#vince staples - big fish theory (((highly recommend)))

[seriebofficial]

i saw other people doing a top 9 favorite album covers and i wanted to do it too 😈 not necessarily all my favorite albums, but my favorite covers) ~ i have the albums listed in the tags as well 🫶🏻

[inniave]

For my moots & followers who have seen all the Kendrick/Drake stuff and now want to get into rap/hip hop- I have some recs!

From Kendrick: Good Kid M.A.D.D. City was my introduction to K Dot & was one of the first vinyls I ever bought. It is phenomenal. I also highly recommend the rest of his discography. Mr. Morale specifically has been referenced quite a bit in the last few days.

Paris Texas! Their album MID AIR is one of my favorites of all time & their earlier stuff is great as well.

clipping. makes really interesting horror rap with a message. Splendor & Misery is one of my favorite albums from them, the sci-fi story telling is phenomenal.

Vince Staples' Summertime '06 is another one of my favorites of all time. His other work is great as well, especially Big Fish Theory.

Backxwash has got to be one of my favorite rappers. Her albums are deep and phenomenally made. I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES was my introduction to her and remains one of my favorite albums of all time (especially her collabs with Ada Rook).

I'm sure most people know Childish Gambino but I'll mention him just in case. Zealots of Stockholm from Because the Internet changed my ideas and expectations about music for good.

Run the Jewels!!! One of my faves & a great duo to see live. RTJ 2 was my introduction to them & remains a favorite. Check out Meow the Jewels as well, it's great.

Kent Osborne- his tracks go especially hard. If you like the combo of electric guitar & rap that Paris Texas does, definitely check out Kent's stuff.

This is getting long so here's a little list to give you some more to check out- Changeline (phenomenal skill), Black Dresses (WASTEISOLATION is in top 5 albums of all time for me), Tobe Nwigwe (Round Here is a fave), Injury Reserve, Megan Thee Stallion (Hiss really kicked off this current situation, go listen to it right now), ALT BLK ERA (obsessed with Obsession), Rico Nasty, and Flyana Boss!

If you have recs I'd love to hear them <3 Happy listening!

[iwanthermidnightz]

*excerpts below — but I highly recommend reading the full article in link above*

Hit Me Hard and Soft dunks us headfirst back into that universe, from the deepest wallows of depression to the exhaustion that comes with the world speculating about her every move. There are no arachnids where they shouldn’t be, but getting in touch with her darker side has Eilish finally feeling like herself again. “I feel like this album is me,” she says. “It’s not a character. It feels like the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? version of me. It feels like my youth and who I was as a kid.”

Although 2019 felt like a whirlwind of madness at the time, she has found herself missing it. “It was the best time of my life,” she says. “This whole process has felt like I’m coming back to the girl that I was. I’ve been grieving her. I’ve been looking for her in everything, and it’s almost like she got drowned by the world and the media. I don’t remember when she went away.”

The title Hit Me Hard and Soft derives from a conversation she had with Finneas, when she mistakenly thought the name of a synth in Logic Pro was called Hit Me Hard and Soft. “I thought it was such a perfect encapsulation of what this album does,” she explains. “It’s an impossible request: You can’t be hit hard and soft. You can’t do anything hard and soft at the same time. I’m a pretty extremist person, and I really like when things are really intense physically, but I also love when things are very tender and sweet. I want two things at once. So I thought that was a really good way to describe me, and I love that it’s not possible.”

Eilish and Finneas call Hit Me Hard and Soft “an album-ass album.” It’s not a concept record, but it is a self-consciously cohesive set of songs, inspired by auteurist works from the past 15 years or so, like Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, Tyler, the Creator’s Goblin, Marina and the Diamonds’ Electra Heart, and Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory.

“Lunch,” a complete 180 in both sound and subject content. It’s a sexy, bass-heavy banger where Eilish is crushing on a girl so hard she likens sex with her to devouring a meal. Finneas remembers playing this moment for Interscope and witnessing the team shift in their seats. “What’s funny about starting the album with [the opener] is that it is a total false promise,” he says. “If you’re remembering ‘What Was I Made For?’ and then you hear [it], you go, ‘Oh, OK. I understand this world.’ Then the drums come in [on “Lunch”], and it really is the kill-the-main-character-type beat. It’s like Drew Barrymore being in the first five minutes of Scream and then they kill her. You’re like, ‘They can’t kill Drew. Oh, my God, they killed Drew!’”

