so hows that new Freddie Gibbs? cold day in hell is the only one i've heard.

^It's pretty damn solid. Instrumentally, its best moments recall Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords and Gibbs is alarmingly consistent the whole way through.

It has all the makings of a classic, but its sort of a casual classic if you know what I mean. It doesn't carry itself with the sort of weight that you might hope, nor does it feel nearly as cohesive as Madvillainy.

A solid 4/5

incredible. much better than Cold Day in Hell. i love every single track, i listen to it every day.

guess I need to hear Pinata then eh?

That is what producers were for before they merely became fashion accessories and corporate brands. This is the tragedy of "mix-tapes" in that rap has become so under-produced that producers are becoming unnecessary, yet, in rap music I think producers are more necessary than in any other genre of music!

definitely.

1. Pinata
2. Clivia

that's how i feel about 2014 so far.

this is true, which only makes me appreciate Drake even more. dude is obviously talented, but you can also see he's been working his ass off since a young age to get to where he is now.

New Smoke DZA out soon. No leaks yet (or so it would seem) but I'm buying the fucker anyway.

Um, well... yeah, bro. Of fucking course you do.

Honestly, though, it sounds great, but it has yet to really grow on me. Something about madlib's production sounds a bit flat compared to other records. I feel like Gibbs is really the focal point of the project.

Which is fine, but I'm a big fan of Madlib; more so than just about anyone else in hip hop. He's definitely the selling point of any project he's involved in for me, so I like him to be more front and center. Still, it's a must have album. I can't believe you haven't heard it yet!

there you are. Was logging in to say "where's my dood sev been?"

Also, I can't believe viewtiful said "4/5" and I let it slide. Good to have you back view.

So lately I realized something - y'all know how much I loved Long.Live.A$AP right? But lately I think that Live.Love is just as could... and maybe even better. They're both just these perfect perfect records to me. Unreal. And both have their own feeling. Live.Love is my go-to 'friday night, dranking and gaming' record.

Also, if Good Kid MAAD City is a 10 then Section80 is a 9. It's so close to being classic.

Madlib's production on Pinata is great though. most of the beats are still Madlib's signature sound - kinda dusty, yet so soulful and mellow. the "Robes" and "Lakers" beats are so beautiful, left me speechless. even the songs with the "harder" sounding beats usually end up with a little outro that sounds really chill and mellow, which is brilliant in my opinion.

Gibbs actually is the highlight, but that's simply cuz he's that great of a rapper. from his little singing on "Robes", to the storytelling and emotion on "Deeper", to the Young Jeezy diss AKA "Real", to the way he was spazzing with the flow on "Shitsville". dude is a beast.

the closing track kinda falls short due to all the weedcarrier guest features, but other than that, the album is pretty much flawless to me. i even dare to call it the best traditional rap album of the decade so far, even better than Life Is Good. i think it'll go down as a classic.

TBH, I really haven't looked into Gibbs all that much. Shrug.

Of course I'm a Madlib fan, but as odd as this might sound, I lean towards his jazz stuff way more. Like, YNQ and offshoots I cop immediately. Soul Directions is my favorite by a longshot. And then like the Shades of Blue (and Untinted) comps or the jazztapes he made as part of the Medicine Show series, or the Mind Fusion albums... ah. To me, that's the best Madlib stuff.

So I end up picking & choosing his collabs, and mostly it becomes based on "who's rapping?" And since I haven't gotten into Gibbs taht much, I wasn't in a rush w/ this one. But def the feedback has been nothing but great, so I feel like I should get on it.

Live.Love is great, but i still prefer Long.Live cuz i feel like Rocky has developed his personality, as well as lyricism. plus he's become more versatile and daring to experiment with new sounds and rapping techniques. it's also one of those albums where almost every song sounds like it could be a single, e.g. Carter 3, Graduation, Get Rich or Die Tryin', etc.

Good Kid m.A.A.d City is in my top 3 rap albums of the decade, along with the last two Kanye albums. after those, it's pretty much a tie between Long.Live, Old and Pinata.

i'm still waiting for Drake's classic. call me crazy but i think he has a Blueprint-level album in him.

every track on Long.Live COULD be a single. It's insane.

new De La mixtape dropped today. Smell The DAISY. It's a De La/J Dilla mashup tape.

