[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

https://pitchfork.com/news/danny-bro...-on-new-album/

DAMN.

Who can it be? Kanye? RZA? Q-Tip?

Oh my god... I don’t care about RZA anymore... QTip wouldn’t be that exciting, but Kanye...

Holy trinity of hip-hop production: J DILLA, PETE ROCK, KANYE WEST

That would be goddamn epic.

Hope it’s not Metro or Mike Will Made it. Prolly is.

[louder]

Mike or Metro? No way dude, Danny is known to be an anticonformist and an oldhead. Might be some local Detroit "legend" like Black Milk or Esham though.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Mike or Metro? No way dude, Danny is known to be an anticonformist and an oldhead. Might be some local Detroit "legend" like Black Milk or Esham though.

BLACK MILK!

Have you heard the EP they did together? “Black & Brown?” It’s one of my favorite projects by either artist. Phenomenal.

I’ve always considered Black Milk to be kind of an underground Kanye, since he can really do it all. Doesn’t always come through with the same level of quality (that album he did with Nat Turner... the experimental instrumental jazz-infused one, ate some shit), but still.

[Severian]

Meek Mill going to prison on charges of violating a probation sentence he was serving for charges he was cleared of. Jay-Z is not happy.

Speaking of Jay, dude’s apparently having a hell of a time selling tickets to his 4:44 shows. I read that ticket prices have been reduced to as low as $6 in some places. So, if he’s coming near you, look into that shit.

He’s not really coming near me. Not to a place I care to drive to anyway. Also I have no time. But fuck, I’d sit in an empty stadium to see him okay those songs. Really kind of a shame. Maybe he’ll get the hint and stop trying to sell exclusively through Tidal for any amount of time (which he’s been doing with tickets).

Cudi brought out Kanye in Chicago and they played an energetic version of “Father Stretch my Hands.” Cudi tweeted something about “Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven 2” and I was embarrassed for him. WHY, CUDI?! WHY?!!

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by Severian

That’s bum-shit and you’re crap.

Read some Gene Wolfe. You don’t know shit about Kendrick so ease up. This critique is not valid.

watch his videos with a critical eye. see what message the visual is sending that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SONG THEME. You can see the influence of those that run that "game." It is NOT Kendrick's decision anymore, if it ever was, how his videos appear. That is what happens when you buy in to the beast.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by Severian

Speaking of Jay, dude’s apparently having a hell of a time selling tickets to his 4:44 shows. I read that ticket prices have been reduced to as low as $6 in some places. So, if he’s coming near you, look into that shit.

He’s not really coming near me. Not to a place I care to drive to anyway. Also I have no time. But fuck, I’d sit in an empty stadium to see him okay those songs. Really kind of a shame. Maybe he’ll get the hint and stop trying to sell exclusively through Tidal for any amount of time (which he’s been doing with tickets).

Jay Z is in H Town tonight. I don't want to hear no fucking Annie soundtrack sampling in my hip hop. Jay Z needs to go hit the same nostalgia circuit that Rob Base, Big Daddy Kane, and Naughty By Nature routinely sell out county fairs on....

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

watch his videos with a critical eye. see what message the visual is sending that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SONG THEME. You can see the influence of those that run that "game." It is NOT Kendrick's decision anymore, if it ever was, how his videos appear. That is what happens when you buy in to the beast.

I don’t care about his videos. Who said anything about his videos?

It’s Kendrick’s decision, G.

But if you don’t respect artists who don’t make ALL the decisions, then you should respect the big bad fuck out of Kanye. Which you don’t. So...

Blah. It’s sad to me that you can’t get into Kendrick.

Future makes fuckall decisions. He is ALL other people’s ideas. \/\/hatever

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Jay Z is in H Town tonight. I don't want to hear no fucking Annie soundtrack sampling in my hip hop. Jay Z needs to go hit the same nostalgia circuit that Rob Base, Big Daddy Kane, and Naughty By Nature routinely sell out county fairs on....