Eilish and I spend a lot of time talking about the new era she is about to kick off, and how she’ll promote Hit Me Hard and Soft while prioritizing her mental health, privacy, and well-being. With all of that in mind, I wonder if she’s ready for journalists to pepper her with questions about the album’s subject matter, particularly the sexual nature of “Lunch.” “That song was actually part of what helped me become who I am, to be real,” Eilish says. “I wrote some of it before even doing anything with a girl, and then wrote the rest after. I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand — until, last year, I realized I wanted my face in a vagina. I was never planning on talking about my sexuality ever, in a million years. It’s really frustrating to me that it came up.”

Eilish is referring to her interview with Variety last fall, in which she mentioned she was attracted to women. The quote — “I’m attracted to them for real” — became a national headline. The following month, Eilish attended Variety’s Hitmakers event in L.A. While on the red carpet, she was asked if she intentionally came out in the story. “No, I didn’t,” she told them. “But I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’” Eilish then posted about it on Instagram, with a caption that read, “Thanks Variety for my award and for also outing me on a red carpet at 11 a.m. instead of talking about anything else that matters. I like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares.”

Looking back, Eilish admits she overreacted with the Instagram post. “Who fucking cares?” she says. “The whole world suddenly decided who I was, and I didn’t get to say anything or control any of it. Nobody should be pressured into being one thing or the other, and I think that there’s a lot of wanting labels all over the place. Dude, I’ve known people that don’t know their sexuality, or feel comfortable with it, until they’re in their forties, fifties, sixties. It takes a while to find yourself, and I think it’s really unfair, the way that the internet bullies you into talking about who you are and what you are.”

As for that red-carpet quote that made all the headlines, Eilish says she tried to think of a response that would be entertaining for her fans and the internet. “I went into Billie Eilish interview mode, [like], ‘Oh, I don’t care. Yeah, I’ll say whatever. Wasn’t it obvious?’” she says. “And then afterwards I was like, ‘Wait. It wasn’t obvious to me.’”

Thinking about it now, she draws a bigger lesson from that moment. “I know everybody’s been thinking this about me for years and years, but I’m only figuring out myself now,” she says. “And honestly, what I said was funny, because I really was just saying what they’ve all been saying.” She adds that she liked the journalist she was talking to and didn’t want to be rude. But she still felt exploited. “Bro, I have asthma out here,” she says. “I fucking can’t take a breath.”

If Eilish had the opportunity to do it over again on the red carpet, she says, she wouldn’t have answered the question. But she acknowledges it could have been worse. “I’m lucky enough to be in a time when I’m able to say something like that and things go OK for me,” she says. “And that’s not how a lot of people’s experience is.”

Eilish has officially decided to make some changes to the way she presents herself to the world. “This album, to me, feels like a way to restart, in terms of my sharing,” she says. So let’s take a second to reintroduce Billie Eilish, the home-schooled bohemian who captured our attention as a teenager. She’s 22 now, yet she’s more self-aware than people twice her age. She would like some space to grow, to figure out exactly who she is — no label required. She is not the poster child for anything. And she is not, she’d like to note, a TED Talk speaker. So where does that leave us? Eilish sums things up with four simple words that point to her desire for normalcy and acceptance.

“I’m just a girl.”

[murkymisc]

Record #199: Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory (2017)

This album has an insanely varied production that the fact that it all fits together is an achievement, let alone that it all sounds amazing and thats not even touching his lyricism which keep the energy up enough for you to not notice how absolutely miserable they are (in a good way though). Highly recommend this one, fav tracks are Crabs In A Bucket, Big Fish, 745, Yeah Right, SAMO and BagBok. 8/10

[azersam]

Favorite Summer Albums of 2017

summer is almost over ;-; but these 10 albums made this summer v special for me and i highly recommend all of them :)

10. Aminé - Good For You

I’m not a big fan of Aminé but this album proved that he’s not a one hit wonder and has a LOT of potential. the album is very colorful, at times it sounds like the band fun. made a rap album tbh. also i personally care a lot about album covers and they actually affect the way i judge & listen to music, and this cover art is absolutely one of my favorite album covers of the year as it perfectly visualizes how the music sounds.