Wu-Tang Clan Will Selll Only One Copy of Secret New Album for 1M
http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomal...-secret-album/

I hate it. That actually makes me furious. SO there will be this double album that none of us can have?

"There’s also the possibility that a wealthy private citizen could buy it and either keep the album or release it to the public for free in the name of democratizing a cultural artifact. That’s essentially what clothing mogul Mark Ecko did by purchasing Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball for $752,467 and conducting a plebiscite to determine if he should blast it into outer space, send it to the Hall of Fame unblemished, or brand it with an asterisk (he eventually did the latter and sent it to Cooperstown)."

one can only hope.

you guys should read the rest of the article though.

oh and Sev, their new single isn't that bad, by the way. i was overreacting, but i still wish they would get some big producers like The Alchemist, Kanye, etc.

I read the whole article before I posted my "I hate it."

I still hate it. If they're going out of their way to stop leaks, y'know? Then what? We're at the mercy of one buyer whether or not we get to here 31 songs? I don't like it.

true. :(

cool. check it out on you and louder's advice. belive louder got me into Cold Day in Hell.

Tupac on Roseanne's brief 1996 TV show


Fucking shit, did this ninja really just say all that on TV? No fucking wonder the Fugees dropped The Score.. Tupac revolutionized rap beyond celebration music back to the more politically and cultural conscious "hip-hop"

http://instagram.com/p/mD-Sk3xHBd/

"CARTERV will not release on May 5! But I promise y'all it's gonna be better than Carter III!!!"

..ok?

lovely.

apparently Andrew Kelley (A&R at Soultemple Records) has heard chunks of the "secret" Wu-Tang album before it was announced:

I agree. Every time I hear it, it comes closer to being one of my favorite rap albums ever.

It's one of the reasons why I can't get behind the A$AP mob all doing solo albums like they're some kind of collective, when Rocky is the only A$AP worth his dollar sign.

If the rest would simply choose unique solo monikers, I'd be on board. But I feel like it's going to fuck with the A$AP identity, which I'm becoming such a fan of.

I bought this the other day because I wanted new rap, and the only other thing available was YG (who still doesn't have me sold).

I previewed it on Spotify, and it sounded more intricate and less club-centric than My Krazy Life, so there you have it. I bought it.

Still patiently awaiting the motherfucking leak of Smoke DZA's DreamZoneAchieved, which is proving very elusive indeed, especially for a hip hop album in this generation. Why the ceremony? Does anyone in the general public even know Smoke DZA? Hell, I just learned the man's name in 2013.

i know him from Curren$y albums.

never listened to Sage the Gemini though.

been listening to this all day:



http://www.datpiff.com/XV-Zero-Heroe...pe.220051.html

back in 2011 this guy was set up to blow up, just like Kendrick and J. Cole, but his album never came out and he was left behind. either way, this is a classic mixtape.

ugh I'm all about this Mac Miller KIDS mixtape. Amazing.

i'll check it out soon. the song you've posted here a few days ago was so good.

yeah dood. Mac kills it. I'm amazed.

I'm kind of feeling this new tape by this kid Ricky Rude:

woke up this morning with Joey Bada$$' first tape "1999". fire.

his debut album will be titled: B4.DA.$$

haha brilliant.

What did you think of Summer Knights? It really didn't get much love in the 2013 thread, but NR and I both loved it. For some reason I don't think it wound up on my top10. Not sure why at this point. Fucking killed every mixtape other than Underachievers and Doley Bernays.

Mac Millar? Are you guys serious right now? What about French Montana? Does he kill it too?

I'm really confused, because Mac Millar is kind of a joke. I'm sure Eminem loves him. But Eminem loves trailer trash and Detroit and being awful, so... Y'know

;)

Summer Knights was great. Better than Underachiverz in my book.

Not a fan of French.

Don't know what to tell you man. That Mac Miller KIDS mixtape is dope.

Speaking of Mac, how were we feeling about "Watching Movies With The Sound Off"? I copped it the same day as Yeezus and naturally it took me a little while to open it up and even put it on since I was obsessively absorbing Yeezus for a while. But once I started listening to Mac's album, I actually found it getting more consistent replays than Yeezus. It's an impressive album.

"Watching Movies with the Sound Off" is so good. one of the most creative albums that came out last year. Mac surprised the hell outta me.

Summer Knights isn't bad, but i prefer 1999.