Sorry are you referencing a 20-year-old song to explain why you don’t care about Jay-Z?

Listen to 4:44. He is arguably already on a nostalgia circuit.

His tour has been shittily planned and managed, but 4:44 is one of the best rap albums I’ve heard in years. I didn’t even expect to like it, and I resent the business practices behind its release, but ... still... helluva goddamn album.

[louder]

Sev, I need you to accurately describe how terrible the new Eminem single is.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Sev, I need you to accurately describe how terrible the new Eminem single is.

I haven’t heard it, and you don’t come around often enough to feel like it’s worth my while to write a shitpiece just for you. Maybe if I had some guarantee you’d post more... ?

[Severian]

Ok, well louder... I listened to the song (“Walk on Water” feat. Beyoncé) and I’m actually not sure I’m going to have the opinion you expected.

I assume you read a godawful review of this thing on Pitchfork or something?

Anyway, I actually felt compelled to listen to the whole song, which is super rare for me with Eminem. It’s kind of like with this song, he’s addressing some of the main things about him, about his personality, about his music that I have always had issues with. Like the reverence with which his rapping is unduly held among his fans.

Totally different thing for Eminem. He’s writing about how his salad days are over, how he’s become irrelevant, how suckers like Big Sean are (apparently?) now taking shots at him or challenging him. He’s talking about his mistakes, his perfectionism, a desire to meet expectations and a failure to ever do so.

I’d rather hear this than more bullshit about beating up women.

HOWEVER...

It sounds like Em’s verses were recorded on an outdated iPad. Beyoncé sounds crystalline and buttery smooth as always, but it’s clear the two did not record together. Probably never even occupied the same room.
When Em raps about insecurities and stuff, he sounds pretty much exactly like Macklemore, in terms of timbre. So that’s obviously not great.
Bottom line, this is nowhere near the most repulsive song I’ve ever heard from Eminem. Indeed, it’s one of the better ones I’ve heard in years. BUT... the melody is canned, like it came from every goddamn piano ballad every, and Beyoncé’s presence is totally unnecessary; a flourish added for PR reasons (I’m assuming).
There is absolutely nothing new sonically in this track. It’s rehashed melodies and metaphors and sounds like every rap “ballad” ever aside from the disparity in recording quality between Bey’s refrain and Em’s exceptionally tin-can-sounding verses. It could really use a proper mastering by someone who gives a fuck.
But Em’s touching on some interesting stuff. I’d rather listen to this than “The Way I Am” or fucking “Not Afraid.” Yuck.

His rhyme scheme is so dead at this point though. Must he always use the same syllabic formula for every verse on every song? Eminem is the same way with his phrasing and delivery as Drake is with stupid puns and word games. Done to death, and poorly.

This song has no reason to exist, but it’s interesting because it’s basically Eminem saying, “I’m an insecure has-been and I’m mad and sad about it and my time is over.” And that’s true. So I think he’s going for a bit of a character re-set right now. The humility is refreshing.

*shrug*

[louder]

You surprised me a bit, but then you didn't. Ha. I do get your point, however, do you really think that insecure/"defeatist" mode Em really something new?

Back on Recovery, he said:

Hatred was flowin' through my veins
On the verge of goin' insane
I almost made a song dissin' Lil Wayne
It's like I was jealous of him 'cause of the attention he was gettin'
I felt horrible about myself, he was spittin'
And I wasn't, anyone who was buzzin' back then coulda got it
Almost went at Kanye too, God, it
Feels like I'm goin' psychotic, thank God that I didn't do it

This new album is titled "Revival", so I guess it's going to be a revision to Recovery.. an attempt to be more "mature" and "seriously serious". He also ended the song by yelling "BITCH, I MADE STAN!" which seems like a transition kind of thing into the next song, so I can only assume that the album will have some cliche concept about "fighting inner demons" and "regaining your self esteem".

