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ztejas

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On 3/5/2022 at 3:09 AM, ztejas said:

I love Joey @MC Fresh Breath

I think this shit is going under the radar. 

As is this 

But Kodak is brilliant and unnoticed because of a white and oppprsissve dogma 

Good tracks.  I'm not with it enough to get your last sentence, so it's over my head either way.  He seems to get attention on r/hiphopheads.  And I remember "Super Gremlin" from a few months back.

Edited by MC Fresh Breath
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34 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Good tracks.  I'm not with it enough to get your last sentence, so it's over my head either way.  He seems to get attention on r/hiphopheads.  And I remember "Super Gremlin" from a few months back.

Lol I don't think I even posted the right tracks and not sure what I was talking about. 

And yeah he's not really a model citizen. Although a lot of these guys aren't, unfortunately. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This dude is putting out some special stuff and I wonder how much it's even being noticed. 

Continues to be one of the most compelling sounds I've heard in a long time. It's like if spaceghostpurrp and Three 6 had a love child.

Also this - which was a single a couple months ago but got tacked on to the same deluxe version of this album that just dropped (the first 10 tracks are all new stuff). About Young Dolph getting killed - who Glock was pretty much the main protege of. 

 

Edited by ztejas
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So on further review... yeah. I don't care if you're old school new school whatever the fuck this is different man and needs to be noticed.

In context of what else is going on around it this is literally the best shit I've heard in 10 years. Since Good Kid Maad City. Holy fuck y'all.

 

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Cross posting from TV thread:

Just saw the first episode of Jeen-Yuhs (The Kanye West documentary Netflix paid $30mm for). I absolutely loved it. Reminded me of how innovative and fresh Kanye West was in the early 2000's and disruptive of that scene.

I listened to College Dropout today front to back after watching and revisiting it, it brought up a lot of emotions. Such an interesting and beautiful record. The risk and confidence and...élan, I think is the most appropriate word, reminded me of why people fell in love with Kanye in the first place, in the beginning. What a fantastic episode. I'm almost afraid to watch the next two (especially the third) because we all know the tragedy that later befalls as he flies too close to the sun.

But the final chapter is not written. I'm renewed in rooting for this guy to pull out of his mental tailspin, though the sheer amount of wealth and fame and influence might make that sort of ego deconstruction impossible. The guy had an ego half the size of Chicago when he was a minor celebrity making beats, after all.

That said, Donda was mostly forgettable to me and I haven't even heard Donda 2. 

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On 3/30/2022 at 9:48 PM, TurkeyChew said:

Cross posting from TV thread:

Just saw the first episode of Jeen-Yuhs (The Kanye West documentary Netflix paid $30mm for). I absolutely loved it. Reminded me of how innovative and fresh Kanye West was in the early 2000's and disruptive of that scene.

I listened to College Dropout today front to back after watching and revisiting it, it brought up a lot of emotions. Such an interesting and beautiful record. The risk and confidence and...élan, I think is the most appropriate word, reminded me of why people fell in love with Kanye in the first place, in the beginning. What a fantastic episode. I'm almost afraid to watch the next two (especially the third) because we all know the tragedy that later befalls as he flies too close to the sun.

But the final chapter is not written. I'm renewed in rooting for this guy to pull out of his mental tailspin, though the sheer amount of wealth and fame and influence might make that sort of ego deconstruction impossible. The guy had an ego half the size of Chicago when he was a minor celebrity making beats, after all.

That said, Donda was mostly forgettable to me and I haven't even heard Donda 2. 

 I was early in college when Kanye hit the scene. I did not like his music back then. It was not until I got older did I realize how genius he was. Especially those early albums. I haven't listened to a Kanye album since 2016 but you can not deny him in the history of rap. You can't tell the entire story of rap without him. Also a genius producer.

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On 3/31/2022 at 10:21 AM, tokamak said:

Yeah Kanye's first 5 albums were an absolutely incredible run. People discount his musical genius simply because they don't like him as a person (which is pretty understandable at this point).

808s is fine but the 3 before that and 3 after are all 4-5 star albums. Yeezus is different but in a good way. TLOP is the last great thing he did. No other hip hop artist comes close to a 7 album stretch like that. 

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On 4/1/2022 at 7:14 PM, ztejas said:

808s is fine but the 3 before that and 3 after are all 4-5 star albums. Yeezus is different but in a good way. TLOP is the last great thing he did. No other hip hop artist comes close to a 7 album stretch like that. 

