You are overthinking it.. its simple. Is there even a single instance of profanity? Then it gets the sticker. Really the sticker at least here in Cali and especially in the download era is meaningless. In the 90s they were very strict on not selling Parental Advisory tagged music to minors without an adult there with them. Gradually retailers got less strict as they realized there were no lawsuits or FCC fines coming because of lax enforcement.

On "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"? ... No!

And since the Lips' cover album is a loyal (lyrically speaking) remake of the album, it doesn't have any profanity on it either. Maybe those distorted vocals are full of hidden "cunt!" And "fuck motherfucker cock!" chants, but I have no reason to believe that's the case.

Same goes for Dark Side of the Moon. Yeah, the album has the word "shit" on it, but that's never earned it a sticker before. So.. seriously, why the Lips' version?

I don't think the stickers were ever actually legally mandated. If that was the case, a lot of underground albums that didn't have the sticker-- but should have-- would have on later editions (Songs About Fucking comes immediately to mind, since the sticker could be for lyrical content and/or thematic content/artwork having to do with profanity, drugs, sex, violence, etc.).

The major record companies all wanted to avoid trouble, so they complied and eventually started issuing clean versions of EVERYTHING. Seriously, there's a clean version of 808's & Heartbreak, and it just bleeps out the "shit" from Wayne's verse on Nightmares.

So I do wonder why artists choose to voluntarily put the fucking sticker on their album when either a) their album contains no explicit content to speak of, or b) their album isn't an album, and isn't affiliated with the industry, and they can do whatever the hell they want with it (mix tapes) ... Like, fucking WHY? Unless it is just an expectation, or a badge of some kind of stupid ass honor.

If that's the case, I just want it to be said. Acknowledge that it means nothing and that it goes on if and only if someone wants it on, meaning it fucking has nothing to do with warning people, and is instead being used as a promotional tool.

it's totally a "hey kids, this has a sticker, it's dangerous, your parents will hate it, you NEED it" thing.

Really, I think there was a subtle racism behind the whole goddamn thing. Trent Reznor was like the token white guy put on blast for using explicit language, and they lucked out because (as much as I love him) the guy is a total libertarian nut job about "rights" and he was happy to take his bitching to the floor of the senate.

It was basically a strategic attack on hip hop, the one genre that used profanity almost as a rule, and which was built around a culture that necessarily had high exposure to drugs and violence. By the early-mid '90s, rap without profanity was pretty much not a thing.

Anyway, whatever. I've always thought the actual look of the PAEL sticker seemed almost engineered to be enticing. It probably was. Slapping that sticker on a record almost guaranteed that young people would want to know why it was there. In the long run, it's probably helped record sales more than hindered them.

Its not a strategic attack on hip hop, as it targets A LOT of music including white friendly rock and "alternative".. i think you are taking it way too personal. Indeed its not a promotional tool, its enforced by the FCC and many labels try creative ways to avoid it. Remember in a lot of parts of US the sticker is still a big deal for parents

I'm remember reading an interview with Kerry King from Slayer (God Hate Us All era.) and he was saying how many bands actively tried to get the sticker on their albums. Everyone from Limp Bizkit to Slipknot and everyone in between had the 'Parental' sticker. It's a hip thing, all those records that didn't need to have them on have it to not be seen as tame.

As you say, to say it deliberately targets hip hop is not true at all.

Not a literal attack on hip hop, of course. But it's no secret that black influence terrifies white America. When a smart, popular, democratic black man steps into Presidential office... there's a latent racism that activates in people who can't handle the idea of a black man representing the nation.

When an opinionated black pop artist becomes so influential that with 7 words he can bring George Bush to the "low point of [his] administration", that latent racism comes out in memes and tabloid butchery and attempted character assassination - and, failing that, the constant public accusation of "insanity."

Rap culture made a lot of people uneasy when it took off. So much of it celebrated black culture and strength. How do you think soccer moms felt when their white teenage daughters were putting 2 Live Crew posters up in their rooms?

Don't tell me that hip hop hasn't been a targeted. Hell, Geraldo Rivera said hip hop music was a more destructive force than gang violence or racism... And that was like three months ago!

I'm just saying white people are scared of black people, and as long as that's the case, racism is going to continue to motivate people to disempower, discredit, censor, or attempt to control black influence.

not hip hop in the least, but I've been listening to Ryan Adams' 1989 on repeat all week.

Cool.

I've been listening to the new albums by Battles, Botany and Low. And I just realized that Trembling Bells dropped a new album in June, so I'm getting caught up with that.

Not a lot of hip-hop for me either. The new Underachievers is out now, and I'm probably going to check it out pretty soon. And I want to check out Juicy J's new tape.

I'd rather listen to Taylor Swift than Ryan Adams.

I'm surprised that this is the case, even though I've never been a Ryan Adams fan.

I love Taylor Swift. I love Ryan Adams. I love both 1989 albums.

Today I've been listening to the new Kendrick Scott album. It's good. His group covers FlyLo's "Never Gonna Catch Me" !

