new Ghostface album is amazing. So good.

@suchfriends: Tree is on there.

Tree got some respect finally? Now if only that ninja would start selling his shit on bandcamp like i been telling him for over a year now he might make some $...

Waitin on quality internet access + rare free time to check out that Black Knights link i found.. did anyone check it out yet? Any good? How could it NOT

yeah I listened to a few tracks and it's fucking good.

man Kanye just performed All Day at the BRIT awards. it was the hardest shit ever, i had to sit through 2 hours of pretty much nothing but Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran praise but it was worth it. Kanye had all those white people shook. hope the song drops on iTunes tonight.

Yeyahhh!!

Yeah, why hasn't anyone been talking about that one? Honestly, compared to the reception 12 Reasons got from this thread 2 yrs ago, we've been practically shunning the Killah. I still think 36 Seasons was (with the exception of a track or two) pretty much the hardest shit to drop in recent memory from someone other than Ye, Pusha or Underachievers.

And I love the BADBADNOTGOOD collab.

I'm not actually super impressed by the new Drake, and the new Big Sean only really holds my attention when Kanye's voice comes through. Sean still has a loooong way to go.

And I just think I might not be a drake fan. Maybe if I stop reading about him and viewing vines of him making stupid faces I'd change my mind, but for now I have to admit that I don't understand why he's such a favorite. He's embarrassing to watch, even when he's performing. And he needs to stop singing four line choruses on other people's tracks. If you're gonna guest on a rap single, RAP YA BITCH! You are SO not the next Jay-Z. Aaahhhh!

Ok I'm going too hard on Drake.

Maybe it was waking up to that coffee-spitting double-take story about "OVO's" Hamlet audition and it's accompanying vine.

That was just plain not good for anyone.

But I'm spinning IYRTITL and I'm starting to mellow. It's better than the non-Yeezy infused moments of Dark Sky Paradise. The beats are hot and it's irregularity gives it an air of genuineness.

"No Tellin'" has some creepy ass samples.

"Please don't speak to me like
I'm that Drake from 4 yrs ago / I'm at a higher place
Thinkin' they're lions and Tigers and Bears /
I go Huntin' put heads on my fireplace"

Yeah, that's what's called fire. No question. That is objective fire.
"6PM in New York" may have a harder beat and a harder message than anything Drake's released yet.

However, saying that he "wants to prove that he's #1" isn't going to do him any good. When you're #1, like Jay in his prime, or Kanye right now, you don't even need to say it.

Drake's done well here.
I admit, today was my first time listening to the record. I am still processing.
However, this is a surprisingly good little treat. It's good enough to make me forget what a flamboyant Dbag Drake seems determined to be.

Anyway, forgive me.

That track directed at his mom is insane.

yes.

Shhhhhhh.. that should have been some PM type shit

we did miss you son.

realized All Day kinda sounds like a mix of I'm in It, Black Skinhead and NIP.. wow. anybody else hear it?

also notice the Wu influence -

Is this on iTunes yet like you'd hoped? If not, where can I download a high quality rip of the song?

Yeah, I know I was trying to hold out until the album dropped, but it just doesn't make sense for me to not know the song when all those fuckers in the audience, on stage, watching on TV and YouTubing, do. They think they're better than me?

no. :(

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k2PRYm1DnaFv2jaf66Y

this is all we have so far.

HURRY IT UP YEEZY!

Is he building hype up? Is that what this is? Fuck, in '13 it was like: oh yah, btw, Kanye's coming out with a new album in 4 weeks. It may or may not have a cover, it's 8 songs long and it's called Yeezus. No singles. Just a heads up.

I remember the sinking "this does not feel like an appropriate follow up to MBDTF" feeling in my stomach, and I felt that way until
I heard the album.

At this point, the whole "surprise" album thing has been Beyoncé'd, Springsteen'd, D'Angelo'd, Drake'd and more or less done to death. He should not try to milk that trend, because it's becoming commonplace.

It's time to start dropping teasers. This album is supposed to be a joyful triumph? A big deal? Something like that? Well then it should be marketed like Dark Knight Rises. In many ways it's going to be viewed as the finale of his second trilogy. Let's get some fanfare in this bitch!

NR: Why do you think Sour Soul is getting such a "meh" reception? Where's all the usual GFK banter that surrounds a new release?

It's not like the album doesn't deserve it. It's a solid record, and an excellent entry in the "live instrumentation" era of GFK quasi-solo releases. I think it's bloody great, but it doesn't feel like it's resonating as much as his other recent albums. Not with the usual group anyway.

Frankly I'm a little stumped.

yeah I don't know either. Any one I know personally who's heard it loves it. I read P'forks review and it was blah. Then again their review of 36 Seasons made it sound like Ghost had been in a funk... even though they had given a favorable review to 12 Reasons a year earlier.

Ok so I caved and downloaded "All Day (Live)," "Wolves," & "FourFiveSeconds," put them into a playlist with "Only One" titled Yeezy 2015 (just like I did with the first few Yeezus tracks to see the light of day on my Yeezy 2013 list) which I've been driving around blasting the absolute shit out of all day long.

