spermatic cord
Member
dark fantasy is so good. perfect way to open an album. i cried a single tear
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Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (OT 2?)
- Thread starter Ashhong
- Start date
- Status
ya know what guys.. after many many listens i'm really reluctant to put this ahead of college dropout or late registration and i might be a prisoner of the moment right now, but i think i gotta do it.....
mbdtf > cd > lr > graduation > 808s
a few months from now i'll know the real answer, but right now i gotta go with that. i don't see myself ever skipping anything on this album besides the last few minutes of runaway and the same can't be said about CD or LR.. i mean i enjoy everything on those albums, but i usually end up skipping one or two things when listening to it.
mbdtf > cd > lr > graduation > 808s
a few months from now i'll know the real answer, but right now i gotta go with that. i don't see myself ever skipping anything on this album besides the last few minutes of runaway and the same can't be said about CD or LR.. i mean i enjoy everything on those albums, but i usually end up skipping one or two things when listening to it.
mescalineeyes
Banned
abuC said:
wait... yeezy is kanye west? :x
mescalineeyes
Banned
enzo_gt said:
I had no idea. I was thinking of Young Jeezy.
Then again, I know fuck-all about hip-hop, I just happen to really like Kanye and Drake.
Discotheque
Banned
abuC said:
Definitely. Now rappers 'greater than' on the other hand...
Pinko Marx
Banned
hubes said:
Shakin my head so hard. So hard. CD was a watershed moment in Hip-Hop. It is unrivaled. Its Kanye's Illmatic. Ain't no LP hes ever putting out again will match it.
College Dropout is some of the realest shit in hip hop, its scary on how many emotional levels it can touch you.Pinko Marx said:
Also, Dear Kanye.. an open letter from Russel Simmons.
Damn, I agree with all of that 100%. Pretty much why I love Kanye. Also, driven by passion is a great way to describe Kanye.
Dreams-Visions
Member
church.enzo_gt said:
Is it just me or is Cudi still censored in All of the Lights when he says "gotta let these niggas knowwww" unless thats not what he says?
Edit: I updated the Power Interlude from the Runaway video. It's louder and cuts off at a different time. Do you guys think its good like this (goes straight into Power) or should I have the interlude fade instead? The end is a bit abrupt but I thought it went nicely into Power.
http://usershare.net/is4yn6eilfgm
NOT ILLEGAL. Taken from his free movie, kthx.
Edit: I updated the Power Interlude from the Runaway video. It's louder and cuts off at a different time. Do you guys think its good like this (goes straight into Power) or should I have the interlude fade instead? The end is a bit abrupt but I thought it went nicely into Power.
http://usershare.net/is4yn6eilfgm
NOT ILLEGAL. Taken from his free movie, kthx.
captmcblack
Member
WARNING: REALLY LONG AND MEANDERING IMPRESSIONS THAT OFTEN TALK ABOUT KANYE AND NOT THE MUSIC
This record is like a reconciliation between 808's Kanye and CD/LR/Graduation Kanye - a message to people observing him and his career and his sound that says that you have to expect a certain level of experimentation in his music now that may not be conventionally "hip-hop", and accept that it may not be for you, because it's what he likes.
Kanye back in the CD and LR days was about as pure to the musical form he chose as you could be; he had a slavish appreciation of the interpolation of soul samples and instrumentation that made the music that defined "hip-hop" in its earlier heyday. He was more along the lines of a Pete Rock or a Premier or Large Professor than a Swizz Beatz or Timbaland. As he acquired more success (and more money), his sound appeared to expand alongside the new experiences he had as a rising star in the music world. Kanye didn't just stick with typically hip-hop soundscapes, because he wasn't existing in explicitly hip-hop circles; you started to see different instrumentation and more futuristic sounds starting with Graduation. Some people see that as a corruption of his original, purely vintage hip-hop sound, and he probably took that to heart too.
He rose and rose and rose, and suddenly suffered much loss - his mother, his girlfriend(s), and people started questioning pretty much everything he was about. Is there beef with Jay-Z? Was he still hip-hop? Was he too self-centered? Is he secretly gay? For someone who never really got in trouble with the law or did much of anything that was conventionally rock-star controversial (he wasn't caught with drugs, or in crazy love triangles or on sex tapes or put in jail or anything), he was quite the lightning rod.
