louder's hip-hop café VI
 

New year, new albums.

Turbo Grafx? Kendrick Lamar? Earl Sweatshirt? 5 new Young Thug and Future mixtapes? Maybe new Shabazz Palaces? A Drake album that doesn't suck.. a J. Cole album that isn't boring..

Guess we're gonna find out about all of this and more, soon.

Hopefully more than a minute of Andre 3000. Preferably many many minutes. Like... 50.

No more Drake!

ETA: Actually we are getting a new Drake release of some sort, at least, in 2017. Remember that talk about the mini-album "More Life?" The one with the anti-Pusha/Cudi single? Well, that was supppsed to be out Dec. 10, but got bumped. I think it was supposed to be an Apple Music exclusive, an perhaps not even a true Drake album. Instead, it might be a collaborative effort or compilation from Drake and his homeboys like 40, Dvsn, and whoever the fuck else still thinks Ovo Sound is an actual label and not just a Drake promo-tool. Maybe something akin to Cruel Summer (as WATTBA was the short bus answer to WTT).
Aaaanyway, I read a few weeks ago that it was bumped to an early 2017 release and "Coming very soon," which probably means it'll be all up in our faces before the end of February.

As for any hope that the album will be good? Hah. Nah man. You know better at this point. Whatever potential Drake once had has been swallowed up by his own asshole. In fact I'm reconsidering the Drake material I did like at one point. When was the last time you listened to "Hold on We're Going Home?" It's shit man. Pure fucking shit.

As of this moment, knowing what we know about the year and its schedule, you KNOW what I'm looking forward to the most for hip hop:



GOOD Music: Cruel Winter

(No proper or official artwork is available at this point, because like everything else in Kanye's orbit, this has apparently been thrown off course by recent craziness, but fuck it.. I still think it looks cool)

I bought this even though it's free. I feel like if I have the money, I should contribute. People on iTunes reviews are giving it 5-stars, saying "best album of the year," but then you always see that on iTunes, where people pretty much only say super positive or super negative things.

Anyway, while I don't at all agree that it's the best album of the year (that's almost comical, considering how much great music came out in 2016.), it does contain several of the elements that I feel modern rap is missing. It's clear that this project is not attempting to cross genres, or push boundaries. RTJ is just a R-A-P group that makes RAP that embraces traditionalism but still sounds fresh, and gives you a reason to keep listening.

I've only listened once from start to finish, but I think I like it more than RTJ2.

Holy crap. Pitchfork just wrote the nastiest review of December 99th. Like... wow. Just disembowled the thing.

RTJ3 is out already?

Came out on Christmas or something. Free on their website. $9.99 on iTunes.

Hey guys I'm back in business.

Wow Sev, do you really like RTJ3 more than RTJ2? I thought 2 was really solid, as was their first one.. the new one is longer and has more songs on it.

Yeah. I was surprised about that as well.

I thought RTJ2 was overrated as HELL my friend. I said before that I'm sick of Run the Jewels and their whole spiel, but I enjoyed listening to RTJ3. It had a refreshing immediacy to it, and felt like a proper RAP album.

Still, I'm Fucking tired of the hype machine and the fire emojis and Zach De La Rocha is a shit stain, and I didn't think RTJ2 was anywhere NEAR the best album of 2014. Nowhere near. I'm sick of seeing them on comics and Portlandia and I'm sick of the goddamn logo, and I think El-P's best work is behind him, BUT... sick as I am of their "presence," this album is still a pretty good way to kick off a year that has a depressingly barren outlook for hip-hop, considering the amazing once in a lifetime one-two-three-four punch of Pablo, untitled unmastered, Coloring Book and, oh yeah, that new Tribe album we've been waiting almost 2 decades for.

Better than kicking off the year with "More Life," whatever the fucking shit that piece of crap is... a playlist by Drake? Someone shoot me in the dick and then give my dick to Drake so he can have a dick. Fuck.

Ugh!!!

The year after a Kanye album is like the day after Christmas. Fucking bleak.

