Emperor Bohe
Member
Nothing really, I've just been sleeping. Imma def peep barter.
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GAF-Hop |OT14| The 6 God is Five Writers, And One False Idol
- Thread starter Courage
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Nothing really, I've just been sleeping. Imma def peep barter.
IrishNinja
Member
damn, pac stays makin poor decisions even in the afterlife
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Yup. I don't know how anybody can listen to this album and call it "focused" with a straight face. It's like they picked up a word that people use to describe something they like and just apply it without thinking. No matter if you like it or hate it, one thing the album isn't is "focused." Glass half-full: The album is an intermingling of different sounds that align with the shifting of Kendrick's influences as he grew up. It's an accumulation of a lifetime of musical influences. Glass half-empty: It's a sonic mess.
Could have and did. It was the single corniest moment put on a highly-respected record in probably my lifetime. Let's be really real here, if this was any rapper that people didn't love we'd be clowning it until we were all dust. Also, are we all just forgetting that on his come up his biggest influences were always Jeezy, DMX and Game? He's a generation removed from Pac's influence. Not saying he can't be a fan, but this felt extra calculated.
But this is true too.
Syphon Filter
Member
lol you wallin
manipulate
Member
Easy to imagine Sremmurd stay making hits with those mike will beats.
IrishNinja
Member
but it wasn't any rapper, and that's kinda important to PD's point - i get where it didn't work for everyone, mind
but to the latter: what if kdot's current position is vastly different to his come up & found it closer to an angle of Pac's, should he just not've run with that & instead interviewed someone alive who can't really relate, for the sake of consistency? this is a really odd statement
I always listen to that Tupac interview since it's cut together pretty well and nothing that Kendrick says strikes me as corny; I fucking hate that word btw because people seemingly pull that out of their ass when they can't tell why they don't like something
I would also add that the production is not focused and Esch analyzed this pretty well - the subject of the album is though which is pretty remarkable since this is like 10+ tracks and each of them shows a different point of that subject
I would also add that the production is not focused and Esch analyzed this pretty well - the subject of the album is though which is pretty remarkable since this is like 10+ tracks and each of them shows a different point of that subject
PhoenixDark
Banned
He's from the west coast, that automatically ensures Pac is one of his GOATs. He's spoken about seeing Pac shooting the California Love video when he was kid and even claims to have had a vision of Pac (lol). I'm gonna assume he's a Pac stan brehs...
If Cole did it in a corny way sure, we'd clown it. But once Pac starts talking on the album you realize the entire concept is Kendrick reading him a poem. It worked to me, and I've listened to the track many times without skipping over it. Nothing about it feels out of place either. The conversation fits our time, almost eerily. That's a major reason why it worked. If the convo was just Pac talking about thug life and fucking bitches sure I'd agree with you. Instead the conversation perfectly sums up the album, and 2015.
Dito. TBAP is brilliant and basically has to be in any Top Of The Year list, even though I haven't bumped it much after the first weeks of release.
IrishNinja
Member
how is travis scott even in this discussion tho
personally, i call this ken masters syndrome
i honestly don't comment heavily on sonic structure/etc as there's a limit to my knowledge & so many variables (song quality, quality of the device you're hearing it from, personal preference of instrument types/sounds etc) but i definitely co-sign the album being focused thematically.
this - there's so many soundbites of pac interviews about, but this one resonated in a way many ive heard didn't. it was an excellent choice & a good example of how i think this album's gonna stand out even moreso in the time to come.
perfectly understandable, ive only played it through a few times myself and am waiting on the vinyl to get here for the next - but it's because i feel it warrants time/attention, in a very different way than say Yen Lo but both are not things i'll just throw on regardless of my time/vibe. GKMC as a whole is along those lines for me, but there's so many tracks that work in & of themselves that i just throw on whenever, including backseat freestlyle, haha.
mind you, again if TPAB didn't resonate with you on that level, i can certainly see why that very attribute of GK is so great - it can be appreciated on the level of individual tracks. which isn't to say i can't just bump Alright etc whenever, but i'm far more inclined to hear the album out entirely if i do
I always listen to that Tupac interview since it's cut together pretty well and nothing that Kendrick says strikes me as corny; I fucking hate that word btw because people seemingly pull that out of their ass when they can't tell why they don't like something
personally, i call this ken masters syndrome
i honestly don't comment heavily on sonic structure/etc as there's a limit to my knowledge & so many variables (song quality, quality of the device you're hearing it from, personal preference of instrument types/sounds etc) but i definitely co-sign the album being focused thematically.
