MuddyDonut
Member
I was listening to some of TPAB and didn't know I accidently hit shuffle and all of a sudden Drake starts playing while reading this. Kendrick drums are way better in comparison lol
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GVF-Hop l0 13l La Soulja Nostra
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eek.
it's on my regular listening playlist but i skip a bit of it. i like it but i feel like it's missing something compared with the tracks on Yeezus.
yeah that bit. i feel like kanye has pretty much perfectly nailed that whole 'outro appears out of nowhere and is amazing' thing.
richardhawk
Member
MuddyDonut
Member
All Day feels both safe rapwise and very yeezuz like with Allan's singing.
Most Expensivest Shit: Sneakers. $25k for that Master Chief looking BS. SMH.
98.3 I think?
Big K.R.I.T.'s parts are dope.
Kind of agree and disagree, all depends on what you consider a risk. I think Drake has been (relatively) risky in terms of the sounds he's toyed around with, on top of carving out his own lane. I think since NWTS he's sort of settled in a bit in terms of a certain style, but that impression is also partially because of the features/BS he's thrown out.
Drake is in a place where he can take risks because he's the motherfucking hip-hop prince right now and people are in a position to be receptive of it. It's not like he's public enemy no. 1 like Kanye, and he's already survived pretty much every trial you can run into in the game unscathed.
I really do think Drake is pretty much only 2nd to Kanye when it comes to his straight hunger to get better and be a force of change, and that's my main basis for expecting him to come back different. It's that chip on your shoulder that never goes away and just drives those dudes to rub it in your face as much as they can. From the jump he's also followed Kanye's blueprint of switching shit up as much as possible to keep people interested (perhaps not as dramatically, but you could look at NWTS as his Late Registration) and it's worked.
MuddyDonut
Member
I don't see how drake takes any sort of risks creatively. Could you give me an enzo list please?
I think post debut album drake has been pretty risky. I mean just look at his linking up w Makonnen.
There isn't anything wrong with the fact that you can't play it with the windows rolled down. Some of my favorite albums ever are intimate. They don't seem super negative on it, but that just seems like an unnecessary comparison to give to these two albums.
Jesus this thing is an eye sore. Big ass gold words in every direction. Gonna be a big show.
Where do you guys think J. Cole ranks in popularity? He's upper tier now.
Ray Wonder
Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I can't think of a single risky song Drake has made.
MuddyDonut
Member
I mean he just jumped on a remix. I guess that's risky for Drake?
Frankensteiner
Banned
Drake a force for change, striving to get better.
He's one album away from going for the mogul / star money for good and putting music on the backburner.
Will he have his own youtube channel with Lisa Ann as a host doe?
Maybe not song for song but Alright slaps. Hood Politics is formidable as well.
MuddyDonut
Member
I like how Kendrick actually uses his voice. Some find it annoying but it's also what I like about Danny Brown as well, even though he doesn't do it nearly as often. /shrug
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
You forgot the weird-ass edited interview straight out of Ja Rule's wettest dreams circa 2003.
Stuff that comes to mind:
- His frequent producers don't really stay in the same rut sonically. Started From The Bottom, 5AM in Toronto, Tuscan Leather, Worst Behaviour
- Everyone looked at Over as being a "huh?" choice for a single when it came out after So Far Gone, and it worked despite being left of what we all expected (not tryna hear any revisionist history on this either)
- Giving Kendrick essentially his own track just to spit on his 2nd album, dude he knew was a problem then, and became a problem later. I think you can sort of extend this to Drake cosigning so many terrible artists, but it gets a bit muddy since his cosigns end up giving these dudes careers too.
- Actively engaged in "beefs" on wax with OGs, from Common to Jay, and survived. He could have let shit slide, but he didn't. Dude put his career on the line FWIW and has survived.
- Being in a tough guy dick measuring game and despite daily backlash from both males and females he's been able to play both sides of the fence much unlike any other rapper before
It's all relative of course, but I don't put Drake in a super safe rapper category at all on content alone. Maybe risky isn't the exact word, but I think Drake can and will go left if he wants, he's perhaps more interested in an evolution over a revolution. The hunger is undeniable, I don't think Drake is comfortable yet, dude's empire is just getting started.
I was gonna add that to terrible songs and skits but the first time you hear it it's actually pretty awesome. It's scary how corny it gets after the first listen though.
2nd or 3rd behind Drake, just don't know if I should put KDot ahead of him.
Overlooking Kanye/Jay/Wayne of course.
Well if you think it might put of white fans that liked GKMC, I'm pretty confident a fair number of young white people don't grasp half the messages of rap songs that they listen to. Hell they don't grasp the themes of most light novels they read. I'm not thinking the message will much affect the albums performance in sales. Might hurt his chances at the Grammy's but they already made it clear he wasn't an artist to be celebrated. At least not when a white rapper puts out an album in Kanye's off year.
With GKMC being like a 9? I think that's fair.
Pretty much agree on all this.
I remember I used to hate on Drake, but NWTS changed my mind and I went back to Take Care beyond the singles and enjoyed it as well. Dude is on a roll right now.
It's really interesting how divisive he can still be though. Like just remembering off the top of my head when the Needle Drop review for If You're Reading This was super positive. You had a lot of comments in agreement and also a lot of angry comments talking about how wack Drake is.