The Taylor Swift interruption happened, and it was as if he raped her onstage in the media rather than simply cutting her off in an awards show. 808s and Heartbreak was almost a complete sonic rejection of all of the things that people were questioning about; it sounded NOTHING like his previous records. There was little rapping, much singing, much autotune, and no braggadocious, club or arena-ready jams; it was highly layered, dissonant quasi-emo music...and it was haunting and beautiful. This new sound freaked a lot of people out, but for the first time in a while Kanye just basically was like "fuck you" and did something musically for himself. People wondered if that sound was permanent; well, in a way it is.
This new album is a cross between that new sound from 808s and the hip-hop soundscape he perfected in the older days. The slickness, sheen and dissonance is all mixed into that soulful sampling, and the result is fucking ridiculous. I love this record...and I kind of like the message it conveys. It's sort of like when you grow up and come to accept that certain things other people might say are flaws are there, and instead of trying to excise them or hide them you say "fuck you - deal with it". So sometimes Kanye has 12 features, and sometimes he allows himself to meander and make 8+ minute songs, and sometimes he has singing and autotune, and most times he's his old arrogant rapping self, and sometimes he's got RZA and Pusha T, and sometimes he's got Bon Iver, and sometimes he's got the quintessential rap posse cut like it's 1991, and sometimes he's just making music. And we have to deal with it. And I love dealing with it. I'm gonna listen to it again...and then, I'm gonna get on that new J. Cole shit.
This record is like a reconciliation between 808's Kanye and CD/LR/Graduation Kanye - a message to people observing him and his career and his sound that says that you have to expect a certain level of experimentation in his music now that may not be conventionally "hip-hop", and accept that it may not be for you, because it's what he likes.
Kanye back in the CD and LR days was about as pure to the musical form he chose as you could be; he had a slavish appreciation of the interpolation of soul samples and instrumentation that made the music that defined "hip-hop" in its earlier heyday. He was more along the lines of a Pete Rock or a Premier or Large Professor than a Swizz Beatz or Timbaland. As he acquired more success (and more money), his sound appeared to expand alongside the new experiences he had as a rising star in the music world. Kanye didn't just stick with typically hip-hop soundscapes, because he wasn't existing in explicitly hip-hop circles; you started to see different instrumentation and more futuristic sounds starting with Graduation. Some people see that as a corruption of his original, purely vintage hip-hop sound, and he probably took that to heart too.
He rose and rose and rose, and suddenly suffered much loss - his mother, his girlfriend(s), and people started questioning pretty much everything he was about. Is there beef with Jay-Z? Was he still hip-hop? Was he too self-centered? Is he secretly gay? For someone who never really got in trouble with the law or did much of anything that was conventionally rock-star controversial (he wasn't caught with drugs, or in crazy love triangles or on sex tapes or put in jail or anything), he was quite the lightning rod.
The Taylor Swift interruption happened, and it was as if he raped her onstage in the media rather than simply cutting her off in an awards show. 808s and Heartbreak was almost a complete sonic rejection of all of the things that people were questioning about; it sounded NOTHING like his previous records. There was little rapping, much singing, much autotune, and no braggadocious, club or arena-ready jams; it was highly layered, dissonant quasi-emo music...and it was haunting and beautiful. This new sound freaked a lot of people out, but for the first time in a while Kanye just basically was like "fuck you" and did something musically for himself. People wondered if that sound was permanent; well, in a way it is.
This new album is a cross between that new sound from 808s and the hip-hop soundscape he perfected in the older days. The slickness, sheen and dissonance is all mixed into that soulful sampling, and the result is fucking ridiculous. I love this record...and I kind of like the message it conveys. It's sort of like when you grow up and come to accept that certain things other people might say are flaws are there, and instead of trying to excise them or hide them you say "fuck you - deal with it". So sometimes Kanye has 12 features, and sometimes he allows himself to meander and make 8+ minute songs, and sometimes he has singing and autotune, and most times he's his old arrogant rapping self, and sometimes he's got RZA and Pusha T, and sometimes he's got Bon Iver, and sometimes he's got the quintessential rap posse cut like it's 1991, and sometimes he's just making music. And we have to deal with it. And I love dealing with it. I'm gonna listen to it again...and then, I'm gonna get on that new J. Cole shit.
spindashing
Banned
captmcblack said:WARNING: REALLY LONG AND MEANDERING IMPRESSIONS THAT OFTEN TALK ABOUT KANYE AND NOT THE MUSIC
This record is like a reconciliation between 808's Kanye and CD/LR/Graduation Kanye - a message to people observing him and his career and his sound that says that you have to expect a certain level of experimentation in his music now that may not be conventionally "hip-hop", and accept that it may not be for you, because it's what he likes.