this - there's so many soundbites of pac interviews about, but this one resonated in a way many ive heard didn't. it was an excellent choice & a good example of how i think this album's gonna stand out even moreso in the time to come.
perfectly understandable, ive only played it through a few times myself and am waiting on the vinyl to get here for the next - but it's because i feel it warrants time/attention, in a very different way than say Yen Lo but both are not things i'll just throw on regardless of my time/vibe. GKMC as a whole is along those lines for me, but there's so many tracks that work in & of themselves that i just throw on whenever, including backseat freestlyle, haha.
mind you, again if TPAB didn't resonate with you on that level, i can certainly see why that very attribute of GK is so great - it can be appreciated on the level of individual tracks. which isn't to say i can't just bump Alright etc whenever, but i'm far more inclined to hear the album out entirely if i do
cuz he upper echelon
Kendrick far and away has the Hip-Hop AOTY so far with Summertime 06 in second and DS2 and Rodeo somewhere after
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Nah. It's a descriptor that has a meaning - one you're aware of. Don't play dumb. I explained exactly why I didn't like it. You just don't agree with the assessment.
To be even more specific for you, I find the dragging up of a dead man's interview and self-inserting yourself into it to sell records distasteful. I find the whole fan-fic vibe to be really sort of embarrassing. We've established that because it's Kendrick, it's okay with some, which was my entire point. You like Kendrick, so it's cool. But if it was J. Cole doing the same exact thing to say, a Biggie interview, it'd be bad. At that point all you're actually saying is 'I like this thing because a guy I like did it.' Which is a fine position to take, I just don't agree with it in this particular instance.
People are talking about the Pac interview as if that is the issue. It's not. If it had just been the straight interview without Kendrick inserting himself into a world and time he never knew, with a man he never met, it'd be fine. Here is the thing about rappers who never met these people talk/act like they knew these dead men. You have no idea if that guy would agree with you, like your or even tolerate you. It's exactly the same concept behind reanimating Gene Kelly with CGI to sell Pepsi in my mind.
IrishNinja
Member
i rather like this post
think it's worth stating that the cole example is specifically because he's clearly not capable of pulling something like this off - fuck, i don't know if i even believed he was bummed about presumably letting nas down - but even while there's definite duckworth bias causing folks to give the man some credit/room for this sort've thing, it was still risky and well done
however, your overarching sentiment about finding this sort've thing distasteful in general, i can respect that - i like 50, but i didn't dig him throwing biggie into a cut the way he did, and that's even with me wholly believing that had big lived he'd prolly have done it...the man was sometimes picky about his features (sometimes not), but i could see that one happening and i still didn't like it. likewise, while i understand that they supposedly squashed it at the end there, it was still a bit jarring the first time i heard nas throw himself onto thugz mansion.
which is sorta why i was glad i went into this track blind - like PD said, if id'sve seen this on paper it would've sounded like a shitty idea & maybe shaped my perception a bit...but it worked for me, and i didn't feel that way. personally, since it wasn't a big single/credited thing on the album i don't really see it as much of a ploy to sell albums myself, but i can understand the notion that eating off the dead isn't a good look
Naw not at all. The interview has cultural relevance today and is a cap to the overall theme of the album. It feels genuine to me, although I understand how it is corny to some.Kendrick did the sonic equivalent of this in 2015
Slow down. That song is okay.
Let's just agree that we disagree; a) I think Kendrick is the only rapper of the younger generation that is capable of doing this (especially since he has shown from time to time again that he is a huge Pac stan) so of course it would be bad if Cole would do this - I attest Kendrick a somewhat higher connection to Pac than Cole not only because both are from the west but because Kendrick always did Pac-esque music from the very beginning minus the stuff that got Pac into trouble and b) that Pepsi comparison doesn't work well in my opinion since the entire Pac segment not only exists just because Kendrick is a stan but because it summarizes the entire concept behind the album and is also a shockingly accurate commentary of 2015 in regards to society.
