#or perhaps the car is only into women and the car and early-seasons Dean have similar taste because they read the same playboy magazines

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Human!Impala flirts with Dean this, Human!Impala is a guy that, Dean's Fucking His Car blah blah blah but CONSIDER INSTEAD:

Human!Impala is a permanent thing (they were a shapeshifter trapped as a car), Baby presents almost entirely as female, Baby is EXTREMELY hot, every bit the conventionally hot, busty, country-western playboy model "beautiful woman" that early-seasons Dean would have described her as

...Baby is a complete disaster lesbian and takes over early-seasons-Dean's role as "the one who brings a different random girl home ever night"

[casmick-consequences]

Cas&Dean VS Claire&Jack

So I wrote [a small little theory] a while ago as to why I think Claire and Jack wouldn’t have been shown on screen together/have any connection throughout the show on-screen/off-screen at all. And so here I will some points as to why I think that is. 

AKA here’s the long awaited essay/conspiracy theory y’all have been asking for.

First of all; let me start off by saying this is 100% meant as a joke (no it’s not) and it’s not to be taken seriously (yes it is) as it’s literally just a dumb theory (it definitely isn’t). And second; fuck the C*W for contributing to every little bit of tinhatting this fandom (especially us hellers) has succumbed to.

-

Now; for this theory we have to understand a few things:

How Dean and Cas work as individuals

How Claire and Jack work as individuals

How Dean and Cas work as a duo

Let’s start with the first two things.

How Dean and Cas work as individuals

Dean Winchester is a masculine, tough but loving hunter. He cultivates a “bad-boy personality”, and makes sarcastic jokes at even the most morbid times. Underneath, though, he's become hardened by life as a warrior (as Daddy’s blunt instrument, if you will). He’s been taught to fight his father’s battles, and protect the ones he loves and cares for. But soon began to see that neither of his parents (especially his dad) did the job they were given when they had children. He didn’t just have to be a brother; he had to be a father and mother. He’s had to grow walls around him to stay strong for his little brother, but over time, after making a family for himself, it became easier to tear those walls down. However, he has his weak spots and is an emotional and loving human being through and through.

Castiel, the Angel of Thursday, is an angel of the Lord. He’s lived for aeons, and as an angel has (just like Dean) been taught to fight the battles of his creator and father. He’s a warrior, and he’s been given the job to follow the orders of said creator. Only for those orders to be thrown out the window once he meets Dean Winchester. The man who showed him that hate and anger isn’t always the true answer and that you can choose to be good. Everything that he has been taught slowly breaks away as his hard exterior crumbles, and he develops into a being with emotions, as he slowly but eventually learns to love and care for this man, and with that; humanity.

How Claire and Jack work as individuals

Claire Novak, a woman who has lead a tragic life, where she lost both her parents early on. Her father said yes to be the (permanent) vessel of an Angel, and her mother just disappeared after dropping her off to her Grandmother. After the grandmother had passed away, she was left alone. She had to fight through the world on her own, as she put a wall around herself to make herself stronger for the people around her. It took a while before she found her place in a loving family filled with strong women, who didn’t just help bring her walls down, but build a home instead.

Jack Kline is an innocent, naive but loving Nephilim. The son of the human Kelly Kline and the archangel Lucifer. He was destined for evil, as a Nephilim is one of the most powerful creatures in existence. But, with the help of his three Godfathers (heh), he learns that he doesn’t have to be evil. He can be whatever he wants to be. Controlling his powers has been hard, but no matter what happened, his mindset never changed as he grew to love the people and love the things around him. His biological father saw his power, but his chosen father saw his kind soul. Castiel believed he could create paradise, and he did, as he became the God that the universe deserved.

There are alot of parallels between Dean/Claire and Jack/Cas that can be compared to here. Let me show you a few:

So we’ve established that with Claire being Dean-coded, and Jack being Cas-coded, there could’ve definitely been potential for a cute Claire/Jack dynamic in the show. Why wouldn’t they have done that, you think? Perhaps this question can be answered when we look at thing number 3:

How Dean and Cas work as a duo

Destiel is the relationship between the hunter Dean and the angel Castiel. Castiel was ordered by God to free him from Hell, and afterwards he was supposed to do as he was told while Dean was supposed to figure out how to “stop the apocalypse” which happened to be a bunch of garbo afterwards knowing what we know now. Nonetheless, Castiel didn’t listen, as he quickly grew fond of the hunter and, because of him, developed a sense of emotion and free will. This lead to Castiel helping Dean throughout the Apocalypse, and beyond, and they’ve been best friends ever since.

There have been MULTIPLE essays on Tumblr about how this relationship works, and it would be silly of me to try and summarize stuff that hasn’t been said a million times already. But basically; What they have is quite a bit more than best friendship. It has been confirmed in 15x18, Despair, that Castiel has been in love with Dean for quite some time, as Dean’s own feelings are kind of all over the place. Nothing has been confirmed, yet nothing has been denied. But, seeing as all the insane things Dean has done for/because of/regarding Castiel... for instance:

defended his behavior to his brother and father when neither trusted him in season 6

kept his trenchcoat when he “died” in season 7, and keeping it with him in the trunk of his car(s) for the entirety of Castiel’s absence.

absolutely despises angels, and hates praying, yet he only ever prays to Castiel when he needs anything because he’s the only one he trusts

couldn’t get his mind of of him when he was possessed by Lucifer, and later taken by Amara in season 11

Has Castiel being referred to as his Colette by Cain (subtext but not really subtext because it was so incredibly obvious)

was supposed to be completely enamored by Amara and was supposed to be so hypnotizingly attracted to her that he couldn’t focus on anything else, yet he called out for Castiel’s name when it came down to it (aka the equivalent of calling out someone else’s name during sex) 

keeps looking at him like that

acted like a grieving widow when Castiel died in season 13

gets down on his knees to pray to, cry for and apologize to Castiel in Purgatory when there’s millions of creatures hunting his ass

...it’s easy to say that this is more than just a “brotherly friendship” between the two. There is dialogue that would NOT have worked between Sam/Cas because it would’ve felt weird. I wonder why.

So now to get back on topic; why is it that we’ve never seen Claire and Jack on screen together?

Is it because the writers didn’t have time to put them together in any given scenario whatsoever? Is it because the writers didn’t care enough for Claire to give her some more airtime with the boys? 

Or is it perhaps that if there was a possibility that they’d be on screen together, that they’d have a very similar (if not the same) connection to one another as Dean and Cas, only written as an actual little brother/big sister friendship dynamic?

