Yeezy graduates (2007)

I still kinda love this record. Even the weird date rape anthem can't stop the overall good feeling I get from Graduation: driving to the beach and flicking between 'urban' radio stations to find Good Life, smoking weed, and then jumping in a lake so cold it makes my nuts hurt for hours

The only Ye record self-conscious enough to want to belong to a context rather than a) making a new one, b) shaking an old one, or c) just doing its thing: the impact of Justice's Daft Punk revisionism exciting Ye enough to replace soul samples with dynamic electronica, and swirling baroque-rap with the simplistic/anthemic grandeur of sensitivo house-wife arena rock a la U2 or Coldplay. As such, it's the only one where you can go yeah, I remember (year) when you hear it- it's a relic more than anything. In some ways that's cool- without all the electronica found on Graduation he wouldn't have gone Low the following year, and at this stage there's introspection to go with his boasts. I mean, back in 2007 critics called his boasts playful rather than psychotic or symptomatic of HPD! But it cheapens it- blast from the past rather than fresh and alive. It even feels like a guilty pleasure! But whatever, it did its job in 2007 as a bright and creative record for pop and rap fans with a few of the year's best singles. And I still sorta love it. And I still love those singles.

Good Morning, Champion, I Wonder, Good Life, Flashing Lights, Everything I Am, The Glory

A-

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Yeezy re-upholstered my pussy

Putting this up here for the third (fourth?) time- pop event and crazy good record. By the former I mean I saw praise for this everywhere and was glad to be part of that positivity before cynics and elitists reacted to the famous 10.0 months later. By the latter, I remember bumping the shitty clean leak every day until my cd arrived in the mail- coming with more ugly pictures and accompanying video taking on Black Swan's obnoxious, nihilistic cultural vacuum, and, no shit, beating it

One of those conscious rappers happy to accept he's not an abstract observer transcending the state of things and thus describing them, but rather a product (in the beginning) and an active agent (since ages ago) in said context- intelligent enough to realize that the personal can become political when such a realization is made repeatedly clear, and so 30 something black male going introspective is an intensely emotional/personal and by extension satirical/political work, by now commonly known to be his overblown masterpiece. The lyrics, the sound, the turns, all serve to capture the love hangover: the memories, the damage it does to the ego, the lust, the highs, the lows. A very big, sad, ambitious pop record.

A+

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Clipse - Til The Casket Drops (2009)

Tony doing time for what he did to nostrils

I attribute the general belief that Til The Casket Drops is anything less than good to the written opinion of various critics and taste-makers who wanted a return to Hell Hath No Fury's hushed nihilism, but instead got a dope ass pop rap album and didn't know what to do with it. I buy it when Pusha raps the clear conscience of Pusha is long overdue and later Malice: life is with your kids watching Madagascar. I buy the way they break from detached, icy flows, and do it over decidedly big and human beats. I like the way their apathetic keys open doors mantra can either be taken as social critique a la Jay-Z, or something more saccharine, on top of what it meant back in 2006.

All that gets an 8/10. Production, lyrics, consistency, all good.

As an aside, some mention needs to be made of Yeezy's verse on Kinda Like A Big Deal. Is the part where he raps about his pyjamas and then goes on to call himself "the black Marshall meets Jay" funnier, or the part where he boasts about getting head from a retarded girl? I know he thinks he's the best and if he truly was the black Marshall meets Jay, that'd be fact (they're my favs!), but mention of pyjamas and premature ejaculation kinda seem at odds with what he's saying! I guess all that just makes it even cooler that their next collaboration would be the douchebag-off in 2010's epic Runaway.

A-

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Twinz - Conversation (1995)

1. Conversation #1 0:34

2. Round & Round 3:41

3. Good Times 3:44

4. 4 Eyes 2 Heads 3:27

5. Jump ta This 2:53

6. Eastside LB (feat. Warren G) 3:39

7. Sorry I Kept You (feat. Warren G) 3:15

8. Conversation #2 0:12

9. Journey Wit Me 3:19

10. Hollywood (feat. Jah-Skillz & Neb Love) 3:31

11. 1st Round Draft Pick (feat. Warren G) 3:48

12. Conversation #3 0:15

13. Don't Get It Twisted 3:58

14. Pass It On (feat. Foesum & Warren G)

1995 west coast album entirely produced by Warren G- what do you think it's gonna sound like? Smooth g-funk, right? Yeah, I even tagged it pop rap!

Conversation is kinda like Perfection but even more laid-back and nostalgic. I honestly can't find a flaw anywhere- although neither emcee is stand-out fantastic on the mic, they do what they need to do on Warren G's chill beats. As a review I just read points out, there's a crazy amount of sung hooks here which just adds to that feel-good vibe (I wanna fuckin' sing. Cuz I'm happy- Em)

You know what to expect but that's not a bad thing

B+

Rawse (2010)

Rick Ross spoke of his initial confusion regarding Justin Vernon's place in the studio for the creation of MBDTF and I was confused too, but not quite as confused nor surprised as Ross' effort on the album, particularly on Devil in a New Dress which is the stand out track with the stand out verse courtesy of officer ricky's charismatic low pitch talk-rap god bless the man i put this ice over *roar* so then looking back Teflon Don sounded better in retrospect and it became clear that he'd actually been sharpening up his act since 2009's Deeper Than Rap where some genius discovered that his raw voice and inability to stack creative and/or fluid rhymes actually sounded dope over lush beats, or at least that said beats should break up the monotony of hard hitting trap shit

And so we have this. A fine example of dirty south pop rap where Ross exhibits admirable quality control with his incredibly solid 11 track album. The production throughout was some of the year's best and in case anyone's scared of getting sick of Ross' style, there's 15 guests spread throughout the 11 songs, and guys like Cee Lo and Jay-Z go for emotive over intelligent or complex, suiting Rawse and the music because everything's just so dramatic

In the end, it's ignorant as expected:

Look at Haiti, children dyin' 'round the clock nigga
I sent a hundred grand but that's a decent watch nigga
I'm gettin' better 'cause it would've leased the drop nigga
I'ma get my money right just watch nigga
She had a miscarriage I couldn't cry though
'Cause you and I know she was only my side hoe

Or:

My top back, I'm circumcised
I pull it back, just to go inside

Like you think he's talking about his car, but WHAM it's actually his dick

But like an album from any genre, when it sounds this good, it should be celebrated, and Teflon Don still sounds fucking awesome. The only real problem other than its longevity is that you get the two Lex Luger tracks MC Hammer and BMF in a row, and that's just way too heavy

Upped for JC

B-

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Yeezy - 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Yeezy's saccharine robocop concept album: the heat and mind destroyed by an event, the machine required to hold things together. 808's dumb aggression sufficiently balanced by lines as achingly true as I know my destination, but I'm just not there regarding the need to, and yet seeming impossibility of, moving on

PS delete the fuck out of that bonus track. Shit goes straight self-parody

A-

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