Like you said: you think it's corny, embarrassing - alright, that's your opinion man. But I think Kendrick is the only one who can pull off stuff like this without it feeling awkard - at least to me I suppose. I think it's a rather clever way to close the album.
Glass Rebel
Member
In the context of art this is a pretty irrelevant point. The way the interview is framed, Pac the person hardly plays into Mortal man, it's about what he as an icon, his ideas and his artistry represented back when he was alive and the relevance it has today. It doesn't matter whether Pac would have liked Kendrick as a person. It's their ideas that line up. Your argumentation hinges on external reasons for disliking the interview but you haven't spoken about the things internal to to it that make it a failure.
Jo Shishido's Cheeks
Member
Pac even finishes the interview talking about dead spirits speaking through rappers, come on son.
To think he pulled that move to "sell records" is ignorant as fuck.
That or I clearly missed the 'Featuring Tupac!' stickers all over the front of the CD...
To think he pulled that move to "sell records" is ignorant as fuck.
That or I clearly missed the 'Featuring Tupac!' stickers all over the front of the CD...
Psychological Intellect
Banned
Yep great verse. Album is full of them.
Surprised that The Blacker the Berry doesn't always get recognised as one of the best tracks of TPAB. The direct lyrics, raw energy and incredible sounding drums make it dope as hell. I think it's definitely better than Alright or Mortal Men, These Walls and HMADC are probably better though.
Psychological Intellect
Banned
Because it received all its praise when it came out I'm January. Great song. Love how it plays right after Complexion.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
GKMC was a great album
TPAB was a great album
/controversialopinions
TPAB was a great album
/controversialopinions
Glass Rebel
Member
Grover Cleveland
Member
The mixing of the album version of TBTB is god-tier.
About TPAB being SONICALLY inconsistent, it absolutely is. But that's 100% intentional. It's supposed to be an uneven, jarring, unpredictable, even sometimes uncomfortable record. I think Kendrick juggled all of the sounds well, but that comes down to a matter of taste. When you hear him say that he recorded 30-40 new songs after gkMC for this new record, I certainly could see someone wanting to critique the final product as him just throwing too many different ideas around and it not coming off.
The Pac interview...ehh I'm ambivalent about it. I skip it every time I listen to Mortal Man now just because it feels a bit hamfisted, but I can certainly appreciate what he was trying to do with it.
About TPAB being SONICALLY inconsistent, it absolutely is. But that's 100% intentional. It's supposed to be an uneven, jarring, unpredictable, even sometimes uncomfortable record. I think Kendrick juggled all of the sounds well, but that comes down to a matter of taste. When you hear him say that he recorded 30-40 new songs after gkMC for this new record, I certainly could see someone wanting to critique the final product as him just throwing too many different ideas around and it not coming off.
The Pac interview...ehh I'm ambivalent about it. I skip it every time I listen to Mortal Man now just because it feels a bit hamfisted, but I can certainly appreciate what he was trying to do with it.
This is why you are considered the maniac in our little community
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I don't have to pare down and parse out arguments until we reach some mutual agreement based on what you view is an external versus an internal set of reasoning. I don't think I have to explain that what you view as irrelevant doesn't really factor into what is, ultimately, a personal opinion. Obviously, I severely disagree with the relevancy of the point or I wouldn't have made it. Suffice it to say, nothing said so far has changed my mind and I've written clearly enough on why I disliked it to be understood. From there it's just a matter of agreement or disagreement. I don't expect everybody (or anybody, for that matter) to agree with me.
I'm with WanderingWing on the Pac interview being in contention for some of the corniest shit ever being put on wax. I think it's thematically relevant but I'm cringing internally just thinking about it, and a lot of that is just the notion. Can't believe people thought Let Nas Down was corny and then are saying man it's so great Kendrick didn't make this cringeworthy!
I'm cringing just at the thought of it, ugh.
EDIT: Forgot new Khaled album was out today, why am I wasting my time on TPAB
I'm cringing just at the thought of it, ugh.
EDIT: Forgot new Khaled album was out today, why am I wasting my time on TPAB
PhoenixDark
Banned
Would love to hear some of yall review a Prince album and complain about it doing too much sonically. Scust.
