[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

um... Resurrection? Seriously? Resurrection was a friggin' landmark album of my youth.

I don't think I've listened to that much. I'll definitely check it out again.

[noisereductions]

Originally Posted by Severian

I don't think I've listened to that much. I'll definitely check it out again.

wow. Dude. I'm kind of in shock. Resurrection is an incredible album beginning to end. You need to put 60 mins aside and pay attention to this ASAP. Like... I'm not being flippant here. This is an important and incredible album. Chicago's ILLMATIC if you will. Understanding this album will only help you draw lines to and appreciate more your love of Kanye, Chance and the like.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

snap Block Wars is actually REALLY GOOD

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L1i7eBpwlT8 (full album link)

don't sleep on checking this out, i am bumping it again but at home on my stereo with bass with some after work brews and damn.. this is some bad ass shit!

[louder]

Resurrection and Like Water for Chocolate are both amazing. I don't know, I like most of his discography.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

wow. Dude. I'm kind of in shock. Resurrection is an incredible album beginning to end. You need to put 60 mins aside and pay attention to this ASAP. Like... I'm not being flippant here. This is an important and incredible album. Chicago's ILLMATIC if you will. Understanding this album will only help you draw lines to and appreciate more your love of Kanye, Chance and the like.

You got it man. I said I'd do it and Ima do it! I actually own that album... or owned it. It's in a massive pile or alphabetized box somewhere. But I bought it when I first started getting into hip-hop, and it fell to the wayside. That happens when you amass as much music as I tend to. In my youth I hit the record store every time I had a pay day (or even an allowance), and that trend continued into my adulthood. I have probably a couple hundred albums that I've purchased that never got heavy play from me, and this is one of them.

I promise, I swear on all that is good and holy, that I will track down my copy. If I can't, I will buy it on iTunes (there's a hip-hop classics sale going on right now... Lots of good '90s and 2000s albums from $5.99). So don't you worry. I'll get this shit done and report back.

As far as other Common goes, I have Like Water for Chocolate, One Day It'll All Make Sense, Be, Finding Forever, and Nobody's Smiling. The one I really liked was Be, even though it's almost too goddamn happy at times. When I think of Common, I think of Be. I know that probably sounds insane to a big fan, but that's just the way it is. I lost interest in his solo albums around the time he started popping up in commercials (Finding Forever). But I do like him, and I respect him, and he's got a great voice (like GLC and Cam'ron, his deep gravely delivery has always appealed to me).

So fear not. I'm on it.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

i have had Streets of Compton on constant repeat over recent weeks so iook forward to adding Block Wars to my rotation

I'll check out this Block Wars thing, but you know I'm just not super down with gangsta themed music. Not currently anyway. I go through phases of course. But I'm more about eccentric, artsy, colorful shit lately (and for the past few years). I liked Sreeets of Compton, and it spun like mad for a week or two, but I haven't been moved to listen to it in a while.

The 2016 hip-hop albums I've really enjoyed so far, aside from Pablo, are Kendrick's untitled unmastered., Chance's Coloring Book, Birds in the Trap, The Sun's Tirade, and Kevin Gates' Islah (which is a pretty gangsta'd out album, but it's also crazy and dynamic as hell)... So I'm not saying Game isn't capable of making an album as varied and interesting as these records, but I don't see a lot of variation in what he's doing currently.

THAT SAID, I promise, like I promised NR about Resurrection, that I will check this out. And I will definitely be buying 1992.

[Severian]

Also, what the fuck is NWA2016 exactly? I was just scrolling through Game's discog for the fuck of it, and I saw that he dropped this in June. It's not an album — not a proper one anyway — and it's not on iTunes or anything. I no longer have Spotify, so I'm not sure if it's there. A mixtape?

It's weird, all the songs are all attributed to other artists (Kendrick, Wiz, YG) when you search for it on Google. Anyone wanna shed light?

 

[Severian]

Holy shit, Kid Cudi has lost his fucking mind.
Kid Cudi Takes Shots at Kanye and Drake

Who's Kid Cudi again? Oh yeah, he's that voice Kanye turned into a temporary superstar, that voice that still pops up — on Kanye tracks — but has a track record so shitty it makes latter day Wayne look like the Beatles.

Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, and I certainly approve of him taking aim at Drake, but his albums suck. He's like Kanye West's instrument, plain and simple.

Haha. Kid Cudi's about to take over.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

i honestly don't know anything about Kid Cudi but i recall people saying the same thing about Game when he left G-Unit so.........

[noisereductions]

I like a lot of Cudi singles. Usually for the electro beat.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

i honestly don't know anything about Kid Cudi but i recall people saying the same thing about Game when he left G-Unit so.........

Yeah, well, Cudi's been at it for nearly a decade, releasing solo albums of increasingly low quality. I find it highly unlikely that after his laughable "grunge" album (last year's Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven), he's suddely got a bunch of ace material up his sleeve that will make him bigger than Drake.

Love the dude's voice. One of my favorite Kanye universe tracks is just Cudi ("Creepers" from Cruel Summer"). And his "Gorgeous" chorus is classic. But the dude's not about to take anyone or anything by storm.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

from Kid Cudi's tweets i don't think he thinks he will be "bigger" than them, more so seems he is criticizing them from a strictly artist's perspective as being either lazy or boring and he seems to suggest he will continue to create art.

now, again i don't know anything about his music, and if those statements can in fact ever be true, but like i said i definitely didn't interpret them as to imply he will be more popular or commercially successful

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

hence why brought Game up, game isn't big and he probably isn't any more or less known than Kid Cudi to be honest but all those G-Unit folks thought he wouldn't have the creative drive to put out solo shit, meanwhile twelve years later Game putting out FIVE records in a twelve month span and G-Unit hasn't existed in YEARS

[louder]

I'm interested in Cudi's new album. *shrugs* He seems so confident about it, and he's aware that people thought his poor attempt at "grunge" music was shit.. apparently he was going through depression and drug addiction, but now claims he's better and back to making hip hop.

He's a talented dude. And I really like Man on the Moon 1 & 2.. dude is cheesy but in an endearing way.

[louder]

Kanye replies to Cudi: http://pitchfork.com/news/68288-kany...i-birthed-you/

Kanye hinted that the dispute was over collaborations with Drake: “Don’t try to say who I can do songs with. You mad cause I’m doin’ songs with Drake? Ain’t nobody tell ‘Ye who to do songs with!”

Kanye also spoke about standing up for creatives and compared himself to Malcolm X. “You know how many people wish they could be signed to G.O.O.D. Music? Get their life changed?” He asked. “I’m so hurt. I feel so disrespected. Kid Cudi, we’re two black men in a racist world. I wore skinny jeans first ... why y'all gotta be coming at me? This ain't the end of the Malcolm X movie. I'm out here fighting for y’all: creatives, artists, independent thinkers. Don’t never mention my name.”

[louder]

What if Turbo Grafx was some sort of a collaborative album with Cudi.. and Ye canceled it in order to make an album with Drake? Went with the popular guy. Strictly a business decision, sucks to be honest and in that case I understand Cudi's frustration.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

from Kid Cudi's tweets i don't think he thinks he will be "bigger" than them, more so seems he is criticizing them from a strictly artist's perspective as being either lazy or boring and he seems to suggest he will continue to create art.

now, again i don't know anything about his music, and if those statements can in fact ever be true, but like i said i definitely didn't interpret them as to imply he will be more popular or commercially successful

Sure, I get ya.

Probably doesn't have anything to do with popularity or commercial success. But even on the purely musical side of things, Cudi's done nothing to suggest that he has the chops to put someone like Kanye to shame. Drake, probably. He's more open minded and adventurous than Drake. But even if I wasn't a Ye obsessive, I'd find his tweets laughable. Music aside, Kanye's the reason Cudi's well known. And he is, actually, pretty well known... His newest albums can always be found at major retailers like Best Buy, Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble, Target and the like. When Indicud came out in 2013, it was a pretty big deal. Even Speeding Bullet to Heaven got a fair amount of press, despite being universally panned.

The fact that he would have a problem with Kanye doesn't make much sense. From what I've seen, Ye has been nothing but supportive of Cudi even after he left GOOD. He's been on every Kanye album since 2008, including Pablo. And Ye has praised him publicly as a hip hop innovator countless times, even though I don't think many would agree with that assessment.