9. Haim -  Something to Tell You

ok maybe this album is not as strong as their first album but it’s the most “dream-girl-californian” type album that I’ve heard in a very long time, it’s like a soundtrack for all these tumblr blogs dedicated to highly stylized pictures of California and California girls and it’s amazing.

8. Calvin Harris - Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1

honestly, i never expected to like this album as much as i do but it’s like literally the definitive American summer album. and like it’s like one of those albums that no matter how much they tried to fuck it up, they couldn’t make it any less good than it is with the list of artists that are featured on it. i mean Frank Ocean on the first fucking track?? and then the rest of the album being equally good? double amazing! “Faking It” is one of my fav song of the year despite the fact that i almost threw my headphone the moment i head Lil Yachty screech at the very end of it to compliment Kehlani, smh.

7. Brockhampton - Saturation

Kevin Abstract is amazing. American Boyfriend is an amazing album and Saturation is like Brockhampton’s take on that album and beyond. extremely fresh sounding, the rapping of every member is unique and exciting, the band knows their audience and so their lyrics resonate extremely well in a genuine way which makes the album very relatable for people in their late teenage years/early 20s.

6. Mura Masa - MURA MASA

the cover art is great but clearly a rip off of The Life of Pablo. but that doesn’t change the fact that Mura Masa is consistently amazing. despite releasing half of the album before the official release, the non singles - particularly “Who Is It Gonna B” , “Nothing Else!” and “Messy Love” - are phenomenal and it has such a London sound, and he even described the album as a love letter to London. every time I hear it, it makes me wanna move to London <3

5. Queens of the Stone Age - Villains

okay i can’t really judge this yet because i only listened to the shit quality leak, but MAN, even with that shit quality, this album fucking RIPS. less accessible and more experimental than “...Like Clockwork” and heavier too. lyrically and conceptually, though, it sounds like it comes from the same headspace that resulted in “...Like Clockwork” but this album to me is like a very epic epilogue to the previous album. “Villains of Circumstance” is a masterpiece and a strong contender for the best closing track of any album this year.

4. Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory

i’ve talked about this album before but the more rap albums i heard these past few months, the more amazing this album became for me. i mean just go listen to Mike Will Made-It’s new album (or any other generic trap album from 2017) and Big Fish Theory back to back, and the difference in production and atmosphere says it all.

3. Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy

i’ve also talked about this album before but this album this summer is what Blonde was last summer for me. it’s Tyler’s most defining work, and it only makes me excited to see how he will follow it up.

2. Lorde - Melodrama

this masterpiece soundtracked a lot of my sad & happy summer afternoons and nights. every time I listen to it, it reminds me what’s like to be 20 years old, and “Supercut” is the ultimate Lorde song ever tbh; amazing dance beat + intensely emotional lyrics. and that applies for most of Melodrama, every single emotion and feeling that Lorde expresses is actually felt.

1. Arcade Fire - Everything Now

believe it or not, in 2017, it’s unusual to like Arcade Fire. I’m still trying to figure out if the disappointment that this album brought to fans and critics is as a result of power of our absurdly high expectations, or the marketing campaign that pissed a lot of fans and critics off. either way, what matters for me is that I loved both the album promotion and the album itself. this is the best summer album (and potentially my favorite album) of 2017 for various reasons. for me a great album is an album that creates a world that makes me feel like I’m living in it for the duration that it has, and if it’s great enough, it makes me wanna live in that world forever (no matter how good or bad that world is). Arcade Fire are masters of teasing and promotion, and through a genius marketing strategy, they created a world for this album before it came out and after listening to the album few times after my initial disappointment with the singles, everything about it just made sense. the great irony about it is that despite its ridiculously complex and seemingly confusing promotion, the album itself is extremely direct and heartfelt. yes, the songs are extremely well produced and multi-layered, but what makes it amazing is just how personal it is. even in a song as colorful as “Everything Now”, there are some really dark lyrics. “Peter Pan” is about reaching an age when you start losing your parents (Win wrote it after realizing his dad is sick). “Put Your Money on Me” is a song where Win directly references his religious family and the dissatisfaction of his mother at his wedding, since Regine is apparently not of their faith. “Creature Comfort” and “Good God Damn” are both about a suicidal person (Win’s close friend) and why life is always better, even at its worst. and finally, “We Don’t Deserve Love”, an amazing heartbreaker about the simple concept that no matter how much we rely on people of higher status, whether our parents or religious figures, for love and connection, love and connection are inside us right from the start without us even realizing it sometimes. i think this album is the one that makes the most sense to me along with Father John Misty’s “Pure Comedy” - as both albums talk about the absurdity of our modern lives, yet in the end, both albums conclude with the statement that love is what matters the most at any stage of our life.

