, and a tracklist that's three songs too short.

Kanye has some issues with the music journalism industry, and I've gotta say, what he's done with Pablo is a pretty effective way of making those trend-setting word of God websites scramble and wonder what the fuck to do. It's pretty funny, really. At the end of the day, this is by far the most unconventional and, indeed, anti-traditional thing Kanye West has ever done, and that's saying a lot. I like the fact that it takes some of the focus off of his private life and public bumfuckery and places it back on the music, which is where it should have been all along.

Also, since TLOP dropped, Pitchfork has made the utterly silly mistake of ranking two albums above it. Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, which is nice and all, but is no work of genius.... And Chance's Coloring Book, which exists in part because of TLOP, and despite being a brilliant album, it's got a few moments that make that 0.1 point higher than Pablo rating seem quite stupid indeed. (See Justin Bieber. Yuck.) But really, who gives a shit? It makes for intersting conversation and that's a good thing.

I do not think any physical releases of TLOP will come out until the end of the year, if ever. That's a natural conclusion to the whole thing. Make it a year-long fuckaround and drop a cd just in time for Kanye to be the first news story of 2017.

Though he seems to be sticking to his guns about not releasing the album on CD ever, I've heard some rumblings from Def Jam on the matter.

Part of the reason for the added track might be to decrease demand for bootleg vinyl prints like the ones that showed up on Record Store Day.

I don't know. I don't really care either. More Kanye music, as long as it's bad as hell, is never going to upset me. And in this era of playlists and streaming service bullshit, we — the listeners — have more control over what constitutes an "album" in practice than ever before.

I "get" the experiment. I even appreciate it. But I don't like it.

I don't want the album as a format to be redefined. I want it to be what it always has been.

I'm an old man. IDGAF.

This is an actual ALBUM, a collection of 78's in an album format.

Kanye west sucks.

speaking of playlists, I have this one I made that I love and am always tweaking called ASAP ETC... it's all A$AP Mob stuff and then stuff that feels like it influenced them; some Three 6, Bone Thugs, Cypress Hill and then some related stuff like SpaceGhost... such good evil chillout music.

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