-

So yes, TL;DR: the actual reason that Claire and Jack never met is because they would’ve had the exact same dynamic as Dean and Cas, but in this case platonic. Which would’ve meant that the audience would’ve seen a clear difference between the Dean/Cas dynamic and Claire/Jack dynamic, and it would’ve shown that the way they’ve been writing and directing the Dean/Cas scenes is romantic.

thank you very much, and I bid thee a very good night. <3

[mittensmorgul]

do you think that claiming that Sam and Rowena have been in love since s13 would be overkill on my part? bc I really have that impression. When Sam was hurt by her for killing the reapers, Dean had to prepare him to do the right thing. I remember that there was a scene when Sam tried to defend her, saying that maybe there was a reason. He really trusted her and didn't want to believe that she was doing it. And later in the same episode, Rowena is hurt by Sam for shooting her. It looks romantic

I... don’t know if I’d go THAT far... but to me saying characters are “in love,” let’s just say I have a REALLY high bar for that one... and it’s not like there was “love at first sight,” or the sort of casual flirtation that Sam has had with a lot of other women on the show. Rowena actively began her arc on the show as a pure antagonist. She was a Monster they were hunting, but never just a Monster of the Week... she was introduced like she was being set up as a sort of Big Bad Antagonist, but very quickly began to enter a weird grey area. Most of her first season on the show, s10, she was actively plotting against the Winchesters. Her first full episode (10.07) had her literally try to kill Sam. By the end of the season, she and Sam were working on a quid pro quo deal that was intended to benefit both of them... until Sam chained her to a table and basically forced her to Do The Terrible Thing... 

Heck I have written nearly 13k about Rowena’s character arc, and here I am trying to sum it up in a few words... >.>

(the Really Long Thing about Rowena: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21641770)

During s11, Rowena began to change. She was still plotting for herself, but being horrifically murdered by Lucifer a few times, as well as helping Sam out a few times-- Sam was the one who brought her into the whole “save the world from the Darkness plan” at the end of s11, after all, and then called her for help when Dean was losing his memory in s12, they very gradually began to establish a friendlier working relationship.

Then s13 happened. 13.12, and her conversation with Sam in the car about their mutual fear and experiences at Lucifer’s hands, made their relationship something more. I wouldn’t say that was love, but it was at least a bone-deep mutual understanding and compassion. And it prompted Sam to do what had been unthinkable even after she’d saved Dean’s life in 12.11. Sam gave her the spell to unbind her power. That... was some wild levels of trust in her.

13.19 pretty much sealed her place in the Winchester Inner Circle-- even including on Dean’s behalf, when he hadn’t trusted her completely before that. But as you said, the look on her face when she realized that Sam COULD shoot her, and then the look of shock on Sam’s face... yeah, that was something. Especially since it happened minutes after she learned that Sam was the one fated to kill her. She was HURT by the fact that he could, when she was only doing what Sam and Dean had done for each other over and over again out of grief. Sam witnessed that entire conversation between her and Billie, and saw her pain. I don’t know if that was “falling in love” right there, but heck, there’s a reason Sam Winchester’s heart was worth $500,000 in a monster auction, because his heart was breaking for her right there.

(I mean, my heart was breaking for her too, but I mean... heck...)

I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that Sam didn’t at least CARE for her at that point, you know? But her WANTING to change her fate, WANTING to live without fear and to do the right thing... Sam absolutely wanted to HELP her do that. Isn’t that the sort of thing you do for people you care for?

And then she did something for Sam that she likely wouldn’t have done for ANYONE ELSE EVER. She willingly helped capture Lucifer, the being in the universe she was most terrified of, and then sat alone in a room with him for near on a day before he finally pushed her to snap, giving him the power to escape, and then when she’d failed to hold him prisoner, instead of walking away, she used her own power to keep that rift open herself until everyone had been returned safely. That’s... something you do for people you care about. That level of personal sacrifice.

Sam called and asked for her help in 14.07, and she came without question. Even when Sam revealed he’d called about JACK, aka Lucifer’s son, and she was about to leave... Jack himself in his absolute innocence and sweetness, convinced her to stay-- tying her directly to Jack for the first time. Which I personally see as her official entry into TFW 2.0, and the innermost circle of Extended Winchester Family Membership. In the span of a day, she went from hating Jack on principle to “wee boy” and all that nonsense.

She called Sam out on his messing with the natural order in having kept Jack alive after that, even if she didn’t know the full extent of what Sam had actually done. It’s... they have a relationship of mutual respect in a way that Rowena has never had with pretty much anyone else in canon, ever. She doesn’t treat him like a potential “mark,” one of the men she hits on to con them for something-- be it money, power, information, shelter, safety, whatever. She doesn’t treat him like a child or someone she can take advantage of, nor someone she believes will try to take advantage of her. Which, for Rowena, is like... incredible. They are tied by that prophecy, but they’re also tied by mutual care and respect. And she... literally actively sacrificed herself to Michael because he promised not to hurt the people she cared about (and then he turned around and directly hurt the people she cared about, but hey at least he was dead like two minutes later...) She was well and truly integrated into the entire family at this point, you know? 

Would I call that love? Perhaps the early stages of it? It’s not cute and flirty, or going for “something fun” as Eileen proposed to Sam in 15.07. It’s not like any relationship Sam has ever had with ANYONE. Which is WILD. Not only does she understand all of his life (even the parts he’s admitted he’s never even talked to Dean about), she’s basically LIVED most of it, herself, right down to being personally tortured by Lucifer. They both understand each other on a level that I don’t think anyone else ever has, for either of them.

Rowena spent her life actively rejecting love, seeing it as a danger, as a weapon to be used against her. Not ALLOWING herself to feel love, lest she be weak. Sam has spent his entire life only ever engaging in relationships where he couldn’t be his real, true self, having to hide vast swaths of his history in order to maintain the relationship.

If they’re not in love, the potential is definitely there. Rowena even implied it in 15.03, that they’d grown “fond of each other,” and from the look on Sam’s face in 15.08 he was... pretty damn devastated to see what became of her. She didn’t earn “redemption.” He’d killed her because she demanded it, because they had no other choice. She’d saved the world, and her reward was Hell, where she would never be loved. Kinda burns for Sam, who’d committed to helping her change her fate, especially since he was manipulated into being the direct agent of that fate, all because of those damn “prophecies”...

*echoes of Chuck cackling with glee about how everything he writes will definitely, absolutely happen, so they might as well just give in and let it happen*

Would *I personally* say they were already in love back in s13? eh... that’s a really tricky term to define, you know? Especially for a relationship as long and complicated as theirs, but the story isn’t over yet, so we’ll see...

[pynkhues]

Is it just me or do you think that Dean isn’t really physically attractive to Beth. I can’t help notice the woman Dean had an affair with and the woman he stared at before getting into a car accident all had completely different body shapes than Beth. I feel like Beth even pointed out when she found out that there were other woman and one of the woman Dean slept with had a completely different body shape than her.

Do I think Beth and Dean are physically attracted to each other? Hm, look, I think that there’s a lot to unpack in that question. I think Beth and Dean have been together for a really, really long time, and I think they’ve both basically become (and let themselves become) a part of the furniture to one another - which is a big reason as to why it’s also been so hard for them to call it on their marriage. They’re used to each other, and I think they’ve perhaps been used to each other for longer than either of them cares to admit. 