Kinda reminds me of Kanye discussions online sometimes. Both of them inspire passionate responses on both ends of the spectrum.
It's tough but I'd have to give a pre-emptive edge to Cole. I just feel like Cole has trapped the female fanbase in a way Kendrick hasn't. Cole is headlining much bigger tours of his own, no? Kendrick is no slouch, his name has been thrown out there quite a bit over the past year but I still feel like it's mostly the same unwashed TDE sweater owning dudes that buy in.
MuddyDonut
Member
I like most of the songs people hate on TPAB lol and I can see those as iterative risks to Drake's growth as an artist. So I guess that's what you mean.
I think its a bit strong in the tail end as well, and agree that it get's just a bit too pedantic and cheesy in spots, but I can't think of many albums that are able to touch on the subject matter with the same sort of heavy handedness that don't have the same faults. I think it's a largely successful effort and maybe even more ambitious than GKMC overall. Definitely not as polished or immediately engaging, but the ambition and thought is impressive alone. To be able to come out with an album in 2015 that tackles the current racial hysteria and manage to sound when it's on like a modern amalgam of Blowout Comb and Tupac is very notable in my eyes. It's a strong 8 in my eyes right now.
MuddyDonut
Member
Very apt as all the j Cole lovers I know fit this description.
Unless I'm getting the dates wrong, didn't he have one before GKMC release?
It's either that or Rigamortis, but I definitely know a ton of people weren't on the hype train with OD.
CountBlack
Member
PhoenixDark
Banned
Kendrick went plat on his first album, something Cole has yet to do iirc; Cole's new album will be plat before the end of the year though. I feel like the vast majority of Cole's popularity is segregated to a segment of hardcore fans. He doesn't really have a hold in the mainstream to me.
I agree Cole taps into the female base more than Kendrick, but I feel like Kendrick is more popular on a mainstream level. Kendrick is everywhere - Grammys, touring with Kanye, festivals, etc etc whereas Cole literally disappears after releasing albums. He does his isolated tour and that's that. I don't think he matters much in the grand scheme of the hip hop zeitgeist (Drake, Kanye, Hov, Kendrick, Wayne, maybe Eminem, Nicki, etc). All those rappers matter on a pop culture level. I don't think Cole matters.
I'd imagine TPAB won't sell more than Cole's album though. Yeezus didn't sell as much as Born Sinner but obviously Kanye is the bigger artist.
I agree Cole taps into the female base more than Kendrick, but I feel like Kendrick is more popular on a mainstream level. Kendrick is everywhere - Grammys, touring with Kanye, festivals, etc etc whereas Cole literally disappears after releasing albums. He does his isolated tour and that's that. I don't think he matters much in the grand scheme of the hip hop zeitgeist (Drake, Kanye, Hov, Kendrick, Wayne, maybe Eminem, Nicki, etc). All those rappers matter on a pop culture level. I don't think Cole matters.
I'd imagine TPAB won't sell more than Cole's album though. Yeezus didn't sell as much as Born Sinner but obviously Kanye is the bigger artist.
I don't remember him having one. I'm pretty sure his first cypher was in 2013 over the shook ones beat? He did have an XXL freshman freestyle, perhaps tho?
You are wrong. Cole has tons of fans and Born Sinner and Sideline Story had a radio single. He just isn't seen as part of the big boys cause he's middlekey beta as fuck and refuses to throw his success, acclaim, or sales weight around. Nor does he run with a movement like Kendrick or Drake does. He just exists solo.
PhoenixDark
Banned
RBK stay re-writing history lol.
Esch: That's a good argument. Still...would you honestly say he is apart of the mainstream zeitgeist? Dude just feels like a lightskin, more popular Wale to me. If Wale sold 800k records no one would really care...and I feel the same about Cole. Even with his formulaic radio hits he feels like he's on the outside looking in.
I don't mean to belittle the man.
Esch: That's a good argument. Still...would you honestly say he is apart of the mainstream zeitgeist? Dude just feels like a lightskin, more popular Wale to me. If Wale sold 800k records no one would really care...and I feel the same about Cole. Even with his formulaic radio hits he feels like he's on the outside looking in.
I don't mean to belittle the man.
This album kind of bumps, it's not free, but I definitely recommend checking it out.
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WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
He's not part of our little pocket of the subculture, but he's huge elsewhere. We're not really the mainstream, tbh. RTJ was the hottest shit on the internet last year, but Forest Hills sold 30x what that album did. So, yeah, he's definitely part of the mainstream mind space. If Wale sold 800k, that would also put him in the same category. Sure, we wouldn't care, but you know. We don't fucking matter.
After listening to GKMC and TPAB, I think the first few songs on TPAB are weak (I didn't really start liking the album until "Alright"), but once "Alright" comes on, it becomes a masterpiece. I still think that GKMC is a better album that's put together, but I like "Alright" and everything afterwards much more than I liked GKMC altogether, but the first few songs on TPAB bring it down for me
"Alright" through "Mortal Man" > GKMC >>>>>>>>> "Wesley's Theory" through "u"
"Alright" through "Mortal Man" > GKMC >>>>>>>>> "Wesley's Theory" through "u"
He's had 3 from 2011-2013.
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