I'm not going to bore you with the Kanye West biographical rundown, but I have to mention the circumstances this album is most widely associated with: the sales battle with 50 Cent. (The reason I chose to even write about Graduation today is because I was listening to Animal Ambition this morning and thought about how funny this situation was) I can't even remember how this little scuffle started, but at some point in 2007, Curtis Jackson had enough of Kanye West's antics and decided to do something about it. Instead of any physical confrontation, he promised that he would retire from rapping if Kanye's upcoming project outsold his own album entitled Curtis, which would be released on the same day as Graduation. Obviously, this wouldn't be much of a competition today, but seven years ago, 50 was still holding on to musical relevance, so people seemed to care about this piffle. Hell, I even remember myself heading out to Target in hope of contributing to the impending retirement of Curtis Jackson.
Most people, myself included, forget that Hip-Hopinionated was created so I could look back on the discographies of my favorite artists and see if my money was well spent. Now obviously that goal has nearly gone to shit, as there's no possible way I could ever cover each album from every artist in the side bar and my contemporary reviews seem to generate ten times more clicks, but every once in a while I like to get back on track. For that reason, I'll pick up where I left off in the Kanye West cannon because people click on things when they see "Kanye", and honestly, he's a pretty fun dude to write about.
I'm not going to bore you with the Kanye West biographical rundown, but I have to mention the circumstances this album is most widely associated with: the sales battle with 50 Cent. (The reason I chose to even write about Graduation today is because I was listening to Animal Ambition this morning and thought about how funny this situation was) I can't even remember how this little scuffle started, but at some point in 2007, Curtis Jackson had enough of Kanye West's antics and decided to do something about it. Instead of any physical confrontation, he promised that he would retire from rapping if Kanye's upcoming project outsold his own album entitled Curtis, which would be released on the same day as Graduation. Obviously, this wouldn't be much of a competition today, but seven years ago, 50 was still holding on to musical relevance, so people seemed to care about this piffle. Hell, I even remember myself heading out to Target in hope of contributing to the impending retirement of Curtis Jackson.
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Kanye West has filled the glaring void of a hip hop villain in the public eye. I, personally, don't wish for his downfall, (he's still one of my favorite artists) but its not hard to see why so many motherfuckers hate Mr. West. Regardless of the critical acclaim Yeezus accumulated, it still feels like Kanye was just trying to piss everyone off. For the remaining fans, he tried his best to alienate them by verbally assaulting Sway, rocking confederate flag jackets, and just acting like an all around ass. (depending on how you look at it, of course) Sometimes I have to remind myself how much I like Kanye West.
I'm having a really hard time thinking of something to say about Kanye West. Not too many would argue his status as the world's most popular rapper and I'm sure you've all heard his story enough times. He may have lost his fucking mind, but there was a time where Mr. West was known exclusively for his production. Ye didn't release his debut until 2004, but everyone knew who he was well before The College Dropout. His last three albums have been controversial as hell, splitting fans opinions right down the middle. While that's till partially true here, his debut is widely regarded as one of, if not the best album he has put out. I just told you that you were already familiar with his story, but I'll tell it anyways. Kanye West is a Chicago based artist that was mostly known for his skills on the boards, but no one ever thought they would hear him rhyming over his beats. Some of my reviews may have suggested I have a disliking towards Kanye, but that's not the case. In fact, you could make a damn good argument that he's one of the top ten producers of all time. Outside of my hip hop listening, Soul and R&B is a favorite of mine, which is exactly why I've gravitated towards Ye's work. (If that last sentence came as a shocker, surprise! There might even be a top non-hip-hop albums at the end of the year) He followed the normal road of an aspiring artist, but somehow fell into the hands of Roc-A-Fella Records. If you think about it, every huge artist in today's mainstream has a so called prodigy. After Jay Z realized that Memphis Bleek was terrible, he knew it was time to find a young cat for him to roll with. I really don't want to overestimate Jigga's ability to find talents, so I'll say this was a matter of complete chance. Most likely, this was all the work of the manager at Roc-A-Fella, but regardless, everything worked out delightfully and Kanye became the next big thing. Everyone, including you, was head over heals in the Kanye-mania. You