Wayne and Chainz were awesome on Bounce.

"I'm so high the blunt feels like a dumbbell
These niggas tiny like a spider on a Spud Webb
I got some upscale cocaine on my thumbnail
I feed it to my fun gals, they say fuck yeah!"

That shit made me laugh.

"1AM" is amazing.

My problem w/ Still Brazy is it doesn't sound like an album to me. It just sounds like a mixtape or something. Like studio leftovers. "FDT" is so topical too. Meh. I don't know. I loved Krazy Life. And Blame It On The Streets at least worked as an interesting companion piece. But that ended w/ "2015 Flow," which is a better track than anything on Still Brazy. So I feel let down.

Haven't heard Blank Faces yet.

Weezy needs to take a breather. Make someone miss him. Even if he hasn't had an album proper since IANAHB2, he has still been everywhere constantly. The oversaturation happened long ago and anything he does drop doesn't make itself stand out. Every track he's recorded for the past many years sounds like the same tracks he'd record 20 at a time for his mixtapes.

you guys have to remmeber that the lifespan of a rapper is under 10 years. After a decade the entire hip hop culture has moved on, your teenage fans are now having babies, and you lose touch, thereby sucking.

I mean, listen to Fat Joe and whoever's track "All The Way Up" That shit sounds do fucking dated it gets old after like 30 seconds.

Hip Hop stopped being about performances maybe 20 years ago. There is nothing to allow a hip hop act or artist to continue a life of touring and performing, except for those packaged bullshit review shows where Big Daddy Kane comes out and does 20 minute medley of his hits na dthen Onyx does so and then whoever the fuck does too. it sucks.

Like seeing foreigner at the state fair

Like I said, I used to love Drake and looking back I can see why.. "Take Care" was a pretty album. It had some great melodies, that late night when you start reflecting on your life vibe, it was a pretty special record. And then "Nothing Was the Same" had airy prouction.. some great boom bap tracks where Drake was spitting, next to some weird sorta experimental tracks. It was his most consistent from start to finish. And "If You're Reading.." was a bunch of nothingness content-wise, but 40's mixing which made the production sound sorta spacey and unique, combined with Drake's flows and charisma throughout the tape made it entertaining.

Those were legit GOOD albums. Probably not classic.. in fact I'm already bored with "Take Care" and it's only been a few years. But sometimes I look back in embarrassment about the days I considered Drake one of hip-hop's heavy-weights and ask myself "what was I thinking?", however after taking those things into consideration I can understand why I felt that way at that time.

But now it's all fuck Drake. He's the only artist I genuinely hate.

Wayne is pretty hit or miss with features but he can still rap. His verses on Tyler's "Smuckers", Rocky's "M$'s" and Chance's "No Problems" were all fire. He'll never make another good album, but at least there's that.

NR - I can understand why you feel that way about Still Brazy. Honestly, it's some kind of a mixtape that he just released as an album so his homies who are featured throughout the tape could make bread. Just look at production line up.. shit was made with little to no budget. But for me, it works. It's authentic and genuine.. something we don't get to see very often in hip hop anymore.

I get that - I think it's just not the album I wanted FROM HIM. You 'know?

Like the same can be said about Streets Of Compton - "it's some kind of a mixtape that he just released as an album so his homies who are featured throughout the tape could make bread. Just look at production line up.. shit was made with little to no budget. But for me, it works. It's authentic and genuine.. " - but I really do like Streets Of Compton. Maybe because it was a surprise release so I didn't have like a year of expecting some certain other thing.

Except for Kanye. You might not like most of TLOP, but surely you realize that he's not done making waves, and he's not irrelevant. Indeed, his album was right next to Chance's on every single "Best rap of 2016" list I've seen so far. Dial it back a bit... Was JAY Z still as vital as Kanye when Late Reg and Graduation dropped? Not a perfectly analogous situation, I know, but it's close enough.

But yeah, rap is a losing game over the long haul for 99% of artists. 2 Chainz already sounds very "three years ago," and that's when he started to break. Most rappers just don't have enough creativity in them. They bet on their winning personalities and novelty appeal instead of digging in and becoming involved in the musical element of their profession. You've got to become more than just a flow and a voice to outlast the 10-year mark. Or, y'know, you have to break up or die.

