I really loved "Excuse me" but that was the most traditionally Rocky sounding track on the album. Maybe I need to revisit it because I loved it at first.

Ok, so the Dead.
Actually this is pretty relevant to the discussion about TLOP, which is turning out to be almost a live, interactive album mastering experience. We hear a version, react to a version (like the live stream), and our reactions play a role in the next version. When you look at it that way, it's almost like the entire book is being rewritten here. I stopped listening to the version on Tidal days ago, but I swear the last time I heard it it sounded different. Maybe it was the quality of the device speakers, or maybe the album is being treated and altered live in front of the world, leading us to ask "what's the REAL TLOP?" Just as I posited that the entire TLOP project was an attempt to address the question of "Who's the REAL Kanye?" ... (a theory that I really should have printed, because I've seen it come up elsewhere and I could use some lawsuit cash moneys.)

This reminds me of the Dead in more ways than one. Obviously those of us who know the Dead intimately know that the album versions of songs were often almost incidental. Try falling in love with the American Beauty version of "Friend of the Devil" and then trying to find a love version that evokes the same feeling... Or even has the same meter.
So there's an obvious parallel there. But there's also the fact that, frankly, it can be really hard to be a Dead fan just as it can be hard to be a Ye fan.

However, I put my headphones on and blasted the shit out of the live stream of TLOP because Kanye's so unpredictable that for all I knew, it was going to be the only time I heard it. I needed to be a part of that.

This is the case with the Dead as well. Unfortunately, if you haven't see the Dead live, you haven't really experienced them. They were/are the most "of the moment" band in contemporary rock music. Like you said, seeing their shows is like being part of the band. They interacted with the audience, and the mood of the experience, automatically. Without consideration. Creating new moments on the spot that often went on to define songs (see the Live Dead version of "Dark Star"). All versions are exquisitely different. This can be absolutely infuriating, but it's also what makes the Dead the Dead. In that sense, and in the way they absorbed the mood of the audience and the audience listened to them, they created something new and let you out your stamp on their songs. Ever wonder why those Deadheads you know have, like, four or five giant cd books of shows, or three iPods containing nothing but Dead? This is why. Whether they were reaching backward in time and capturing a bluegrass feel, or reaching forward to improvise some bizarre genre concoction, they were always stretching their arms.

In a way, as much as I love the Dead's studio albums, they exist only as snapshots of what those songs sounded like at that time. They share this quality with jazz greats. The never. Stopped. Growing. While this might not always make for a great discography, it's the mark of true creative genius. The Grateful Dead resisted stasis at all costs. But unlike the Beatles or Kanye West, they did their growing and expanding perpetually, not just album by album.

Kanye West resists stasis as well. This is a mark of many of my favorite artists... the need to question limitations, definitions, etc. I love Sonic Youth because their entire premise as a band was to stretch the limits of groove, harmony, beauty and chaos in music. They didn't play by any rules but their own. That's why I'm not irked that Thurston's recruiting an Adele producer for his new album. And I don't care if Kanye West needs to keep tweaking this shit forever.

If he pulled a Drake and hedged his bets, he could have called TLOP a mixtape. If he had, if it was, I doubt anyone would be disappointed. But I digress. The fact that he's bending the rules of what "albums" are may have irritated me, but it also proves that he's still on his grind... still absolutely refusing to be put in any kind of box.

Of course, the Dead did the same thing. Many Dead fans don't even listen to the studio albums. I'm not one of them. Don't know about you, but that's whatever. The magic is in the experience that is created during the periods of experimentation. I count myself lucky that there's all this Kanye out there, more for me to wrap my brain around.

But yeah, the Dead were good at improv and stuff. :)

Thank you. Could you elaborate more on what i mentioned about the uniqueness of not just listening to the recordings of shows, but how actually being there live you truly feel like you csn feel the music being created spontaneously and you can feel where it is going?

It reminds me very much of chilling in the jam space just sitting in with whoever showed up to free jam. The music is being created on the fly

And to be sure i am one of those Deadheads who used to have backpacks full of bootlegs.. now i keep them all on one flash drive but it still accounts for upwards of 2/3 of my overall music

Yeah I definitely prefer this version, nice find. Young Thug has to go.

Time for some classic Jay-Z: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DitP6zlxWTE

"IN MY LIFETIMEEEE"

Man, you were at the exact show I wanted to attend.
I saw the Grateful Dead in Seattle in 1995. I wasn't exactly as keyed in as I would be today.
Not sure what you were expecting. :(

still, I wrote a fuckton about this shit just because you asked me to. I normally get paid cash money for writing.

I'm gonna pull a you after your Terminator reference and demand some props beyond a "thank you."

I'm jealous of your ass for making it to the one show that mattered. Hard to think of it as the Grateful Dead, but next best thing for sure.

Yeeeah! I thought Jay was a relic around these parts. There is this feeling in the air that his time as a recording artist may be over, and that he's ok with just touring until the apocalypse like the Stones.

But thanks for the much needed Jay boost. Was just jamming Vol. 2 the other day after reading about DMX's (ahem) problems, and reading in an article about the incident that DMX "actually beat Jay to the punch since Jay didn't truly breakthrough until 'Hard Knock Life'" which came out after It's Dark and Hell is Hot.

Must have been a young ass writer, probably a white one, because I remember "Dead Presidents" like I remember losing my fucking virginity. Yeah, I was still processing Jay and yeah, "Hard Knock Life" is the song that made me into a super fan.. one of the best hip-hop singles of all time no question... But still, I'm pretty sure DMX didn't "beat" Jay to anything except perhaps for death ..

(Death is no joking matter and I feel for the X, but you don't just go claiming DMX had it over Jay Fucking Z in the late '90s without repercussions. Jay brought lyrical rap to the mainstream, and didn't need to bark like a dog to make an impression)

That Fare Thee Well show was a magical adventure. The drive up from LA all kinds of deadheads on the 5 with us.

But i will say the New Year's Eve show here in LA was close.

And how can i give you more than

You're right... That was nice of you to say. :) totally untrue, at least for most, but super sweet anyway. Thanks.

Wish I could travel back in time so I could relate with you on the Dead thang. I do remember the show though. Months before Jerry passed. I was there with my uncle and dad and some of their stoney buds as well as my cousins.

I'm glad I could appreciate it at all, since in '95 I was doing the sullen teenager thing. But what can I say? The Dead are untouchable cool. Even my little punk ass realized that. I need to get a copy of that show, actually.

louder (and Rob) - I hate to say I wasn't feeling that King album. Shrug. Just didn't hit me.

Understandable. Maybe it'll grow on you.

Very exciting news!!!

J Dilla's The Diary Vocal Album Detailed, Featuring Madlib, Snoop Dogg, Pete Rock, More
http://pitchfork.com/news/63633-j-di...ete-rock-more/

"This ... is the last record that he actually wanted out"
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...diary-20160218

yeah I posted about that in the 2016 Anticipation thread. Looks awesome.

Looks incredible. I haven't really been feeling a lot of these posthumous J Dilla legacy cash-in records. The pure Dilla shit, like last year's Dillatronic, is fine but the rest is meh. This is different... If this is an album he oversaw himself and Dilla actually wanted to see release, then bring it on!

This thread has been very quiet this weekend. I've had, like, ten more Kanye/TLOP revelations, but I'm not about to write a bunch of shot for nobody. What happened? Did you all have family reunions this weekend or some shit?

My grandma's 91st birthday actually.

I had my fun trash talking Kanye and picking on you Sev, so i decided to be productive and do my lesson planning instead