Ok, can you please clear this up for me: what exactly does “throwing subliminals” mean in reference to hip hop?

You can't possibly mean actual subliminal messages... right? It must just be slang for thinly veiled insults... Eh?

No way drake has the knowledge of frequency or perceptual recognition to personally weave sublimated stimuli into his recordings or album covers...

Though I'm sure he has a sound engineer or two, and a capable visual marketing guy. But seriously, it's slang for talkin shit, right?

haha yes but lightly, without mentioning any names.

yeah! this album is flames *hi-five*.

i'm starting to notice how Anderson Paak, who was completely unheard of before this album, absolutely steals the show here. Animals is my favorite song so far, i swear Preemo's beats will always be the hardest.

Woah whut? The Blueprint is amazing.

But for an unfortunate Eminem track passing as a Jigga joint called Renegade. I will never understand why that, of all songs, had to be on that album (of all albums).

Yeah, The Blueprint is incredible of course, but it's not a perfect 10 and never will be. Not for me anyway. Just illustrating how much I can't stand Em... cuz you all know how much I love HOV.

I can't even pick a favorite. It just clips right along, rarely letting up. But Genocide, One Shot One Kill, Deep Water and Just Another Day are all definite standouts. Kendrick brings the motherfuckin' fire as always. I'm not sure he's ever sounded quite so completely in control. And GOD it feels good to hear Snoop fuckin' rap.

Yeah, I'm digging it.

And there was me starting to think I was going insane at how no one was talking about it on here.

last few albums i've heard:

new FKA twigs EP - excellent.

Chief Keef "Bang 3" - pretty good, but definitely worse than Almighty So and Back from the Dead 2, Keef is heading to a less adventurous area.

Gunplay's debut - solid album, but the production is outdated and some of the features suck.

Lil B and Chance tape - fun for the most part but i'll never listen again.

Migos' debut - horrible. Quavo definitely outshines the other two rappers, he needs to go solo and make autotuned R&B ballads.

Was there ever any doubt? I need to get my paws on this with the quickness.


Wasn't Bang 3 originally recorded as the Finally Rich follow-up? I read part of the Pitchfork review (yeah, I know) and it seemed to confirm this, but I admittedly don't know a great deal about Keef, being only familiar with his guest work and his mixtapes.

But if this is the case, and Bang 3 has been sitting on the shelf, or in some kind of legal grey area, since Keef's Interscope days, then we can take comfort in the fact that the clean, relatively accessible sound is less an indication of where Chief Keef is going, and more of a relic of where he's been.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't actually heard it yet, but I've really loved his 2015 mixtape arsenal, so I'm much more interested in the prolific, crazy ass post major label Keef than I am in any remaining pop inclinations he may have.


I've been looking forward to this one, so I hope it turns out to be a grower. AgainI haven't heard it yet. My ability to download anything other than iTunes music has been severely limited since we moved into this house I'm renovating in the stickiest part of the sticks.


I decided to stay away from this one completely once I realized what the premise was. I want a proper follow up to Acid Rap (which I've been able to listen to and enjoy again recently, for the first time since I played it into the motherfucking ground back in 2013), and I'm not interested in hearing any more one-off experiments or fuck-arounds. They just aren't doing it for me. Why has Chance been testing fate like this?

The Underachievers were the other big mixtape winners of 2013, and they're about to drop their second full length official studio LP since Indigoism! If you count the phenomenal solo EP's AK and Issa have dropped in this time, that basically amounts to 3 full albums' and one mixtape of pure, top quality Underachievers material in the same amount of time Chance has released... uhh... Nothing! He contributed to Surf, and played Lil B with Lil B, but that motherfucker better get cracking before he misses his shot.



Sad news.

Why is it that Joey Bada$$ and Vince Staples (and to a lesser extent Action Bronson) have been the only motherfuckers to successfully drop a legitimate debut album in 2015? All these other hype ass rappers have only managed to swan dive right in their fucking faces! Look at Young Thug's bitch ass! Yuck. Last year Migos had the world by the junk, and now they've fucked it up too?

My advice: stop releasing "debut albums" that have one foot in the "mixtape" world, and don't even come with a proper physical release. That is not how you set the world on fire!

