[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

The lines I used to find dumb and annoying are actually hilarious to me now. Jesus.

I'm gonna buy a physical copy of the album. I didn't think this day would come.. this is all so crazy and overwhelming to me.

Haha! YES! Fucking finally!! Victory!!

This is how I felt from the first streaming event. Really. Over time it's turned into more of a fun album than a tearjerker, but for the fist few weeks I teared up a LOT, especially during "Real Friends" which I really do feel is a song of unmatched depth in modern pop music.

When that song dropped, before the album did, I sent it to my girlfriend immediately (was still converting her at the time) and I said "Nobody's making music like this, especially not in hip hop." It's so genuine and so honest and so free of pretense. With all the time I've had to process the album, I think I've settled on "Real Friends" being the best all around song on the album.

Fade is the most powerful. Famous is the biggest banger. Wolves may be the most beautiful and complex, but Real Friends is, like, THE song. The "Runaway" of Pablo.

And yeah, it reminds me of Heard me say, which is also one of my all time favorites.

FUCKING THANK CHRIST! Louder digs Kanye again! The world once again makes sense to me! My little Kanye mentor... this is great news.

You better not just be high or going through menopause or some shit.

[Severian]

I used to find Freestyle 4 kind of embarrassing, but not anymore. It turns into a crazy turnt dancehall jam like a Yeezus joint at the end, from Eminem diss and free-associative mumbling at the start. The result is great though, especially live.

Can't believe I didn't like FACTS either. That's a fucking jam and a half, and the Charlie Heat re-work did wonders for the overall song.

Yes, there are a number of moments that make me sad... Mostly these:

"When they come for you, I will shield your name, I will field their questions, I will feel your pain/ no one can judge/ they don't know"
"I made 'Sunday Candy' I'm never going to hell, I met Kanye West I'm never going to fail" (I think I've felt this way myself over the years, not that I have met him... but his music has helped me through some dark times indeed.)

"I guess I get what I deserve don't I?
Word on the street is they ain't heard from him
I guess I get what I deserve don't I?
Talk down on my name throw dirt on him"

"The ultimate Gemini has survived / I wasn't s'posed to make it past 25"

And perhaps most of all...

"Wake up Mr. West!"

All very "real" moments for me on that record. It hits home.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by louder

I finally get it. Kanye talks about life on this album.. how there's an ultralight beam that protects us.. he talks about the lights and the waves, and the wolves that surround us.

Kanye is still brilliant. I'm the one who couldn't keep up.

damn it

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

damn it

Hah.

Just stop fighting it man. Kanye's all kinds of silly and absurd, but he's an icon. 9 consecutive critical and commercially successful milestone albums. That's unheard of in hip-hop, and extremely uncommon even in rock and pop. Won the Village Voice Pazz and Jop award 4 times in 6 years. Same award Sonic Youth and Husker Du won.

He's already a legend, man.

[louder]

@ Sev

I guess that after To Pimp a Butterfly, I was used to all the depth being thrown at my face and expected TLOP to be the same. The album just seemed so dumb and superficial to me in comparsion. Little did I know that I had to dig deeper to find it.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

@ Sev

I guess that after To Pimp a Butterfly, I was used to all the depth being thrown at my face and expected TLOP to be the same. The album just seemed so dumb and superficial to me in comparsion. Little did I know that I had to dig deeper to find it.

Yeah, also it's a different kind of depth. Kendrick is an artist in the tradition of Bob Dylan. Kanye is decidedly more Beatles-like entity. Kendrick - storyteller, Kanye - maker of musical behemoths.

I'd be disappointed if I expected something like TPAB too. But I never thought that was in the cards. I don't expect a lyrical odyssey from Ye. I expect a labyrinthine musical experience.

But shit man, I'm sooooo glad you've come around. SO glad. Way too glad actually.

[noisereductions]

Tlop and the Chance are so great this year.

[pepper_green]

both TLOP and Blonde are great in an 3/4 way. otherwise it's nothing outstanding just they are what they are. artist being artist. TLOP is cast off genius by luck but, really only having the charm of an A + album by an upstart which adds up to 3/4 of the album being relevant. Blonde sounds like the opposite. tying to overcome the famous sophomore slump with 3/4's success. one is more important than the other because the other has already got the critical advantage with legend statist. at least Blonde is not shrouded in jackass publicity stunts.