I hate that boring, snoozy, soft as a baby's bottom beat, and Eminem used the Donald Trump flow. Bey's mailed-in chorus was fine but didn't match the song as you pointed out and I see it as nothing but a PR move to push the song.

Rick Rubin even said he had conversations with Eminem about how he's shook by the current waves in hip hop and feels out of touch:

For him, [mumble rap] is a little bit of a culture shock because there’s a new wave of hip-hop that’s not really what he’s about. So he was just talking to me about how that felt. I could see he was frustrated by it.

It's just interesting to me that this guy's ego won't just let him make a "4:44" (on his own terms, which means an album for the fans instead of desperately trying to cater to the charts and the youth). His whole legacy is built on nostalgia, which is ironic because his biggest fans are like 14, and there's nothing that frightens him more than the thought of becoming irrelevant.

[louder]

I am going to start posting here more again.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

You surprised me a bit, but then you didn't. Ha. I do get your point, however, do you really think that insecure/"defeatist" mode Em really something new?

Back on Recovery, he said:

OK, I remember him being afraid of Lil Wayne — who was in his prime ten thousand times more charismatic than Em even if he’s not a better technical rapper... But OK. You’re probably right.

I don’t give a fuck about Eminem, so I forget a lot of the forgettable moments in his forgettable discography. For my money, his only album that’s actually worth listening to is “Slim Shady LP,” and that’s not even “worth listening to” for anyone who wasn’t already listening when it came out. It’s not something I’d give to any fledgling rap fan in the 2010s. It’s just a reminder that, in 1999, a weird white kid with toy box beats and a Dre co-sign said some goddamn ridiculous things.

This new album is titled "Revival", so I guess it's going to be a revision to Recovery.. an attempt to be more "mature" and "seriously serious". He also ended the song by yelling "BITCH, I MADE STAN!" which seems like a transition kind of thing into the next song, so I can only assume that the album will have some cliche concept about "fighting inner demons" and "regaining your self esteem".

UGH. “Revival?” Ok. We’ll see. Actually I won’t see because I won’t be listening to any Eminem albums, but I’ll hear about it. Maybe.

It's just interesting to me that this guy's ego won't just let him make a "4:44" (on his own terms, which means an album for the fans instead of desperately trying to cater to the charts and the youth). His whole legacy is built on nostalgia, which is ironic because his biggest fans are like 14, and there's nothing that frightens him more than the thought of becoming irrelevant.

I actually think most of his fans are 30-something folks from rural Michigan. Not Detroit proper, because Detroit’s moved on. But I think Eminem’s most loyal fans are the grown versions of the kids who heard “My Name Is” way back when, and decided they could like rap without betraying their culture of casual racism. Think people who wear camo-print even when they’re not hunting. Think moms who married out of high school, and now take LPN courses at community colleges because they’ve worked at Target or Ride Aid all their lives, and they think they’re on their way to an actual nursing degree, but end up just going to community college forever and joining the PTA.

Kids certainly get into Eminem, but it’s a phase. I don’t think new Eminem fans are made anymore.

One of the main reasons Eminem can’t do a bare-bones, no bullsht 4:44 album is that he doesn’t have the artistic ingenuity to pull something like that off. He doesn’t have relationships with the best best-makers in the game. He can rap like a calculus equation, but he doesn’t have the kind of flow or storytelling skills to carry a minimalist, soul-centric album. He’s not married. He doesn’t have a “team” of people in his life who keep him relevant even when he’s not doing shit like Jay has with Beyoncé and Solange and Kanye.

Eminem doesn’t have a story to tell. And 4:44 is a story. It’s Jay’s “side” of another epic, glorious story that doubled as an advertisement for the Jay album that would follow (talking about “Lemonade” of course), and Eminem most certainly doesn’t have fuckall to complain about.