I appreciate B4.DA.$$ More with every listen. In terms of flow and lyrical content and pure technical skill, it's second only to TPAB. If You're Reading This has a more sophisticated mood and Tetsuo & Youth has better production... Summertime '06 is probably a more enthralling album, but Joey Bada$$ dropped a sleeper hit that feels more like a classic every day.
It's such a great album, and it's only become greater, so much so that I can't rule out the possibility that it might end up being the Rap album of the year.

the thing is, in the last few months Keef got signed by a greek billionaire and re-recorded the entire album, except "Superheroes" with A$AP Rocky which was intended for the original Bang 3 on Interscope. Superheroes is easily the best song on the album and makes me wish we got the original Bang 3 instead.. Interscope probably dropped him because they couldn't handle his weirdness. he's clearly guided now and that's the last thing i want from him, his beautiful "mistakes" made him so interesting.

this is a great line though: "remember having pistol fights/ now i'm having food fights", pretty much sums up Keef's evolution in the last couple of years. :)

Gunplay is a great rapper, it's just that there's almost nothing interesting going on there musically. it's not his fault though. dude just needs more support from his label.

Snoop and Daz approve of this message.

updated top 10:

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Miguel - Wildheart
Drake - If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
Dr. Dre - Compton
Vince Staples - Summertime '06
Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
Future - DS2 / 56 Nights / Beast Mode
FKA twigs - M3LL155X EP
Björk - Vulnicura
Jazmine Sullivan - Reality Show

Kool Keith dont make it over Drake? DRAKE??

Kool Keith dont make it over Drake? DRAKE??

mothafuckin' DRIZZY DRAKE!!

Your overall top 10 then, not just hip-hop... that's cool. Good list bro.

I am not yet ready to talk general top 10's yet, but here's how hip-hop is looking at the moment (changes are constant an inevitable)

Vince Staples - Summertime '06
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$
Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late
A$AP Rocky - At.Long.Last.A$AP
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth
Kool Keith & L'Orange - Time? Astonishing!
Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge - 12 Reasons to Die II
Dr. Dre - Compton
Curren$y - Pilot Talk 3

Kool Keith's album is incredible for sure. I didn't stop listening to it at all for the first week or so. But it's mighty short, and easy to play out. Drake's record is a slow burner. It's been in and out of rotation all year, but every time it comes back in it sounds better. They're really different albums, and incomparable artists but I'd put Drake over Keith for 2015 too.

Sighs. Sometimes y'all have way to much Pitchfork taste in music man... its a good thing we're all friends here

Ok, what are your favorite hip-hop albums of the year so far, SFAD?

Louder - You heard Beauty Behind the Madness yet?

That shit's on Spotify if anyone's interested. New Weeknd album. Just sayin.

And it's... Pretty goddamn Michael Jackson-y... in a mostly good way.

yeah it's dope. like a modern take on MJ's "Bad" album.

Miley just dropped a 23 song album with contributions from The Flaming Lips as well as Mike Will and Ariel Pink..



it's lo-fi experimental/psychedelic pop and i absolutely love it. seriously amazed by some of these songs.

how does one go from #Bangerz to this album? wow.

stream it for free here: http://www.mileycyrus.com/andherdeadpetz

Uh - with the help and influence of the Flaming Lips?

Speaking of which, they should be announcing whatever their 2015 "thing" is going to be soon. New album? Covers record (hope not). Reissue series continuation? Rarely does a year go by when the Lips don't drop anything.

By the way....

Has ANYONE fucking heard ANYTHING about the goddamn Yeezus follow-up that's been in the "any day now" zone since, like, 2 months after Yeezus dropped?!

ANYONE/ANYTHING?!?!???!?

The wait has been torture!! The news nonexistent.

WHEN THE FUCK IS THIS THING DROPPING?!!?!???!!

For that matter, when's Pusha's new joint coming out?

I'm so irritated.

Motherfucker can tell us his political plans for 20-goddamn-20 but can't give us a release date (or a proper, non ludicrous title) for the album that was supposed to come out "any week now" exactly one fucking year ago.

God blast you Yeezy! If you want to go into politics you're going to need to learn a bit about hearts & minds (re: how NOT to fuck with them!)

Still, I'd vote for him over the entire Republican Barbarian Horde of 2016. No joke.

start packing your bags, because trump is going to be he next president

I'm not yet so completely and utterly disillusioned that I can even envision a future where that's an actual possibility.

I know Americans are dumb, fat, complacent, puppet-strung little shats, who "think" via cloud and Facebook news feed, and barely qualify as human beings compared to more progressive cultures who cherish independent thought and resist all government mind-policing (here's to being French in the next life! *clink!*), but as cute a show as he's putting on, he's very obviously a moron.

In that Palin interview I gasped at the realization that Donald Trump (who, logic would dictate, must have some intellectual strengths, even if they're limited to keen manipulations of entrepreneurial showmanship, designed to trick a culture of Euro-bread peons into believing in the myth of the self-made man) is actually a less astute political mind than Sarah Fucking Palin. It's like being a less determined ball club than the Chicago Cubs, and yet, that's what he is.

