that's why I gave up bootlegs and leaks years ago.

Kanye just alienated his fan base again with the minimal production and all the house, industrial, trap, etc sounds on the album. easily his weirdest album to date. it's short, intense and to the point. every track grabs you by the throat, there isn't even one minute wasted. i can't imagine you guys not liking it.

nice. Is it this Tues or what?

I can't see us not liking it either. Well, not NR and myself. I can't really predict FS's reaction. I haven't spent countless hours talking about hip hop with him (her? Probably him), as I have with you nerds.

Short and to the point though? That's almost foreboding. It definitely makes me want to throw caution to the wind and download it, because I don't want less music from Kanye, I want MORE. And I do t want it in small doses... I want to mainline 10 grams of Kanye and let it suck me into a coma, so I can have some DMT-fed lifetime of nothing but his music, and my own (fantastic) inferior-parietal, and medial-occipital temporal cortical areas.

What a weekend that would be!

See, I guess I never inherited that sense of guilt when it comes to driving without a license, particularly because for the several years I myself drove without a license, it was because I had warrants (like most people in LA driving without a license ;) ) Plus, when I was a teenager I used to hang out with a bunch of low-life car thieves and subsequently rolled around in various g-ridez. Wait, in hindsight that probably explains the warrants..

So as to leaks and bootlegs, I LOVE them almost more than released versions.

But seriously, my only complaint about 808s and Heartbreak is that it's too short. Graduation did "to the point" perfectly. 808s needed more time. MBDTF was perfect, but why clip it back again?

Though I suppose after Fantasy, he would be pulling a bit of an "Ammesiac" if he made another epic clockbuster. Making the same album twice is an insanely bad idea for anyone who's right on the brink of becoming the kind of artist that changes everything for everyone. There have been a lot of missed opportunities over the years, and I'm inclined to let Yeezy be Yeezy. I trust him.

btw, I'd rank VH1 Storytellers as his most WTF album. haha.

I think Amnesiac is better than Kid A. just saying.

well most hip-hop heads seem to think of Yeezus as a disappointment, i think. oddly, i'm in love with it.

and i would love a double album from Kanye someday too. but who knows what that crazy fucker is gonna do next.

now i can't wait for that American Psycho inspired short film thing.

I don't, but I like it. And I like all of their albums from post 1995, but they went from 60 to 0 in 8 months flat, if you know what I mean. And they were poised for some seriously crazy shit back then. I don't know that they'll ever sound much different than they have for the past 13 years. Most bands, no matter how shitty or boring, undergo bigger personality shifts over 13 years than Radiohead, who were the chameleons of rock, for a while there.

Louder- if it's any consolation, most people are idiots, almost all hip hop fans are idiots. It doesn't surprise me, and it's probably a good sign that people are disappointed.

Let's just hope Pitchfork isnt. I know people more hate than love it at this point, but it still impacts the collective unconscious of fandom in some undeniable ways. I am convinced that it may impact my views on music without my even knowing it, so I generally steer clear of it entirely. Minds are weak.
Anyway, if they blacklist it, or don't give it at least an 8, watch as the world around you slowly starts to lose interest.

don't get me wrong, I love Kid A, I just think Amnesiac is better. But like you, I'd say there's no bad Radiohead album or EP as long as we just give Pablo Honey a mulligan.

They are the A and B side of the SAME album. They were recorded in the same sessions ;)

,
Pablo Honey surprisingly has some ok tracks, but it is perfectly dated within the early 1990s when it was released. A hundred UK college rock bands sounded like that. Its what made OK Computer so different, not that it was an entirely innovative or 100% original style so much as it was a radical departure from (a) the grunge/alternative and (b) indy/college rock sounds that dominated the era. I would say radiohead actually have added subtle shifts in their sound with each record, not a radical shift, but not static either, an honest progression. each subsequent album is noticeably radiohead, and yet, there is always something a bit new, something slightly different.

But again, they are not two different albums, it is a single album recorded at one time and released in two parts.

Hail to the Thief is very underrated, and in truth, not acknowledged rightfully as the third part to Kid-Amnesiac-Hail to the Thief trinity. I thought it had more edge and teeth on the guitar work, like a taste of what was there on the thrashier parts of Pablo Honey and OK Computer but revisited and with added emphasis.

Its also why In Rainbows was such a radical departure in sound, because those three records were really intended to be composed as a a singularity, though only Kid A-Amnesiac were actually recorded together. So again, you really just like the A-side better than the B-side, but I can dig that. I feel that way about The Eternal, I like the second half of that record way better than the first, and if I had them recorded separately, could dig the second half entirely on its own..

Even though Radiohead were a pains to point out that they ARE two separate albums? If they'd done a Guns n Roses and called it part 1 and 2 or whatever then sure, but they're two different albums. Just cos they're done at the same sessions doesn't mean shit other than they have the same feel.

you guys should check out J. Cole's "The Warm Up". http://www.datpiff.com/J-Cole-The-Wa...ape.83635.html

that and Friday Night Lights are both classic mixtapes. i like his albums, but now i just tend to lump him in with throwback rappers like Game. back then he had the potential to be the greatest new rapper. :(

the Pac-Biggie comparsion is a bit unnecessary imo. apart from being rivals and gangstas, their rapping styles are completely different from each other. Pac is a lot more like DMX if you ask me.

The fact that they were released at in different years makes this a poor comparison. First of all, GnR have always sucked, and both uyi albums suck. Second, they were released simultaneously. So yes, if Radiohead had done that, or perhaps just released the two in one package, it would be a different story. But the way they did it made it feel utterly underwhelming. For the first time, their new album sounded pretty much exactly like their last, and it killed their momentum.

Who's idea was it to release "Pyramid Song" as the leading single for Amnesiac anyway? Yawn. If you ask me, Kid A is missing something, even if it is great. If they had included You and Whose Army, I Might be Wrong, ...Revolving Doors, and Knives Out on Kid A, it may have worked in their favor. Though I think Amnesiac should have been an EP, containing only those songs.

Don't ever let me catch you saying some straight bullshit like this again ;)

And yeah, Hail to the Thief was a great return to form. It's too bad nobody remembers it. I love that record. To me, it's the OKC sequel we needed on 2001. Maybe they just got their timing off. In any case, From the Basement made TKOL listenable for me, and brought out the krautrock vibe that was lacking on the original album.

Whatever, though. This is a hip hop thread.

Louder's right about 2pac and Biggie. Nothing alike, musically speaking. Not even lyrically.