[pepper_green]

now, I have no opinion about some of the records the lame brain southern/ATL rappers you praise sometimes are releasing this year. that shit is just one yard away from dumb booty club music. I would love to put myself in yr shoes and understand the exotic nature you get from that shit. you foreign white boy.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by pepper_green

now, I have no opinion about some of the records the lame brain southern/ATL rappers you praise sometimes are releasing this year. that shit is just one yard away from dumb booty club music. I would love to put myself in yr shoes and understand the exotic nature you get from that shit. you foreign white boy.

Who are you even taking to?
I have no Southern/ATL shit on my radar this year. NONE. Future's Evol was fun for a few listens as I waited for the real music to come out, but it's no class act. Won't be in my top 10, 20, or -- should I choose to attempt it again -- 50. Just a placeholder while I waited to TLOP.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

Tlop and the Chance are so great this year.

Yeah. Yep. Yea-huh.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Blank Face LP, and I like The Sun's Tirade. I like Atrocity Exhibition quite a fucking bit. And Birds in the Trap is good. And untitled unmastered. is gravy.

But the year in hip-hop CLEARLY belongs to Kanye and Chance. Coloring Book compliments TLOP quite a bit like My Name is My Name complemented Yeezus. And it seems as though Kanye has kind of thrown in with Chance as his new sidekick. The albums work really well side by side, and each is its own triumph. Nothing else really seems to matter much though, when compared directly to these two albums.

[louder]

Originally Posted by Severian

Coloring Book compliments TLOP quite a bit like My Name is My Name complemented Yeezus.

Spot on.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by pepper_green

both TLOP and Blonde are great in an 3/4 way. otherwise it's nothing outstanding just they are what they are. artist being artist. TLOP is cast off genius by luck but, really only having the charm of an A + album by an upstart which adds up to 3/4 of the album being relevant. Blonde sounds like the opposite. tying to overcome the famous sophomore slump with 3/4's success. one is more important than the other because the other has already got the critical advantage with legend statist. at least Blonde is not shrouded in jackass publicity stunts.

TLOP > Blonde. Not that they're really comparable.
Blonde was successful because it didn't eat shit like a lot of follow-ups to classic albums. And it's good, but it's not on the level of TLOP. It doesn't contain the schizoid multidues that Pablo does. It's a relatively safe record, and TLOP is the complete opposite of safe in every way... bordering on self-sabotage even.

I'm assuming you mean Blonde is more "important" and TLOP is the record with the "critical advantage" of "legendary status" but that's an oversimplification, and it's not super accurate. Do you understand just how criticially acclaimed Channel Orange was? I mean, come on man. In the grand scheme of 2010's hip hop records, it is only outhyped by MBDTF/Yeezus and Good Kid/TPAB. It didn't have the same level of impact as either of those albums, but aside from Ye and Kendrick, it's like the most hyped album in the hip-hop/r&b world.

I think when comparing the two albums, everything can be pretty much summed up by this one fact: the most enduring part of Blonde, and the only part that is still discussed (even though it's still fucking new) is.... the Kanye West McDonald's poem that came with the accompanying publication.

Love Frank Ocean, but Blonde stopped spinning for me after just a few weeks. I'm still listening to Pablo regularly and it's been out for 8 months.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

damn it we're talking about Kanye again? Ill check back in next week

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

damn it we're talking about Kanye again? Ill check back in next week

Some of us never stop talking about Kanye, bruh. Can't stop. Won't stop. And you're all "Girl you need to stop it now." And it's like, "Who gon stop me? Who gon stop me huuhhh?"

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Severian

Some of us never stop talking about Kanye, bruh. Can't stop. Won't stop. And you're all "Girl you need to stop it now." And it's like, "Who gon stop me? Who gon stop me huuhhh?"

 

[pepper_green]

Originally Posted by Severian

Who are you even taking to?

I meant the royal you. random avatars and handles. this is not a cop out.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

 

Ah!

Ok, we all love MJ (his music anyway), but nobody needs to see that. I feel like I just saw an 11 year old boy naked.

[louder]

Speaking of MJ.. Dangerous is a super underrated album from him.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by pepper_green

now, I have no opinion about some of the records the lame brain southern/ATL rappers you praise sometimes are releasing this year. that shit is just one yard away from dumb booty club music. I would love to put myself in yr shoes and understand the exotic nature you get from that shit. you foreign white boy.

I am PUERTO RICAN. We are one HALF of Hip Hop culture (*rappin, MC'ing, breakin, graffitti) that black folks have conveniently forgotten about and white folks never understood.