Louder, you're right- "All Day" is a fucking scorcher with a definite Wu influence. The arrangement is kind of blocked out by the crowd sounds and the sonic restrictions imposed by the environment in which the recording was made, but I can already tell it's going to be a ball buster.

I can't even fathom how awesome the studio cut will sound on expensive headphones.

He's selling himself wildly short by self relating to Mochael
Jackson, and by focusing on the fact that the comparison has been made before. Not just because he's more of a "Prince" than an MJ, but because neither point of comparison is big enough to do this m****r****er Justice.

He's a goddamn Beatle.

ok broke down

OMG

O

M

G

"All Day" is insane. Wow.

Pitchfork is no longer an accurate gauge of anything. Their scores are barely even a reliable indicator of their own fucking opinion! So many of their current "it" artists have received tepid reviews... from THEM.

Plus, I came up with a Top 100 Albums list for 2014 that makes their Top 50
seem fluffed up, inefficient and out of touch. There's little overlap, and my list was assbled completely from ONE PERSON's first hand experience buying & listening to new records and going to shows. Their 50 staff writers might as well be 50 clones of the same one lame dude, but they [b]still[/B] should have been able to outdo what one amateur did *in his spare time.*

But unfortunately their opinions still hold weight with 18-25 year-olds. Impressionable college kids, insecure non-college kids, reclusive blogger types and people who are desperate to feel superior.

This is a problem that I would like to devote some energy to solving, by the way. Anyone want to start a webzine.

Anyway - yeah they were terribly unfair with both 36 Seasons and A Better Tomorrow. But they really let writer clone #16579 fuck GFK over by acting like his triumphant second act has been some kind of horrible failure. That was rigoddamndiculous.

so the title of the new Kanye album is "So Help Me God"

and this is possibly the cover art:

yeah i agree with your top 3, except i'd rank Yeezus above Grad maybe.. i was surprised when some of you said Yeezus is better than Twisted Fantasy.

Fuck all this kanye bullshit, i finally got to listen to this record.. FUCKING SHIT.. possibly one of the best hip hop records ive heard in ten years.. up there with psychic world of walter reid for me.. seriously don't know how i never noticed it a few years ago when it came out BUT it is officially in heavy rotation

I've gotta plead ignorance on all this Back Knights stuff. I don't think I've ever so much as heard kf these guys.

Would anyone care to elaborate on who's inolved? What it sounds like? Whether it worth my time to investigate?

they were part of the Wu-Tang Killa Beez fam. They were also a supergroup w/ North Star called Black Knights Of The North Star.

Anyway, this album is good good. It's produced by John Frusciante and really moody and organic. Dope stuff for sure. I hate to "go there," but I'd rather listen to this album than A Better Tomorrow. :|

holy shit!

Apparently Black Knights recorded THREE albums w/ JF and the other 2 are due out this year!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fr..._Black_Knights

And NO!!

NOT "fuck all this Kanye shit"!!

Read the thread charter... In article 2 of section 1: Hip Hop Café Defined, it clearly states that IN TIMES OF HEAVY KANYE NEWS COVERAGE INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPENDING RELEASE OF NEW STUDIO MATERIAL, LOUDER'S HIP HOP CAFÉ CAN AND WILL BE TEMPORARILY USED AS SYG'S PRIMARY KANYE WEST DISCUSSION LOCATION.

Seriously, SFAD... Stop fighting it. When louder posted some lyrics recently you said you'd investigate. It's time to give Yeez a chance. Again.

Fuck da fuck yeah! That is going to make my year hip hop wise

Black knights is local LA area underground hip hop group founded by rza under the wu-west banner they from north long beach its around the block from my pad. Indeed the homiez know them dudes

Its my westcoast bias but ALWAYS prefered black knights and northstar to wu..shit even Priest basically became part of the wu-west sound more than east so i put him on that list..

When doc doom got blasted i thought they were do which is why i never checked up on them again

By the way if ones wanted to know what local DIY and pure underground south eastside LA hip hop sounds like Black Knights beats and flow are exhibits a, b, and c yo

Speaking of wu
http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...-for-88-years/

ok good news guys: the pic i posted above is not the cover art! THANK GOD!

this whole project is just beyond dumb to me.

Listening to this old thing. Can't believe it still commands my attention from start to finish. Is this actually Hov's best album? I've always been a sucker for Black, and the rest of the world treats The Blueprint like it's the holy Grail of hip hop. But this record is full of effortless lyrical KO's, delivered with the confidence of Muhammed Ali and the swagger of.. uh, also Muhammed Ali.

It's better than what pitchfork posted as the potential cover art. Basically a shadowy black and white of Kanye making a weird face that looked a whole lot like the cover of The Acid's Liminal.

I know North Star. Hmm...

John Frusciante though? Meeeh

And you know you don't mind "going there". I get that everyone hates ABT. Everyone except me, that is. And even I think it's weak as hell at times. Face it, the Wu flopped.

Trust me, its not a fusciante record its pure hip hop indeed he did a great job producing

Please. Just bring the fucking album out already.

Im trying my best not to always hate on y'all Kanye love..

lol