[Severian]

I checked out SremmLife 2 yesterday. It's got some promise. I like it.
I never really got that into the first album. I think this one's a bit more my speed.

[louder]

Originally Posted by Severian

I checked out SremmLife 2 yesterday. It's got some promise. I like it.
I never really got that into the first album. I think this one's a bit more my speed.

Speaking of Pitchfork, they said SremmLife 2 is "stranger, artsier, and flat-out ballsier than its predecessor", yet gave it a lower score. Seems like they can't stop making a joke of themselves.

[noisereductions]

I didn't like the first album, so hadn't had an interest to check this one out.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

I didn't like the first album, so hadn't had an interest to check this one out.

Read the pitchfork review. I don't often recommend their shit, but I think this one is pretty on point. SremmLife2 is a bit darker and more out there than their first, which was just a little bit too straight for me.

Admittedly I haven't spent much time with "2" yet, but that's my opinion so far. They seem to be leaning toward something slightly more abstract but also harder. In essence they're doing the opposite of what that other duo, my once beloved Underachievers, did after blowing up.

Underachievers fucking suck now.

[Severian]

If I may, has anyone ever noticed how ducking weird Kabue sounds at the beginning of "So Appalled?"

It sounds like a completely different person. I actually took me a few months before I realized Kanye was even ON the track. I thought it was just a curative effort, but it's actually one of his best verses. And it sounds nothing like him. Weird, no?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Speaking of Pitchfork, they said SremmLife 2 is "stranger, artsier, and flat-out ballsier than its predecessor", yet gave it a lower score. Seems like they can't stop making a joke of themselves.

Well, like all publications that attempt to score and rank releases as they come out, they run into the problem of one person writing review A, and another writing review B, which references review A.

In the review of Coloring Book they said Life of Pablo was not actually the "gospel album with lots of cursing" that it was supposed to be, and called it a rap album with gospel moments, claiming Coloring Book was the real gospel deal.

In the actual Pablo review I'm pretty sure they said the description was spot on, and also that it was musically chaotic with no standard "rap" singles.

Each review should just be taken as some dude/chick's opinion, not the overall opinion of the site.

I remember in 2002 when Beck's Sea Change came out, it initially got a 6.9 and a pretty poor review, compared to his previous albums. Yet somehow it ended up in the top 50 albums of the year list, and Ugly Cassanova's Sharpen Your Teeth didn't, even though it got a 7.5 or something.

None of it makes any goddamn sense, but I'm not sure how it might be done differently.

[Bytor Peltor]

I think this is a ok place to post this: Lady Shame - Looky Here

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Severian

probably check Pitchfork once a day just like I do, even though I'm loathe to admit it.

see that is your problem right there. i haven't read anything from pitchfork in years because it was always so terribly corporate whenever i checked it out. to be sure its on my Twitter feed so i see what they post, i just don't ever have any interest to click the links

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Severian

Dude, let's not call him that. Please. Let's just not go there. He wants us to think he is the biggest artist in the world, but even if that title holds for the immediate present, it still comes with a shit ton of asterisks.

Did you read the comments in that story you posted about the statistics of VIEWS sales? From what I read, there was nobody commenting that didn't agree with the premise of the story: that Drake's actual popularity and influence have been overstuffed, by someone or something, and that the sales don't hold up to close scrutiny. Not a single person said, "No way, Drake's the best!" In fact everyone seemed to agree that they didn't know anyone who talked about the album! One comment in particular struck me... it was something along the lines of, "I've heard more people playing and talking about Chace the Rapper's Coloring Book by far."

I actually just read an atypically intersting Business Insider article about lil Chano, in which his rise was documented, and HE was more or less referred to as the biggest artist in hip hop right now.

Drake has the benefit of being a rather faceless and absolute pop "artist." He drops really safe singles that appeal to the kinds of people who buy a lot of singles. That is, non-hardcore music fans. Whatever the 2010s version of "whatever's on the radio" people would be.

Drake is like Justin Bieber and Chris Brown. He's more likely to inspire total loathing than devotion. But the songs he drops are safe and (to quote Meek Mill, which I never thought I'd do) "buttery soft" enough to appeal to the masses. Among keen eared listeners who really value the craft, he's a joke. But he's a joke who puts his grating voice on catchy shit, so even the critics can't help but approve of his singles (if not his albums).

funny i always feel the same way about Kanye, that is actual popularity and influence is less than his media footprint

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

see that is your problem right there. i haven't read anything from pitchfork in years because it was always so terribly corporate whenever i checked it out. to be sure its on my Twitter feed so i see what they post, i just don't ever have any interest to click the links

I click the reviews when it's an album I am interested in. Definitely don't read everything. Often I just click a link and glance at the score and gtfo. It's just a really deeply ingrained habit at this point.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Severian

I click the reviews when it's an album I am interested in. Definitely don't read everything. Often I just click a link and glance at the score and gtfo. It's just a really deeply ingrained habit at this point.

i understand that is why i am stuck at ESPN every day even though it sucks.

i miss Grantland sooooooooo much

[noisereductions]

I feel like I check pfork daily to just see if something came out that I missed.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

funny i always feel the same way about Kanye, that is actual popularity and influence is less than his media footprint

Nope.

