[louder]

What's up with Pitchfork trying to shove that white "emo" rapper who goes by the name Lil Peep down our throats..?

[louder]

Yo.. next week Simpsons will premiere a hip hop special, featuring Snoop, RZA and Common!

 

[Rob Instigator]

Hahahah! The main dude behind Atlanta TV show thanks MIgos for Bad and Bougie, saying it was the best song and a great song to have sex to. hahahhhhaha

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

What's up with Pitchfork trying to shove that white "emo" rapper who goes by the name Lil Peep down our throats..?

I don't know, but I saw that and it was just one more nail in Pitchfork's coffin for me. I've claimed to hate that site for a long time, but still checked it at least every couple of days. Now, I'm really starting to lose interest. They no longer even attempt to shine a spotlight on lesser-known artists, which was once, ostensibly, their purpose.

I like the fact that they pretty consistently back Kanye (at least creatively), and I like that they made fun of Drake and VIEWS and "Chaining Tatum" and stuff. But it's rare as hell that I find anything of value in their coverage.

But yeah, fuck that she, I'm not listening to lil peep. What's next, Machine Gun Kelly? Sorry, but white rappers are mostly terrible, and if that makes me a racist, so be it.

[Severian]

Seems like as good a time as any to throw this out there:

 

^^ I've been listening to this a lot lately, for the first time in a few years. I really overdid it with this album when I first got into it, then again in the mid-2000s, so I tend to forget about it when talking about my favorite hip-hop releases.

But shit guys, is this album great or what?

Not only is it one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, but "Definition"/"RE: Definition" (combined) make up one of the best hip-hop songs of all time.

I actually think this album is deeply underrated, despite its cult classic status. Think about it, was there any other record that took a more direct stance against the gangsta culture that dominated rap on both coasts throughout the '90s? There were a lot of records in that decade that were pointedly non-gangsta, but many of them still contained elements of the ultraviolent, druggie culture.

But here we have two formidable, and then relatively obscure, rappers making what amounts to a protest album against gangstaism. Two dudes standing up and shouting "They shot Tupac and Biggie / too much violence in hip-hpp!" That was ballsy as hell, considering the album came out in 1998.

Also, it's a record carried by vocal delivery — it's RAP, and the lyrics and vocals are the dominant instrument — that doesn't make you wish there was some flashier production. Instead, these voices (Mos Def never sounded better), grip you and pull you along. It's conscious, but not lazy or laid back. It's peaceful, but still aggressive in its flows and choruses. This album is more important than we know, and it's just worlds ahead of most of the shit that dropped in 1998, in both style and substance.

[louder]

Originally Posted by Severian

I don't know, but I saw that and it was just one more nail in Pitchfork's coffin for me. I've claimed to hate that site for a long time, but still checked it at least every couple of days. Now, I'm really starting to lose interest. They no longer even attempt to shine a spotlight on lesser-known artists, which was once, ostensibly, their purpose.

I like the fact that they pretty consistently back Kanye (at least creatively), and I like that they made fun of Drake and VIEWS and "Chaining Tatum" and stuff. But it's rare as hell that I find anything of value in their coverage.

But yeah, fuck that she, I'm not listening to lil peep. What's next, Machine Gun Kelly? Sorry, but white rappers are mostly terrible, and if that makes me a racist, so be it.

I actually checked out a couple of Lil Peep songs, just to make sure he was as bad as I imagined. Shit, if he's a rapper then pretty much anyone can be.

[Severian]

But Black Star is awesomer than awesome, right?

[louder]

Yep. "Brown Skin Lady" will always be my shit.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Yep. "Brown Skin Lady" will always be my shit.

Not even close to my favorite song on the album, but yes.. still undeniably great.

I hate to admit it, but I haven't revisited Dec. 99th since reading that horrendous, utterly scathing, borderline hateful review on Pitchfork.

In my defense, that's probably because it's still not available anywhere other than TIDAL, and I no longer ride the Tide. But it's also true that, while a bad review might not change the way I hear music, it does change the way I think of music in a cultural/social context. Reading something like that makes me think, "this thing is not going to mean anything to anyone, and I'm better off not spending much time with it because nobody's going to want to talk to me about it even if I love it."

Not saying I loved what I heard necessarily. But I liked it well enough, and planned to listen further.

