Unsupported Claims About Hip-Hop [The Rap Thread]

[Antero]

Gunplay's album is going to slay faces.  He's got enough force to compete with Waka, but more of a wolf than a bear.

[fishjim]

fishjim, if you've not heard dedication 2 or da drought 3, you need to. Everyone needs to.

I went ahead and looked up some links for you.

http://www.sharebeast.com/dl152py4mpka

"zoom zoom bitch, ride a nigga broom witch".

http://www.sharebeast.com/nk3garaapwir

"I'm so motherfucking high I could eat a star".

thanks, alistarr! got dedication 2 in the earbuds now. LIKE LIKE LIKE

[Chet]

new DOOM project. doesn't sound that great.


http://lexrecords.com/2012/02/jj-doom-banished-preview-x/

i dunno.

[jm]

I like it so far

[Chet]

man, malice is on some fucking WHACK shit

"Of course we will miss Whitney but she was Saved, are you? We may grieve but not as unbelievers grieve. Their mourning is without measure and has no end because they are without hope."

[shai faithe]

does this mean that noz isn't allowed to hate on early anticon anymore?

[milly balgeary]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpxZdL2hQVc

man i need more death grips. fuck lil b, death grips for life.

[Trousers and Pat]

uh, new shady blaze boys.

I like the cover

[Trousers and Pat]

yeah this is fire

[shai faithe]

oh my god two death grips full lengths this year!?

[Antero]

uh, new shady blaze boys.

I like the cover

Haha his next cover is gonna be his tall tee.

shady blaze is 25% head, 25% legs and 50% tall tee

[milly balgeary]

oh my god two death grips full lengths this year!?

I'm super excited.

[Antero]

Gave Kanye's MBDWTF another spin today, approaching with fresh ears and less immediate resentment.

"Dark Fantasy" - The chorus is cool.  I like the troll-sounding voice.  The verses are weak - he's doing the Kanye southside-to-south-France narrative, but it sounds totally joyless and cold.  I was listening to College Dropout directly before this and the change is freaky.
"Gorgeous" - This is trash until Raekwon comes in, at which point it turns into a totally different and awesome song.  There is no justification for this track being six minutes long.  Or for having Kanye on it.
"Power" - Overlong and sort of sloppy, but I like it.
"All Of The Lights Interlude" - Unnecessary douche-strings!  IT IS SO ARTISTIC
"All Of The Lights" - Fantastic song.
"Monster" - Grown on me a lot.  Bon Iver is still totally unnecessary.  The vocals are very well recorded on this track.  I'm not sure why I noticed that.
"So Appalled" - Fucking christ this is the most boring thing ever.  Fuck you, Kanye.  Six minutes and forty seconds?  You let Swizzy have a chorus?  How did it take three people to make this beat?  These lyrics are awful.  Cyhi the Prince should be beaten.  The only good part of this song is RZA at the end for ten seconds.  My resentment of Kanye West is once again immediate.
"Devil In A New Dress" - Sounds like old Kanye, kind of like "Late" or "Celebration" but not as good.  Still, thumbs up.
"Runaway" - Ugh.  No.  Catchy, inane, self-obsessed.  Kanye breathing through a vocoder is the worst sound.
"Hell of a Life" - Simultaneously trying too hard and not putting enough into it.  It would sound okay in the background at a fashion show, which I guess was the point.  Empty.
"Blame Game" - Awful, treacly, and eight fucking minutes long.  Fuck you, Kanye
"Lost In The World/Who Will Survive In America?" - FUCK YEAH ROBOT GOSPEL CHOIR!  This one's great.  Gil Scott-Heron is awesome.

Well, that's that.

[Chet]

Man, Jay Z's Vol 2. has some super dud beats on it, i'm thinking particularly the one-two hit of 'Ride or Die' and 'Nigga What, Nigga Who' the former is maybe his lowest point from all the stuff i've heard.