might be interested in his big car accident, but I don't have all that much to say about it. Yeah, it happened and he made a song out of it. All covered? Good. As a blogger, I'm not really supposed to show my bias towards an artist, but that ship sailed a long as time ago. It might not be the reaction you expected, but I'm actually biased in favor of The College Dropout. Since I grew up during the Kanye era, this is one of the first albums I remember seeing around stores. The giant teddy bear looked cool enough and I've ended up purchasing every Ye album since. So all you Kanye fans who were expecting a bad review, you can breathe easy for now. Remember, though, I still have to listen to the album again. I'm not going to front, it's been a long ass time since I've heard this. Who knows, this may be one of those great albums that sounds like shit. Lets hope not... 1. Intro I don't know If I ever found these to be amusing, but this is not in the least bit entertaining. That's coming from someone who sits through hundreds of these things a week. I'm pretty sure this is one of those albums that contains twenty-five skits, making it seem much longer than it actually is. Decent marketing scheme, but I'm not falling for this trickery. I am partial to short albums, so at least that's realistic. 2. We Don't Care I don't know why but I've always had it in my mind that the second song on all of Kanye's albums suck. Listening to this again, I think I know where I made this observation. The beat is technically sound for Kanye, but I wasn't entertained. For Kanye, his tales about selling drugs seem sincere, but it's not like I don't hear this shit everyday. I'm not saying this is a terrible song, but it would have served a better purpose if it was sequenced somewhere in the middle of the album. I'll stop, though. Kanye and his buddies obviously don't give a fuck, as indicated by the title. 3. Graduation Day (Feat. John Legend) Many people forget that John Legend was part of the original G.O.O.D. music crew. He may be overlooked now, but he's been there since the beginning. Anyways, this is just a glorified skit, which doesn't sit well with me. If you're going to bombard me with your attempts at being funny, at least give me a fair warning. 4. All Falls Down (Feat. Syleena Johnson) This is an album version of another original song. In a rare case, I actually enjoyed this one a lot more. The original featured vocals from Lauryn Hill, who I'm normally a fan of, but Syleena Johnson's redone vocals sound much better. If you get a chance, check out the damn video. I think you'll be happy with what you find. This song doesn't really give the album very much momentum, but it keeps it from going off the deep end. This may be foreshadowing, but I don't think this album is as good as I remember it. That's depressing. 5. I'll Fly Away Stupid skits... 6. Spaceships (Feat. GLC & Consequence) One of the more popular songs on the album and I must say it holds up a hell of a lot better than I thought it would. I actually really like this shit. I don't like GLC or any rapper of similar type, but he's pretty God damn awesome here. He sounds optimistic as hell, which was quite refreshing. Too many sad topics takes a toll on a guy, you know. Kanye was nice too, but I'm still not a fan of Consequence. Oh well, this is just what the album needed. 7. Jesus Walks (Feat. John Legend) If you can recall, this is a single that had been built up since Kanye's mixtape days. When it finally dropped, it lived up to it's self created hype. It went on to win a Grammy, which is surprising. Good things never win Grammys and this is blatantly religious. The lyrics are fairly deep, but the crazy beat is what makes the song. I tend to disagree on these things, but when people say this is one of his greatest songs, well they aren't fucking around. 8. Never Let Me Down (Feat. Jay-Z & J. Ivy) This is the song most people were anticipating whenever the tracklist came out. That's only because Kanye invited his employer onto a track. Jigga is great until the last few bars, but this starts off the long and painful process of Kanye getting murdered every time he rhymes with Hov. Its no "Diamonds From Sierra Leone", but we can all agree on who had the better performance. Also, there was an original version of this song somewhere, but it's not worth checking out. The only reason I mention it is because of how obvious it was when the beat overpowers the lyrics. 9. Get Em' High (Feat. Common & Talib Kweli) Now here's the song I've been waiting on. The star studded guest list doesn't disappoint and this song is fucking incredible. Talib's introduction is funny as hell, but Kanye is an absolute mobster in this one. Common has the worst verse, but that's to be expected. I'm a fan, but this was during a pretty bad part of his career. Just pray we never hear anything like Electric Circus again. It's far from a song ruiner, though. The best song on the album so far. 10. Workout Plan (Skit) These things just keep on getting worse. 11. The New Workout Plan What the hell is this. He was on such a roll, then this joke of a song happened. I know it was a single, but I don't know what type of person would be convinced to buy an album after hearing this. If there's a redeeming quality, the video might have been funny. I haven't seen it in ages and I might be confusing it with something else. Either way, avoid this one at all costs. 