Ok, can you please clear this up for me: what exactly does “throwing subliminals” mean in reference to hip hop?

You can't possibly mean actual subliminal messages... right? It must just be slang for thinly veiled insults... Eh?

No way drake has the knowledge of frequency or perceptual recognition to personally weave sublimated stimuli into his recordings or album covers...

Though I'm sure he has a sound engineer or two, and a capable visual marketing guy. But seriously, it's slang for talkin shit, right?

haha yes but lightly, without mentioning any names.

yeah! this album is flames *hi-five*.

i'm starting to notice how Anderson Paak, who was completely unheard of before this album, absolutely steals the show here. Animals is my favorite song so far, i swear Preemo's beats will always be the hardest.

Woah whut? The Blueprint is amazing.

But for an unfortunate Eminem track passing as a Jigga joint called Renegade. I will never understand why that, of all songs, had to be on that album (of all albums).

Yeah, The Blueprint is incredible of course, but it's not a perfect 10 and never will be. Not for me anyway. Just illustrating how much I can't stand Em... cuz you all know how much I love HOV.

I can't even pick a favorite. It just clips right along, rarely letting up. But Genocide, One Shot One Kill, Deep Water and Just Another Day are all definite standouts. Kendrick brings the motherfuckin' fire as always. I'm not sure he's ever sounded quite so completely in control. And GOD it feels good to hear Snoop fuckin' rap.

Yeah, I'm digging it.

And there was me starting to think I was going insane at how no one was talking about it on here.

last few albums i've heard:

new FKA twigs EP - excellent.

Chief Keef "Bang 3" - pretty good, but definitely worse than Almighty So and Back from the Dead 2, Keef is heading to a less adventurous area.

Gunplay's debut - solid album, but the production is outdated and some of the features suck.

Lil B and Chance tape - fun for the most part but i'll never listen again.

Migos' debut - horrible. Quavo definitely outshines the other two rappers, he needs to go solo and make autotuned R&B ballads.

Was there ever any doubt? I need to get my paws on this with the quickness.


Wasn't Bang 3 originally recorded as the Finally Rich follow-up? I read part of the Pitchfork review (yeah, I know) and it seemed to confirm this, but I admittedly don't know a great deal about Keef, being only familiar with his guest work and his mixtapes.

But if this is the case, and Bang 3 has been sitting on the shelf, or in some kind of legal grey area, since Keef's Interscope days, then we can take comfort in the fact that the clean, relatively accessible sound is less an indication of where Chief Keef is going, and more of a relic of where he's been.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't actually heard it yet, but I've really loved his 2015 mixtape arsenal, so I'm much more interested in the prolific, crazy ass post major label Keef than I am in any remaining pop inclinations he may have.


I've been looking forward to this one, so I hope it turns out to be a grower. AgainI haven't heard it yet. My ability to download anything other than iTunes music has been severely limited since we moved into this house I'm renovating in the stickiest part of the sticks.


I decided to stay away from this one completely once I realized what the premise was. I want a proper follow up to Acid Rap (which I've been able to listen to and enjoy again recently, for the first time since I played it into the motherfucking ground back in 2013), and I'm not interested in hearing any more one-off experiments or fuck-arounds. They just aren't doing it for me. Why has Chance been testing fate like this?

The Underachievers were the other big mixtape winners of 2013, and they're about to drop their second full length official studio LP since Indigoism! If you count the phenomenal solo EP's AK and Issa have dropped in this time, that basically amounts to 3 full albums' and one mixtape of pure, top quality Underachievers material in the same amount of time Chance has released... uhh... Nothing! He contributed to Surf, and played Lil B with Lil B, but that motherfucker better get cracking before he misses his shot.



Sad news.

Why is it that Joey Bada$$ and Vince Staples (and to a lesser extent Action Bronson) have been the only motherfuckers to successfully drop a legitimate debut album in 2015? All these other hype ass rappers have only managed to swan dive right in their fucking faces! Look at Young Thug's bitch ass! Yuck. Last year Migos had the world by the junk, and now they've fucked it up too?

My advice: stop releasing "debut albums" that have one foot in the "mixtape" world, and don't even come with a proper physical release. That is not how you set the world on fire!

I appreciate B4.DA.$$ More with every listen. In terms of flow and lyrical content and pure technical skill, it's second only to TPAB. If You're Reading This has a more sophisticated mood and Tetsuo & Youth has better production... Summertime '06 is probably a more enthralling album, but Joey Bada$$ dropped a sleeper hit that feels more like a classic every day.
It's such a great album, and it's only become greater, so much so that I can't rule out the possibility that it might end up being the Rap album of the year.

the thing is, in the last few months Keef got signed by a greek billionaire and re-recorded the entire album, except "Superheroes" with A$AP Rocky which was intended for the original Bang 3 on Interscope. Superheroes is easily the best song on the album and makes me wish we got the original Bang 3 instead.. Interscope probably dropped him because they couldn't handle his weirdness. he's clearly guided now and that's the last thing i want from him, his beautiful "mistakes" made him so interesting.

this is a great line though: "remember having pistol fights/ now i'm having food fights", pretty much sums up Keef's evolution in the last couple of years. :)

Gunplay is a great rapper, it's just that there's almost nothing interesting going on there musically. it's not his fault though. dude just needs more support from his label.

Snoop and Daz approve of this message.

updated top 10:

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Miguel - Wildheart
Drake - If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
Dr. Dre - Compton
Vince Staples - Summertime '06
Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
Future - DS2 / 56 Nights / Beast Mode
FKA twigs - M3LL155X EP
Björk - Vulnicura
Jazmine Sullivan - Reality Show

Kool Keith dont make it over Drake? DRAKE??

Kool Keith dont make it over Drake? DRAKE??

mothafuckin' DRIZZY DRAKE!!

Your overall top 10 then, not just hip-hop... that's cool. Good list bro.

I am not yet ready to talk general top 10's yet, but here's how hip-hop is looking at the moment (changes are constant an inevitable)

Vince Staples - Summertime '06
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$
Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late
A$AP Rocky - At.Long.Last.A$AP
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth
Kool Keith & L'Orange - Time? Astonishing!
Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge - 12 Reasons to Die II
Dr. Dre - Compton
Curren$y - Pilot Talk 3

Kool Keith's album is incredible for sure. I didn't stop listening to it at all for the first week or so. But it's mighty short, and easy to play out. Drake's record is a slow burner. It's been in and out of rotation all year, but every time it comes back in it sounds better. They're really different albums, and incomparable artists but I'd put Drake over Keith for 2015 too.

Sighs. Sometimes y'all have way to much Pitchfork taste in music man... its a good thing we're all friends here

Ok, what are your favorite hip-hop albums of the year so far, SFAD?