Game was already heating up before joining G-Unit, and his inclusion in the group was in my opinion a poor marketing decision from Dre and Jimmy Iovine. He wasn't part of that group because he "came up with 50".. It was an Aftermath promotion pitch for their new star. He didn't mesh well. Was too fiercely independent, I think, to hitch his career to someone else's over the long term. Also, Game was basically just starting out. Cudi's been at this for a while, and he's not breaking ranks from a group, he's just trash talking two people, one of whom has been nothing but supportive of him even after he stopped being an A-lister.

*shrug*

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

What if Turbo Grafx was some sort of a collaborative album with Cudi.. and Ye canceled it in order to make an album with Drake? Went with the popular guy. Strictly a business decision, sucks to be honest and in that case I understand Cudi's frustration.

Could be. I read that Cudi was upset about the prospective (hopefully still embryonic, soon to be aborted) collab album with Drake.
Well, you know I read that, cause you read it too.

But honestly I don't think a full-on equal parts collab album with Cudi is something Kanye would consider. I mean, he often gives the impression of having free-for-all policies on his album, but I think he's actually quite selective about who he appears with and how he does it.

For example, Big Sean has not yet even had a feature on a proper Kanye Studuo album. Yeah, he was on Cruel Summer, but so was everyone. My opinion is that this is very deliberate on ye's part. Sean isn't good enough yet, or big enough, for Kanye to give him space on a strictly Kanye studio project.

Look at "Highlights." He originally had Madonna on the track, but went with Young Thug instead. And this is right after Madonna released one of the biggest flops of her career, and had some serious public embarrassment in 2015. Thug in the other hand is undeniably still on the come up.

I mean, sure Kanye did Watch the Throne, but that was with fucking Jay-Z. Even if the album has sucked (it didn't, of course. It's brilliant, and better than well over half of Jay's discography) the reward would still have been massive. People would have respected the move, bought the album and the concert tickets, even if the album hasn't been incredible.

I think Ye's very picky about who he gets in bed with. And even if he agrees to collab with someone, he usually does it on one of their albums. He features A-listers and up and comers almost exclusively on his albums, and I'm sure he chooses his bigger side projects with even more care. Of the two big Ye pairings, one has been with Jay-Z, the other has been with fucking Pharrell and Lupe.

In short, I think if Kanye was going to do a project with Kid Cudi, he would have done it by now.

I pray that he doesn't end up following through with this Drake collab. That would just send "Dreezy" so far up his own ass it would swallow the both of them and all of us up. Hopefully he abandons it or puts it on permanent back-burner like he's done with so many other projects.

Now, Kanye doing a Collegrove type series of features on a Drake project, that I could handle. It would be a Drake thing, and I wouldn't have to think about it much. But if he does something as equal and ambitious as Watch the Throne with that corny bitch, it's going to be career ugly. Even if Ye produces the whole thing and makes it awesome sounding, Drake's gon make it dumb as hell with his dumb as hell voice and his dumb as hell beard.

[Severian]

Watch the Throne was an anomaly. I can think of literally ZERO rap pairings that have been that successful. There's Black Star, of course, but that was an underground affair for the most part. Look at the rest of Jay's collab albums (Linkin Park? R. Kelly? Another one with R. Kelly?) ... They've all been complete embarrassments.

The stars aligned for Watch the Throne. That should probably never be attempted again. Risk too great, fallout too powerful. Yuck factor incalculable.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

I'm interested in Cudi's new album. *shrugs* He seems so confident about it, and he's aware that people thought his poor attempt at "grunge" music was shit.. apparently he was going through depression and drug addiction, but now claims he's better and back to making hip hop.

He's a talented dude. And I really like Man on the Moon 1 & 2.. dude is cheesy but in an endearing way.

The first Man on the Moon was pretty good. I have the second and Indicud, but I never felt much of a pull from either album. Again I have nothing against him personally. I actually admire his spirit. But the dude is just not great at any one thing, and he tries to do a lot. He's not a good rapper, he's not a good singer, not a good producer, or (Jesus) guitar player. He's good at sing-hollering hooks for songs that better artists have made.

Again, "Gorgeous." Oh, and "Guilt Trip." And.. well, you know how it is.

Whatever. It's just some drama. He probably has his reasons for being pissed, but I can't imagine what they'd be, and it doesn't ultimately matter anyway.