12. Slow Jamz (Feat. Twista, Jamie Foxx & Aisha Tyler) I'm not sure why Kanye was allowed to do this, but it's here. "Slow Jamz" was originally a Twista song that helped him break into the mainstream. I'm assuming everything worked out well with the two Chicago artists so I'm not worried. Kanye's appearance improves the song, while Jamie Foxx and Aisha Tyler stick with the same roles. That being said, it's not like this song was ever that good in the first place. 13. Breathe In Breathe Out (Feat. Ludacris) Another song that appeared on previous mixtapes, but this time it's Ludacris performing the hook, which is incredibly weak. The only reason this song happened is because of the two's success with "Stand Up". Ironically, Kanye would end up getting sued over the same damn song. Funny how these things work out. 14. School Spirit Skit 1 Can we at least make these things funny? I'd be fine with skits if they actually served a purpose but this is getting out of control. 15. School Spirit To this day I'm still shocked this made the final cut. The album version is censored to the point that it's inaudible. There's no unreal cursing that calls for the censoring. Instead, there was an issue with the Aretha Franklin sample. I've never understood why in the world an artist would have a problem with being sampled. Its basically the highest form of praise in rap. If you're a huge Kanye fan, you can probably find this on the internet but it's not worth it. The songs not very good in the first place. 16. School Spirit 2 I've heared this album so many damn times, but it's getting difficult not to throw my headphones at this point. 17. Lil Jimmy Skit What?!!?!? Two skits in a fucking row, this is just nonsense. 18. Two Words (Feat. Mos Def, Freeway, & The Harlem Boys Choir) This song is alright, but it gave me no reason to ever listen to it again. Another one of the five singles, this never caught my attention the way Kanye would have liked. The video looks like it was shot in Kanye's backyard, while it sounds like was produced by Puff Daddy. Juxtaposition can be funny, but it doesn't work here. Lastly, it was good hearing from Mos Def. Now all we need to do is get him on Cruel Winter. 19. Through The Wire I've always been impressed as hell at how well Kanye articulates his words with his mouth wired shut. This was released as the first single and I'm sure you know he recorded it after his car accident. The song doesn't hold up as well as I thought, but I still love it. The beat shows what Kanye was all about in the mid 2000's, while his rapping is also pretty good. Another case where I would recommend watching the video. I can be bipolar with Kanye, but I'll admit the man makes some of the best damn video. Sorry, that doesn't include "Black Skinhead". 20. Family Business Cheesy as hell, but this song is still enjoyable. It's become somewhat of a tradition for Kanye to throw in one of these songs, but that's a good thing. Surprisingly, it's one of the things he does best. All the up tempo beats and tension is brought down for a short little song for his family. Remember that you didn't already know everything about his family at this point either. 21. Last Call Whenever I see a closing track that's twelve minutes long, it's almost a gaurantee there will be some type of hidden bonus track. Thats not the case here. Kanye recycles a couple verses from his mixtapes, but that shouldn't be a problem since most of you all have never heard those songs. Our host runs through whats been going on in this life during his rise to fame. If you care about Kanye, this song will be enjoyable as hell. Thankful I fall under that category, which means I enjoyed this song quite a bit. Mostly, it was cool as hell when he flat out admitted to stealing the drums from Dr. Dre's "Xxplosive". Not the best song on the album, but a good way to close the show Rating: 3.5/5
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but The College Dropout may not be as good as you remember. Hell, I don't know if it really deserves a three and a half star rating. This disc could have been excellent, but Kanye committed errors all over the damn place. The best songs on here are great and essential to all hip hop fans, but a lot of them don't hold up at all. Skits and filler fuck up most of the album, but most of those are rookie mistakes. Kanye's debut is nowhere near where critics would like to think, but it's a good place to start. That being said, I still recommend you hear this. Through all the bullshit is five incredible songs that still rank among Kanye's best work, and for that, The College Dropout essential listening. Yeezus is finally here. Its been a huge day in hip hop but its obvious that Kanye's sixth studio album is the big one. Many fans of the genre, myself included, have been looking forward to this release since the word about the project came out. I'm not going to sit here and act like I didn't listen to the leak. I've heard the album around five time so don't tell me I haven't listened to it enough or I don't understand it.