I get why people don't love 808, but I thought it was just as great as anything prior or after. Like you said, different.

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4 hours ago, Vegas64 said:

I get why people don't love 808, but I thought it was just as great as anything prior or after. Like you said, different.

I wouldn't say that, but that's just my personal stance. I think it ages pretty well - in fact - probably an album that sounded better some years after it came out than when it was released. It was also pretty influential and paved the way for massive artists like Drake and The Weeknd. 

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On 4/1/2022 at 7:14 PM, ztejas said:

808s is fine but the 3 before that and 3 after are all 4-5 star albums. Yeezus is different but in a good way. TLOP is the last great thing he did. No other hip hop artist comes close to a 7 album stretch like that. 

OutKast's first 5 albums are all genre bending, all time classic albums. yeah, there are people who hated speakerboxxx/the love below, and it's admittedly the weakest of the five, but i'd argue that no rap artist/group ever can match OutKast's first four albums.

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On 4/5/2022 at 6:30 PM, shadow_operative said:

OutKast's first 5 albums are all genre bending, all time classic albums. yeah, there are people who hated speakerboxxx/the love below, and it's admittedly the weakest of the five, but i'd argue that no rap artist/group ever can match OutKast's first four albums.

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Oh shit. I remember liking this post. I love OutKast.

Kanye absolutely matches them whether you want to go first four/five/six/seven whatever. No hip-hop artist ever has had remotely the same amount of overall influence as Kanye. Both of my 18 y/o little brothers as well as my 16 y/o little brother worship early Kanye (as in - music that was released when they were in grade school and weren't even aware of it) as do their friends. Kanye is like Pink Floyd or Nirvana for generations younger than you. And honestly - I didn't really realize it until fairly recently when I discovered that my little brothers were completely up to speed on Graduation (2007) but totally in the dark on stuff like Drake and The Weeknd's albums from the early 2010s.

I mean - kids these days think OutKast is hip and the ones super into music fuck with OutKast but it just isn't the same. And all of this is without even getting into how formative Kanye's music was to people my age or a bit older (born 85-95 I guess). Kanye is timeless and the first 7 albums he dropped are a huge, huge fucking deal. We can debate which albums anyone likes better but Kanye's first 7 are like all-time across any genre level shit. OutKast is like - top 5 hip/hop runs ever.

I mean... try and analyze a track like this and determine how far ahead of its time it is. Stuff like this is still blowing minds of kids that haven't been exposed to it. Post one song ever that sounds remotely like this. 

And actually... let's go further. Because I'd like to bury this comparison and move on. Here are three more tracks - two of which have become fairly iconic - one is a phenomenal stand alone that doesn't get enough love - and with that I'm giving you four off of one record without even posting Kanye's biggest hit ever which was off the same album. An album that critically wasn't as well received as the two before it or the magnum opus to come two albums later.

Again... I love OutKast. And they have a seriously special and important place in hip-hop history that few artists can match. But there's really no comparison between them and Kanye. 

Edited by ztejas
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New Vince Staples album is really, really good. Loving this 2 song stretch. 

 

Btw - I've seen Vince and he was fucking awesome live. This was probably 2017 - dude played almost 2 hours. I'd love to catch him again. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 hours ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

New Pusha T is worth your time.

 

I came here to question this, glad you commented. I was reading a bunch of “album of the year” reviews and find it to be just meh. Just like I thought Daytona was meh. Maybe I just find Pusha-T’s whole Schlick to be one note and boring these days, but even the Neptune/Kanye production was much ballyhooed and left me thinking it was good, not great, overhyped.

My personal opinion is I think Push can’t just carry an album because he’s not interesting enough, but he’s an amazing guest feature artist. To that point my favorite track was with his brother.

Edited by Vegas64
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On 4/25/2022 at 8:07 PM, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Cross post-

Disclaimer- I'm next to one notch above ignorant when it comes to rap, but JFC this melody is an earworm

 

Rep for contributing. Personally not my cup of tea but someone else here may vibe with it. 

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On 4/22/2022 at 10:06 PM, Vegas64 said:

I came here to question this, glad you commented. I was reading a bunch of “album of the year” reviews and find it to be just meh. Just like I thought Daytona was meh. Maybe I just find Pusha-T’s whole Schlick to be one note and boring these days, but even the Neptune/Kanye production was much ballyhooed and left me thinking it was good, not great, overhyped.

