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GAF-Hop |OTXV| Afterlife

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Just for the fuck of it, anybody want to attempt ranking their 20 favorite hip hop albums of all time?

I don't, so I am aware of the hypocrisy and potential laziness on my part.
 

mooooose

Member
Just for the fuck of it, anybody want to attempt ranking their 20 favorite hip hop albums of all time?

I don't, so I am aware of the hypocrisy and potential laziness on my part.

dare iz a darkside
muddy waters
bulletproof wallets
monkey barz
midnight mauraders
low end theory
aquemini
gkmc
to pimp a butterfly
great adventures of slick rick
hell on earth
illmatic
xxx
barter 6
carter 3
hell hath no fury
come home with me
so it goes
madvillainy
6 feet deep

east coast/ny influence is deep here but its what i grew up on so i dunno
 
Des that's spot on re: Common's album. I went into it pretty excited after hearing "Black America Again" and "Pyramids," but bulk of the album doesn't actually carry that energy. I don't necessarily mind lyrics that are on the nose, especially not in the current climate, but the soft neo-soul runs really pull me out of it, and are the tracks where Common's at his most ineffective.

I really like the title track though. The production is just....whew
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
When the strings come in on Be (Intro) brehs

obama_cares.gif
 
Idk breh dbr is dope but rodeo is just so much better imo. He improved in every way. Better features, beats, lyrical content, song flow, etc.
DBR is way more consistent for me. While the highs are not as high as when "3500", "Pray 4 Love", "Flying High", or "Nightcrawler" hit, the lows aren't as low as when "Apple Pie", "Impossible", "90210"'s second half, "I Can Tell" or the wasted potential of "Piss On Your Grave."

I just value consistency a bit more than great songs. The vibe on DBR is a lot more unique for some reason too.

End of the day, personal preference for everyone.
 
Lol, Not a Travis Scott fan at all but I actually really like that Apple Pie song on Rodeo. One of his few songs where it just feels like it genuinely came from his heart when making it.
 

ARK322

Neo Member
Idk breh dbr is dope but rodeo is just so much better imo. He improved in every way. Better features, beats, lyrical content, song flow, etc.

Totally agree. So many people say dbr is better but I really don't see why. Mamacita, Skyfall, and Sloppy Toppy are all amazing, but Rodeo has more songs that are just as good and a few -- namely Nightcrawler & Ok Alright -- that are better than anything off dbr.

Birds, tho. That was basically garbage.

Also, to weigh in on Black America Again, I think it's decent. Some of the production is super nice, and Common generally does a good job, but I totally agree with the criticism that his bars are way too surface level. Tracks like Pyramids show how impassioned he can be, but he seems pretty distanced most of the time. Also, Love Star blows.
 
Razer Blade Stealth or Surface Pro 4?

help me decide GAF-Hop
I don't know, do you want to sound like a complete and total edgelord or a decent human being every time someone asks what your computer is? Do you want the dream laptop of 14-year olds across the country or a device adults can look at that and think "Gee, this person looks like a respectable member of society." Sure, the Razer can play games, but then everytime someone looks at your pulsing LED mess of a laptop, you'll have to convince them the "Razer Blade Stealth" is actually the name of your laptop and not the name of some 13-year old's Mountain Dew-fueled fever dream of a "mature game."

I'm sure the Razer is alright, but I feel like if you name your product like a Call of Duty perk, you deserve to be excoriated. Up to you, really.

It is also really early here and I like to be cutting when I'm tired. Let me know if it's too harsh, and I'll edit it out.
 

FZZ

Banned
Nothing to big, coming from a Chromebook and battery life is priority to me honestly. Most intensive things I might be doing is running Dolphin? Razer seems like a good value for a $999 ultrabook plus student discount stuff.

Surface Pro 4 apparently has 9 hour battery life which is why its enticing to me.

I really just want the best value I can get, with a durable design that's gonna give good battery life.
Macbooks too expensive :/
 

Eos

Member
Nothing to big, coming from a Chromebook and battery life is priority to me honestly. Most intensive things I might be doing is running Dolphin? Razer seems like a good value for a $999 ultrabook plus student discount stuff.

Surface Pro 4 apparently has 9 hour battery life which is why its enticing to me.

I really just want the best value I can get, with a durable design that's gonna give good battery life.
Macbooks too expensive :/

if battery life is the most important thing, take a look at the dell xps 13
 

Reckoner

Member
FZZ, are you me lmao Just yesterday I was looking into the same thing and ended really liking the Dell XPS.

The indecision for me comes from the Surface Pro 3 i5 8gb costing 700 and the Dell almost double, though. I also want USB C because it will be everywhere from now on. For Dolphin you're out of luck. Emulation is pretty demanding. It will probably run on it, but don't expect much out of tweaking.
 
apparently they played that Meek Mill song with Thug and 21 Savage off DC4 on OVO Sound Radio... and cut Meek's verse out.
mjlol.png


That trademark Drake pettiness
aqDwC.png
 
That new Tkay Mdaiza record is really really nice. I recommend it to anyone who was disappointed by the new M.I.A. album because it's in the same lane as M.I.A.'s stuff while doing her electro-rap hybrid better than modern her.
 

Koozek

Member
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.
Whew. GAF's Busiest Music Nerd. Fuck Fontano.

I still only listened to it once. Pretty busy with university right now and I'm also kinda savoring it for a better time. But yeah, while nice and smooth on my first listen, it wasn't really memorable. To be fair, some of my most favorite records are ones where it maybe wasn't immediately memorable and needed a few listens.
 

OG Kush

Member
Yeah listened to the new Common on a drive the other night and it is smooth but nothing memorable apart from a couple of tracks. Nothing to write home about, but will give it another listen.
 

cb1115

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
Btw, just realized I completely forgot about Common's last album from 2 years ago. Think I only listened to it twice.

had like 1 great song and a bunch of OK ones

irrationally excited for the Tribe album brehs
 

cb1115

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
Really wanna know how this one's gonna be

i'm really curious about the production style of the album. Q-Tip has done a great job of staying creative all these years so it might end up having a pretty modern sound. early feature list is really encouraging too.
 
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