[colachampagnedad]

WE’RE BACK WITH EPISODE 005 OF COLACHAMPAGNERADIO!

This week we’re talking about the highly anticipated release of Vince Staples' new album, Big Fish Theory, along with the mixtape release of New Jersey's own Mir Fontane (this week’s cover boy).

We also got some new releases by Gorillaz, Denzel Curry, and Jarren Benton along with music by Maundrix (soundcloud link in the description)

Don’t forget to also follow me on the links below for any new music updates & recommendations!

instagram | soundcloud | spotify

[soyoureviewhiphoptoo]

Soundtrack of the Week 22/06/2017

This doesn’t look like an album review...this doesn’t look like an album review at all. What is going on, sir?

This is a new thing I would like to implement into this blog called “Soundtrack of the Week” where I give a look into some of what I have been listening to over the course of the week. I felt like doing this as a way to give some kind of exposure to my hip-hop tastes, to preview any future content I would like to review and most importantly, to show projects or songs that I would either recommend people to listen to or to move as far away from as possible.  So, without further ado, here is the Soundtrack of the Week

Joyner Lucas- (508) 507 2209 Released: June 16, 2017 Label: Atlantic Records

Last Friday (June 16, 2017), quite a few highly anticipated hip-hop projects dropped. While the world was focused on the release of Pretty Girls Like Trap Music from 2 Chainz and the rather unorthodox singing album Beautiful Thugger Girls from Young Thug, one other project was released that was spectacular. This project was the latest project (which I believe is an album) from Massachusetts M.C. Joyner Lucas. Over the last year, Joyner has been making a name for himself, releasing freestyles over the beats of Panda and Mask Off (the latter at which he takes shots at Lil Yachty and Logic...which was interesting) as well as appearing on the Tech N9ne track Sriracha (which also features Logic...damn Joyner).  This project (at least in my mind) has definitely proved that Joyner Lucas is a rapper to look out for. With impressive displays of intense lyricism and powerful storytelling, (508) 507 2209 is a must listen! (and the subject of a future review)

RATINGS

Concept: 4/5 Production: 3.5/5 Lyrical Content: 4.5/5 Flow and Delivery: 4/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes I did Songs to Recommend? Ultrasound, Lovely, Keep It 100, Winter Blues, Just Like You, Literally, I’m Sorry and Forever

Final Rating: 4/5

Joyner Lucas- Keep it 100 A song that personifies the story of a single hundred dollar bill as it is passed from one interesting character to the next.

Joyner Lucas- I’m Sorry A song that displays the lamentation of a man in his suicide note and the toll his death takes upon his best friend.

Royce Da 5′9″- The Bar Exam 4 (Hosted by DJ Green Lantern) Released- June 20, 2017 Label: Self-Released

I will make something very clear...I LOVE ROYCE (No homo). Ever since I first heard him and Eminem together on Hell: The Sequel, Royce Da 5′9″ has become one of my all-time favourite rappers. Since 2011, he has dropped nothing but straight fire and this mixtape is not an exception. 