Kanye West is a Chicago rapper/producer that's been making high profile music over the last ten years. At least for me, the biggest reason for his success is the forward thinking he has displayed over the course of five albums. Even today, no mainstream artist can really compare to the level of production on most of his songs. This thinking along with his egotistic personality has given him a fan base that will buy and love anything he puts out, regardless of overall quality. After Graduation was released and the teddy bear covers were abolished, Kanye tested his fans with most ambitious album yet, 808s & Heartbreak. While that may be one of the most influential albums of the last twenty years, it didn't sound all that great. Things worked out much better on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, his 2010 follow up album. MBDTF is arguably his most well received and critically acclaimed record, and most people, myself not included, consider it to be the man's finest hour. Sorry but nothing he makes will be as good as Late Registration, mainly because Kanye has stopped producing his entire albums and his lyrics have been less than stellar. And of course there is the media Kanye. With the 2009 VMAs being the main reason people go to, he pretty much comes off as an asshole. The Kanye we mostly see comes off as incredibly egotistic, which is reflected in most of his music. To me, his personality is somewhat genuine but I mostly see it as being over the top and his way of dealing with criticism. Through his earlier music, its easy to tell that Ye has more than a little insecurity problems. The final bit of information that I'm going to give away before track by track even starts is that Yeezus is mostly Kanye attacking his critics and airing out the problems he sees in America. The problem here is that I honestly could care less. I know that many people do and will proclaim his lyrics as visionary but it just won't happen with me. That being said, Kanye's longevity and discography allows him to make us listen to what he considers problems. I'll sit down and listen as long as there's some decent beats provided. 1. On Sight Beginning the album, Yeezus begins with a Daft Punk provided instrumental that carves out the theme that the album largely contains. I love the beat but I can't tell you how many people have used this as an example of Kanye's forward thinking. First of all, this isn't his production. Second, he completely bit Death Grip's shit through the beat and his delivery. There's a few nice lines but the majority of Kanye's lyrics are nothing short of terrible. It sounds like it was ghost written by Lil Wayne and Lil B. That being said, the instrumental still made this an enjoyable listen. 2. Black Skinhead Like most people, I first heard this track when he performed it on SNL. Now in album form, the song is equally vicious. "Black Skinhead" is especially interesting to me, as Kanye faces down on the Stereotypes he's received from other black people. Furthermore, Kanye focuses on the perception of a white woman dating a black man, saying the racists are “gon’ come and kill King Kong.” Aside from a few terrible lines this is a very good song that makes you ponder on today's racism. On an interesting side note, Lupe Fiasco has recently gone at Kanye, saying he stole the album cover idea, although he is credited as a ghost writer on this song. 3. I Am A God (Feat. God) Man, I never knew how big Kanye really was. I mean when you've got God appearing on you're shit you know you're doing something right. With that bit of sarcasm out of the way, I can tell you that this song has some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard from Kanye. He says he's a man of God, but he is a God, there's a brief conversation with Jesus somewhere in the mix. You've gotta hear this shit to believe it. Thankfully the beat is a saving grace. Ye provides a great beat through shooting synths, squeals and mushed bass. The screaming at the end only shows me that Kanye keeps Death Grips vinyls in framed glass throughout his house. 4. New Slaves (Feat. Frank Ocean) One of the first songs released to the masses, Kanye opens this song up with a few lines about the racism his mom dealt with and it eventually leads into the racism that he's dealing with now. Assuming he has personally dealt with these, Kanye vividly brings up black stereotypes. He actually sounds very passionate and he's almost screaming at one point. There's a lot going on during these lyrics, but the main thing I'd take away is Kanye revolting against stereotypes and racism. The instrumental is fairly basic, mainly relying on a soft bassline until a scrambled mack truck of a synth crashes into the song. One of my favorites from the album. 