:(

I still think he sounded old and in the way on a number of those "No Problems" bars. It was his best verse in ages, certainly, but fuck man... he's living in a dream world where he's still king shit. Chance was going his ass a favor.

speaking of, remember when Chance had the best verse on Weezy's whole tape?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKOWz0rfe7Y


You feel like Kool-Aid in a wine glass
Witchyo' fine ass
You fine as two grapes gettin' stomped out by a giant cask
You the best dressed with ya breasts showin'
Like a salad no dressing
Take ya to ya favorite restaurant
Ask for the bread then fuck in the restroom
They don't ask for a pass when yo ass waltz in my dress room
You the best bride and I'm the best groom
Wedding presents got my best man at the Best Buy
Buyin' the Best of Fresh Prince for the bedroom
I'mma buy a summer house, with a rec room
And a car with no backseat and some leg room
And some strawberries and some chocolate
And a fridge and some broccoli
Cause I know you like vegetables even though I don't
I won't say I won't eat it if you chef it
Fuck it I'll hire Geoffrey to get a beverage if you should ever get parched
You feel like Ruby Dee to me, great and powerful Ossie
Who's behind the man behind the curtain? Foxy
Coffee brown as the bosom I flew in on
Nose round like the wheels that my rims spin on
Lips full like the light on the dash was flickin'
Oh wait it wasn't
Oh and I forgot I'll take a microwaver oven
So we could kick the butler out and we can make a muffin
Maybe bake a dozen
My homeboy like yo sister maybe they can bake some cousins
Ooh isn't that sweet
You feel like Kool-Aid in a wine glass

I have an hour's drive home from work everyday, and I listened to Still Brazy on the way home. I found it uninteresting, found his rap "voice" to be uninspiring, and most of the beats were not clever in any way. I think I just don;t dig on that West Coast LA hip hop sound. never have.

I then listened to BlankFace, and I could not make it past 4 tracks. That shit is just plain lackluster.

Looking at the acts that I have really dug that you guys have turned me on to it appears that most of them are southern rappers. Being from The H and growing up with Geto Boys and Outkast, I find more affinity with the southern rappers. They speak to me more I guess.

I will give those two albums more spins, but nothing caught my ear whatsoever.

^this is the thoughtful, articulate version of Rob I enjoy talking about music with.

:P


Ha!

not hip hop, but my little jazz blog thing is a year old now. I wrote my thoughts on 49 records this year... http://thelowendtheoryofnoise.weebly.com/

Nice!

New Danny Brown LP named after Joy Division song! (Or the book the song was named after... But probably the song.)

http://pitchfork.com/news/66881-dann...ty-exhibition/

Also, Taylor Swift gave her permission for that goddamn "Famous" lyric, and Kim K. wasn't lying when she said she had it on video. Now T-Swift be mad... for some reason. Whatever, she's young. Young people are stupid as hell.

Great song totally overshadowed by bullshit unnecessary non-troversy. Crying shame.

her carefully curated image is so lie-dense that she has to fight every bit of intrusion.

I say, T-Swift, come out of the closet, be proud of who you are, and make sweet sweet love to your girlfriend til the cows come home....

Agreed. Also, she's a child. I don't know if you recall this or not, but about a year ago, when the MTV VMA nominees were announced, Nicki Minaj made a public comment about how the award industry was not interested in giving recognition to people of color, only "skinny white folks," or some such.

Anyway, Taylor Swift got, like, super offended at this generalized comment that was not directed at her, and called out Minaj on social media (as T-Swift is wont to do, 'cause she's so real and brave and blah), and everyone was like, dude... nobody said anything about you. Nicki was like, "whoah, chill."

The mere fact that she got offended and struck out before understanding, or even trying to process the larger message Ms. Minaj trying to project made her look like a goddamn fool, and showed the world that she was really just a huffy little girl. Not only that, but Minaj was talking about winners of awards. So Taylor's reaction (given she hadn't won anything yet) was like the ultimate humble-brag. It was embarrassing to witness.

Yet she continues to try for this image of being "above" all the fakeness and bullshit of celebrity feuding, even from deep within the shit-slinging trenches. Only children respond to situations like that.

She's a psychopath.

Just read this: http://cheezburger.com/631301/taylor-swift-meme

And this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b03fc3ee4ed251

Basically all you need to know.

Yeah that's cool. Hope we'll get to hear it soon.

y'all haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate

Dude, we're not taking about her music. We're talking about her crazy spoiled manipulative childish upper class white girl Abercrombie model ass!

What's really kind of fucked is that, although Kanye's been an enormous asshole and douche bag publically on multiple occasions, it's like... this really does not feel like a "Kanye problem" at all.

I know attitudes toward Yr on SYG and in the public have waned, but really, if we're going to talk about this let's call it like it is.