My personal opinion is I think Push can’t just carry an album because he’s not interesting enough, but he’s an amazing guest feature artist. To that point my favorite track was with his brother.

 

I do have to quickly confess that my hip hop listening is random and sporadic.  I'll see something on reddit, or I'll read an end of year list, or maybe some mention on a music site.  So I can't offer a substantial critique like someone such as yourself, ztejas, shadow_operative, or others here could.  It just either clicks for me or it doesn't.  I also find I often may not enjoy something on first or second listen and then at some random time interval later I'll find I like it.

I think the production on this one is what draws me in.  Not groundbreaking or anything, but I just dig it.  So for me, a good listen.  Also, I can make out everything being said.  As I age I find that helps with whether I like something or not.

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I went back and listened again to see if I might have missed something. Again, I was reading the initial, breathless praising and reports when the album dropped and "Album of the Year" being thrown around, so I was expecting something I think more interesting, transformative, moving, I don't know.

I can see how sonically it is good, Kanye and Pharrell are up to par, but it didn't really blow (pun intended) me away to be honest. Most people like the Rock and Roll track the best and the Beyonce sample seems forced and the song weak-- Kid Cudi is my favorite part. The rest of the album it's much the same-- above average production (not great) and extremely tired lyrics, wordplay and content from Pusha T.

Better production from Neptunes & Kanye and better rap from Pusha T, together, can be found on YouTube from 10 years ago: "What Happened to that Boy", "New God Flow", and "What I Don't Like Cruel Summer remix", respectively. 

That said, Daytona was boring to me too. Maybe I had my fill of the same old coke rap metaphors from the oversaturated 2010's.

Edited by Vegas64
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On 4/27/2022 at 12:29 PM, Vegas64 said:

I went back and listened again to see if I might have missed something. Again, I was reading the initial, breathless praising and reports when the album dropped and "Album of the Year" being thrown around, so I was expecting something I think more interesting, transformative, moving, I don't know.

I can see how sonically it is good, Kanye and Pharrell are up to par, but it didn't really blow (pun intended) me away to be honest. Most people like the Rock and Roll track the best and the Beyonce sample seems forced and the song weak-- Kid Cudi is my favorite part. The rest of the album it's much the same-- above average production (not great) and extremely tired lyrics, wordplay and content from Pusha T.

Better production from Neptunes & Kanye and better rap from Pusha T, together, can be found on YouTube from 10 years ago: "What Happened to that Boy", "New God Flow", and "What I Don't Like Cruel Summer remix", respectively. 

That said, Daytona was boring to me too. Maybe I had my fill of the same old coke rap metaphors from the oversaturated 2010's.

This is a good post. You were beating me over the head in the NBA thread and your initial post here annoyed me but then again I feel that way about most posters in the NBA thread.

I think those are all valid critiques. For me personally, I think artists are entitled to sing/rap about whatever they choose and the real test of their mettle is how they convey those ideas and how their music sounds. This album, for me, checks pretty much all of the boxes. I agree that it isn't some revolution in subject matter for Pusha but I think overall he has some extremely sharp lines and comes across as confident as ever. That goes along way for me as a listener. On top of it - this is by far his most diverse effort sonically (to borrow your terminology - which I like) and he deserves credit for that. 

I'm not sure why you read music reviews or see what other people are saying before you listen. I quit doing that years ago and I'm only half a decade out of college. Just listen to the album and after a couple spins if you aren't sure maybe check your favorite source for music opinions for guidance. People are fucking idiots and pretty much every music website is in the pocket of someone with an agenda. Fuck that. 

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On 4/27/2022 at 11:23 AM, MC Fresh Breath said:

 

I do have to quickly confess that my hip hop listening is random and sporadic.  I'll see something on reddit, or I'll read an end of year list, or maybe some mention on a music site.  So I can't offer a substantial critique like someone such as yourself, ztejas, shadow_operative, or others here could.  It just either clicks for me or it doesn't.  I also find I often may not enjoy something on first or second listen and then at some random time interval later I'll find I like it.

I think the production on this one is what draws me in.  Not groundbreaking or anything, but I just dig it.  So for me, a good listen.  Also, I can make out everything being said.  As I age I find that helps with whether I like something or not.

Fuck that keep posting what you enjoy. His opinion isn't law neither is mine nor yours. Zero judgement here - I started this thread a year ago and we aren't even to 3 pages yet. Post any hip-hop thoughts you want and the more tracks the better. 