Kanye back in the CD and LR days was about as pure to the musical form he chose as you could be; he had a slavish appreciation of the interpolation of soul samples and instrumentation that made the music that defined "hip-hop" in its earlier heyday. He was more along the lines of a Pete Rock or a Premier or Large Professor than a Swizz Beatz or Timbaland. As he acquired more success (and more money), his sound appeared to expand alongside the new experiences he had as a rising star in the music world. Kanye didn't just stick with typically hip-hop soundscapes, because he wasn't existing in explicitly hip-hop circles; you started to see different instrumentation and more futuristic sounds starting with Graduation. Some people see that as a corruption of his original, purely vintage hip-hop sound, and he probably took that to heart too.
He rose and rose and rose, and suddenly suffered much loss - his mother, his girlfriend(s), and people started questioning pretty much everything he was about. Is there beef with Jay-Z? Was he still hip-hop? Was he too self-centered? Is he secretly gay? For someone who never really got in trouble with the law or did much of anything that was conventionally rock-star controversial (he wasn't caught with drugs, or in crazy love triangles or on sex tapes or put in jail or anything), he was quite the lightning rod.
The Taylor Swift interruption happened, and it was as if he raped her onstage in the media rather than simply cutting her off in an awards show. 808s and Heartbreak was almost a complete sonic rejection of all of the things that people were questioning about; it sounded NOTHING like his previous records. There was little rapping, much singing, much autotune, and no braggadocious, club or arena-ready jams; it was highly layered, dissonant quasi-emo music...and it was haunting and beautiful. This new sound freaked a lot of people out, but for the first time in a while Kanye just basically was like "fuck you" and did something musically for himself. People wondered if that sound was permanent; well, in a way it is.
This new album is a cross between that new sound from 808s and the hip-hop soundscape he perfected in the older days. The slickness, sheen and dissonance is all mixed into that soulful sampling, and the result is fucking ridiculous. I love this record...and I kind of like the message it conveys. It's sort of like when you grow up and come to accept that certain things other people might say are flaws are there, and instead of trying to excise them or hide them you say "fuck you - deal with it". So sometimes Kanye has 12 features, and sometimes he allows himself to meander and make 8+ minute songs, and sometimes he has singing and autotune, and most times he's his old arrogant rapping self, and sometimes he's got RZA and Pusha T, and sometimes he's got Bon Iver, and sometimes he's got the quintessential rap posse cut like it's 1991, and sometimes he's just making music. And we have to deal with it. And I love dealing with it. I'm gonna listen to it again...and then, I'm gonna get on that new J. Cole shit.
I support everything this man has said. Bravo. Well-written.
Fixed2BeBroken
Member
captmcblack said:
just gotta disagree with that part. LR wasn't typical hiphop stuff....LR was took it further musically and took hiphop to another level mostly due to jon brion. This is just musically speaking. there was no beat like the Diamonds beat in hiphop at the time.
Secondly, I wouldn't put swizz beats and timbaland in the same category...they have two tottally different styles. I mean seriously different. and in the college dropout days, I'd say rza had a bigger influence on kanye more than any of those producers, for many reasons.
captmcblack
Member
Fixed2BeBroken said:
LR wasn't typical, yes...but it wasn't quite yet at the level it was at circa Graduation.
If "traditional hip-hop sampling and drums/bass" and "Electronic/European house-influenced production" are two sides that Kanye floats between, the needle was still leaning more towards the traditional during Late Registration, even if the split was 60/40 or 70/30 then. Once you got to Graduation, the needle was in the opposite direction - again, a 60/40 split towards the more electro/Eurohouse side of his production...and then with 808s, there was very little of the traditional. The needle had gone almost completely the other way.
What Kanye was doing with Jon Brion for Late Registration was refreshing and different than anything else at the time...but it was still able to clearly be defined as "hip hop" under the traditional sonic definition. Graduation was less so, and by the time you reached 808s, if you were a radio programmer, you didn't know what the fuck you were going to do with things like Love Lockdown. A song like Diamonds makes sense on Hot 97 (rap/urban radio); a song like Robocop? Not so much; that song would even have a little bit of trouble being on Z100 (top 40 pop), even.
As for Swizz/Timbo, the comparison is not so much the way they sound, but how they choose to create their sound. Neither of those guys would be the kind of guys you expect to be digging in the crates for the basis of their boom-baps; you'd sooner find them blowing on bizarre Middle Eastern woodwinds or an array of handclaps or messing with synth frequencies or using other disparate sounds instead.