5. Hold My Liquor (Feat. Chief Keef & Justin Vernon) The fifth entree has a really great melody and some lush harmony towards the end, but the last thing is the world I needed to hear is Chief Keef's auto tuned voiced all over the damn place. Is there any fucking way we could have gotten someone else to handle this damn hook. The pulsating electronics do make this instrumental very nice, but there was no way Chief Keef's feature could have come out good. Lyrically, we find a drunk Kanye stumbling into the house of his ex in the home that he can get some ass. I liked this song a lot but you already know why its not great. 6. I'm In It Here, Kanye changes up his voice a bit and discusses every possible thing he could do to a girl in bed. Most helpful to Kanye is that all he needs is sweet and sour sauce when performing oral sex on an Asian woman. This portion of the songs is fairly slow winding but the beat changes up towards the middle and turns into a dance song. Kanye exclaims that he is in it while an unnamed guest chirps in and out during the hook. This song wasn't doing shit for me. 7. Blood On The Leaves First off, the instrumental on this thing is just fantastic. The horns are excellently places and the Nina Simone voice sample adds a nice element. The whole thing is mixed very interestingly and reminds me of something I would hear on Watch The Throne. Second, the trap part of the beat isn't that bad but that damn auto tune just is terrible. That part of the song sounds a lot like 808s & Heartbreak. One of the better songs of Heartbreak, though. Lyrically, Kanye talks about failed relationship and popping mollys. Certainly not the most traditional sounding hip hop song. 8. Guilt Trip (Feat. Kid Cudi) Why Kanye, Why? You know that I hate Kid Cudi. He doesn't even do anything on this track, couldn't we have gotten anyone better? Bring back Chief Keef, I don't fucking care. Even though this song blows because of Cudi's involvement, I was still excited to hear the vocal sample used on Cruel Summer, only they were much lower. The synths are swirling and it just feels like too much is going on. Seriously even without Cudi this still wouldn't be any good. 9. Send It Up (Feat. King L) Both Kanye and King L provide verses that can be classified from meh to good. There were a couple gems in the verse such as, "the greatest shit in the club since in the club". Unfortunately, the synths that dominate the penultimate track just come off as annoying and hurt the song. I understand that he's trying to create a noisier and more harsh sounding song, and the effort is whole heartedly appreciated. It just was kind of bland and wasn't doing much for me. 10. Bound 2 (Feat. Charlie Wilson) On what's been a back and forth album, Yeezus ends of a terrific note. The last song of the album features a pitch shifted soul sample, its got a break of direction in the middle of the track that I really like, and Kanye's lyrics are much better than most of the songs up to this point. There's a few cheesy lines but the lyrical word play and the picture he paints is just tragically romantic. He talks about buying his lover material possessions to make up for his unfaithfulness. This type of soulful production just brings something out of Kanye where he is more lyrically proficient. Right now, this is my favorite song of the album. Rating: 2.5/5 Even after another listen I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. At one point I though it was great 4 star material. In contrast it has just come off as stupid at some points and it felt more like 1 star. At the moment, 2.5 feels right but it could honestly heavily swing in the upcoming month. There are some really fantastic songs found on this thing such as "Black Skinhead", "New Slaves", and "Bound 2". Even some of the worse songs have great ideas but suffer from auto tune and terrible lyrics. These trashy and forgettable lyrics would be fine if the idea of this album was to receive radio play but I'm fairly certain Ye was trying to at least send some type of social message given the tone of most the songs. The biggest bright spot of Yeezus is that a lot of the sonic qualities of the album are very fixable. The experimental side was obviously going for a mix of underground hip hop, electronic, industrial rock, and even some noise. The result is Kanye sounding inexperienced and like he's just now testing the waters. The upside is that this inexperience will improve over time and he will eventually be able to create a very good album. If you're not buying a physical copy I suggest just buying the first half with the addition of "Bound 2" In an effort to keep a balance between old and new music, we've decided to review one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2012: Cruel Summer.