This is what my Spotify saved album looks like right now...

A$AP Rocky - ALLA
Action Bronson - Mr. Wonderful
The Alchemist & Oh No - Welcome To Los Santos
Drake - If You're REading this
Duke Ellington - Conny Plank Sessions
Ghostface - Sour Soul
Ghostface - 12 Reasons II
Joey Bada$$ - B4DA$$
The Bad Plus - The Bad Plus Joshua Redman
Kamasi Washington - The Epic
Kendrick - TPABF
Kendrick Scott - We Are The Drum
Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon
Miles Davis - At Newport (Bootleg Series 4)
Robert Glasper Trio - Covered
Ryan Adams - 1989
Ryan Adams - 10 Songs from Live...
Team Sleep - Woodstock Sessions 4
Vince Staples - Summertime 06
The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness

Ha!

Yeah, that bit about me being too old to impress anyone made me laugh. Absurdly harsh, that bit.. but yeah, funny.

The rest was pretty much indecipherable.

I don't care if you don't like Rodeo. I'm not offended. I don't like it so much that I would even argue about it. Actually, I'm liking it less than I did initially... It's got a couple really strong songs, but it also has several that don't hold up to repeated listens.

I just don't like spamming for the sake of spamming, and I don't like it when your scatological rambling feels phoned in and obligatory. If you're gonna do the "say crazy shit" thing, be fucking funny about it, or go do something else. I just want to see you living up to your potential :)

Why did you start being a dick after years of mutual civility?

Hmm okay. Gonna see Kanye tomorrow. Finallyyy!

In the last few days Kanye performed 808s & Heartbreak in its entirety, with extra touches added to every song, which makes me think it'd be a good idea if he released an 808s & Heartbreak live album to hold us over while we're waiting for SWISH.

Did you see 808's live?!!!

Yes, a live 808's & heartbreak album would be tremendously awesome. But his live releases have always been fairly low key and/or spotty affairs. Late Orchestration barely registered on the national radar, and Storytellers was intentionally forgotten.

But yeah, I want this to happen now. But because it's Kanye, I won't expect it.

I heard something about the new album "maybe" being ANOTHER two years away. Fuckin Yeezy man.

Storytellers is such a mess it's hilarious.

Yeah... I mean, I actually kind of applaud the effort. You can tell he had a vision for how the whole thing was going to go down. He wanted to showcase his new material in a very personal way, with live arrangements and backing vocalists... Some moments are damn powerful, but something got lost in translation, and the end product is quite spotty indeed.

I love Late Orchestration, though! I didn't even know that record existed until about a year ago. I ordered a pricey import edition from Amazon. Imagine my shock when I realized that there was a Yeezy album I didn't own! Granted, it should have been/could have been longer, and the set list didnt have to be so Late Reg-happy. But I think it works.

The cover art is entirely too clever for I its own good. The Kanye bear I am Abbey Road pose, at Abbey Road studios... Too perfect.

Storytellers is awesome, but makes me cringe at moments. It's nuts. It's ultimately a 'failure,' but I feel like it is something that any Kanye fan needs to hear. It has its place for sure.

I mean - what about when he says the thing about OJ and the audience doesn't know what to do. It's so awkward. Then he tries to explain what he meant but makes even less sense. "well, didn't he do his thing when he did what he did?" um... what, Ye?

Late Orch - I agree. (A) cover art is awesome, (B) too much Late Reg stuff, (C) very good performances, (D) should have gotten a US release.

No I'm going to see Kanye tomorrow. Still not sure if he's gonna perform 808's like he did in all his recent concerts.

^ He's not an idiot. He just, like, REFUSES to learn from his mistakes. I can always understand what he's trying to say, what he's getting at, but he NEVER prepares speeches, he NEVER primes for interviews, or goes over possible questions beforehand and once he starts talking-- starts making a point-- he CAN'T just say "you know what? Forget it, I'll get back to this some other time" ... Nope. He just forges ahead, no matter how many times he slips up or says the wrong thing, he pushes forward...

He's obviously not a stupid man, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had a learning disability, or a autism-spectrum disorder marked by a high preservation of cognitive and linguistic functioning. Perhaps the A-S disorder previously known as "Asperger's Syndrome", (now simply a specific low severity code diagnosis on the Autism spectrum).

This would make sense in a lot of ways. Asperger's has, of course, become a "hot" diagnosis for children with strong creative abilities but persisting behavioral problems (or, in the stereotypical case, areas of savant-like proficiency or hyper-focused attention), but that's become more of a folk-definition at this point. Instead, Asperger's seems to be defined mostly by an inability to operate within the normative range of social and interpersonal communication. There's also some emotion and intimacy-related symptoms, but... can't speak to that really.

I have a nephew who was diagnosed with Asperger's in the late '90s. He's about to graduate from college, and he is quite smart, but he writes term papers about Jay Leno and the Simpsons, avoids math, history and philosophy like the plague, and has the handwriting of a second grader. He has a solid vocabulary, but he tends to ever-so-slightly misuse words, as though he is unaware of underlying meaning, connotation and implication.