Honestly the Cole comparison is like saying Beast Of No Nation would be corny if Steven Speilbeg directed it. Yea, we know. A lesser artist would fuck it up. But thankfully Kendrick is not a lesser artist and pulled it off, tied his album together perfectly and managed to turn the conversation into a perfect statement on the times we live in.
Cole would have put a Pac interview at the end of Wet Dreamz so he could talk about the first time he got pussy. Come on fam.
Honestly the Cole comparison is like saying Beast Of No Nation would be corny if Steven Speilbeg directed it. Yea, we know. A lesser artist would fuck it up. But thankfully Kendrick is not a lesser artist and pulled it off, tied his album together perfectly and managed to turn the conversation into a perfect statement on the times we live in.
Cole would have put a Pac interview at the end of Wet Dreamz so he could talk about the first time he got pussy. Come on fam.
I had a How Much A Dollar Cost moment in real life. God totally spoke to me through a bum.
Sonic is still relevant guys, you can't tell me that he isn't. Sega make another game.
JC about to get banned for this.
Goddamn, didn't get to listen to it yet. Does it stand up to her previous releases? Hopefully she tours in Cali next year.
Missed this post, absolutely nail on the head with dissecting the self-fulfilling and partial bias, especially with the bolded. Kendrick kool-aid too stronk
PhoenixDark
Banned
The concept of Let Nas Down itself isn't corny. The problem is the way it's done. Noz says it perfectly in his tumblr takedown of Cole: Cole doesn't really explain why Nas means anything to him, there is very little noteworthy introspection, and you don't even get a sense of WHY Cole likes Nas so much. It's basically "I looked up to this nigga but he said I was trash so now I feel bad." Ok. It's not a bad song, it just doesn't work and comes off clumsy.
There are plenty of dope odes to hip hop artists. Old School by Pac is a great example. He paints a picture, describes his feelings and makes you feel the past. My First Song by Hov isn't really an ode to a specific rapper but it's Hov describing his journey as he saw it. Introspective, evocative, etc. Cole doesn't do that, and seemingly can't. Instead we get a "this happened and then this happened and then he said this" approach, typical of Cole's music.
Whereas Kendrick takes a more human approach. He doesn't glorify Pac. He points out Pac's weaknesses and admits he shares them ("sometimes I did the same"). The conversation is about the themes of the album, from the record industry to civil unrest. And most importantly Kendrick doesn't try to provide some answer or solution. Pac paints quite a negative view of what will happen next, Kendrick offers a bit of hope and then asks Pac what he thinks. Silence.
There are plenty of dope odes to hip hop artists. Old School by Pac is a great example. He paints a picture, describes his feelings and makes you feel the past. My First Song by Hov isn't really an ode to a specific rapper but it's Hov describing his journey as he saw it. Introspective, evocative, etc. Cole doesn't do that, and seemingly can't. Instead we get a "this happened and then this happened and then he said this" approach, typical of Cole's music.
Whereas Kendrick takes a more human approach. He doesn't glorify Pac. He points out Pac's weaknesses and admits he shares them ("sometimes I did the same"). The conversation is about the themes of the album, from the record industry to civil unrest. And most importantly Kendrick doesn't try to provide some answer or solution. Pac paints quite a negative view of what will happen next, Kendrick offers a bit of hope and then asks Pac what he thinks. Silence.
A bit premature to tell, but my first impressions are strongly positive.
aside from that cringe ending line it's the track it's easily the best and most focused song on the album.
Kendrick did the sonic equivalent of this in 2015
lmaoooooo
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Alright, now that is settled, let's talk about how Summertime 06 changed my life
Where does Section.80 stand?
Aside from a couple cornball tracks I really enjoy that too and probably spin more tracks regularly off of that than TPAB anyway depending on my mood. In fact I'd wager when I usually throw TPAB on it's in the absence of anything similar to GKMC being on the same playlist and vice versa. That's usually how it goes with me.
Anyway, new DRAM dropped. Honestly I haven't heard shit from him other thanhotline bling CHA CHA. Anyone give it a listen?
Aside from a couple cornball tracks I really enjoy that too and probably spin more tracks regularly off of that than TPAB anyway depending on my mood. In fact I'd wager when I usually throw TPAB on it's in the absence of anything similar to GKMC being on the same playlist and vice versa. That's usually how it goes with me.
Anyway, new DRAM dropped. Honestly I haven't heard shit from him other than
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