Run the Jewels 3 is not that good. it's like what the Sanford and Son theme was to funk. dread for a part 4.

Im guessing 2017 is going to be even more boring and lame as 2016 hip hop. good sick shit here and there then lame shit.

Havent heard 3 yet, but I did love 2.

it's free noise. listen to it. not good at all.

the thing about this run the jewels project is that it's like a rock version of Queen. good but trying to do too much at one time. an overload that's not charming at all. trying be synth heavy is not cool.

part 1 for me. but none compare to mike's R.A.P. Music.

I wouldn't describe it that way at ALL. :confused: We listening to the same thing?

I do love Killer Mike's R-A-P Music though.

I didnt know if he meant it is "free noise" or telling me it is "free, noise" haha

I have loved El-P since like 96 tho. He is all wall of sound.

Describing RTJ as a "rock version of Queen" is what I was talking about. I just... I don't even know how to begin to make sense of that.

I'm assuming he meant "rap" instead of rock. A "rap" version of Queen. But still... what? When I think of RTJ in the context of other music, I think of Public Enemy, previous El-P related shit like Company Flow and Cannibal Ox, and maybe ... I don't know... fucking Hall and Oates or something. But Queen? ... Huh?

They're not trying to do too much. They're doing the same thing over and over with almost no stylistic detours or even pit stops. They're just over-marketing and plastering that dumb logo ("Hey I've got a chain," "Oh, cool, I can make a fun with my fingers!") all over the goddamn place.

It's just dense and heavy hip-hop, and angry, righteous political rapping. I don't even know the language one would use to compare RTJ to Queen.

ha! it's subjective man.

some dumb typo, my bad. you guys are nitpicking on me. thats what I get for teasing PLips.

What's up with Pitchfork trying to shove that white "emo" rapper who goes by the name Lil Peep down our throats..?

Yo.. next week Simpsons will premiere a hip hop special, featuring Snoop, RZA and Common!

Hahahah! The main dude behind Atlanta TV show thanks MIgos for Bad and Bougie, saying it was the best song and a great song to have sex to. hahahhhhaha

I don't know, but I saw that and it was just one more nail in Pitchfork's coffin for me. I've claimed to hate that site for a long time, but still checked it at least every couple of days. Now, I'm really starting to lose interest. They no longer even attempt to shine a spotlight on lesser-known artists, which was once, ostensibly, their purpose.

I like the fact that they pretty consistently back Kanye (at least creatively), and I like that they made fun of Drake and VIEWS and "Chaining Tatum" and stuff. But it's rare as hell that I find anything of value in their coverage.

But yeah, fuck that she, I'm not listening to lil peep. What's next, Machine Gun Kelly? Sorry, but white rappers are mostly terrible, and if that makes me a racist, so be it.

Seems like as good a time as any to throw this out there:



^^ I've been listening to this a lot lately, for the first time in a few years. I really overdid it with this album when I first got into it, then again in the mid-2000s, so I tend to forget about it when talking about my favorite hip-hop releases.

But shit guys, is this album great or what?

Not only is it one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, but "Definition"/"RE: Definition" (combined) make up one of the best hip-hop songs of all time.

I actually think this album is deeply underrated, despite its cult classic status. Think about it, was there any other record that took a more direct stance against the gangsta culture that dominated rap on both coasts throughout the '90s? There were a lot of records in that decade that were pointedly non-gangsta, but many of them still contained elements of the ultraviolent, druggie culture.

But here we have two formidable, and then relatively obscure, rappers making what amounts to a protest album against gangstaism. Two dudes standing up and shouting "They shot Tupac and Biggie / too much violence in hip-hpp!" That was ballsy as hell, considering the album came out in 1998.

Also, it's a record carried by vocal delivery — it's RAP, and the lyrics and vocals are the dominant instrument — that doesn't make you wish there was some flashier production. Instead, these voices (Mos Def never sounded better), grip you and pull you along. It's conscious, but not lazy or laid back. It's peaceful, but still aggressive in its flows and choruses. This album is more important than we know, and it's just worlds ahead of most of the shit that dropped in 1998, in both style and substance.