The fourth installment of The Bar Exam series, Royce is doing something we don’t really see much in hip-hop these days; a mixtape of freestyles on other people’s beats. This sounds weird to say but newer rappers don’t do this anymore so to see an OG (and one of the best rappers on earth) releasing a mixtape filled with freestyles on some of the biggest hits over the last few years, its a breath of fresh air and definitely worth a listen. (It is 28 tracks long though...which is a lot)

RATINGS

Concept: 3/5 Production: 4/5 Lyrical Content: 5/5 Flow and Delivery: 4.5/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes I did Songs to Recommend? C Delores, N My Zone: Mask Off, Combat, Gov Ball, Chopping Block, I Got The Keys Freestyle, Wait a Minute, Beats Keep Callin', Let’s Take Them To War, Magnolia Freestyle and Still Waiting

Final Rating: 4.1/5

Royce Da 5′9″- Beats Keep Callin’ Freestyles over Bad and Boujee & Lockjaw (with the mixtape version having a beat switch to FuckWithMeIKnowYouGotIt in between)

Royce Da 5′9″- Let’s Take Them To War Freestyles over Moves & No Hook

Vince Staples- Summertime ‘06 Released: June 30, 2015 Label: Def Jam Recordings, ARTium Recordings and Blacksmith Records

Vince Staples is another artist I have only started to listen to over the last year but he is quickly rising to becoming one of my favourite rappers in the new age of hip-hop. He is a rapper that speaks a lot of social issues in his songs, more specifically the issues that affect black Americans and how his own personal experiences in the hood of Long Beach, California are reflective of this. 

While some artists tend to sugarcoat these experiences to ease listeners into these issues, Vince is point-blank, he holds no punches and expresses his views with no filter. So much so that a mother posted an 11-minute video on YouTube called “Norf Norf Rant” where she would read the lyrics of the single Norf Norf and burst into tears on camera. This was my first real exposure to Vince Staples (as well as features on the Jhene Aiko song The Vapours and ScHoolboy Q song Ride Out) and frankly, I’m always pleased to know that hip-hop still offends middle-classed people even with it being placed in mainstream culture (even though Norf Norf is not even offensive when you compare it to the trap songs on the radio).

Anyway, Summertime ‘06 is a meaningful debut for Vince Staples and while it didn’t go platinum, it is an immense depiction of the life of black teenagers in America and it is certainly an underrated project. This album, alongside his EP, Prima Donna has got me excited for his upcoming album The Big Fish Theory...which comes out tomorrow (June 23, 2017)

RATINGS

Concept: 4/5 Production: 4/5 Lyrical Content: 5/5 Flow and Delivery: 4/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes, I did Songs to Recommend? Lift Me Up, Norf Norf, Birds and Bees, Dopeman, Jump Off The Roof and Senorita 

Final Rating: 4.2/5

Vince Staples- Norf Norf A strong summary of a young black male living in the “Norfside” of Long Beach, California while the video depicts the fate of wrongfully arrested black males. (How offensive is that?)

This week has been a week of deep storytelling, calmer, more hypnotic beats and straight up freestyles. Next week, I can tell I will be listening to a lot more Vince Staples as well as mentally preparing for the Jay-Z album dropping next Friday...Am I even ready for that???

[tyreesedhee]

My top seventeen of albums of 2017: 1. Damn - Kendrick Lamar 2. Crooked - Propaganda 3. The Beauty Between - Kings Kaleidoscope 4. Melodrama - Lorde 5. Magic & Bird - Andy Mineo & Wordsplayed 6. Only Death is Real - Stray From the Path 7. SYRE - Jaden Smith 8. Reputation - Taylor Swift 9. All Things Work Together - Lecrae 10. You - dodie 11. What’s Left of This - Safe Bet 12. As Deeply As You Do - Eaves 13. Big Fish Theory - Vince Staples 14. Revival - Emery 15. Old Women - Jetty Bones 16. I Quit Church - Matt & Toby 17. Slowknife - Gaffer Project These are albums that came out this year that I really enjoyed and gave a lot of time to. I did my best to accurately represent how I felt about them in this list, so the numbers almost matter. If you’re looking for things to lend your ears to, I highly recommend you checking these albums/artists out. Also, I have to mention the tracks that @_keyoung released and the @keptonhold demo. Both are unbelievable, and I am looking forward to what’s next. New sounds, new words, new tears. (18. Damn. It was good enough to put twice.)

