i must say i like PARTYNEXTDOOR more than i like Drake. he's the future in my eyes, he pretty much took The Weeknd's lane and is doing it better than him. i listen to PARTYNEXTDOOR and PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO every single fucking day. his parts on If You're Reading This.. are fantastic too.

I don't think I've ever actually bothered to learn anything about PARTYNEXTDOOR. I couldn't tell you if I liked "him" or not, even though I know I've heard him on records like Drake's.

he's only 21 and it's already his third year since he got signed to OVO. he hasn't had much mainstream success yet and the critics' reaction to his two projects was pretty cold. but i think it's only a matter of time 'til he becomes huge.

it seems like this year he finally decided that he's ready to step into the spotlight. he started doing features, first appeared on Drake's album then Big Sean's and i'm sure there are more to come. his appearance on both blew me away by the way. and recently FADER put him on the cover in what was his first interview ever.

i know you like Ty Dolla $ign. so PARTY is the Toronto version of him, but younger, fresher and more artistic.. basically what we wanted Ty$ to be back when we talked about his EP last year, if you remember. his breakthrough EP is crazy because it features a blend of Future-type emotional bangers and R&B music that's ahead of its time. the follow up "PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO" is more ambient, darker and deeper, so it's definitely less accessible, but unanimously the fans' favorite out of the two.

he cites '90s groups such as Jodeci, Boyz II Men and Blackstreet as his influences, which makes a lot of sense because he sampled them on his songs.

when D'Angelo was PARTY's age, Christgau described him as the R&B Jesus. i think that term might apply to PARTY. he's the modern R&B Jesus to me. he kinda looks like a black Jesus too.

here's what OVO's manager said about him: "He's the rare breed that writes, produces, engineers, performs, sings - all in one artist. He's pulling all of the strings, he's doing everything, so you hear his final production exactly the way he envisions it. That is a privilege for any artist. You look at the other artists that are able to manipulate like that, and it's Kanye West."

'nuff said. so yeah, y'all should definitely keep an eye on this guy.

I like how Kanye West is the gold standard for across the board brilliance in modern music.

well, I must say that was a good sell louder.

I do like Ty$, and I like how his name isn't a bunch of words crammed together like the guy you're talking about and others of his breed, but I've been somewhat let down by what Ty has chosen to spend his time on, and I do wish he had a more layered artistic approach, with a more evolved vision.

So... I'm down. I'll check these mixtapes out and let you know what I think, ASAP.

Paperboy
The Nine Yards
1992, Paperboy was a true one-hit-wonder thanks to "Ditty," a song that is still undeniably catchy to this day. The problem is that - nostalgia for "Ditty" aside - the album sounds to horribly dated. And in a sense it was almost doomed to feel dated from the moment it was released. You see it was only two months later that Dr. Dre would release The Chronic and take this West Coast funk-sampling thing to its pinnacle. The brilliance of Dr. Dre's record and the immediate influence it would have on the landscape of mainstream hip hop - both from the Death Row camp and beyond - would basically make this more light-hearted take on the G-Funk sub-genre sound cloying. And while it's not fair to compare a record like this to something groundbreaking that hadn't even been released yet, it is fair to say that The Nine Yards does suffer from too much of the same. There's just nothing all that inspired here. The vocals are also mixed oddly low, making it even easier to not pay much attention to them. The songs are serviceable, but they're also lacking personality. This would have been fine as background music as a party, but outside of that stray single, nothing else will make you take notice nor stick in your brain after it's ended.


Questionmark Asylum
The Album
1995, An interesting story, this one. Questionmark Asylum were a group from Washington DC (the first hip hop group from DC signed to a major label perhaps) who spent much of their career struggling with label politics. The release of The Album itself was a victory, and much of the material here talks about the hardships they went through to see it exist. So perhaps it's no shock that the stress leading up to this would result in the crew imploding. Sadly the record made it to retail with a whimper and the group dissolved almost immediately. It's too bad, as there was quite a bit of charm to be found here. It's impossible to not compare QA to The Pharcyde - both in vocal timbres and in beat choice. But that's not a bad thing of course. Much of the material here is upbeat - even when dealing with darker issues - and the crew has an ear for the melodic - often choosing to half-sing their raps or stagger lines in a way that seems informed by bop. In fact "Get With You/I'd Rather Be With You" even goes so far as to incorporate a live band. Admittedly things feel slightly silly when travel into sex-rap territory on tracks like "Freakazoid" or "Sex On The Brain," and there's an awkward heavy-handedness to the safe sex warning on "Got Dem Joints," but for the most part the album is solid throughout. Their lone single "Hey Lookaway" is still a fun breezy party track, "Curse Of The Q" is a self-deprecating tale of label woes, and "You Don't Understand" is a great downer track with a brilliant use of Diana Ross' "Love Hangover." And interesting story, and a forgotten record worth checking out.