He also SUCKS at making jokes. When his dad forces him to send me Birthday cards, he tries very hard to write something clever, but almost always succeeds only in being almost shockingly insulting, which his father inevitably has to apologize for. It was cute for a while, then it started to become grating, now I just don't read his messages anymore.

Yet he went to school on a performing arts scholarship. Sounds more than a little like Mr. West, don't you think?

Guy couldn't survive is one celebrity with any kind of autism. He is just a dumb ass

You sure about that? They don't call it a spectrum disorder for nothing. One can be autistic without knowing it, just as one can be autistic without anyone else knowing it. There are most definitely autistic celebrities. And academics. And doctors, lawyers, scientists..

Temple Grandin ringing any bells?

Not everyone with an autism diagnosis spends their days rocking back and forth in a care facility.

I don't think of "mental states" as things to be overlooked, or forgiven. I was just saying there might be legitimate reasons for his behavior.

Not defending anyone... But I do think it's absurdly short-sighted to call someone with such an untarnished body of creative work "dumb." Kanye wouldn't be Kanye if he was just a dumb guy...

People think Kim Gordon is dumb too. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and I think she may have put a decisive end to rumors about her alleged stupidity and lack of talent with Girl in a Band and Body/Head (the most musically sophisticated major post-Sonic Youth project by fucking light years) ... But in the end, it doesn't really matter does it?

Got the new Underachievers.... that's all I'm going to say until I have some time to think.

...

The Concert Was A Dream Come True. I Was Front Row, Right In Front Of Kanye!!!!!!!

Ok so as soon as they opened the gates I ran to the front row line as if my life depended on it. I had to wait for hours until Kanye showed up and my battery was dying, meanwhile I started asking random people in the crowd about their fav Ye album and stuff to pass the time.. some of them were pretty knowledgable. It was crowded af, I had a headache and my legs were killing me.. but as soon as Kanye showed up I forgot about EVERYTHING, I was starstruck!!

He opened with Stronger which was amazing cuz when the song started you couldn't see him, then he came out of the dark. That shit got everyone TURNT. He did so many songs. I liked how he repeated the line "Shit is real, got me feelin Israelian/ Like Bar Refaeli" at the end of Clique. Also, when he did Good Life he changed the lyric to "It feel like Tel Aviv".

I noticed he added extra touches to a couple of songs, Flashing Lights and No Church in the Wild to be more specific. Mike Dean was shredding on the guitar on No Church chorus. All Falls Down was my fav moment.. when that sample kicked in out loud it just made me so happy. The crowd was amazing, everyone around me knew all the words (was a bit worried about this before the concert tbh). He even said we were the best crowd he's had all this year!

So yeah, it was definitely one of the best concert experiences I've ever had in my life, and if I got him right I think he'll even wanna come here again someday in the future.

Thanks for sharing man. To be completely honest, I kinda hate you a little bit right now. Envy and whatnot. But I'm happy for you too.

...

Wow. I was gonna say something about the new Jay Rock, Fetty Wap and Underachievers albums.... see if you were into any of it. But now... seems silly. I mean, that shit's probably the last thing you're thinking about.

I want to hear more- any new songs? You know he premiered his collab with Post Malone and Ty$ during the trailer for YEEZY Season 2. Did you hear that? What about other 2015 tracks?

Well, Meow the Jewels certainly is a waste of fucking time.

I'm pretty into cats, so I was hoping the album would be nothing but cat sounds. Like, no rapping... just meowing... All beats made up entirely of spliced together cat samples.

Sounds pretty fucking crazy, but at least it would be weird. This is just absolute fucking nonsense.

Im actually bummed that this project slowed down rtj3

Well yeah, so am I.

But why did it slow it down? All the tracks are remixes with a few "meows" tossed into the titles. I don't understand why it was necessary for El-P to audition a hundred cats in person (or in feline)

I'm genuinely upset that this doesn't have more cat stuff on it though, and that troubles me a tad.

I just mean any focus or time on this was not on it.

Bloody hell, it's not that big of a deal. Chill.

Lol sorry dude. You need to go see Kanye when you have a chance! That experience is a must. YES!!

Jay Rock - Good. Better than "These Days.." and "Oxymoron", but not as good as Clivia Demo.

Fetty Wap - Doesn't interest me if I'm being honest. *shrug* The tracklist makes it seem to be more a compilation of his singles and loosies, rather than a cohesive album with direction.

Underachievers - Haven't heard it yet. Indigoism was my shit when it came out, but I've lost interest in them a long time ago.

Yeah I know about that new collab (he premiered an unfinished version), he didn't do that. He did All Day, Only One and 4 5 Seconds. Not any material that was unheard of before.

New Lil Herb is good. More mature and introspective than Welcome to Fazoland (which is a drill classic).

Sorry I was kinda just ranting for effect there... I do love cats, though.

Sev, you heard the vsnares album songs about my cats right?