There’s a saying, you know, that men are only ever as faithful as their options, and I think Dean really embodies that. While he said back in 2.05 that the reason he strayed was because Beth didn’t want him around, I don’t believe that for a second. I mean, hell, Danny, Emma and Jane seem to be so close in age that Beth must have basically been pregnant or nursing or both for six years straight. It’s canon that she had post-partum depression, that she pushed him away during that, but also they were still clearly intimate enough to make three children in a fairly condensed period of time. I think Dean was, and always will be, somebody who’s unfaithful. He’s a ‘grass is greener’ sort of guy. I think that Beth’s alienation from him during those periods probably helped him justify that behaviour, but it certainly didn’t cause it. And like I said - most if not all of his affairs seem to have been with women that he worked with, women he had access to, who were options. 

That said, I think 2.06 proved that Dean is still attracted to Beth. He lost his shit when she pulled up her dress at the kitchen sink (I mean, who wouldn’t?) I just think Dean is somebody who always wants what he doesn’t have, and I think the fact that the affair we’ve seen (Amber) and the woman jogging he was checking out in 1.10 were both markedly younger, is more to the point. I think, like a lot of men, he thinks younger women are easier to handle.

As for whether Dean is still attractive to Beth? I think Beth finds men attractive based on their actions more so than their looks. Like, I think she’s likely been somewhat attracted to Rio’s looks since very early on, but it’s not a coincidence that the first time they had sex wasa after he’d given her a huge business opportunity and really built her up, nor is it a coincidence that the first time in years she had sex with Dean was when he finally picked his act up around the house. On the whole though, no, I don’t think Beth is attracted to Dean often anymore, mostly because he’s made such a point of being belittling and aggressively unhelpful for a lot of the last two seasons.

[almaasi]

reaction post typed while watching SPN 14x16 “Don’t Go In The Woods”

oh man as a forest-dwelling human I OBJECT TO SCARY FOREST MONSTERS

but i’m on board for girls flirting with each other

04:04pm

hey guess what!!! i’m really sick

so i’mma maybe mostly watch this, comment if there’s something i HAVE to comment on, but otherwise save it all for the end maybe

no idea what to expect?? i hope cas is in it, at least a bit. or some destiel parallels or something. i like those, they taste good

-

04:07

oh hey the girls got to hold hands in the recap without another scene fading in over their precious 0.5 seconds

-

this recap is jumpin’

-

rip snek

your death was a mistek

-

04:11

DEAR FELLOW HUMANS, IF YOU HEAR A WEIRD NOISE IN THE WOODS AND YOU’RE IN A CAR JUST LEAVE

JUST LEAVE

WHY IS THAT SO HARD FOR STRAIGHT COUPLES WITH BROWN HAIR WHO GO OUT TO MAKE OUT IN CARS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE TO UNDERSTAND

-

also i was gonna say they were white but the boy and his sheriff dad are clearly native american so that’s cool

they better not die

-

04:16

aaaaaand the girl is dead

/checks who wrote this so i can tell what brand of bullshit is coming next

davy perez

hmmm

unsure what kind of bullshit

seems to be a variable kind

will find out

-

04:18

so i guess dean just calls EVERYONE sunshine now

cas, lucifer, sam

welp

-

04:19

sam: “the internet is more than just naked PEOPLE”

HE SAID PEOPLE

not WOMEN

PEOPLE

dEAN IS BI AND SAM KNOWS and has probably known since at least season 7 let’s be real

also, second time in a few episodes that people was enunciated like that, i notice a trend of pointed gender-neutrality and i think i’m into it

-

sam: “the internet is more than just naked PEOPLE, you do know that right?”

dean: “not my internet”

the porn....... it must be.... a lot........

i find it fascinating that the show is being so obvious that he used to sleep with women/people all the time but now he’s just watching porn, all the freaking time

like he’s not even trying to look for relationships

I WONDER WHY

A CERTAIN ANGEL, PERHAPS

-

04:30

how does dean know cas left early that morning

either cas woke him up to tell him

or he was there (IN THE SAME BED) when cas decided

-

04:34

HE IS SO PURE

and also what the heck was the rest of the list

-

04:35

dean: “got cat-like reflexes”

yes he is a cat, his patronus is a cat

give him cuddles and watch him jump 3 feet in the air because he wasn’t expecting it and he forgot he had a tail

-

04:37

they all seem pretty gay to me and i love them all

and apparently the ghostfacers are still kickin’

-

elliot: “are they fighting GHOSTS?”

jack: “what’s a ghost?”

JACK YOU PRECIOUS DIMINUTIVE EXPLETIVE

-

04:42

jack: “i don’t like to lie. it makes me stomach hurt. like when you have to burp but you can’t burp? yeah.”

I’M SO HAPPY THIS ENTIRE SCENE EXISTS

-

04:43

“but    the   store    is    closed”

jack’s speaking a lil weird

-

04:45

“beer, kleenex and old spice”

yeah pretty much

idk though old spice smells good

BUT THE FACT MAX THINKS THE BUNKER WOULD SMELL OF KLEENEX

WOW

SHE HAS PORN!DEAN DOWN TO A T

-

texan star beer cases in the bg

i haven’t kept up with the beer symbolism but i know it means something

pretty sure it’s the queerest beer

-

04:48

jack: “dean usually picks. i’ve seen lost boys like 36 times”

i haven’t seen “lost boys” but now i gotta

just from the title alone it sounds like a nostalgic coming of age boy’s adventure story with an underlying current of repressed homosexuality

@ me if i’m wrong

edit: @ myself, i googled it and i’m wrong, it’s about 2 brothers hunting vampires........ still sounds gay though

-

04:51

jack: “i’m two.         wwwwwwwwwenty.              two.     i’m twenty-two!”

-

04:45

FUCK THAT SHADOW IN TH WOODS IF FUCKING FUCKIF UFCK

THE THING IN THE WOODS WAS FUCKING SCARIEST EPISODE OF THE X FILES AND WENDIGO WAS THE SCARIEST EPISODE OF SPN I HATE THIS I HATE THIS FUCK

THINGS IN THE WOODS ARE 100% THE WORST MONSTERS I HATE THIS FUCK 

LIKE

OH GOD

-

045:i can’t fucking look i’m 

this if sognna fucking give me nightnamres

-

i can’t even skip because i have to look 

fdg

help

-

05:01

jack: “dean says any music made after 1979 sucks ass”

TELL THAT TO HIS ENJOYMENT OF TAYLOR SWIFT

-

05:07

I’m sensing a parallel to the time lucifer stabbed cas in the back and dean watched

oh no

oh no please fix this jack

ALSO? SHE LOOKS LIKE CAS at least a lil bit

-

05:12

why on earth would you curse someone to always be starving and then be surprised when he eats more people

-

05:16

fuck that shadow is the ijfsjgfjsfjskf

i hate

maybe it’s because i live in a forest with a lot of shadows and i only feel safe because i know none of them are these things and/or people and this makes me doubt that safety

-

05:18

for some reason there’s an ad in my video file

who forgot to take this out

how the hell do you 'muricans watch stuff with ads in the middle, it breaks the immersion completely

-

05:26

OH NO JACK LIED EVEN THOUGH HE HATES LYING AND CAN’T EVEN USE FAKE ID EVEN THOUGH REAL ID WOULD SAY HE WAS TWO AND DEAN AND SAM JUST EQUATED TELLING THE TRUTH TO SHOWING LOVE FOR SOMEONE and he still lied by ommission

-

05:27

i loved the storyline of this, it was great, 10/10

can kind of excuse the dead girl and dead black dude because there was another black dude and multiple girls so ..... cool ???