I know you're not nuts about Kanye West, but dude.. I honestly can't think of a single rapper since Ye came out who hasn't been influenced by him. And I can't see the "influence" of Drake in any post-Drake. None that I can think of anyway. I just see the OVO stamp on a series of disappointing cosigns.

*Shrug*

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

I feel like I check pfork daily to just see if something came out that I missed.

This.

But lately they've been behind the eight ball. I can't remember the last time I learned about the existence of an album, much less learned about a new artist, because of pitchfork.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Severian

Nope.

I know you're not nuts about Kanye West, but dude.. I honestly can't think of a single rapper since Ye came out who hasn't been influenced by him. And I can't see the "influence" of Drake in any post-Drake. None that I can think of anyway. I just see the OVO stamp on a series of disappointing cosigns.

*Shrug*

I know you are a Kanye superfanatico BUT what we are talking about is not quantifiable in any way. Yeah I am biased in not being a fan of the guy, but remember I am not a hater, I investigate things before I make hot take statements and I legitimately mean what I said even I was being snarky. Sure five or six years, ten years ago even I would have totally agreed with you.

when i listen to rap on the radio to me it doesn't sound like Kanye's more recent albums. I'm not being a hater, just being honest

[louder]

So Frank Ocean just debuted new music in a video which is available to stream via Apple Music?? And he's reported to drop an album this weekend. Hmm..

[louder]

Mac Miller – The Divine Feminine tracklist:

1. Congratulations (feat. Bilal)
2. Dang! (feat. Anderson .Paak)
3. Stay
4. Skin
5. Cinderella (feat. Ty Dolla Sign)
6. Planet God Damn (feat. Njomza)
7. Soulmate
8. We (feat. CeeLo Green)
9. My Favorite Part (feat. Ariana Grande)
10. God Is Fair, Sexy, Nasty (feat. Kendrick Lamar)


Looks really good. Probably gonna be his best release to date.

[noisereductions]

Cool. I like Mac.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

I know you are a Kanye superfanatico BUT what we are talking about is not quantifiable in any way. Yeah I am biased in not being a fan of the guy, but remember I am not a hater, I investigate things before I make hot take statements and I legitimately mean what I said even I was being snarky. Sure five or six years, ten years ago even I would have totally agreed with you.

when i listen to rap on the radio to me it doesn't sound like Kanye's more recent albums. I'm not being a hater, just being honest

Whoah there, Brohammed. Remember who you're talking to here. I may be a hopelessly devoted Kanye fanatic, but nothing, not even the man himself, is more important to me than clearly defined quantitative measurement techniques and solid statistical reporting.

The comment I made was not meant to be a quantifiable one. Let me be clear: it was 100% subjective, and limited even beyond that by my own fundamentally imperfect memory and recall ability. That's why I said that I can think of."

So fear not. There was no presumption of stating a fact. I was just telling you what came to my mind in the moment. I genuinely tried to think of some artists that had no overt links to Kanye somewhere in their delivery or style, and while I'm sure there are actually many — YG, for example, must have been in a coma between 2004 and 2014), I was hard pressed to name a name on the fly.
Even YG, whose style and approach is the polar opposite of Kanye's took a page from the book of Kendrick, who was at least informed by the 'Ye age.. still, no similarities between them that I can find — and I REALLY tried to think of a rapper that can be said to be a direct sonic descendent of Drake... For that one, I've still got nothing.

Anyway, brother, it was just an off the cuff, chin rubbing moment for me. Let it be known that I was definitely not suggesting that my ruminations were backed by hard data.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

So Frank Ocean just debuted new music in a video which is available to stream via Apple Music?? And he's reported to drop an album this weekend. Hmm..

Yeah, what's going on? I thought... y'know... Boys Don't Cry? What a great (if unoriginal) name for a Frank Ocean album.

This is why I'm making an effort to embrace Apple Music, and why I decided to drop Spotify for the time being. I am gonna bounce this on my lunch break, whatever the fuck it is.