I will say this: if this is indeed MosYasiin DefBey's last album, that would really suck. Again, not because it's BAD, but it certainly is not representative of the kind of music or energy that he based his career on. This guy used to be my *all time favorite* rapper (which was kinda silly, because he'd only released Black Star and Black on Both Sides at that time — a great one-two punch, but not enough for a "Best of all time" designation) and I would really like him to drop something big and black and beautiful for his swan song. Like those first two albums, or the Ecstatic.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Yo.. next week Simpsons will premiere a hip hop special, featuring Snoop, RZA and Common!

 

Remember when Kanye was on the Cleveland Show? As "Kenny West," the high school rap virtuoso and also douche bag? That was good man. Cleveland Show was bad, but that was cool.

[pepper_green]

Originally Posted by Severian

Seems like as good a time as any to throw this out there:

 

.

never heard it. guess I need to give it twirler.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by pepper_green

never heard it. guess I need to give it twirler.

You goddamn lair. You take that back!

[Severian]

 

[pepper_green]

Originally Posted by Severian

You goddamn lair. You take that back!

nope! never heard it Sev. I found some tracks here and there im enjoying. the bass is wow! vocals are so precise on the beat I've heard. feeling some old school call and respond shit in there too like "jazzy sensation".

[noisereductions]

Black Star is fantastic. So is Black On Both Sides.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by pepper_green

nope! never heard it Sev. I found some tracks here and there im enjoying. the bass is wow! vocals are so precise on the beat I've heard. feeling some old school call and respond shit in there too like "jazzy sensation".

I thought you'd mentioned the album by name before. Hmm.

Yeah, like I said, "Definition" and "RE: Definition" when listen to together make up one of the best hip-hop songs of the '90s. Fucking awesome.

It's a must. Seriously. It's like.. as essential to hip-hop fans as Midnight Marauders or 36 Chambers or Madvillainy or Blueprint. Just a classic rap album that everyone who likes non-shit hip-hop should know and love. Buy or stream that shit pronto.

[louder]

Beyonce interviews Solange for Interview Magazine: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/solange#

BEYONCÉ: Your voice on the album, the tone of your voice, the vulnerability in your voice and in your arrangements, the sweetness and the honesty and purity in your voice—what inspired you to sing in that tone?

SOLANGE: It was very intentional that I sang as a woman who was very in control, a woman who could have this conversation without yelling and screaming, because I still often feel that when black women try to have these conversations, we are not portrayed as in control, emotionally intact women, capable of having the hard conversations without losing that control. I had not really explored my falsetto as much on previous works. As you said, I have always loved Minnie Riperton, and I loved Syreeta Wright and really identified with a few of her songs that she and Stevie Wonder did. She was saying some really tough shit, but the tone of her voice was so sweet that you could actually hear her more clearly. I wanted to find a happy medium, feeling like I was being direct and clear, but also knowing that this was a conversation that I was very much in control of—able to have that moment, to exist in it, to live in it and ponder it, not to yell and scream and fight my way through it—I was doing enough of that in my life, so I wanted to make a clear distinction of me controlling that narrative. Aaliyah was also a huge influence and has always been. Her vocal arrangements with Static Major are some of my favorite in the world.

By the way, the sisterhood between Solo and Bey is very endearing.

[louder]

I've been obsessed with "A Seat at the Table" lately, I actually hate how much Lemonade pales in comparsion to it. I wish Lemonade could've been a poppier, more 'fun' version of Solange's album but nope, at least I don't feel that way about it. Not anymore. It sucks because I used to find it so enjoyable before A Seat at the Table came out and even found myself being a little moved by it (not OVERWHELMED like I am by A Seat at the Table though). It's still a good pop album with "All Night" being the clear standout cut, but yeah..

[louder]

Beyonce's "anger" on Lemonade sounds kinda theatrical to me, I don't know.

Cranes in the Sky and Don't Touch My Hair made me tear up when I actually sat down and paid attention to every single word. This album is so subtle yet so so tasteful and powerful.

[Severian]

A Seat at the Table is definitely the stronger album, but on further inspection I find the sequencing of ASATT to be less than ideal. All those interviews and soundbytes cloud the musicality of the album to me. It has a handful of really great songs (Rise, Cranes in the Sky, Don't Touch my Hair) but it's effect is dulled over time by how demonstrative the whole thing is. Still a very good record, but not Best of 2016 good.

I do think Lemonade sounds pretty shallow in comparison. At first Lemonade sounded and felt like a personal narrative AND a thoughtful exploration and celebration of black womanhood. But then ASATT came out, and it's far more thoughtful, and it's really about black womanhood, and Lemonade sounds insular and almost a bit self-aggrandizing in comparison.