NATIVE AMERICAN CHARACTERS WITH CHARACTER GROWTH YAY

but man would i love to see lady native people?? i’ve mostly only ever seen men in fiction. the story could’ve worked just as well if the sheriff was the kid’s mother

anyway it was well written regardless and i loved that dean and sam’s story led them back to jack and they told the truth

BUT JACK’S ADVENTURE HURT MY FEELINGS

WAH

:c

-

also

 something i failed to note last time those three kids had an episode. max had blue/pink(/yellow?) bi/pan pride colours behind her in LITERALLY EVERY SHOT I SCREENCAPPED

including on the shot that’s frozen on my video player right now

my favourite part of this episode was the girls flirtingggggg~ and elliot being a kissblock (like sam clearing his throat real loud)

i can’t wait for the episode where they finally kiss and it’s the most destiel parallelly thing ever

[durenjtmusings]

Djtmusings/Durenjtmusings Published Works Masterpost

[or Perhaps I should a) finish/publish something else soon and b) put ANYTHING in Ao3, huh?] Sadly, still true...

Note: The list below constitutes 10,339 words combined - all of which are published only on Tumblr right now. Oh, and these published items PLUS the 14,165 words in all the unique WIP listed here were written since late Aug 2016. (I need to update the WIP doc - have written a BUNCH more starts and etc...)

And this SPN addiction only worsens.

Short Stories:

> What if humans weren’t the only supernatural ‘hunters’? This is an Introduction to a new type of ‘hunter’ character in the SPN universe - one that will, eventually (hopefully), interact with Canon characters. She is drawn from ideas created by Seanan McGuire in the Incryptid and Sparrow Hill Road books*, but is wholly new - her own person, providing an alternative approach to addressing spiritual problems in the world of SPN.

2,657 words  [Pub 1/16/17]

No actual SPN characters or canon settings IN the story

Content notes: death, abuse, LGBT issues

Part of the planned Ghost Hunter/Ghost Writer series

> Family and Sacrifice 1629 words, rated PG for some strong language only  [Pub 1/23/17] Set at end of Season 1/start of season 2...sort of. Written for @elizabethrobertajones​‘s Great Meta Scavenger Hunt Round 5 prompt: Find yourself a break from the normal [SPN] narrative and tell me how an episode/story arc/season/entire chunk of the show was in fact a story within a story or a dream within a dream or an unreliable narrator unreliably narrating. [Further explanation of the thinking behind this piece can be found here in this response to @elizabethrobertajones​’s tags ]

>What is Home? 1,222 words, genfic, takes place sort of season 8-ish. [Pub 4/4/17] My initial thoughts on the “eldritch Bunker” idea...I thought about all the time it sat empty between the MOL and the Winchesters and wondered...does the bunker get lonely?

> A Memory of Love (a 12.17 coda)  249 words, poem (!)  - Teen? (cannon typical horror imagery) [Pub 4/12/17] What might be running through one season 12 character’s mind during down times.

Ficlets/drabble-like things, etc.:

> Its a Castiel Kind of Day – 120 words - about Cas’ wings and color [pub 1/20/17]

> Sheltering Secrets - 625 words – early morning fog and cars (in response to a flashfic writing prompt: You drive down a country road every day on your way to work. Every few miles there are long dirt driveways leading to houses, some even have gates. And every single morning without fail you see two cars meet at the end of one particular driveway.) [pub 2/15/17]

> Feather Tattoo - 141 words - a winchester communication exchange about a new tattoo...or two. [Pub 3/15/17]

> Homecoming WIP – established poly relationship with original female character & kids

WIP #1 – Sam as Dad  - 968 words [pub 12/22/16]

WIP #2 – Dean as Dad -  1,471 words [pub 12/30/16]

 Other Published Stuff:

> SPN Fanfic Review: 50 – includes a long autobiographical story (1357 words)

> Posts relating to the Exclamatories, Expletives and Key Words/Phrases Database (LOTS of data analysis and a fair # of words)

Report #1: The Great SPN Meta Scavenger Hunt: Round 2  - The Exclamatories, Expletives and Key Words/Phrases Listicle

Report #2: The SPN Exclamatories, Expletives and Key Words/Phrases Database Project – #2 Croatoan chapter

Report #3: Great Meta Scavenger Hunt Round 4 – Language and Women’s Roles in 3.12 & 5.01

Goals:

1) Put all short stories and the poem on Ao3 by end of July.

2) Publish two substantial new things in July - maybe even three! (on Ao3 then link to Tumblr).

2) Still need to decide what to do with purely original fics/ficlets like Sheltering Secrets (where to collect/publish). Perhaps GHFR?

[drippeddaily]

Album of the Year 2017 #18: 2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music

Album of the Year 2017 #18: 2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music

Artist: 2 Chainz

Album: Pretty Girls Like Trap Music

Listen:

YouTube

Spotify

Apple Music

Google Play Music

TIDAL

Album Background

”It's always these beautiful girls who like this hustler – who you think would be attracted to a whole other type of music. But they like Migos, Future. You get with this girl, and you want to play Bryson Tiller. But she's like, "I want to hear Gucci." Shit. We're the pop stars. Trap rap is pop now. People's ears have adjusted to what we have to say and how we say it.”

-2 Chainz, Rolling Stone interview, June 2017

  In July of this year, it was reported that hip hop and R&B music had officially surpassed rock ‘n’ roll as the most popular genre of music in the United States. Personally, I feel like rock had already been dethroned years ago and that rap’s dominance was only now made apparent by the implementation of streaming into the Billboard charting system, but nonetheless the shift has sparked debates over the relevance of the musical styles of generations past with millennials who, having grown up with rap and adjusting to it at a young age in a way their parents hadn’t, have essentially claimed the genre as the music of their generation. In the same way that my father’s generation chose Elvis and the Beatles over Frank Sinatra and the like, someone like 2 Chainz could be argued to have a more powerful hold on the youth culture of today than anyone with a guitar.

  Like most people, my first experience with the man born Tauheed Epps was the Lil Wayne featuring “Duffle Bag Boy”, though as it was credited to Playaz Circle I didn’t realize it at the time. The rapper formerly known as Tity Boi made the shift to 2 Chainz not long thereafter, and by the time he released his T.R.U. Realigion mixtape in 2011 he was certifiably one of the hottest up-and-coming rappers in the world, a full decade and half after he’d started his career. The year after he released his major label debut Based on a T.R.U. Story, a platinum selling album in a pre-streaming era (no easy feat) with three major hit singles. History would dictate that Mr. Chainz would be able to ride off the success of this album to further hits and commercial viability in the years to come, and while his string of golden features on others’ tracks continued to flourish, his own solo material began to falter. B.O.A.T.S. II was released one year after its predecessor but sold less than half as many copies and failed to produce a top 40 single. For the next few years Tity released a few mixtapes and EPs, along with a collaborative project with Lil Wayne, but nothing seemed to resonate with audiences like his material in the early part of the decade had.