[ddc-bside]

Listen To Vince Staples New ‘Big Fish Theory’ Album... Listen To Vince Staples New ‘Big Fish Theory’ Album Ft. Kendrick Lamar, Flume & More Vince Staples has just released his sophomore album Big Fish Theory  and further demonstrates his consistency and versatility. The album includes previously released singles “BagBak,” “Big Fish,” and “Rain Come Down.” While the album is only 35 minutes long, he is able to fit in tons of hooks, verses, and collaborators to make a tight, concise project. Features on the album include Kendrick Lamar, Flume, Kučka, Damon Albarn (of Gorillaz), Ty Dolla $ign, and many more. The album is much more dance-heavy than his debut, and Vince really shows that he can rap over anything. The prominent basslines take the forefront of many of the beats, backed by heavy synths and production unlike any other hip-hop album this year. Album standout “Yeah Right” features technical verses from Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples over a wild beat made by Flume & SOPHIE, that sounds more like  “Wall Fuck”  than anything else Flume has done recently. Kučka brings the track together with a bridge about authenticity before Kendrick’s dizzying verse that will immediately have you hitting repeat to hear all of his flow switches and rhyming patterns. We highly recommend the album from start to finish and will have this on repeat all summer. Enjoy!  Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory | Purchase  | More Streams Coming Soon… http://thissongissick.com/post/vince-staples-big-fish-theory-album http://edm.districtdacapo.com/post/162160794240

[ddc-edm]

Listen To Vince Staples New 'Big Fish Theory' Album Ft. Kendrick Lamar, Flume & More Vince Staples has just released his sophomore album Big Fish Theory  and further demonstrates his consistency and versatility. The album includes previously released singles "BagBak," "Big Fish," and "Rain Come Down." While the album is only 35 minutes long, he is able to fit in tons of hooks, verses, and collaborators to make a tight, concise project. Features on the album include Kendrick Lamar, Flume, Kučka, Damon Albarn (of Gorillaz), Ty Dolla $ign, and many more. The album is much more dance-heavy than his debut, and Vince really shows that he can rap over anything. The prominent basslines take the forefront of many of the beats, backed by heavy synths and production unlike any other hip-hop album this year. Album standout "Yeah Right" features technical verses from Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples over a wild beat made by Flume & SOPHIE, that sounds more like  "Wall Fuck"  than anything else Flume has done recently. Kučka brings the track together with a bridge about authenticity before Kendrick's dizzying verse that will immediately have you hitting repeat to hear all of his flow switches and rhyming patterns. We highly recommend the album from start to finish and will have this on repeat all summer. Enjoy!  Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory | Purchase  | More Streams Coming Soon... http://thissongissick.com/post/vince-staples-big-fish-theory-album

[soyoureviewhiphoptoo]

Soundtrack of the Week 29/06/2017

Here we are, back again. I’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback regarding the first SOTW segment from last week so I am glad to bring you more. We have got quite a few stuff to get through so for the second time, here is the Soundtrack of the Week (issa long one)

Vince Staples- Big Fish Theory  Released June 23, 2017 Label:  Def Jam Recordings, ARTium Recordings and Blacksmith Records

I said it last week, I was looking forward to the release of this album and I was ready to listen to it all week. But that was not the case and I shall expand.

Big Fish Theory is the second studio album by Long Beach M.C. Vince Staples. Known more for blunt honesty over dark raps beats, Staples goes off into the opposite direction for this album. This album is filled with EDM and Electronica instrumentation that has been mixed with the G-Funk sound. Staples puts himself in a new lane, setting himself aside from his fellow young rappers with this level of experimentation and risk-taking (I mean, a majority of new age rappers sound too similar in terms of beat selection and vocals. Very few of them experiment with their sound.) Vince Staples has put out an interesting LP that I would recommend people to listen to just to give a taste of a different hip-hop sound.

RATINGS

Concept: 3/5 Production: 4/5 Lyrical Content: 4/5 Flow and Delivery: 3.8/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes I did Songs to Recommend? Big Fish, Bagbak, 745, Yeah Right and Crabs In A Bucket

Final Rating: 3.8/5

Vince Staples- Big Fish The second single off this album, with Vince Staples, briefly talking about how far his life has come since finding major success as a rapper. The song features Juicy J on the hook which really brings the whole song together.

