not yet, but its' downloaded to my phone waiting for a listen.

new A$AP Ferg: http://www.vevo.com/watch/aap-ferg/w...erg_work_remix

Ferg makes dope music. i'm anticipating his tape, "Trap Lord" coming out May 27.

well, wasn't he the first heterosexual male to claim himself as being "gay"?

also Rocky calls himself "pretty" all the time. Lil B is basically the most influential figure in the last 5 years. he's the godfather of all those swag/weirdo rappers, he revolutionized the game and started a whole movement.

he's been boring lately with all the half assed mixtapes though. needs to stop messing around and just drop an album.

Kanye is gonna perform on SNL in Saturday. i think he's gonna do that song with the crazy beat which sounds like it was produced by Daft Punk.

this recent mixtape is highly suggested:

word. I'm with you there. Honestly, I was a fan of Kanye early on. But it wasn't til Graduation that I REALLY liked him. And I'd say Graduation, 808's and Dark Twisted are the shiz.

I will say if I had to choose, I'd say "Amazing" is my all time fav Kanye track. Srsly.

i've been a fan since Grad came out, but it was Dark Twisted which really blew me away. i felt like that album was made for me. it was basically the only thing i would listen to for months. then eventually i got tired of it and went to explore his older albums and realized i love them all.

The College Dropout gotta be my least fav these days. it's fantastic but has a couple of tracks which are skippable and have nothing to do with the soulful style of the album. every other album can be argued as his best.

although i must say the last few tracks on Dark Twisted is where he took not only his own music, but the genre as a whole to another level. and since it's Kanye i wouldn't even be surprised if the new album is even better. if he won't perform the new single tomorrow i'm gonna be disappointed as hell. i can't wait.

Action Bronson grew on me lately. i wasn't feeling his first few projects, but his features on 1 Train and most recently Chance the Rapper's new mixtape made me interested. so i checked out Rare Chandeliers which was produced entirely by the Alchemist and it's really nice. dude keeps getting better.

pretty much all I've been listening to lately:

A$AP Rocky
Danny Brown
Lil B
Spaceghostpurrp
Odd Future
C-Reezy

been on a Danny kick myself lately. XXX is really good but i feel like he can do even better. thus Old is my most anticipated album of the year along with the new Kanye and the new Weeknd.

SpaceGhostPurrp is a cool dude. i especially like Raiden Klan's aesthetics but his beats are super dope when they're properly mastered. Mysterious Phonk is my fav project from him.

Shit man, you've got to hear it. Especially since it's perfectly legit now, having been released and all. I think this generation has found its Sonic Youth; only attention spans are too low to allow for this incarnation to devote 3 or 4 albums to noise and ambience. Things just move too fast these days. So instead of being at the Sister/DDN stage, Deerhunter is already making their EJS/Washing Machine.

As for the Lips... Listen to the Terror on good headphones. By yourself, while engaging in some menial muscle memory task like driving or doing office work or writing a paper. It's kind of overwhelming. It's loud and dense and pretty fucking enthralling. Honestly, it's unlike anything I've heard this year.

But back to hip hop. I just had a bunch of underground, "Mello Music Group" compilations and promos forced on me by a friend if mine who thinks that listening to Jay-Z, Kanye, and Wu-Tang makes me unsophisticated or something. Like I haven't listened to Black Milk before. Jesus...

It's not bad, but I used to be that kind of hip hop fan. If it was on the radio, it was "uninspired," and only the "intellectual" work of ATCQ and Del disciples was worth my time. I still like that nice guy shit- I like Sole and Aesop and Clouddead. But I also understand that RAP-rap is not stupid just because it's bombastic.

Jay-Z fuckin kills, and BIG is god. Wu Tang = the Beatles.

Still love Del and Madlib, but it's easier to write something off based on appearances that it is to appreciate subtle genius despite the occasional "H to tha Izzo"

I appreciate that, for some reason.

There's a lot to hate about Kanye "the superstar," and I was way too focused on the shades and the glitter... but when when you listen to "Last Call," all the bullshit seems to melt away, and you realize that he's an incredibly self aware human being. He becomes relatable, and then you understand the cockiness.

Then there's the fact that his beats and production are light years ahead of mainstream pop. Seriously, the guy is a machine.

Amazing was the first track to catch my attention too. I heard it on a tv show or something, and when I found out it was Kanye I just about shit my pants.

So for a long time I was an 808s and MBDTF only fan, and swore up and down that the brilliance of those albums was a fluke. But thanks to louder and NR (must spread rep where rep is due) I started listening the other albums, start to finish, over and over, and now I fucking love it all.