  Suddenly, however, it became apparent that as trap music became more and more engrained into the mainstream consciousness, so too did 2 Chainz’s popularity begin to get a second wind of sorts. This is adeptly referenced in the title to his third studio album Pretty Girls Like Trap Music: it’s a testament to how far rap has come in its mission of taking over the airwaves in recent years and how, while the young women of yesteryear’s generation may have been more enamored with artists who were strictly pop, the more melodic style of trap music that has infiltrated the game this decade has taken pop’s place as the go-to music for the youth.

  The general consensus surrounding 2 Chainz up until now was that he worked better as a feature and/or “punchline” rapper than a legitimate album artist. 2 Chainz perhaps recognized that, having fallen from his peak hype levels in the first half of the decade, he needed to put out something truly special to keep people interested in his music. As such, he chose to downplay the more humorous aspects of his verses on Pretty Girls and instead focus on the grittier, drug dealing aspects of his upbringing, along with the usual foray into pussy, money, weed and braggadocio that is almost a requirement for mainstream rap nowadays. He enlisted the help of prior collaborators Mike Will Made-It and Honorable C.N.O.T.E. to provide beats, alongside newcomers such as Murda Beatz and Buddah Bless and industry legends like Pharrell and Mike Dean, amongst others. There’s also a “who’s who” of 2017 mainstream rap on the features list, with Drake, Migos, Travis Scott, Swae Lee, Nicki Minaj, Gucci Mane, Ty Dolla Sign and others all making appearances. He also utilized a unique promotional tactics for the record: he rented a “trap house” in Atlanta that he had painted completely pink and donned it with the album’s logo on the front, and also ran a “trap salon” for girls to get their nails done with song titles inspiring the designs.

  Pretty Girls ended up becoming one of the biggest sleeper hits of the 2017 summer rap season. It sold over 100,000 album equivalent units in its first week in the United States and garnered 2 Chainz the highest critical praise he had received in his career up to that point. Less than 3 months after its release, it had been certified gold, his first RIAA certified record since his platinum selling debut. Pretty Girls has produced a run of hit singles that were mainstays on rap stations this year, and the album has been considered nothing but a success for Mr. Chainz.

  But is it actually any good?

  Review

Pretty Girls Like Trap Music begins with a few rapid piano hits and, ironically enough, a blazing guitar line that would be feel more at home in the rock music that trap artists like 2 Chainz had helped displace at the top of the charts. Tity uses the opener to reminisce about his past and the things he’s done to get him to where he is today. The subject matter fits the Mike Will production nicely and overall this serves as a great way to start the album off.

  The title of the following track “Riverdale Rd” is a reference to a street in Atlanta, 2 Chainz’s hometown. The beat almost sounds like a trap reinterpretation of the Psycho soundtrack, courtesy of DJ Mano. Similar to the song preceding it, Tity makes reference in his lyrics to his younger days of hustling and drug dealing and how it contrasts with his life in the present day. This is undeniably one of the hardest tracks on the album.

  “Good Drank”, the first official single that had previously appeared on 2016’s Hibachi for Lunch mixtape, follows next. This was the first song I’d heard off the project and it quickly became an obsession, mostly due to the damn near perfect synth lead that opens the song. The patented Mike Dean Magic™ is all over this thing: a beautiful concoction of drums and melodies that stick to your ear and refuse to leave. 2 Chainz’s verse follows the standard for what the majority of the album’s content will ultimately consist of: money, cars and drug dealing. Quavo’s hook is infectious (the “Nooo-ooo-ooo” melodies following the “no hot box” line are great in particular) and Gucci’s verse, while nothing spectacular, fits with the track.

  The Travis Scott-featuring “4 AM” follows, with production from 2017’s most breakout producer Murda Beatz. Placing this woozy instrumental directly after “Good Drank” was a solid move as they almost feel like compliments to one another. Tity harkens back to the past again, “reminiscing ‘bout the trap, playin’ the first Carter” and references the projects he’s put out since B.O.A.T.S. II, namely a series of EPs and his collaborative project with Lil Wayne from the year before. La Flame’s performance on the chorus is pretty standard for him but given how awesome he generally is on hook duty this isn’t really a complaint. Could’ve benefitted from an actual verse from Travis but this is solid nonetheless.

  “Door Swangin’” boasts the first of four Buddah Bless productions on the album. Pretty standard trap stuff on this one, both in terms of lyrics and music. The running theme of the album seems to be drug dealing first and foremost and that stays true here. The strings that come in from time to time sound really good too, but overall this one comes off as just decent.

  The Nicki Minaj collaboration “Realize” follows next. To be honest, it’s getting difficult to write anything significant about 2 Chainz’s lyrics at this point. They fit the production and his voice and presence is commanding as ever, but the topics stick almost exclusively to talking about drugs, cars, money, etc, which can become tedious to write about after a while. The line at the end of his verse taking a shot at mumble rap was admittedly hilarious, though. Nicki’s hook goes well with the chilled out vibe of the production and her verse isn’t too bad either. Not incredible but it gets the job done.

  With “Poor Fool” Mike Will Made-It continues to prove why he is in the upper echelon of hip hop producers at the moment with keyboard plinks in the beat that sound like a malfunctioning children’s toy and brooding synth lines underneath. Swae Lee hops on the chorus and it’s one of the best on the record, further cementing himself as one of the best go-to rappers for a hook right now. Swae and Chainz reference how their mothers reacted to their sons dealings in the street, even though the money they would have been earning through their hustling ways was what was helping to keep food on the table. All in all this shit bangs; a definite highlight.

  “Big Amount” originally dropped on 2 Chainz’s 2016 mixtape Daniel Son; Necklace Don and the success of the track prompted him to include it on Pretty Girls as a bonus track for the digital version. Buddah Bless’s contribution is significantly better than the preceding “Door Swangin’”: as far as I can tell, this was one of the first contributions to the flute rap trend that wound up dominating most of 2017. Some of Chainz’s best lines on the album end up here (the “Shawty ride like an equestrian” line kills me every time) and Drake’s contribution works really well too. A solid track all around.

  Arguably the biggest single off the album, “It’s a Vibe” was a staple on hip hop stations this year and it’s not hard to see why. Murda Beatz’s smooth mid-paced production features irresistible guitar licks and 2 Chainz flows over it flawlessly, lending one of his best verses on the album to this track. Ty Dolla Sign, Trey Songz and Jhene Aiko provide vocals to flesh things out. In comparison to the other singles I’d probably take “Good Drank” and “4 AM” over this one, but that just comes down to personal preference; it’s still a chill ass song regardless.