I actually checked out a couple of Lil Peep songs, just to make sure he was as bad as I imagined. Shit, if he's a rapper then pretty much anyone can be.

But Black Star is awesomer than awesome, right?

Yep. "Brown Skin Lady" will always be my shit.

Not even close to my favorite song on the album, but yes.. still undeniably great.

I hate to admit it, but I haven't revisited Dec. 99th since reading that horrendous, utterly scathing, borderline hateful review on Pitchfork.

In my defense, that's probably because it's still not available anywhere other than TIDAL, and I no longer ride the Tide. But it's also true that, while a bad review might not change the way I hear music, it does change the way I think of music in a cultural/social context. Reading something like that makes me think, "this thing is not going to mean anything to anyone, and I'm better off not spending much time with it because nobody's going to want to talk to me about it even if I love it."

Not saying I loved what I heard necessarily. But I liked it well enough, and planned to listen further.

I will say this: if this is indeed MosYasiin DefBey's last album, that would really suck. Again, not because it's BAD, but it certainly is not representative of the kind of music or energy that he based his career on. This guy used to be my *all time favorite* rapper (which was kinda silly, because he'd only released Black Star and Black on Both Sides at that time — a great one-two punch, but not enough for a "Best of all time" designation) and I would really like him to drop something big and black and beautiful for his swan song. Like those first two albums, or the Ecstatic.

Remember when Kanye was on the Cleveland Show? As "Kenny West," the high school rap virtuoso and also douche bag? That was good man. Cleveland Show was bad, but that was cool.

never heard it. guess I need to give it twirler.

You goddamn lair. You take that back!

nope! never heard it Sev. I found some tracks here and there im enjoying. the bass is wow! vocals are so precise on the beat I've heard. feeling some old school call and respond shit in there too like "jazzy sensation".

Black Star is fantastic. So is Black On Both Sides.

I thought you'd mentioned the album by name before. Hmm.

Yeah, like I said, "Definition" and "RE: Definition" when listen to together make up one of the best hip-hop songs of the '90s. Fucking awesome.

It's a must. Seriously. It's like.. as essential to hip-hop fans as Midnight Marauders or 36 Chambers or Madvillainy or Blueprint. Just a classic rap album that everyone who likes non-shit hip-hop should know and love. Buy or stream that shit pronto.

Beyonce interviews Solange for Interview Magazine: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/solange#

By the way, the sisterhood between Solo and Bey is very endearing.

I've been obsessed with "A Seat at the Table" lately, I actually hate how much Lemonade pales in comparsion to it. I wish Lemonade could've been a poppier, more 'fun' version of Solange's album but nope, at least I don't feel that way about it. Not anymore. It sucks because I used to find it so enjoyable before A Seat at the Table came out and even found myself being a little moved by it (not OVERWHELMED like I am by A Seat at the Table though). It's still a good pop album with "All Night" being the clear standout cut, but yeah..

Beyonce's "anger" on Lemonade sounds kinda theatrical to me, I don't know.

Cranes in the Sky and Don't Touch My Hair made me tear up when I actually sat down and paid attention to every single word. This album is so subtle yet so so tasteful and powerful.

A Seat at the Table is definitely the stronger album, but on further inspection I find the sequencing of ASATT to be less than ideal. All those interviews and soundbytes cloud the musicality of the album to me. It has a handful of really great songs (Rise, Cranes in the Sky, Don't Touch my Hair) but it's effect is dulled over time by how demonstrative the whole thing is. Still a very good record, but not Best of 2016 good.

I do think Lemonade sounds pretty shallow in comparison. At first Lemonade sounded and felt like a personal narrative AND a thoughtful exploration and celebration of black womanhood. But then ASATT came out, and it's far more thoughtful, and it's really about black womanhood, and Lemonade sounds insular and almost a bit self-aggrandizing in comparison.