Ran back through all of the posts here - posted one from this album - can't believe I never posted this one. So awesome. I know it took me 3-4 listens before I "got" it though. 

 

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8 hours ago, ztejas said:

I'm not sure why you read music reviews or see what other people are saying before you listen. I quit doing that years ago and I'm only half a decade out of college. Just listen to the album and after a couple spins if you aren't sure maybe check your favorite source for music opinions for guidance. People are fucking idiots and pretty much every music website is in the pocket of someone with an agenda. Fuck that. 

Honestly, because I don't follow or really listen to new music anymore so the only reason I even knew this was coming, and then dropped, was because of Apple news blips and the PR which click-baited me into reading about it and then listening to the album. The same reason that in 2022 I know anything about 50 Cent and his stupid beefs currently-- because Apple News thinks it's interesting and I'm a distracted ADHD fool, at times.

I couldn't tell you or differentiate any new rapper as they all look and sound the same to me because I don't care (e.g. Lil Durk, DaBaby, LilBaby, NBANeverBaby, YoungBaby, ThugBaby, BlacBabyGremlin, etc.), so when reviews and stuff pop up I'll read them-- especially with artists I've listened to and liked in the past like a Pusha T. The only new rapper I could distinguish visually would be Jack Harlow and it's because he's white, but I've listened to his music because I heard some hype about it and it was really basic and mediocre.

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6 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

I couldn't tell you or differentiate any new rapper as they all look and sound the same to me because I don't care (e.g. Lil Durk, DaBaby, LilBaby, NBANeverBaby, YoungBaby, ThugBaby, BlacBabyGremlin, etc.), so when reviews and stuff pop up I'll read them-- especially with artists I've listened to and liked in the past like a Pusha T. The only new rapper I could distinguish visually would be Jack Harlow and it's because he's white, but I've listened to his music because I heard some hype about it and it was really basic and mediocre.

Respect for being honest. Unfortunately a lot of this thread is going to go over your head. But you're welcome to hit us with some old head shit 😎

 

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2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Respect for being honest. Unfortunately a lot of this thread is going to go over your head. But you're welcome to hit us with some old head shit 😎

 

Hey, maybe I can learn something from you youngins! I listend to the Lil Durk song and hated it.

The best (probably only) new song I heard in the past year that I loved was a 21 Savage song but only because he properly paid homage to a living legend in Project Pat when it was his turn to rap, as he followed his verse with pistache:

 

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29 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

I listend to the Lil Durk song and hated it.

Yeah. No surprises there. "your kids are gonna love it" type energy.

Glad you fuck with Three 6. Honestly I think they're one of the most influential and important acts ever and they never get recognized as such. I love everything coming out of Memphis right now - not sure if you've listened to any of the Key Glock stuff I've posted but to me it carries that three 6 legacy pretty well. Just try and listen for that influence on these and I bet you'll grow to like it (especially that 2nd track - I think it's one of the best things anyone's made lately).

 

 

And 21 has some cool shit. I used to hang with a guy that was older than me and didn't like most of the new shit but I gradually got him into 21. Try this (I also think this is one of the best music videos of the past ~5 years but don't make a shit if you don't like the song I guess):

 

Or this (this is produced by Metro Boomin who is like the producer savant of the new generation):

 

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I mean - what y'all know about shit like this.

Or this.

Have we had the GOAT debate yet here? There's two for my guy. 

@Vegas64 you know about shit like this? Who you got batting 2nd? Here's another one for the kids in the back.

 

 

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@ztejas first of all thanks for having the patience to share and explain. Like I said a lot of the newer rap acts have really turned me off and I'm just old. I am one of the few people I know who don't even have a spotify account.

"Ghostface Killers" song was great-- i almost bailed on it because the sing-songy melody rap stuff I hate from Offset was Offputting, but 21 Savage is a breath of fresh air, I like him a lot.

"a lot" was good too, reminded me of cross between International Players Anthem (UGK/Outkast) and MYB (Kevin Gates). I enjoyed it; I'll keep an eye and ear out for this 21 fella!

As far as the Key Glock stuff-- it was fine. Run of the mill Memphis street stuff, which isn't an insult. I have spent a lot of time in Memphis and it is genuinely one of the scarier cities I've ever been in after dark (and interestingly enough, Germantown/East Memphis is really nice and small world cosmo), it's just that struggle, hustle and violence is static. I grew up listening to Three6 and Project Pat and listened to some Yo Gotti. I tried to listen to Young Dolph after he died but couldn't get into any of his stuff-- but all the elements are there in all these rappers. Feels like Memphis rap is a bit stale and probably because there hasn't been a lot of breakout success or investment and so that real violence and cruel poverty eventually succumbs.