  Honorable C.N.O.T.E. provides an absolutely gorgeous backdrop on “Rolls Royce Bitch”, once again employing the use of guitar. Next to “Good Drank” and two other tracks to be mentioned later, this may be my favorite beat on the entire record. Tity starts the track telling the listener to believe in themselves first and foremost and if they they can make their dreams come true. The rest of the record is spent describing his wealth and how he came to acquire it. This is an absolute pleasure to listen to and an easy highlight.

  “Sleep When U Die” is another Buddah Bless production; this one sounds closer to “Door Swangin’” than “Big Amount”. Tity compares his clothing to Ric Flair’s and his hair to James Brown’s. Pretty standard trap here; nothing more to say.

  Without even realizing it I sort of knew instinctually that “Trap Check” was probably a Buddah Bless beat before I checked the production credits, and sure enough that turns out to be the case. Again, this stuff is pretty middle-of-the-road as far as 2017 trap goes until the last 30 seconds, where the beat switches to the furious horns of T.I.’s “ASAP”, a welcome switch-up that finishes the track off nicely. More of the same content from Tity on the lyrical side of things, though the “I ain’t talkin’ Nike when I’m talkin’ bout a check” line always manages to get a smile out of me.

  “Blue Cheese”, featuring rap’s hottest trio at the moment, boasts what is arguably the best beat on the entire album. K Swisha laces the track with a bed of hypnotizing synths that completely envelop the listener; the effect always gives me a feeling of being underwater for some reason. Quavo’s chorus here is just as irresistible as “Good Drank” was and everyone plays their part to make the song a success. There is one complaint to be made with this track, however: Tity only gets one 45 second verse at the start with Quavo, Offset and Takeoff dominating the rest of the cut. It feels more like a Migos song featuring 2 Chainz than the other way around, which is disappointing given it’s supposed to be a 2 Chainz album, but I digress.

  Tity decides to go on an “OG Kush Diet” on the next track to cope with the death of his close friend (at least for the chorus, anyway; the verses revert back to his usual braggadocios, materialistic style). Production on this one is decent to start, but things change halfway through where the beat has a reggae-tinged switch-up to keep things interesting. The pitch shifting on 2 Chainz’s voice at the end of the track is a nice touch also.

  Next we’ve got the Pharrell Williams-produced “Bailan”, and goddamn this shit is smooth! 25 years on and Skateboard P is still a genius behind the boards. This goes over a lot better than their previous collaboration “Feds Watching”: whereas that cut felt like a misguided attempt at Pharrell adjusting himself to 2 Chainz’s typical production style, the roles are reversed on this cut and, surprisingly enough, Tity sounds great over this despite it being a lil outside of his usual territory when it comes to production choices. A full length 2 Chainz-Pharrell collaboration would be more than welcome if the results stay consistent with this one.

  The album saves the best for last with “Burglar Bars”, a poignant cut that feels more “traditionally” hip hop than anything else on the record. Near the end of the song Tity describes it as “soulful trap music” and his assertion couldn’t be any more on point. It’s a beautifully produced gem of a track from M16 and Mike Dean, sampling Barbara Jean English’s “You’re Gonna Need Somebody to Love You”, with Monica providing backing vocals along with the intro and a closing verse. 2 Chainz’s lyrics are still drug and money-focused, but he also intersperses references to his contemporaries and reflects on how far his rap career has come. All in all, it’s a wonderful closer, and if it’s a sign of things to come (considering 2 Chainz has been working on music with 90’s era legend Q-Tip as of late) then I’m all for hearing what Mr. Chainz has up his sleeve next.

  Is Pretty Girls Like Trap Music the best album of the year? Not for me, personally, but having grown up listening to guys like Jay and Em in my early years and getting into underground/conscious/backpack stuff in my teens I’ll probably always be more inclined towards something that’s more lyrically focused anyway. Nonetheless, I can definitively say as someone who’s critical of a lot of the trap that comes out nowadays this was a pleasure to listen to.

  I’ve heard some complain about the lack of humor that was prevalent in 2 Chainz’s earlier projects compared to this, and admittedly, as I started reviewing this album, I found it to be increasingly difficult to find anything to really say about 2 Chainz’s bars on this one. They all revolve around the usual trap-standard subject matter that one expects from a 2 Chainz record, and after awhile it can be hard to say something new or original about them. His flow and his presence are still more than intact and lyrics aren't a huge point of emphasis for me when listening to this kind of music anyway; plus, tracks like "Burglar Bars" show that Tity doesn't need to do his usual funnier style to pull off some solid verses. It’s obvious that he wanted to use Pretty Girls as his chance to show people that he isn’t just a punchline rapper and that he can be serious about his music when he chooses to be.

  Like most trap albums, the real highlight of the record is the production, and in this regard Pretty Girls is typically fantastic. Aside from some uninspired Buddah Bless productions everything on the record is extremely memorable and endlessly creative: the excellent guitar lines on "Saturday Night", "It's a Vibe" and especially "Rolls Royce Bitch", the nightmarish feel of "Riverdale Rd" and "Poor Fool", the indelible melodies of "Good Drank" and "4 AM", the smooth ecstasy of "Blue Cheese" and "Bailan", and capping the album off with the epic "Burglar Bars", the songs are expertly produced and really lend themselves to making the record what it is.

  This was my first experience with a 2 Chainz project so I’m not totally sure how it compares to his other work, but if this is a sign of things to come, I’m very excited to hear what else he does in this lil “late career renaissance” he’s got going on right now.

  Favorite Songs

Burglar Bars

Good Drank

Rolls Royce Bitch

Bailan

Blue Cheese

Favorite Lyrics

”Shawty ride like an equestrian” -Big Amount

”I give a fuck about thesaurus rappers" -Burglar Bars

”Used to drive a Porsche ‘til I found out it was made by Volkswagen” -OG Kush Diet

Discussion Questions

• Do you feel like the album would have been better if 2 Chainz had used his more humorous style more often?

• How does 2 Chainz compare with other rappers in their late 30s and beyond who are still putting out music today?

• How would you like to see 2 Chainz progress with his next record?

