Hip-Hop Talk II

[LemonMelon]

Sing About Me is probably my favorite hip hop song of the decade, topping a slew of brilliant tracks on MBDTF.

 

[DaveC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn7xdlnMzfQ&feature=youtu.be

Performing Money Trees for the first time ever in a Best Buy in Union Square (wtf?)*.

EDIT: Originally thought it was today (it was newly posted on reddit this afternoon), apparently not. Still good. Still confused why it's in a Best Buy.

 

[cobl04]

Sing About Me/Dying of Thirst is incredible, yeah. He's got history making emotionally affecting hip-hop. I've only listened as far back as Section.80 (a great mixtape, although you can really hear how much more money he has on the next two albums in terms of the production values and cameos) but Keisha's Song is absolutely heartbreaking. Back on good kid, m.A.A.d city The Art of Peer Pressure is also really heavy.

I think To Pimp a Butterfly has perhaps his most astonishing emotional moments though. The transition from Hood Politics in How Much a Dollar Cost, and then that whole song, is spine-tingling, The Blacker the Berry makes me shiver every single time, the ending in particular, but I've really come to dearly love Mortal Man. What a track this is. Five or six minute-song, then that chat with Tupac, and then he reads the TPAB poem as the jazz swirls and swirls around him, then

What's your perspective on that...?
Pac.
Pac?
Pac!

Chilling.

 

[nielsgov]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn7xdlnMzfQ&feature=youtu.be

Performing Money Trees for the first time ever in a Best Buy in Union Square (wtf?)*.

EDIT: Originally thought it was today (it was newly posted on reddit this afternoon), apparently not. Still good. Still confused why it's in a Best Buy.

That guy in the suit is hilarious. He must've hated it.

 

[cobl04]

I've seen him live and he bought the energy but it was very much a hip-hop show. He has the potential to be something much greater than that, live. Give him a band and backup and it'll be up there with Outkast and Kanye.

 

[iron yuppie]

It's just an interlude on the album, but the beat on this track is astonishing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPRlerb1zQ

 

[cobl04]

 

[DaveC]

Random Acid Rap thought:

"Lean all on a square
That's a fuckin' rhombus"

is one of the best hip hop punchlines I've ever heard, and definitely the nerdiest.

 

[cobl04]

I like Acid Rap a lot. His new album Surf, under the name Donny Trumpet and The Social Experiment, is great too.

 

[DaveC]

I like Acid Rap a lot. His new album Surf, under the name Donny Trumpet and The Social Experiment, is great too.

Acid Rain is a gorgeous song, and the lyrics are amazing.

"Man that acid burn when it clean ya" - I love this line for all the multiple meanings but also because it's bang on true. Dunno if you or anyone else here has taken it before but man this line hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I heard it (while tripping).

"Spineless bitches in backless dresses"
"I trip to make the fall shorter"
"And I still be asking God to show his face
And I still be asking God to show his face"

The lyrics of this song really hit home for me in a lot of ways.

It and Paranoia (the second half of Pusha Man) are my two favourites on this album (mixtape?). I would love for that track with Action Bronson to fucking disappear though, that one's awful.

I keep meaning to check out Surf and end up putting on To Pimp a Butterfly the last few days but I'll try to remember to check it out if you say it's good too.

 

[cobl04]

Yeah Acid Rain is easily my favourite track. I had it on a DI list a little while back. Its beat immediately reminds me of Outkast's Elevators and the lyrics are terrific. I have done acid and had a bad trip and will never touch it again, but this song's about a lot more than that. There's also the heartbreaking meditation on his good friend's death and the yearning to better himself in the second verse. I love it an awful lot. My other fav tracks are Chain Smoker (just amazing coming right after Acid Rain, it's so joyous) and Good Ass Intro. Fuck it, imma listen to the album (it is a mixtape, yeah) now.