DJ Khaled- Grateful Released: June 23, 2017 Label:  We the Best Music Group and Epic Records

A baby that is not even a year old is not only the executive producer for one of the most anticipated albums of 2017 but has become a pop culture icon...isn’t that just wonderful?

Anyway, DJ Khaled released his tenth studio album this past week (10 albums! This was a shock to me, I’ll admit) and after listening to Major Key, the album he released last year, I decided to give this a listen. With the release of the singles Shining featuring Beyonce and Jay-Z, I’m the One featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne and To The Max featuring Drake...let’s just say my anticipation began to diminish. Beyonce was quite good on Shining but Jay-Z didn’t really blow me away with his verse (and you see as you scroll down why that is weird). The novelty of I’m the One wears off very quickly (and that is with me liking Quavo and Chano’s verses). Finally To the Max...oh my god. That song was so bad. The instrumental sounds like an accelerated clusterf*ck with Drake’s verses sounding like a poor man's Child’s Play, of the Views album (and I dislike that song already). Point blank...the song is TRASH.

Which is a shame because Asahd looks so cute on the cover art. He should've known better than to accept those Drake vocals. In fact, the song has actually disappeared from streaming services here in the UK.

Thankfully, the release of Wild Thoughts featuring Rhianna and Bryson Tiller (AKA, the song that will join the likes of Bad and Boujee and Magnolia as one of the most overplayed songs of this year), brought me back around. I love the song but I feel like I’ve heard it a million times already and it's only a couple weeks old. As for the album itself...it was interesting. The remaining 18 songs offer a strong mixture of urban styles, with a star-studded feature list. There were many songs that I loved from artists I do not usually latch onto. There were a few occasions where I thought certain hooks should have been done differently (Travis Scott and Future have the most features on this album and do a majority of the hooks. There were times I felt that they should’ve swapped positions on songs they were doing) and there were times I thought artists would have been great on other songs (For instance, one of my favourite songs, I Can’t Even Lie, features Future and Nicki Minaj but I felt that Big Sean would have had an amazing verse on there) but I suppose that is the effect of a Khaled album. All this considered, Grateful is a worth a listen and if you do listen, I definitely recommend to take the songs you like and run with them.

RATINGS

Concept: 2/5 Production: 3.8/5 Lyrical Content: 3/5 Flow and Delivery: 3/5 Repeatability: 3/5 Did I enjoy this project? I did in small parts Songs to Recommend? Wild Thoughts, I Can’t Even Lie, Major Bag Alert, Good Man, Billy Ocean, Iced Out My Arms and On Everything.

Final Rating: 2.9/5

DJ Khaled- On Everything Featuring Travis Scott, Rick Ross and Big Sean A good ole’ braggadocious rap song...you can’t really go wrong with that. Although, I did think Future would compliment this song better than Travis and everyone is reaching when it comes to Big Sean’s verse as they are assuming it is a Kendrick diss (When it probably wasn’t).

At the end of last week’s SOTV, I briefly mentioned the upcoming Jay-Z album that I am ecstatic about. Hov was one of the very first artists I was exposed to as a child and I gravitated toward him instantly. There was a period of time where I stopped listening to him (around the time Blueprint 3 came out and people loved talking about him being the leader of the Illuminati, which is stupid in hindsight) and I just wasn’t interested in him anymore. The release of Watch the Throne and Magna Carta...Holy Grail, however, brought me right on back. While those two albums were not acclaimed as his best work, they brought back the adoration I had for the man. So much so that I decided to listen to his older work. Needless to say, it was the best decision I ever made. So, the next two additions of this week’s SOTW are two of my favourite Jay-Z albums

Jay-Z- Reasonable Doubt Released: June 25, 1996 Label:  Roc-A-Fella Records and Priority Records

This past Sunday was the 21st anniversary of Reasonable Doubt so I decided to put this on and give it a revisit. Like I said before, my birth year, 1996 was a year where many great rap albums came out. This is definitely one of them.