Premier, Pete Rock and yes - the RZA - are students of the old style, which used the sampling (and the sound of the record sampled) to establish the basis of the song. That's more in-line with classic Kanye's musical MO before Jon Brion, and before Graduation and 808s.
captmcblack
Member
Fergie being there isn't even relevant.
It's more shocking because it's Fergie (and the general consensus where Fergie is concerned is "lol fergie sucks" - which is true)...but musically speaking, the song is more than just fine with her in it anyway.
In fact, the features aren't really relevant to the sound of the songs here, because none of them really outshine or overmatch the essential Kanye-ness of the record. It's exciting to see "Pusha T", "RZA" or "Jay-Z" in the features list because those are quality rappers...but the songs wouldn't be diminished without them, such is the strength of Kanye's production and his delivery/charisma on his songs.
Sometimes it is hard to get over, though - like when there are illogical Justin Bieber features on things. He just sucks too much to deal with :lol
It's more shocking because it's Fergie (and the general consensus where Fergie is concerned is "lol fergie sucks" - which is true)...but musically speaking, the song is more than just fine with her in it anyway.
In fact, the features aren't really relevant to the sound of the songs here, because none of them really outshine or overmatch the essential Kanye-ness of the record. It's exciting to see "Pusha T", "RZA" or "Jay-Z" in the features list because those are quality rappers...but the songs wouldn't be diminished without them, such is the strength of Kanye's production and his delivery/charisma on his songs.
Sometimes it is hard to get over, though - like when there are illogical Justin Bieber features on things. He just sucks too much to deal with :lol
Pinko Marx
Banned
captmcblack said:
This here takes Kanye stannery to a whole nother level. AOTL is NOT fine with Fergie being on it. It is NOT okay.
captmcblack
Member
Why?
Because it's Fergie?
How much of the song does she occupy? In what ways does the song sound worse with her in it?
Yes, Fergie sucks at everything. But the song sounds too good to matter. I had to go to rapgenius to find exactly what words in the song were hers, honestly.
And I'm not a Kanye stan at all; while I like Kanye a lot, my favorite rapper is Nas (Jay-Z lost; in fact, you could probably search for "jay-z lost" on GAF and find that I've posted that the most :lol) and my favorite producer is DJ Premier.
Because it's Fergie?
How much of the song does she occupy? In what ways does the song sound worse with her in it?
Yes, Fergie sucks at everything. But the song sounds too good to matter. I had to go to rapgenius to find exactly what words in the song were hers, honestly.
And I'm not a Kanye stan at all; while I like Kanye a lot, my favorite rapper is Nas (Jay-Z lost; in fact, you could probably search for "jay-z lost" on GAF and find that I've posted that the most :lol) and my favorite producer is DJ Premier.
PhoenixDark
Banned
wenis said:I'm still gunna stick to my guns and say that Ross ruins DIAND. I'm waiting for that Kanye/J.Cole mix though
His voice works perfectly on the track, and it's one of the better verses on the album. He understands production more than most rappers, and adapts his flow perfectly to the guitars on that track imo
rozayy
Pinko Marx
Banned
captmcblack said:
Fergie is fine in Black Eyed Peas songs, because she FITS in them. But my dislike for her in this song has nothing to do with who she is, but everything to do with what she adds to the song, which is nothing. She has some shitty 4 bar rap, that really goes no where. The song would have been much better without her, and its worse for her involvement.
Dreams-Visions
Member
if nobody told you that was Fergie, you wouldn't have even cared. I didn't even notice the verse, to be honest. I was too busy bobbing my head to the crazy beat.Pinko Marx said:
Pinko Marx
Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I CARE THAT ITS FERGIE. I don't. I don't. I care that its a shitty verse in a song with already too many people on it. It could have been a Nas verse, IT STILL SUCKS.
A good beat doesn't mean you can excuse bad lyricism. At least, when its that bad.
Dreams-Visions
Member
oh you guys. it's a club song. give it a rest.
PhoenixDark said:
his voice is grating man. completely throws off the flow of the song (*fixed for accuracy, since im in class and didnt realize what i was typing :lol)and makes me revert back to the original GOOD friday release. Kanye set up something real soulful and smooth and then comes Ross like a bulldozer and just ruins the vibe. No thanks.
Pinko Marx
Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
Oh its a club song. Well that changes everything! Suddenly, its GOOD! Thanks for opening my eyes to
all of
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Chain Heavy Ft Talib Kweli & Consequence is that right?
captmcblack
Member
Fergie's voice/singing sounds like ketchup or white bread tastes - plain and relatively inoffensive. Any number of female vocalists could've subbed in there and the song wouldn't have changed at all.