[shai faithe]

'Nigga What, Nigga Who'

 

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

that's vol. 2 you're talking about and are you seriously shitting on "n___ what n___ who," i'm flouncin

[Chet]

hov's uhh flow is uhh ill on that track but the beat is fuckin whack. staid and repetitive. i'm callin it.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

man that is a classic timbaland beat, it feels totally restless, like it changes slightly each bar

[Chet]

i dunno man. half of that album is flat to me. can we at least agree that 'ride or die' is absolutely a warm turn of a jam? real loose butthole.

[fishjim]

Gave Kanye's MBDWTF another spin today, approaching with fresh ears and less immediate resentment.

"Dark Fantasy" - The chorus is cool.  I like the troll-sounding voice.  The verses are weak - he's doing the Kanye southside-to-south-France narrative, but it sounds totally joyless and cold.  I was listening to College Dropout directly before this and the change is freaky.
"Gorgeous" - This is trash until Raekwon comes in, at which point it turns into a totally different and awesome song.  There is no justification for this track being six minutes long.  Or for having Kanye on it.
"Power" - Overlong and sort of sloppy, but I like it.
"All Of The Lights Interlude" - Unnecessary douche-strings!  IT IS SO ARTISTIC
"All Of The Lights" - Fantastic song.
"Monster" - Grown on me a lot.  Bon Iver is still totally unnecessary.  The vocals are very well recorded on this track.  I'm not sure why I noticed that.
"So Appalled" - Fucking christ this is the most boring thing ever.  Fuck you, Kanye.  Six minutes and forty seconds?  You let Swizzy have a chorus?  How did it take three people to make this beat?  These lyrics are awful.  Cyhi the Prince should be beaten.  The only good part of this song is RZA at the end for ten seconds.  My resentment of Kanye West is once again immediate.
"Devil In A New Dress" - Sounds like old Kanye, kind of like "Late" or "Celebration" but not as good.  Still, thumbs up.
"Runaway" - Ugh.  No.  Catchy, inane, self-obsessed.  Kanye breathing through a vocoder is the worst sound.
"Hell of a Life" - Simultaneously trying too hard and not putting enough into it.  It would sound okay in the background at a fashion show, which I guess was the point.  Empty.
"Blame Game" - Awful, treacly, and eight fucking minutes long.  Fuck you, Kanye
"Lost In The World/Who Will Survive In America?" - FUCK YEAH ROBOT GOSPEL CHOIR!  This one's great.  Gil Scott-Heron is awesome.

Well, that's that.

Thanks for that Antero. Nothing shows my ignorance of 21st-century rap more than that I still don't get Kanye. Admittedly I haven't tried very hard. Are there a few safe bets I should re-try with?

[Antero]

His first two albums are still unimpeachably great.  Some filler, but the highs are very high indeed.

man that is a classic timbaland beat, it feels totally restless, like it changes slightly each bar

Yeah, hating on any aspect of "Nigga What Nigga Who" is deranged.  That beat is fantastically jittery, and Jay nails it.

I spent an hour on a road trip trying to get his verses down.  Hard as hell.

[alistarr*]

"Power" - Overlong and sort of sloppy, but I like it.

Did you see the promo video that was like a minute long or something? It came on one night when we were watching TV and it was basically the best bit of unexpected televisual greatness I've yet seen. When it finished we sat there looking at each other like "that was awesome" for a moment or so until we were gripped by the unavoidable gentle sadness of knowing that the album version would be five minutes long and surrounded by other unnecessary songs. He should've just put that minute on a CD and sold it for £10.

 

[alistarr*]

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L53gjP-TtGE

Also I think Chet deliberately hated on Jay Z because he saw what you wrote about "Runaway".

[alistarr*]

Also also 808s and Dark Grapes just got released on purple double vinyl so this week I spent my money on something I already have, and a bit of extra cardboard to carry with me when I move house.

[Chet]

don't get me wrong, I generally love Jay-Z.

I listened to The Blueprint afterwards and it made it all better. Then that led me to seek out a bunch of David Ruffin just on the back of the sample from 'Never Change'.