I won't blame you if you forgot, but there was a time period if Kanye West's life where he was actually focused on his musical career. Throughout his appearances at nearly every important event and relationship with Kim Kardashian, it's easy to forget this guy was once putting out quality music. Kanye took a slight break from his partying and was able to announce the group effort of G.O.O.D. Music, a group Kanye has steadily put together and consists of Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, Q-Tip, Mos Def, John Legend, Kid Cudi, and Common. Needless to say, the Internet bloggers shit themeselves before Kanye was able to release a name for the project, and basically crowned the album the best of 2012. With the star filled cast, Kanye had loads of potential during the recordings. Instead having Q-Tip or Mos Def on the album, we met a man named Chief Keef. This project had insane hype from the world of hip-hop, and with genius artist Kanye West at the helms, and a plethora of deadly mc's at his disposal how could things go wrong. With all the hype behind this album, was it able to live up? 1. To the World (Kanye West and R. Kelly) The date for the album was pushed back to the point that is was no where even near summer , this was Kanye first time addressing the world and apologizing. Kanye lets us know he doesn't care about us by sticking his middle finger to the world. The most offensive part of the song though, is how horrible it is. R. Kelly has obviously lost his mind and displays some of the worst lyrics of the album, singing,"the world is a couch, bitch I'm Rick James." Kanye's verse isn't terrible, but you won"t remember anything about it ten seconds after its over. Overall, the opening track sounds antagonistic (for no apparent reason) and starts the album off horribly. Good job 2. Clique (Kanye West, Big Sean, & Jay Z) Big Sean, who I usually can't stand, doesn't sound bad on his verse, but gets ripped apart by Jay and Kanye. Kanye sounds just as good as he did on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and flows nicely over his own beat. It wasn't hard to tell this was going to get overplayed by the radio, which made it hard give an unbiased review. Honestly, this is a pretty good song that I would much rather hear on the radio than Trinidad James. Nice recovery from the last track. 3. Mercy (Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, & 2 Chainz) At this point, you already know this song and there's not much I'm going to try to do to mold your opinion. If you're still curious, then just know I liked this song for the most part. Still, there are many problems with the track: this is exactly why I don't like Big Sean, and 2 chainz is still horrible. If Big Sean is going to continue to get the opening verses to all these songs, then this is going to be a long review. With that being said, Kanye and Pusha T sounds good and after much thought, I've decided that I do like the weird ass sample at the beginning and end. Just don't fool yourself into thinking she's saying any words. 4. New God Flow (Kanye West, Pusha T, & Ghostface Killah Another strong effort from the group. Ghostface sounds good over Kanye's beat. Ye sampled "Mighty Healthy" off ghostfaces Supreme Clientele album, which just happens to be one of my favorite Ghostface songs, so this song obviously fails in comparison. Pusha T also sounds the best he has all album and completely makes this song his bitch. Kanye's verse isnt any good and ultimately crushes the crazy momentum created to none other than Pusha T. Have no fear, Ghostface picks up the slack and lays down an incredible verse that's the best of the album. So far, this is easily the best track of the album. 5. The Morning (Raekwon, Common, Pusha T, 2 Chainz, Cyhi the Prince, Kid Cudi, & D'Banj So apparently Kanye was a big Wu-Tang fan growing up or maybe he just wanted to appeal to an older fanbase. Nevertheless, Ghostface's buddy Raekwon serves as the second wu member to be featured on the project. After a prolonged introduction, the song starts and the chef proceeds to rip up the track. Everyone's rhymes just seem to click hear and deliver another memorable track. Kanye's beat is pretty good but nothing you're going to freak over. This was a great one two punch to go with "New God Flow". 