R.A. The Rugged Man
Legendary Classics Volume 1
2009, RA is a true rappers' rapper. He's been putting out singles, making cameos, and almost breaking out for nearly two decades. He's been signed to and dropped from more labels than you can imagine. In fact he had at least two major label debuts finished and ready to go years before he finally dropped an album on Nature Sounds in 2004. Legendary Classics is a nice archival release that serves as a primer to this story. It compiles tracks ranging from various one-off singles, collabs with other rappers, tracks from those unreleased albums and so on. It's a really good sampling of the underground career that happened before his proper debut - and as such the quality of the material will fluctuate, but it's almost always fascinating. Even if he hasn't yet found full control of his voice on underground favorite "Every Record Label Sucks D**k," its inclusion here is an important part of the story. What's really nice is the full package though. The liner notes include background about every song, and the bonus DVD includes a short interview with RA's dad, some live performances, interviews with RA about these songs, as well as a sampling of music videos.

Scratch
The Embodiment Of Instrumentation
2002, Scratch was a beat-boxing member of The Roots who joined up around the time of Illadelph Halflife. Much like the other beat-boxer in the group, Rahzel, at some point Scratch decided that he should make a solo album that was completely made using his vocals as instrumentation. And much like Rahzel's album, this one will basically just make you say "oh cool... there's no samples or instruments," but won't really stay with you beyond that. It's impressive, there's no doubt. Scratch is definitely talented. And the guest vocals (from The Roots crew and beyond) are all serviceable but nothing standout. Indeed this record is hip hop for sport. It's a project that exists more as a proof of concept than as a great album to listen to.

Taylor Swift - Bad Blood remix featuring Kendrick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Letitia Sadier w/ GFK?

Wow. Cool.

But I'm having a really hard time getting excited about anything, what with the the complete fucking death of media coverage on Ye's new album.

It's starting to really really piss me the fuck off.

GFG making his fourth album in 2 years can only do so much to satisfy my cravings for new Kanye music. I feel like a heroin addict surviving on children's morphine.

no no The Adrian Younge comp features Sadier. Not Twelve Reasons 2.

Hahahaha louder.. bout time media get of Kanye dickfest yo!

TREE dropped a "new" record which is really a mixtape of his pre-2007 shit. I ain't heard it yet, hopefully its more "soul" and less "trap" than trap genius

Oh ok. Still, I tend to really dig her guest vocal appearances.

I'm sure 12 Reasons 2 will be good, but considering how much crap GFK took for recycling his formula on the excellent 36 Seasons, I think it would be advisable for our boy to focus on something different in 2015, and put off the sequel for another year or so.

I actually think 36 Seasons was a better rap album than 12 Reasons. The sound is more musically varied. But 12 Reasons was such an iconic record that it's impossible to think of "36" as a unique project.

I think it's time for Tony to drop a good old fashioned back-to-basics street rap epic. A game-changer, powered by flow and lyricism instead of lofty story arcs and multimedia fanboy/collector appeal.

I love Ghostface, as you all know. He's one of my top 5 emcees. He draws on a combination of gritty realism and fantasy, much like Wu-Tang Clan did before Rza's unfortunate decision to have the group castrated. So I am eternally thankful for GFK's imagination and ambition...
But now is not the time for a sequel to an Italo/mafioso/horror-Frenchy fantastique hybrid album that was practically remade in an soul-infused inner-city/crime noir/Comic book vigilante origin story motif just six months ago.

I'd like to hear GFK rapping with Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, Meth, maybe Danny Brown, possibly Freddie Gibbs. Doing his thing over some beats and samples, nixing the live instrumentation for a bit. A good old street opera.

Re-visit the world of 12RTD when people have had some time to *miss* it. That's what I say.

@ louder:

I took your advice and grabbed PARTYNEXTDOOR and TWO.

You're right- I'm into it. This kind of dark, murky R&B that finds bits and pieces of influence in house, grime, footwork, dubstep & trip-hop really intrigues me. I agree that this dude is much more "serious" than Ty$, and I think it's bloody smart of Drake to be moving towards producers like this.

I just listened to So afar Gone yesterday, and realized that it is the only Drake "album" besides If You're Reading This... that I really like from start to finish. Makes sense, really, because back then Drake was hanging on the shoulders of his buddies, copping the styles of HOV and Yeezy and Wayne. So that mixtape killed because, commercially, it needed to. It's full of bangers and killed guest spots but it lacks originality.

Drake's been gradually stepping up his unique artistic voice since then, but on Thank me later and Take Care he just wasn't "there" yet. On NWTS it was like the vision started to sharpen, and Drake's identity finally started coming out, but even that album had bitch-ass tracks and too much whining.

The sound on IYRTITL, especially the tracks with PARTYNEXTDOOR, finally feels like something that makes sense for Drake.