Lastly, of course we all, of all ages and stripes, appreciate Kendrick Lamar. He's technically fantastic, it's just a matter of personal tastes at that point. My favorite Kendrick Lamar verse ever is: 

 

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12 hours ago, cmontexas said:

Young Thug, Gunna, other members of YSL indicted on bigtime RICO charges

I'll have to look into that later. Hasn't crossed my feed yet. Guessing Thugger and Gunna walk. RICO is weak when you have the lawyers they do. 

----

The GOAT is back at it. 

 

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On 5/2/2022 at 1:21 PM, Vegas64 said:

@ztejas first of all thanks for having the patience to share and explain. Like I said a lot of the newer rap acts have really turned me off and I'm just old. I am one of the few people I know who don't even have a spotify account.

"Ghostface Killers" song was great-- i almost bailed on it because the sing-songy melody rap stuff I hate from Offset was Offputting, but 21 Savage is a breath of fresh air, I like him a lot.

"a lot" was good too, reminded me of cross between International Players Anthem (UGK/Outkast) and MYB (Kevin Gates). I enjoyed it; I'll keep an eye and ear out for this 21 fella!

As far as the Key Glock stuff-- it was fine. Run of the mill Memphis street stuff, which isn't an insult. I have spent a lot of time in Memphis and it is genuinely one of the scarier cities I've ever been in after dark (and interestingly enough, Germantown/East Memphis is really nice and small world cosmo), it's just that struggle, hustle and violence is static. I grew up listening to Three6 and Project Pat and listened to some Yo Gotti. I tried to listen to Young Dolph after he died but couldn't get into any of his stuff-- but all the elements are there in all these rappers. Feels like Memphis rap is a bit stale and probably because there hasn't been a lot of breakout success or investment and so that real violence and cruel poverty eventually succumbs.

Lastly, of course we all, of all ages and stripes, appreciate Kendrick Lamar. He's technically fantastic, it's just a matter of personal tastes at that point. My favorite Kendrick Lamar verse ever is: 

 

Also I totally missed this the other day. Appreciate the response and the willingness to check new shit out. 

Some of this stuff is unfortunately pretty generational. I mean - I don't expect many white people to understand Key Glock let alone older folks of any ethnicity or upbringing. But that's part of why I like it so much. It just sort of clicks with me in an existential sense. (and spoilers I'm white myself - but I'm young and a lot of my closest friends over the years have been black)

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On 5/12/2022 at 9:51 AM, cmontexas said:

Young Thug, Gunna, other members of YSL indicted on bigtime RICO charges

Interesting read here on it:

https://theatlantaobjective.substack.com/p/ysl-faces-the-music?s=r
 

Musically, I am somewhat familiar with Young Thug and Gunna.  Had no Idea about their gang stuff because I don’t keep up with that kind of thing.

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On 5/13/2022 at 10:02 AM, ztejas said:

Here's my review:

Kendrick seems like he's run out of things to say. 

 

Kanye constantly reinventing himself has spoiled us I think. 

(I am geeking that Kodak made it on 3 tracks. I feel so validated)

I read that eminem was speechless after hearing Kendrick's new album which has me geeked to hear it.

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Cardi B actually doesn't sound too bad "rap-sanging" (I believe Z-Ro came up with the term). I wonder if she came up with her flow. For the longest time, she didn't write her own lyrics.

She's got the opening verse, but the rest of the song is pretty dope for a getting over a breakup type of R&B song.

 

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This Kendrick joint growing on me. I had listened to it a few times and days passed and I could not get one of the tracks out of my head. I didn't know which one it was so I skipped around and found it and I think this is my vote for best track on the record. 

I mean... do the rest of you listen to music but then there's something subconscious and guiding that pulls you to certain things? Like I hadn't spent one second thinking about that track or remembering the name or anything like that (even though I had thought plenty about other tracks on the album) and yet the backwaters of my brain somehow get me back there and then I consciously realize (once I'm actively listening) that I think it's the greatest 4 minutes on the project. 

Maybe some of y'all can relate to that. Or not. I just really love music and it's deeply intertwined with my spirit. And I think that's a pretty special track even though it's not a typical Kendrick track. 

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