6. Cold (Feat. Dj Khaled and DJ Pharris) Whether you call this "cold" or "theraflu", its not going to change the fact that this is terrible. I feel like I've known about this song forever, and it hasn't gotten any better. If I remember correctly, this was released around the same time as "Mercy", which always overshadowed "cold". That last statement just about sums up how bad this song was, because "Mercy" was NOT a very good song. If you're still interested, the two DJs make the song much worse and kind of give this a mixtape feel. They do all they can to drag the song out as long as they can because there's not very much actual rapping going on here. I have no redeeming quality to give you. 7. Higher (The Dream, Pusha T, Ma$e, & Cocaine '80s) Having an R&B type of track has become increasingly popular among current artists today. Most hip-hop heads and fans of generic mainstream music will scold at this idea because of their reluctance to listen to anything other than our beloved genre. I for one have always enjoyed the idea of mixing two genres of music, but this song is pretty damn horrible. Pusha T and Ma$e do have actual verses but there not any good. Not to be outdone, the chorus is incredibly boring and generic. I don't care how open minded you are, I highly advise staying away from this nonsense. 8. Sin City (John Legend, Travis Barker, Teyana Taylor, Cyhi the Prince, & Malik Yusef) Holy shit this is bad. This has no reference to the city of Las Vegas , but is actually a chance to give one of the earliest members of G.O.O.D. music a chance to shine: poet Malik Yusef. I like that Kanye is trying to give the respect to his early member, but there is no way this is what he was going for. Even the likes of John Legend couldn't save this one. This album is going downhill very fast. 9. The One (Kanye West, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, & Marsha Ambrosius) Any type of hope the first half of this album gave me has been flushed down the toilet. Just look at the names on this track. This was made to get radio play, make money, and nothing else. Thankfully, Kanye's master plan didn't work out, as I've never heard this shit on the radio. (Please let me know if you have) Everyone, including the great Tity boi, sounds terrible. I'm done ranting. 10. Creepers (Kid Cudi) Kid Cudi gets a solo effort here, which I will admit is a smart move considering Scott's growing popularity. For me, Cudi has always been one of my least favorite musical acts. Sure, he's had his moments, but he also tried to pass that WZRD shit for entertainment. Here, we get an uninterested cudi song that sounds like it belonged on Man On the Moon II. Not a good song at all. I'm begging for this album to come to a close 11. Bliss (Teyana Taylor & John Legend) Kanye uses a this spot to record another R&B track. I just don't understand how the hell Teyana Taylor gets two appearances and Q-Tip and Mos Def are completely left off the album. Ugg, I am beyond frustrated right now. This song obviously never had a chance with me, but it's still bad and unmemorable. 1 track to go. 12. I Don't Like (Kanye West, Pusha T, Chief Keef, Big Sean, & Jadakiss) Kanye outdoes himself on this. After 11 tracks I wasn't expecting a good song to finish the show. I was still disappointed after this nonsense. Just as you thought the album couldn't get any worse, we all met a man named Chief Keef. I'll keep saying it, the fact that this guy made the final cut and Q-Tip didn't truly makes me think that hip-hop is dead. Everyone disappoints here and the instrumental is easily the worst on the entire album. I have no idea what was going through Kanye's mind when he signed Chief Keef, because I didn't understand a word this kid said. Maybe he bribed Kanye with a signed Kim Kardashian sex tape. Whatever it was, it got the job done as Chief Keef stars in the closing song of what is arguably the biggest album of the year. If you enjoyed this then go ahead and just buy the damn album because you obviously don't value my opinion Rating 2/5 The ONLY reason this album get two stars is because of the first 5 songs. (aside from "To the World") Trust me, I wasn't expecting anything good here and I still consider this to be a major disappointment. I don't completely fault Kanye and do acknowledge that he was trying to be innovation. I appreciate the thought but this just isn't any good. As for the rest of the G.O.O.D. music crew, you all can just stop rapping and enjoy the incredible amount of money this album made. If you're wondering whether or not to buy this then there is nothing I can do for you because I think I've made myself pretty clear. Look forward to more '90s reviews because this took a lot out of me. |