Fuck. Anyway, I really like TWO. Seems like he's got a ton of self-released shit out there. What would you recommend next, assuming any of it is legit?

Actually, I'm pretty motherfucking confused right now. Why are there so many different versions of So Far Gone? I have been listening to it on Spotify... 7 songs... beastly tracks, like "I'm Goin In" and "Fear" ... but only 7 songs long. The version I downloaded says it has 16 songs, but only twelve of them play. It sounds pretty goddamn sissy compared to the brief but burly version on Spotify.

I came late to Drake's party, so forgive the dumb questions, but can anyone direct me to a version that is all fire like what's on Spotify? I was pretty sure the retail version was only 7 tracks... but what's with the confusion?

Maybe I just dl'd the wrong thing when I finally Grand Rapids around to getting this a year or so ago?

But the 7-track version seems to go hard as hell, while the 12 (16?) track versions feel pretty goddamn lame.

I've still got a lot to learn about Drake and his punchable face, but I thought I at least owned his complete discography, singles aside. That's what I get for copping "mixtapes" and putting them on the shelf for a year.

Also, louder, as much as I like Partynextdoor, I'm not sure I'd put him above the Weeknd. Of course, I've spent years with House of Balloons and Trilogy, and mere days with PND1 & 2, but... Damn, Weeknd is one of the preeminent producers of the last several years. Probably one of the most influential musicians of this era. Up there with Burial and the James Blake when he's living up to his own hype.

I thank you sincerely for exposing me to Party, but it's gonna be a while before I start being comfortable even comparing him with the Weeknd. :(

*Sigh*

What the hell, café? What's suddenly more important than talking to my long-winded ass about hip-hop? ;)

Sev theres a so far gone mixtape and ep. The ep is like 5 tracks from the tape and 2 new ones ... fear wasnt on the tape.

Sev - amazing!! i'm glad you like it. and i feel you, i mean it only hit me lately that PND is not just a good artist, but actually a force to be reckoned with in today's R&B, so that's completely understandable.

i can't deny The Weeknd's talent. but Kiss Land was lame as fuck and i stopped forcing myself to dig it, that album alienated pretty much everyone and their mother including his own fan base. however House of Balloons is still a masterpiece. and now he seems to be catering towards the mainstream, but i'm still cool with that, his new output already kills Kiss Land. "Often" and "King of the Fall" are some great singles and i even like the Ariana Grande collaboration and the 50 Shades of Grey song. so as long as the music is good, he can make songs with Mickey Mouse for all i care. if those are just a bunch of leftovers then we're in for a treat.

besides them two tapes, PND also has an EP titled "PNDCOLOURS" that came out shortly after "TWO", it consists of 4 songs and is pretty damn good. his loosies are great as well - "Persian Rugs" and "West District" are some of his best songs to date.

there's also a compilation of demos from before he got signed called "The Jahron B. Collection" surfacing the net, but most of it isn't very good.

believe it or not, The Weeknd revealed that Take Care was built around House of Balloons leftovers. it makes a lot of sense to me, as the production is epic - a blend of post-dubstep, ambient and R&B that creates a great atmosphere, but Drake himself just wasn't there yet. however "Marvin's Room", "Cameras" and "Look What You've Done" are all incredible and worth remembering.

as far as Drake's ability goes, Nothing Was the Same and If You're Reading This.. are easily better. his presence is a lot stronger now, plus he's learned how to deliver his thoughts better and clearer. back then he was a dork and a cornball. shit he might still be one, the type of guy who gets dumped by Rihanna because she only wants casual sex but he has feelings for her, he's too attached, but now he knows how to work with it. he seems to evolve with each project, so his next one might as well be the best one yet.

and we can all agree that "Fear" is still one of his best songs.

"i never cried when Pac died but i probably will when Hov does".. OMG at how much sense this line makes. Hov is clearly Drake's idol and role model. it goes from the self indulgence and egoism, those "this is where i'm at in my life" type songs where he just goes off bragging about how successful he's become, down to putting his own face on every album cover..

Hov was featured on two out of Drake's three albums; on Thank Me Later he was sort of mentoring Drake - "listen Drake this is how they gonna come at you/ with silly rap feuds/ trying to distract you", and there's a reason why he was the only rapping feature on NWTS, not even Wayne was featured on that album.

on Take Care, the one and only album which Hov didn't take part in, Drake grabbed Just Blaze and Rick Ro$$ to make "Lord Knows" - basically a Jay-Z song. this wasn't a coincidence.

i'm sure Drake wanted to have a public, long-lasting relationship with Rihanna so badly so he could really be like Hov too.

NEW A$AP Rocky - LSD video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEG2VTHS9yg

god dammit Rocky. this is the most amazing vid i've seen in a long time.
truthfully i had some mixed feelings about this album so far, but now i'm sold.