Tomorrow we'll have u/vulcan24 writing about Death Grips’ “Steroids” EP

Artist: 2 ChainzAlbum: Pretty Girls Like Trap MusicListen:YouTubeSpotifyApple MusicGoogle Play MusicTIDALAlbum Background”It's always these beautiful girls who like this hustler – who you think would be attracted to a whole other type of music. But they like Migos, Future. You get with this girl, and you want to play Bryson Tiller. But she's like, "I want to hear Gucci." Shit. We're the pop stars. Trap rap is pop now. People's ears have adjusted to what we have to say and how we say it.”-2 Chainz, Rolling Stone interview, June 2017 In July of this year, it was reported that hip hop and R&B music had officially surpassed rock ‘n’ roll as the most popular genre of music in the United States. Personally, I feel like rock had already been dethroned years ago and that rap’s dominance was only now made apparent by the implementation of streaming into the Billboard charting system, but nonetheless the shift has sparked debates over the relevance of the musical styles of generations past with millennials who, having grown up with rap and adjusting to it at a young age in a way their parents hadn’t, have essentially claimed the genre as the music of their generation. In the same way that my father’s generation chose Elvis and the Beatles over Frank Sinatra and the like, someone like 2 Chainz could be argued to have a more powerful hold on the youth culture of today than anyone with a guitar. Like most people, my first experience with the man born Tauheed Epps was the Lil Wayne featuring “Duffle Bag Boy”, though as it was credited to Playaz Circle I didn’t realize it at the time. The rapper formerly known as Tity Boi made the shift to 2 Chainz not long thereafter, and by the time he released his T.R.U. Realigion mixtape in 2011 he was certifiably one of the hottest up-and-coming rappers in the world, a full decade and half after he’d started his career. The year after he released his major label debut Based on a T.R.U. Story, a platinum selling album in a pre-streaming era (no easy feat) with three major hit singles. History would dictate that Mr. Chainz would be able to ride off the success of this album to further hits and commercial viability in the years to come, and while his string of golden features on others’ tracks continued to flourish, his own solo material began to falter. B.O.A.T.S. II was released one year after its predecessor but sold less than half as many copies and failed to produce a top 40 single. For the next few years Tity released a few mixtapes and EPs, along with a collaborative project with Lil Wayne, but nothing seemed to resonate with audiences like his material in the early part of the decade had. Suddenly, however, it became apparent that as trap music became more and more engrained into the mainstream consciousness, so too did 2 Chainz’s popularity begin to get a second wind of sorts. This is adeptly referenced in the title to his third studio album Pretty Girls Like Trap Music: it’s a testament to how far rap has come in its mission of taking over the airwaves in recent years and how, while the young women of yesteryear’s generation may have been more enamored with artists who were strictly pop, the more melodic style of trap music that has infiltrated the game this decade has taken pop’s place as the go-to music for the youth. The general consensus surrounding 2 Chainz up until now was that he worked better as a feature and/or “punchline” rapper than a legitimate album artist. 2 Chainz perhaps recognized that, having fallen from his peak hype levels in the first half of the decade, he needed to put out something truly special to keep people interested in his music. As such, he chose to downplay the more humorous aspects of his verses on Pretty Girls and instead focus on the grittier, drug dealing aspects of his upbringing, along with the usual foray into pussy, money, weed and braggadocio that is almost a requirement for mainstream rap nowadays. He enlisted the help of prior collaborators Mike Will Made-It and Honorable C.N.O.T.E. to provide beats, alongside newcomers such as Murda Beatz and Buddah Bless and industry legends like Pharrell and Mike Dean, amongst others. There’s also a “who’s who” of 2017 mainstream rap on the features list, with Drake, Migos, Travis Scott, Swae Lee, Nicki Minaj, Gucci Mane, Ty Dolla Sign and others all making appearances. He also utilized a unique promotional tactics for the record: he rented a “trap house” in Atlanta that he had painted completely pink and donned it with the album’s logo on the front, and also ran a “trap salon” for girls to get their nails done with song titles inspiring the designs. Pretty Girls ended up becoming one of the biggest sleeper hits of the 2017 summer rap season. It sold over 100,000 album equivalent units in its first week in the United States and garnered 2 Chainz the highest critical praise he had received in his career up to that point. Less than 3 months after its release, it had been certified gold, his first RIAA certified record since his platinum selling debut. Pretty Girls has produced a run of hit singles that were mainstays on rap stations this year, and the album has been considered nothing but a success for Mr. Chainz. But is it actually any good? ReviewPretty Girls Like Trap Music begins with a few rapid piano hits and, ironically enough, a blazing guitar line that would be feel more at home in the rock music that trap artists like 2 Chainz had helped displace at the top of the charts. Tity uses the opener to reminisce about his past and the things he’s done to get him to where he is today. The subject matter fits the Mike Will production nicely and overall this serves as a great way to start the album off. The title of the following track “Riverdale Rd” is a reference to a street in Atlanta, 2 Chainz’s hometown. The beat almost sounds like a trap reinterpretation of the Psycho soundtrack, courtesy of DJ Mano. Similar to the song preceding it, Tity makes reference in his lyrics to his younger days of hustling and drug dealing and how it contrasts with his life in the present day. This is undeniably one of the hardest tracks on the album. “Good Drank”, the first official single that had previously appeared on 2016’s Hibachi for Lunch mixtape, follows next. This was the first song I’d heard off the project and it quickly became an obsession, mostly due to the damn near perfect synth lead that opens the song. The patented Mike Dean Magic™ is all over this thing: a beautiful concoction of drums and melodies that stick to your ear and refuse to leave. 2 Chainz’s verse follows the standard for what the majority of the album’s content will ultimately consist of: money, cars and drug dealing. Quavo’s hook is infectious (the “Nooo-ooo-ooo” melodies following the “no hot box” line are great in particular) and Gucci’s verse, while nothing spectacular, fits with the track. The Travis Scott-featuring “4 AM” follows, with production from 2017’s most breakout producer Murda Beatz. Placing this woozy instrumental directly after “Good Drank” was a solid move as they almost feel like compliments to one another. Tity harkens back to the past again, “reminiscing ‘bout the trap, playin’ the first Carter” and references the projects he’s put out since B.O.A.T.S. II, namely a series of EPs and his collaborative project with Lil Wayne from the year before. La Flame’s performance on the chorus is pretty standard for him but given how awesome he generally is on hook duty this isn’t really a complaint. Could’ve benefitted from an actual verse from Travis but this is solid nonetheless. “Door Swangin’” boasts the first of four Buddah Bless productions on the album. Pretty standard trap stuff on this one, both in terms of lyrics and music. The running theme of the album seems to be drug dealing first and foremost and that stays true here. The strings that come in from time to time sound really good too, but overall this one comes off as just decent. The Nicki Minaj collaboration “Realize” follows next. To be honest, it’s getting difficult to write anything significant about 2 Chainz’s lyrics at this point. They fit the production and his voice and presence is commanding as ever, but the topics stick almost exclusively to talking about drugs, cars, money, etc, which can become tedious to write about after a while. The line at the end of his verse taking a shot at mumble rap was admittedly hilarious, though. Nicki’s hook goes well with the chilled out vibe of the production and her verse isn’t too bad either. Not incredible but it gets the job done. With “Poor Fool” Mike Will Made-It continues to prove why he is in the