I know he's using some rather obvious "ohnohedint" maneuvers to make himself seem less like a doltish MOR republican spoon sucker (that nonsense about taxes should only fool the short-bus seat fillers on Capital Hill), but despite our limitless arrogance and ignorance as voters, I refuse to believe that even the republican electorate is stupid enough to actually cast more than a poll vote in that walking blow-up doll's favor.

Great example of someone who makes Kanye West look like a legitimate, desirable and even highly qualified presidential hopeful.

But yes I will leave the country if that ape enters office.

"Oh I'll be great at it! Yeah! Yeah! I'll be great at being president. You kiddin?' I'll be so good with women! I love women! Women are so- ah, you kiddin'? I cherish women. I'd be soo good on women. And the military!"

ha ha ha

im gettting ready to live off a backpack in either case

new SCARFACE and Rick Ross projects tomorrow!

Ross' mixtape is out: http://www.datpiff.com/Rick-Ross-Bla...pe.732049.html

damn Ross' tape is even better than Mastermind, what a surprise.

Get over myself? Um, no.

Yeah, the man certainly trips over his tongue a lot. If you're somehow under the impression that I would *actually* vote for Kanye, be not afraid. I value the illusion of a democratic system way too much to abuse my civic duty and privilege the way millions of Republicans are talking about doing with Mr. T.

But he's not fucking crazy. I don't need you to post interviews. I know he sounds like a 13 year old's inner narrative on ecstasy. But I think that's more a product of his penchant for "ad-lib" (Kanye speak for haphazardly expounding on a single unfocused idea without bothering to prepare, practice, arrange his thoughts or choose his words at any point before, during or after delivering his speech)... With a little bit of training in extemporaneous and impromptu public speaking, I think he'd be able to decrease his average number of trailed off half sentences and repetitions of the same word (dude, youth, art, die, bro, blast, like etc.)

Whatever man, new Travi$ Scott is out today.

I barely remember Mastermind or Hood Billionaire. Maybe I need to revisit those.

But I'm way more excited about Rodeo than anything else right now.

The new Underachievers singles are a little disappointing. Especially "Chasing Faith". It's just so... I don't know... "Hey look at us, we're smart guy rappers who talk about philosophical stuff and spirituality, no listen, we really are! Take this song for example... I'm hearin you over the head with ponderous community college zen bullshit, so clearly we're smarter than the average rappers!!!"

In fact I think that is the chorus, verbatim. Not fun at all.

Mastermind isn't that great. it was cool, but i thought you guys were all over it. whatever.. the new tape is definitely better, possibly on Rich Forever's level. Hood Billionaire sucks for the most part but it's mostly a compilation of old leftovers so i wasn't mad.

oh yeah, Rodeo is terrible in my opinion, nowhere as good as Days Before Rodeo which i enjoyed a lot. what a disappointment.

I was into Mastermind for a short while, definitely looked forward to its release... but it was immediately clear that it wasn't a masterpiece. To me at least. Kanye's feature was the best moment on the album.

I know NR loved it. He's more consistent than I am. I just don't think I'm much of a Rick Ross fan anymore.

Super bummed to hear that Rodeo's a disappointment. I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet and I am tired of buying iTunes albums, so I was going to order it from Amazon or something. But maybe I'll listen to the whole thing on Spotify before I make a decision.

Honestly what I have hear sounds pretty good. I love "Piss On Your Grave" ... What about it is specifically off putting to you?

I like Days Before Rodeo too, and you got me into it (thanks, btw) but it doesn't play like an album. I really only find myself revisiting about half the tracks. Rodeo has a completely different kind of sound as far as I can tell. More aggressive. But I'm ok with that. Like I said though, I'll listen to it in full before I buy.

Yeah i love mastermind. Only RR album i love. I am really not a fan.

Yeah. Pretty much same here. I don't love Mastermind, but before I played it to death it was fun. "Sanctified" is an indisputably dope ass track, and there are a number of other top notch moments. But it's got a lot of filler.

I'm listening to it right now and I'm enjoying it. "Sanctified" is even better than I remember. I like Teflon Don too of course. And they a lot of great moments tucked away in his discography, but I'm not, like, gonna list Rick at the top of any lists... no albums lists, no tracks lists, certainly no artists lists.

I don't hate him, but as much as he would like to be the Jigga of Florida, he's not. Everything's a little dumber in Florida though. Hah.

Teflon Don are Deeper Than Rap are better albums though.. also Rich Forever and the new one even though they were released as mixtapes.

it's an overproduced mess, and Travis is simply not a good enough rapper to carry it. he's like a mash of Cudi, Kanye and every hot trap/mainstream rapper out minus the talent of either. at least Days Before Rodeo has Drugs You Should Try It, which is still his best song, in my opinion anyway.. listen to it for the features and perhaps some production ideas.