But if you don't dig "Runaway" then I'm not sure you'll have the same experience. That's one of the strangest hip hop songs I've ever heard, and when the beat kicks in, it's like lying on the tracks underneath a moving train.

Ima go listen to that shit right now.

he was relatable until 808s & Heartbreak. now it's the opposite but the music is incredible so i don't care.

yeah dood Danny at first I was like "meh." But his verse on "1Train" killed it so hard so I went back. More I listen to XXX, more I see why ppl love it. And a big part for me is about halfway thru when his 'real voice' kicks in. So jarring. But I've said before that if his next album sounds more like "DNA" then that shit is gonna be a classic.

SpaceGhost I slept on at first too, but I really love his production. I'm bummed him and A$AP fell out, cuz SGP producing a Rocky album would be legit.

watching the SNL performance. "Black Skinhead".. is Kanye doing punk rap now? oh lawd. and apparently the album is titled "Yeezus" and out June 18.

http://pitchfork.com/news/50795-watc...ay-night-live/

yay! i'm glad you've finally seen the light. :)

praying for a new D'Angelo this year. "How Does It Feel" is one of the most perfect songs i've ever heard.

for some reason I'm not that excited about the new Kanye album.

Just listened to the new Ghostface. I seriously think he is the GOAT. His discography is nearly flawless, which is something VERY few rappers can claim. He's also one of the few rappers who can combine insane lyricism with great songwriting (there is a difference). The progression from Ironman to 12WTD is unheard of in hip hop, a genre where most rappers I think peak at their 1st/2nd/3rd release, whereas Apollo Kids and 12 Ways to Die are easily two of his best. The only rapper who I really think gives him competition is DOOM.

What happened to "Black American Psycho"? That was just too good to be true I suppose.

Yeezus? Wow. How anticlimactic.


I'm still excited though. :)

and by Twelve WAYS to Die, I mean Twelve REASONS to Die

"you got too many Urkels on yr team, that's why you Win-slow."

i think he wanted to use that title but people told him it'd be a bad idea.

whatever. "Black Skinhead" is so good. :eek:

rock is having a better year than hip-hop so far though.

new albums by Iceage, MBV, The National and Deerhunter are all solid as fuck.

And Lips, YLT, Drones, Chelsea Light Moving, Nick Cave, Wire, No Joy, Follakzöid, Pharmakon, Foxygen, Psychic Ills...

This really has been a great year. I'm forgetting half of the albums that have been blowing my mind, across genres, since 2013 started.

Yeah, I was going to say something about your being about late to the party. It really puts some of the newer rap into perspective doesn't it? Funny how Ghostface can, on his own, completely mow down artists half his age. Imagine what the new Wu-Tang album will be like, if everyone keeps their heads out of their asses.

yeah so glad I got the deluxe. My wife is really into the instrumental disc.

intrigued about that Nick Cave. Iceage and The National have been on heavy rotation here though and they rule.

forreal Black Skinhead could be a Death Grips song. i'm surprised that Kanye sampled fucking Marilyn Manson. the new album is gonna be even crazier than Twisted Fantasy.

Did you see this list??

Bobby Womack?
The O'Jays?
India?
OG Mary J Blige?
Jon Secadda?
OG Brandy?
D'Angelo?
AL GREEN
Brownstone?
Monica?
Bone Thugz?
Blackstreet?
New Edition?
The Tony Rich Project?
Aaliyah (RIP :( ) ?
Mint Condition?
Erykah Badu?

Natalie's Bar on New York Undercover was the most cracking Thursday nights in the fucking 1990s yo!!!!

this thread got nothing on it ;)

I thought 808s was his self-indulgent hated one?

I've not heard black skinhead. Somebody tell me I can purchase it somehow. Streaming will simply not due.

They're both self indulgent, but I don't think I've ever met a MBDTF hater. Not even when I kinda hated him.

Incidentally, 808's and MBDTF are the only Kanye albums I physically own.

I've been trying to find the rest. Only own iTunes copies of College Dropout and Graduation. LR on Spotify, but I want them all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuhl6Ji5zHM

^^^
Black Skinhead live on SNL. i think he might not release any singles. Twisted Fantasy has brought him to such a place in his career where he doesn't need to and being mysterious gets him enough hype.

that alleged cover art still puzzles me.

I think it was Spin that just ran an op-ed comparing Kanye to Pink Floyd? It made a lot of sense, except Kanye is a lot better than those old farts.

i would say he's like our 70's David Bowie.

and Tyler is our 90's Marilyn Manson?

I read someone calling Lil B our Frank Zappa... and shit sorta made sense to me.

(And I'm a FZ fan!)