upper echelon of hip hop producers at the moment with keyboard plinks in the beat that sound like a malfunctioning children’s toy and brooding synth lines underneath. Swae Lee hops on the chorus and it’s one of the best on the record, further cementing himself as one of the best go-to rappers for a hook right now. Swae and Chainz reference how their mothers reacted to their sons dealings in the street, even though the money they would have been earning through their hustling ways was what was helping to keep food on the table. All in all this shit bangs; a definite highlight. “Big Amount” originally dropped on 2 Chainz’s 2016 mixtape Daniel Son; Necklace Don and the success of the track prompted him to include it on Pretty Girls as a bonus track for the digital version. Buddah Bless’s contribution is significantly better than the preceding “Door Swangin’”: as far as I can tell, this was one of the first contributions to the flute rap trend that wound up dominating most of 2017. Some of Chainz’s best lines on the album end up here (the “Shawty ride like an equestrian” line kills me every time) and Drake’s contribution works really well too. A solid track all around. Arguably the biggest single off the album, “It’s a Vibe” was a staple on hip hop stations this year and it’s not hard to see why. Murda Beatz’s smooth mid-paced production features irresistible guitar licks and 2 Chainz flows over it flawlessly, lending one of his best verses on the album to this track. Ty Dolla Sign, Trey Songz and Jhene Aiko provide vocals to flesh things out. In comparison to the other singles I’d probably take “Good Drank” and “4 AM” over this one, but that just comes down to personal preference; it’s still a chill ass song regardless. Honorable C.N.O.T.E. provides an absolutely gorgeous backdrop on “Rolls Royce Bitch”, once again employing the use of guitar. Next to “Good Drank” and two other tracks to be mentioned later, this may be my favorite beat on the entire record. Tity starts the track telling the listener to believe in themselves first and foremost and if they they can make their dreams come true. The rest of the record is spent describing his wealth and how he came to acquire it. This is an absolute pleasure to listen to and an easy highlight. “Sleep When U Die” is another Buddah Bless production; this one sounds closer to “Door Swangin’” than “Big Amount”. Tity compares his clothing to Ric Flair’s and his hair to James Brown’s. Pretty standard trap here; nothing more to say. Without even realizing it I sort of knew instinctually that “Trap Check” was probably a Buddah Bless beat before I checked the production credits, and sure enough that turns out to be the case. Again, this stuff is pretty middle-of-the-road as far as 2017 trap goes until the last 30 seconds, where the beat switches to the furious horns of T.I.’s “ASAP”, a welcome switch-up that finishes the track off nicely. More of the same content from Tity on the lyrical side of things, though the “I ain’t talkin’ Nike when I’m talkin’ bout a check” line always manages to get a smile out of me. “Blue Cheese”, featuring rap’s hottest trio at the moment, boasts what is arguably the best beat on the entire album. K Swisha laces the track with a bed of hypnotizing synths that completely envelop the listener; the effect always gives me a feeling of being underwater for some reason. Quavo’s chorus here is just as irresistible as “Good Drank” was and everyone plays their part to make the song a success. There is one complaint to be made with this track, however: Tity only gets one 45 second verse at the start with Quavo, Offset and Takeoff dominating the rest of the cut. It feels more like a Migos song featuring 2 Chainz than the other way around, which is disappointing given it’s supposed to be a 2 Chainz album, but I digress. Tity decides to go on an “OG Kush Diet” on the next track to cope with the death of his close friend (at least for the chorus, anyway; the verses revert back to his usual braggadocios, materialistic style). Production on this one is decent to start, but things change halfway through where the beat has a reggae-tinged switch-up to keep things interesting. The pitch shifting on 2 Chainz’s voice at the end of the track is a nice touch also. Next we’ve got the Pharrell Williams-produced “Bailan”, and goddamn this shit is smooth! 25 years on and Skateboard P is still a genius behind the boards. This goes over a lot better than their previous collaboration “Feds Watching”: whereas that cut felt like a misguided attempt at Pharrell adjusting himself to 2 Chainz’s typical production style, the roles are reversed on this cut and, surprisingly enough, Tity sounds great over this despite it being a lil outside of his usual territory when it comes to production choices. A full length 2 Chainz-Pharrell collaboration would be more than welcome if the results stay consistent with this one. The album saves the best for last with “Burglar Bars”, a poignant cut that feels more “traditionally” hip hop than anything else on the record. Near the end of the song Tity describes it as “soulful trap music” and his assertion couldn’t be any more on point. It’s a beautifully produced gem of a track from M16 and Mike Dean, sampling Barbara Jean English’s “You’re Gonna Need Somebody to Love You”, with Monica providing backing vocals along with the intro and a closing verse. 2 Chainz’s lyrics are still drug and money-focused, but he also intersperses references to his contemporaries and reflects on how far his rap career has come. All in all, it’s a wonderful closer, and if it’s a sign of things to come (considering 2 Chainz has been working on music with 90’s era legend Q-Tip as of late) then I’m all for hearing what Mr. Chainz has up his sleeve next. Is Pretty Girls Like Trap Music the best album of the year? Not for me, personally, but having grown up listening to guys like Jay and Em in my early years and getting into underground/conscious/backpack stuff in my teens I’ll probably always be more inclined towards something that’s more lyrically focused anyway. Nonetheless, I can definitively say as someone who’s critical of a lot of the trap that comes out nowadays this was a pleasure to listen to. I’ve heard some complain about the lack of humor that was prevalent in 2 Chainz’s earlier projects compared to this, and admittedly, as I started reviewing this album, I found it to be increasingly difficult to find anything to really say about 2 Chainz’s bars on this one. They all revolve around the usual trap-standard subject matter that one expects from a 2 Chainz record, and after awhile it can be hard to say something new or original about them. His flow and his presence are still more than intact and lyrics aren't a huge point of emphasis for me when listening to this kind of music anyway; plus, tracks like "Burglar Bars" show that Tity doesn't need to do his usual funnier style to pull off some solid verses. It’s obvious that he wanted to use Pretty Girls as his chance to show people that he isn’t just a punchline rapper and that he can be serious about his music when he chooses to be. Like most trap albums, the real highlight of the record is the production, and in this regard Pretty Girls is typically fantastic. Aside from some uninspired Buddah Bless productions everything on the record is extremely memorable and endlessly creative: the excellent guitar lines on "Saturday Night", "It's a Vibe" and especially "Rolls Royce Bitch", the nightmarish feel of "Riverdale Rd" and "Poor Fool", the indelible melodies of "Good Drank" and "4 AM", the smooth ecstasy of "Blue Cheese" and "Bailan", and capping the album off with the epic "Burglar Bars", the songs are expertly produced and really lend themselves to making the record what it is. This was my first experience with a 2 Chainz project so I’m not totally sure how it compares to his other work, but if this is a sign of things to come, I’m very excited to hear what else he does in this lil “late career renaissance” he’s got going on right now. Favorite SongsBurglar BarsGood DrankRolls Royce BitchBailanBlue CheeseFavorite Lyrics”Shawty ride like an equestrian” -Big Amount”I give a fuck about thesaurus rappers" -Burglar Bars”Used to drive a Porsche ‘til I found out it was made by Volkswagen” -OG Kush DietDiscussion Questions• Do you feel like the album would have been better if 2 Chainz had used his more humorous style more often?• How does 2 Chainz compare with other rappers in their late 30s and beyond who are still putting out music today?• How would you like to see 2 Chainz progress with his next record?Tomorrow we'll have u/vulcan24 writing about Death Grips’ “Steroids” EP