Kanye got her permission (which he didn't need) and she said she'd shove it in the media's fave when they inevitably asked her about it
Kanye debuted the song
Kanye caught a ton of shit, and said, truthfully, that Taylor had signed off on the lyric
Taylor (via spokesperson) lied and said nothing of the sort happened
Kanye caught hell from feminists on social media like that mediocre Australian chick from Orange is the New Black, and others
Months went by
Taylor made veiled references to the lyric at the Grammys
Taylor's brother rushed to her defense
Kanye was drilled, and again said "dude, I talked to her, she was on board"
More shit, more shit
MONTHS later, Kim says she has proof of the phone call on video
The Taylor Camp continues to deny it exists
Then, another month plus later, Kim finally posts the video
Taylor is revealed to have lied - for what fucking reason, by the way?
Taylor proceeds to get mad at Kanye very publically and act like a victim

That's the story. He could have made this public on February 13. He gave her ample time to either tell the truth or at least stop bitching. They said they had a video, nothing changed.
What the fuck did Taylor expect exactly? Wait. I know this. She expected to have the privilege of being an asshole and a liar and a victim all at once, without ever being questioned, and now she expects people to buy her bullshit excuse for why the phone call wasn't legit.

... Because she's a privileged white girl who is used to getting anything and everything she wants.

It's just fucking madness. She wants to both engage in celebrity "shade-throwing" and also be above it. She was caught doing and little hustle for whatever reason, and she can't just take her medicine and be like, yeah, I lied. I shouldn't have. Moving on.

I know. I hate when we talk about kanye being crazy too tho.

... And now she's suing Kanye West for recording a phone call (pretty universally illegal without consent).

However, the call was filmed by West's videographer to document the album making process. So... stupid.

He probably should have just said, "yo I'm filming this, FYI," and she probably would have said it was fine at the time. But hey, he probably wanted her to sue him. He *literally* begged for it upon the video's release.

Anyway, it's odd that Taylor threatened legal action about recording the call back in March. Then claimed there was no video.

Whatever. It's just a bummer that this is what "Famous" is going to be remembered for.

I agree with all that yeah

well it'll prob be remembered for the video too

Ah that's even worse. Not that I've seen it. I've just seen stills. But I strongly believe that I'm better off not watching videos unless they're unanimously declared baller as hell by everyone whose opinion I value. The imagery that comes into my head when I'm listening to the song is always better.

Videos can ruin music. And I certainly don't think a nude Donald Trump is going to make me like famous MORE. Fuck that noise.

Me too :(

the rhetoric at the RNCinCle made me have to put on some dead prez

I heard the house band played "Station to Station" by David Bowie. Was the band full of subversive liberals trying to get in a subliminal about Nazi Germany? That's the first thought I had when I read that. Hilarious.

Hah.

Well, it's not like I relish this shit. The fact that Kanye's on the butt end of this ass-fucking doesn't help, but I think this actually kind of speaks volumes about celebrity identity and race. Black celebs act crazy, they're labeled crazy and are expected to apologize. White bitches act crazy, they expect a pay-day, and for the world to apologize to them.

"Character assassination" my ass. Nobody in the entertainment world knows more about that shit than one Mr. West. Love him or hate him, this is the truth about white fear of black influence.

"White-a white-a white America / assassinate my character / money, matrimony now they wanna to break this marriage up" -- Kanye West, "Who Gon Stop Me"

I guess Marvel's doing more hip-hop variant covers. Not sure how up to date this is, but I just read about it.

I poured through them looking for good ones, and found a couple that are pretty dope:


(Spider-Man/CRUEL SUMMER)


(Captain America & Falcon, Avengers Standoff / STANKONIA)


(Black Panther / THE BLACK ALBUM)

That Cap one has to be the best of the bunch. Blends both the comic and the album seamlessly, making both look totally kickass. Makes me want to do exactly what it should make me want to do: read Cap and listen to OutKast.

im sorry bruh its not racism, no black man has been more accepted and embraced by mainstream media and white america in many years than Kanye West.

It is called "Taylor plays the game, and Kanye does not"

Yeah, that's true enough I suppose. I was gonna argue with you, and cite all the "haters" out there, but I can't think of anyone else who's been quite as lauded, even with all the hatred taken into account.

Maybe Obama. Probably not.

But even if it's not a "Kanye" thing, it doesn't mean there isn't a racist sentiment behind the entitlement felt by Swift, and her presumption that she will be believed to be the victim, regardless of what the facts may be.

Maybe.. and maybe you are reading way to into this.

Kanye knew he was trolling her with the lyric, knew he was trolling her even harder by calling her, knew what she was saying in that video recorded conversation was pure platitude and not likely "legally binding" when lawyers get involved, was so boring that Rick Rubin was taking a nap in the background like the guy on the couch in Half Baked, somehow has been instigated by Kim Kardashian who is a known media pariah...

(yes I watched the video)

sounds to me like this is a bunch of TMZ drama and frankly that an artist you respect and admire is entangled in it all should kind of embarrass you at least a slight bit que no?

The whole things screams "MIDDLE SCHOOL BULLSHIT"

Yeah, it's embarrassing. But I rarely invest any time or energy into these things, and I steer pretty clear of Kanye's celebrity shenanigans. It distracts me from the music, and interrupts the purity of the relationship I've established with that music. So whatever happens, it's whatever.

I haven't watched the video, btw.