Kanye's songwriting should be criticized for having a seemingly unnecessary 4 bar verse in which it was necessary for a female vocalist to sing...but the addition is so random, it doesn't help or hurt the song. It's just there.
But yeah, I can understand why she doesn't need to be in the song. Ehh, oh well...she's there, so I have to deal with it or crop the song like other people did!
Kanye's songwriting should be criticized for having a seemingly unnecessary 4 bar verse in which it was necessary for a female vocalist to sing...but the addition is so random, it doesn't help or hurt the song. It's just there.
But yeah, I can understand why she doesn't need to be in the song. Ehh, oh well...she's there, so I have to deal with it or crop the song like other people did!
Pinko Marx
Banned
Jason's Ultimatum said:
And Q-Tip.
Actually, no hes not on it. Its just a Tip beat.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Pinko Marx said:
Gotcha. I saw MIA listed in the OP and thought it was a different song.
But Don't Look Down is awesome.
soul creator
Member
Dreams-Visions
Member
concur.captmcblack said:
Damn, son. This deserves to be quoted again.captmcblack said:WARNING: REALLY LONG AND MEANDERING IMPRESSIONS THAT OFTEN TALK ABOUT KANYE AND NOT THE MUSIC
This record is like a reconciliation between 808's Kanye and CD/LR/Graduation Kanye - a message to people observing him and his career and his sound that says that you have to expect a certain level of experimentation in his music now that may not be conventionally "hip-hop", and accept that it may not be for you, because it's what he likes.
Kanye back in the CD and LR days was about as pure to the musical form he chose as you could be; he had a slavish appreciation of the interpolation of soul samples and instrumentation that made the music that defined "hip-hop" in its earlier heyday. He was more along the lines of a Pete Rock or a Premier or Large Professor than a Swizz Beatz or Timbaland. As he acquired more success (and more money), his sound appeared to expand alongside the new experiences he had as a rising star in the music world. Kanye didn't just stick with typically hip-hop soundscapes, because he wasn't existing in explicitly hip-hop circles; you started to see different instrumentation and more futuristic sounds starting with Graduation. Some people see that as a corruption of his original, purely vintage hip-hop sound, and he probably took that to heart too.
He rose and rose and rose, and suddenly suffered much loss - his mother, his girlfriend(s), and people started questioning pretty much everything he was about. Is there beef with Jay-Z? Was he still hip-hop? Was he too self-centered? Is he secretly gay? For someone who never really got in trouble with the law or did much of anything that was conventionally rock-star controversial (he wasn't caught with drugs, or in crazy love triangles or on sex tapes or put in jail or anything), he was quite the lightning rod.
The Taylor Swift interruption happened, and it was as if he raped her onstage in the media rather than simply cutting her off in an awards show. 808s and Heartbreak was almost a complete sonic rejection of all of the things that people were questioning about; it sounded NOTHING like his previous records. There was little rapping, much singing, much autotune, and no braggadocious, club or arena-ready jams; it was highly layered, dissonant quasi-emo music...and it was haunting and beautiful. This new sound freaked a lot of people out, but for the first time in a while Kanye just basically was like "fuck you" and did something musically for himself. People wondered if that sound was permanent; well, in a way it is.
This new album is a cross between that new sound from 808s and the hip-hop soundscape he perfected in the older days. The slickness, sheen and dissonance is all mixed into that soulful sampling, and the result is fucking ridiculous. I love this record...and I kind of like the message it conveys. It's sort of like when you grow up and come to accept that certain things other people might say are flaws are there, and instead of trying to excise them or hide them you say "fuck you - deal with it". So sometimes Kanye has 12 features, and sometimes he allows himself to meander and make 8+ minute songs, and sometimes he has singing and autotune, and most times he's his old arrogant rapping self, and sometimes he's got RZA and Pusha T, and sometimes he's got Bon Iver, and sometimes he's got the quintessential rap posse cut like it's 1991, and sometimes he's just making music. And we have to deal with it. And I love dealing with it. I'm gonna listen to it again...and then, I'm gonna get on that new J. Cole shit.
I don't know about agreeing with you, but how come none of y'all list Diamonds in his top list of songs? That shit is straight gold, and like NOTHING else from start to finish. And the video was fucking amazing too.Fixed2BeBroken said:
And I disliked that Ross verse at first, but it's growing on me. Fergie's verse sounded out of place at first too, but fuck, that song is too good otherwise from the Elton John, to the CuDi, to the Rihanna bits.
Another random thought but, how fucking amazing would it be to hear Ye produce for the Dipset album? Fucking ridiculous.
- Status