Yeah you should. I keep getting interrupted listening to it, yet to make it to the end, and it's very different to Acid Rap (it's a much more collaborative effort, hence why he isn't mention in the artist title) but it's great. Impy loves it and it got good reviews.

 

[DaveC]

I listened to Surf today. It's pretty good, not at all what I expected. I do wish there was a little more of Chance on it but I also understand it's not a "Chance the Rapper album" either.

There wasn't much that hooked me right off the bat the way that Acid Rap did, but man it's dense. I hear 90s R&B, 80s pop, a bunch of different jazz styles, and some interesting experimentation in the production. Unfortunately I couldn't focus a lot on the lyrics (I was at work) but it's definitely worth another listen when I can actually pay close attention to what's going on. I feel like you need to focus on this one to really get what the words and music are saying.

I liked it on my first listen but also got the vibe that it's one of those albums I'll come to enjoy more and more as I hear it.

 

[LemonMelon]

Not even going to lie, I would be a huge Chance fan if I liked the sound of his voice even a little bit. I fucking hate it. The lyrics are good and the beats are great but he's got that raspy babytalk flow. Granted, I had similar issues with Kendrick's affectations and got over it. Just not with Chance yet.

Surf is very good and I enjoyed it much more than Acid Rap because of all the features.

 

[cobl04]

I think that's partly why I enjoy Acid Rap so much. It's a long way from perfect but it actually sounds different and refreshing because of his voice and the little affectations. Unlike many of the hip-hop albums I listen to throughout a year, it actually sticks with you.

I'm sure you've heard Elevators, Dave?

 

[DaveC]

Of course, although it'd been a little while. Great track, I just listened to it

 

[cobl04]

It speaks volumes for my head space right now that I got emotional listening to the start of Good Ass Outro just before

Good Ass Intro rules, and if you didn't know, is a very very thinly veiled reference to Kanye Chance The Rapper – Good Ass Intro Lyrics | Genius

 

[iron yuppie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nmi0Vz2Wj8

 

[DaveC]

That's dope as fuck.

 

[LemonMelon]

DOOM

 

[iron yuppie]

I've been listening to Madvillainy quite a bit lately, so I was looking for something else by Doom. Vaudeville Villain is really good, though it seems the guy uses a new moniker for every project he has.

 

[cobl04]

He's had quite a few, most of whom get mentioned on Madvillainy. On "Fancy Clown" he raps the first verse, heartbroken, as Viktor Vaughn and then switches into a hypocritical, unapologetic, violent DOOM for the second.

Ghostface and DOOM to Debut New Music Via Star-Trek-Inspired Performance | News | Pitchfork

 

[iron yuppie]

So what's good from this year aside from Kendrick?

 

[DaveC]

Nothing. To Pimp a Butterfly is the best hip hop album in at least 20 years.

 

[LemonMelon]

So what's good from this year aside from Kendrick?

Lupe, Ghostface & BADBADNOTGOOD, Vince Staples and Earl Sweatshirt all put out albums of high quality. Not anywhere near Kendrick, but worth hearing.

Joey Bada$$ and A$AP Rocky also put out decent projects.

 

[DaveC]

I take that "nothing" back, this song by A$AP Rocky is decent, and I dig the video (it ain't far off):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEG2VTHS9yg

 

[cobl04]

Nothing. To Pimp a Butterfly is the best hip hop album in at least 20 years.

I fucking love it but come on mate.

iYup you might like Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment's album Surf. Lot of jazz on that thing too.

 

[DaveC]

I may have been very drunk and listening to TPAB while writing that post. Shit happens.

Sent from my SM-T350 using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[cobl04]

Oh well I take it right back then. I am extremely prone to hyperbole when drunk.

 

[DaveC]

Friggin' cobbler.

 

[iron yuppie]

I fucking love it but come on mate.

iYup you might like Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment's album Surf. Lot of jazz on that thing too.

Yeah I heard that one. Very indebted to Miles, which is always a good thing IMO. The lyrics in places are a bit after-school-special, though.