If he were to make a back-to-basics album (whicg it doesn’t sound like he is, what with the seriously serious stuff you mentioned... he’s been overly serious since 2001 for fuck’s sake!) he would have to speak to white people. He’d have to speak to Trump voters. He’d have to speak to white privilege, and neo-Nazism and all the things that his fans embrace. He’d have to take a stand against it, and that would mean losing fans. Unlike Jay, Em cannot talk about how to stay black and proud, and not give in to stereotypes. But even Jay-Z is kind of full of shit on that front. But Em just doesn’t have the source material.

Whatever.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

I am going to start posting here more again.

Did you stream “Hey Mama” on Nov. 10 to clap back at Taylor Swift for dropping her Kanye-dissing album on the 10th anniversary of Donda West’s death?

I did. Lol. Streamed it a few times. Didn’t just put it on mute and stream for numbers though. I actually listened to the song like five times. I think the whole campaign thing was silly, but I wanted to participate. And “Hey Mama” sounded goddamn great every time.

[louder]

Originally Posted by Severian

Did you stream “Hey Mama” on Nov. 10 to clap back at Taylor Swift for dropping her Kanye-dissing album on the 10th anniversary of Donda West’s death?

I did. Lol. Streamed it a few times. Didn’t just put it on mute and stream for numbers though. I actually listened to the song like five times. I think the whole campaign thing was silly, but I wanted to participate. And “Hey Mama” sounded goddamn great every time.

Yes I actually did. Admittedly only once, but still.

I didn't listen to the Taylor album and I can guarantee that I never will, but from what I can tell it's definitely a miss. The singles are weak and hold no ground compared to "Style" and "Blank Space".

I already saw it coming. She peaked with '1989' which wasn't perfect but the first 6 or perhaps 9 songs were fun, harmless retro pop with obvious Lana Del Rey/Lorde influence (listen to "Wildest Dreams" and then any song off Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die" album, there you have it) and from that point it was clear to me that she had nowhere to evolve. Not the best peak ever, eh.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Yes I actually did. Admittedly only once, but still.

I didn't listen to the Taylor album and I can guarantee that I never will, but from what I can tell it's definitely a miss. The singles are weak and hold no ground compared to "Style" and "Blank Space".

I already saw it coming. She peaked with '1989' which wasn't perfect but the first 6 or perhaps 9 songs were fun, harmless retro pop with obvious Lana Del Rey/Lorde influence (listen to "Wildest Dreams" and then any song off Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die" album, there you have it) and from that point it was clear to me that she had nowhere to evolve. Not the best peak ever, eh.

I think she’s still going strong. She may not be evolving, because these new singles are laughably terrible (“Look What You Made Me do” is fucking embarrassing... just, truly embarrassing for Taylor, her fans, and the entire world) but she still seems to be unbelievably popular. She and Drake have a lot in common, Only Kendrick respects Taylor more .... lol)

Anyway, all the pot-shots at Kanye are just really shitty and stupid. “I don’t like your titles stage.” Ok. Good one, Taylor + songwriting team. Super clever. Jesus fucking Christ.

Tilted stage was goddaman awesome too.

[evollove]

Up until a week ago I never heard kendrick lamar. You probably don't believe me, but if I don't listen to the radio, watch TV or read music mags or blogs, how would I have?

Maybe I saw the DNA video. But it didn't stick with me. And maybe "I," but I'm so sick of that Isley bros sample it too went past me.

But I've been spending time with good kid, MADD city. I can't say my mind was blown away at once. It's been track by track, a slow appreciation.

I think "Money Trees" was the one that really pulled me in. I'm not sure how many songs about the street I've heard, but this might be the first where I actually FELT the sheer humanity of living in urban poverty. "Oh, real people live there." It's a very emotional song and I find it painful to listen to.

The saddest lines are by Jay Rock: "Bitches sellin' pussy, niggas sellin' drugs
But it's all good"

How it is "all good?" How awful must life get for that to be all good?