Filled with Mafioso rap themes, Jay-Z displays impressive lyrical dexterity while he speaks about street hustling, being a rapper and the lavish lifestyles that both can present. Hov literally oozes with confidence as he speaks on experiences with complete honesty. While there are others who try to stunt and pretend they live this particular lifestyle, Jay speaks on it in such a way that makes it clear that this was his life, that he had no choice but to deal drugs and yet it becomes ingrained into his lifestyle and he depends on this life...maybe even enjoys it. There are others who like to act like gangsta rappers but are not about that life, Jay-Z makes it sound authentic on Reasonable Doubt. 

What truly adds to the album is the production. No thrashing synths or deep basslines. Just a smooth jazz sound that compliments the mafioso lyrics. It almost leads me to believe that this would be the style of music Don Corleone would listen to in his office.

Here is a fun fact for you. On December 4, 2013, the day of his 44th birthday, Jay-Z released a ranking of all 12 of his studio albums on his website lifeandtimes.com. Guess which album was number 1? None other than Reasonable Doubt. It is very hard to disagree with the Jiggaman.

RATINGS

Concept: 5/5 Production: 4.5/5 Lyrical Content: 5/5 Flow and Delivery: 5/5 Repeatability: 4.5/5 Did I enjoy this project? I did...a lot Songs to Recommend? Can’t Knock The Hustle, Politics as Usual, Brooklyn’s Finest, Dead Presidents II, D’Evils, Can I Live, Friend or Foe and Cashmere Thoughts

Final Rating: 4.8/5

Jay-Z- Dead Presidents and Dead Presidents II  Two versions, Three verses each, One of the GOAT rap songs. That’s all I need to say

Jay-Z- The Blueprint Released: September 11, 2001 Label:  Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings

I will say this bluntly...there is not one bad song on this album. Top to bottom, The Blueprint is a perfect Jay-Z album. From the very first track, with trumpets blaring out, giving Jay a hero’s welcome as he proclaims that “The Ruler’s Back”. The second song on this album was Takeover, highly regarded one of the greatest diss tracks of all time and the song that really kicked off one of biggest rap feuds with fellow New York rapper, Nas. He has one of the most epic collaborations EVER with Eminem on Renegade (one of my favourite songs ever)...I could just fanboy over all 15 songs on this album.

While he is lyrically at the top of his game, finding ways to make you laugh, inflate your confidence and even make you feel emotional, this album is possibly is the best Jay project to listen to from a production standpoint. Thanks to the efforts of Kanye West, Just Blaze and (the seemingly underrated or underappreciated) Bink, The Blueprint delivers with memorable instrumentation that was groundbreaking at the time, bringing music sampling back into the mainstream. This is the album that helped solidify Just Blaze and Kanye West as great producers. Considering all the songs both men have produced...that’s a strong distinction. 

While Jay-Z himself said that The Blueprint comes in second place to Reasonable Doubt, I can say that I prefer The Blueprint. As cliche as this sounds, I listen to Reasonable Doubt and I FEEL The Blueprint. It’s a true debate figuring out which one is better. Either way, I say you should listen to both.

RATINGS

Concept: 4/5 Production: 5/5 Lyrical Content: 5/5 Flow and Delivery: 5/5 Repeatability: 5/5 Did I enjoy this project? More than you can believe Songs to Recommend? I think it is easier to just say “listen to the whole album”

Final Rating: 4.8/5

Jay-Z- Renegade Featuring Eminem I could have put Takeover, Heart of the City, The Ruler’s Back, Song Cry or any other song from this album but THIS is the one for me. Just four verses from two of the GOATs of Hip Hop. Their respective second verses are legendary.

So this has been my Soundtrack of the Week. While I did enjoy Grateful and Big Fish Theory, Jay-Z took over the week for me (see what I did there?). Listening to two of his very best albums puts me in high hopes for 4:44 which is being released tomorrow (June 30, 2017). I even registered for Tidal...that’s how much I want to listen to the album and how much I respect Jay. Interestingly, Calvin Harris is also releasing his album tomorrow and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to one of his albums, quite a few of the songs he’s released this year (like Slide Featuring Migos and Frank Ocean) have caught my interest. (Also Iggy Azalea is releasing an album...yeah, she still makes music)

Where will 4:44 rank among Jay’s discography?