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GAF-Hop |OTXV| Afterlife
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Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Wow, No One Can Do It Better has some of Dre's best early productions. Underrated, for sure.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Might listen to it eventually knowing there's Metro and The-Dream produced tracks.
torre_avenue
Banned
The-Dream track is really nice with some old-school 8bit sounds on it. The Metro track is also really unexpected and pretty dope. Sacrifice and Ride of Your Life are pretty good as well. Strong recommendation.
Word. Let the Bass Go and The Formula have incredible beats.
Another dope video. Album has a great sense of theme. Keeps giving.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
It's really unfairly swept on. Straight Outta Compton gets all the praise, but it may be a better album.
Speaking of which, Straight Outta is a great album, but I've always thought it was overhyped to death. I mean Something 2 Dance 2. Enough said.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Arizona doesn't have daylight savings, which is weird.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Black America Again has me flashing back to Late Registration type production. Not sure how I missed this. Shout out to Common for staying active/hungry.
No but you guys don't get snow(?) which I'll take any day over snow in Denver
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Northern Arizona does. Flagstaff is great for that.
But Colorado is probably better to live unless you don't like the cold. I've been there before, great state.
It's a great state for sure. I just hate snow and the cold in general. I'll take dry desert heat / humid heat and not care that I never see all of the seasons.
Winter is nice to look at through pictures.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
It's weird here though. The desert landscape is ugly as fuck in Phoenix, and the whole place is dry as hell. No rain sucks most of all. Pima County is better though, the landscape is a green desert at times. Nothing really compares to Colorado's natural open space.
Oh and Summers are AWFUL here. You have no idea.
My brother stays in southern Utah (st George area) and I have a sister in Vegas so that's probably the closest to dry heat I've dealt with. If Arizona gets worse than that then damn
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Vegas and Phoenix are around the same. 110+ is our peak.
My favourite Common album, was actually listening to it again the other day.
Got his new one Black America Again but not listened to it properly yet.
I always thought Efil4Zaggin had the best production Dre was ever involved in. And I say this as a Chronic stan.
Enter The 36 Chambers
Member
That was the final track for a reason. It doesn't fit with the rest of the album at all.
I'd probably put Doggystyle as my favorite Dre album, but No One Can Do It Better and Niggaz4Life definitely do get slept on.
fuck, Eazy-Duz-It never gets talked about anymore, either
For me the entire first half is flawless and stays on deck in the whip.
theignoramus
Member
BAA is the most cohesive, well curated mainstream rap album Ive heard this year. And like I said before, he gets his emotional and intellectual point across as well as anyone screaming emotively over a psychedelic beat.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Red Wine is the smoothest track of the year for sure
phenomenal album; make sure to pick it up from your local library
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Fuck the library.
Glass Rebel
Member
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Libraries vary in quality big time, believe that.
It's how it was printed on the album *shrug
Just because my dad's half black doesn't mean I'll start throwing the word around.
torre_avenue
Banned
I have no idea as to whether or not I should go for this. On one hand, I like ATCQ, but on the other, I don't think I like them enough to go through another pop-up shop ordeal again.
Truth fact. I was lucky enough to live in suburban California and my library was so ridiculously nice. 2 floors, a nice courtyard area, a huge "teen" (read: trashy YA and comics) section, and a pretty big video game section. It's just such a shame that no one really thinks about the libraries any more. While the internet has been such a blessing, it pretty much just sucks the patience out of you. If I grew up now, I'm 100% sure I'd be a hell of a lot less eloquent and/or randomly knowledgeable and a hell of a lot more meme-filled and awful.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Pretty much this. I may be on the prowl for the best libraries in America, or something.
I really wanted to love it but I find myself struggling to ever want to go back to it. I listened to it twice now and I have some pretty strong impressions of it that I doubt will alter much at all over time because they're so solidified. Someone here had the audacity to compare this shit to TPAB and so that coupled with the powerful track I heard on the 13th resulted in my expectations possibly being too high. The problems that people falsely accuse TPAB are amplified and realized on Commons album.
Anyway there are quite a few problems with the album my opinion. First of all Common's lyrical content is entirely too on the nose and lacks imagination to really mask just how pedantic he gets on this album. Rarely does he internalize and personalize the struggle he's describing, he raps from this almost third party perspective and resorts to just preaching about what should be and what is not. The genius of TPAB is how Kendrick was able to speak on these internal conflicts and reflect on them in a way that could also apply to the larger black struggle today, and thus by positing himself within the conflict he avoids sounding overly pedantic.
Furthermore, sonically the album has even greater weaknesses. Most of the songs fall into the same formula with Common rapping over tracks that sound like reject neo soul filler. The songs would sound more at home as middling India Arie tracks or Jill Scott b-sides and Common's contributions are largely unwarranted and wreck the flow of each. There's a track somewhere in the middle of the album where the beat switches up and Common goes in on some vintage Common Sense shit and the pace actually ramps up quite significantly and his lyrical prowess also seems to be upgraded significantly. However, this moment just further highlights the stagnant state the rest of the album finds itself in and its squandered potential. When the track ends Common and the album resort to the same weak Neo Soul niche they were operating from before.
The little gospel flourishes on the album sound like weak cash ins on the popularity of Pablo and Coloring Book, the few funk and soul flourishes are never as fully realized as on TPAB. You can tell what Common was trying to do with this by basically shedding light on the beauty and resilience of the black culture but the end result never realizes it and the black militance teased by the soundtrack track is pretty much a one off on the album. On the whole it's just a weak, predictable and immemborable affair. And the stories and sermons contained within it have been told better elsewhere.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Discotheque
Banned
my libraries are mostly homeless shelters. whatever, do what you gotta do to stay out of the cold i guess. maybe read a book during your stay too.
Ohio frequents libraries more than any other state, but it seems like it's still 80 percent occupied by the homeless. We have really nice ones, but bed bugs are pretty rampant.
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