Does everyone get that "The one in front of the gun lives forever" is super Christian? If Edmund Spencer or John Milton were in the game, they'd write lines like this.

Lamar's a moralist! How refreshing. "Swimming Pools" takes the party song and flips it on its head.

In fact, is he considered gangster rap? I like to think of him as pushing the sub-genre to a new place, or maybe just flipping expectations. Or maybe he actually turns it into the "reality rap" so many practitioners have claimed it was all along (but wasn't really--too cartoony).

All I know is I hear gangster rap's language, environment and situations, but in a whole new context, re-molded for Lamar's moralistic (in the best sense) purposes.

And I haven't mentioned the music, which is epic and minimalist at the same time.

I'm sure I sound really naive. Fuck you. It's new to me. Exciting stuff. I have Pimp and Untitled as well but haven't really dived in. I can't guess where this fellow's going.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by evollove

Up until a week ago I never heard kendrick lamar. You probably don't believe me, but if I don't listen to the radio, watch TV or read music mags or blogs, how would I have?

Maybe I saw the DNA video. But it didn't stick with me. And maybe "I," but I'm so sick of that Isley bros sample it too went past me.

But I've been spending time with good kid, MADD city. I can't say my mind was blown away at once. It's been track by track, a slow appreciation.

I think "Money Trees" was the one that really pulled me in. I'm not sure how many songs about the street I've heard, but this might be the first where I actually FELT the sheer humanity of living in urban poverty. "Oh, real people live there." It's a very emotional song and I find it painful to listen to.

The saddest lines are by Jay Rock: "Bitches sellin' pussy, niggas sellin' drugs
But it's all good"

How it is "all good?" How awful must life get for that to be all good?

Does everyone get that "The one in front of the gun lives forever" is super Christian? If Edmund Spencer or John Milton were in the game, they'd write lines like this.

Lamar's a moralist! How refreshing. "Swimming Pools" takes the party song and flips it on its head.

In fact, is he considered gangster rap? I like to think of him as pushing the sub-genre to a new place, or maybe just flipping expectations. Or maybe he actually turns it into the "reality rap" so many practitioners have claimed it was all along (but wasn't really--too cartoony).

All I know is I hear gangster rap's language, environment and situations, but in a whole new context, re-molded for Lamar's moralistic (in the best sense) purposes.

And I haven't mentioned the music, which is epic and minimalist at the same time.

I'm sure I sound really naive. Fuck you. It's new to me. Exciting stuff. I have Pimp and Untitled as well but haven't really dived in. I can't guess where this fellow's going.

No. Kendrick is not gangster rap. Kendrick is lyrical conscious shit, with a Compton perspective. He’s a would-be gangster rapper who decided to do something more.

You need to spend more time with the albums.

If Good Kid didn’t grab you right away, fear not. It didn’t grab me right away either. In fact I was kinda like, “Whays the big hairy ass deal?” But that was 2012, and I soon learned the error of my ways.

Put on “The Art of Peer Pressure” while driving at night time, or on really good headphones when you have nothing else going on. Shit is insane. Sucks you into hell.

Other essentials:
“F*ck your ethnicity”
“HiiiPower”
“Backseat Freestyle”
“The Blacker the Berry” (the. blacker. the. motherfucking. berry.)
“How Much a Dollar Cost”
“Alright”
“Mortal Man”
“DNA” (fuck the video, just listen to the song)
“Yah”
“Element”
“Duckworth”

Oh, and listen to “Control” by Big Sean so you can hear Kendrick’s insane dis verse where he took on EVERYONE IN THE FUCKING WORLD and won.

He’s legit.

I once heard a music critic describe him as “everything that’s good about Kanye, without any of the ‘buts’” ..: Not actually an accurate representation of Kendrick, as he and Kanye are two completely different kinds of artists, but still. A compliment.

Listen more and harder.

[evollove]

Kanye sucks.