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Originally Posted by Mankycaaant
There's no way Ice Cube and Kendrick's stories are similar. Ice Cube was a gimmick, he was the Rick Ross of his time albeit with far superior skills, but there was little truth in his stories. Kendrick's honest and comes across as self effacing.
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Maybe Ice Cube wasn't telling it from an entirely honest background - which i guess would be involved with gang activity even though he's from South Central - but i wouldn't say he was as deceptive or whack as Rick Ross because his lyrics still had real value. Ross is all bragadaccio and nothing else. Cube told real stories about situations people might actually find themselves in, as opposed to boasting about how drug selling put him in a nice car. While there may not have been as much "self effacing" - even though the whole first track indulges in how much he wants some hood rat, and "Poetic Justice" is him whining to that girl again and being heartbroke and ****, and "Backseat Freestyle"? Not self effacing? and also the whole story is about things that he's doing.
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The production's boring? You're kidding me, in my eyes the layering and depth of the production is some of the finest we've been treated to in recent times. There are sounds inside of sounds and everything comes perfectly together, nothing's overbearing, nothing's minimalistic, as Radiohead said everything's in it's right place.
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It has highlights - "Art of Peer Pressure" is actually pretty minimal and has a nice sound - but the main reason this thing is hailed is because it sounds crisp, which is nice, but it doesn't try anything new, it's mostly either trap or g funk, and neither are done at their best. The only two that really transcend this trend are "Art of Peer Pressure" or "Money Trees." I just don't see how this gets such praise on production when (oh yeah i'm going there again) someone like Tyler makes a really distinct sound, or at least tries something that hasn't seen much light, and everyone forgets about it.
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I liked Channel ORANGE as well, but it's went the opposite way with me over time (Initially loved it, went to just liking it) I mean aside from the sublime Pyramids which is far and away the greatest individual track of last year, Lost and Pink Matter -mainly Andre 3k's verse- ; the rest is good, but not great. Do you honestly believe that Super Rich Kids is more lyrically engaging and tells a better story than Money Trees. Or that Sweet Life resonates more with you on a level of relevance and relatability in terms of storytelling and narrative than Swimming Pools? I struggle to believe that.
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Well, the production is a lot more interesting, it's just as crisp, a lot more varied, and oftentimes more experimental, especially as far as R&B is concerned. It jumps across time periods and genres, and does it seamlessly. "SRK" is definitely more engaging since he's not tossing off corny Halle Berry references or "ya bish," as well as the same god damned "rags to riches" hopes that I've heard since the fu
cking 80s. "SRK" tries a new perspective, and its humorous. Seriously, "Money Trees" is so old and played out in its narrative that it might as well be in black and white, it's completely devoid of color. How exactly is that engaging?
Also, if you want to talk about "self effacing," "Sweet Life" is nothing but observations of another person's life. It's interesting to hear how someone else lives, instead of hearing something that's turned from archetype to cliche. "Swimming Pools" is a really played out song, even if it's about the dangers of liquor and alcoholism and the party life and all that good stuff, but the hooks is so corny and the production so wishy washy that i just can't get down to it. "Sweet Life," on the other hand, has such a loose, jazzy vibe that I don't
have to relate to it in my own life - Frank creates such an evocative atmosphere that i feel like I'm dropping in on that world and he's guiding me.
It is an extremely popular genre, but I don't think it's gained a real critical grounding, nor do I see a lot of people in this community (MB as a whole) getting down to it. Maybe I spoke a little rashly, but I mean in a universal sense,
Channel Orange didn't get nearly the attention of most rock records or even Hip Hop records. He did play at the grammies, though, so i guess that counts for something (even though he had to share that pleasure with Fun. gross).
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The Grizzly Bear album doesn't do much to me, I don't find it particularly engaging and I'm not a big fan of the pretentious indie scene.
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Hey hey whoa whoa whoa. Ok. I thought it was really interesting, I guess it's got pretention in the way that Prog does, but I thought it had a really interesting mystique as well as an enticing narrative, plus it sounded great, but that's just me.
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As for Neil Young I haven't listened to any of his stuff since Harvest, so I can't comment.
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Harvest, really? Gross dude, go listen to
Zuma or
On the Beach or
Freedom for godssakes. Also, his new one,
Psychedelic Pill is good, if you can get past the twenty five minute intro song.
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Also, AC is who, my mind's gone blank.
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Animal Collective, you're probably not too keen on them either, just a guess, if you are cool though.
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Perhaps, in retrospect you just don't relate to Kendrick the way I do, perhaps he doesn't speak to me and thus you feel less of an emotional attachment to the album, just in the way that A Nation of Millions doesn't speak to me. But I don't get where people are getting 'boring' from, it's far from it. I think 'boring' is just a cop out answer to be honest.
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On the bolded, I think you meant you, so I'll answer it thusly. I think you may be right there to an extent, it doesn't really enthrall me like I would say
Channel Orange did, because a lot of the songs on that album really get me. But I actually do find it boring, because in my hip hop i like a lyricist that can really turn a phrase, is evocative, or can tell a really enticing story, either for how unique it is as a story or in its telling, and I seriously feel like Kendrick does none of this - the best thing he has is his versatility with the flow of his rap, i.e. delivery, pace, rhyme schemes, and so on. People think I'm crazy for this too, but that's the exact same way I feel about Eminem, with the exception of a couple songs. Just show me your favorite verse from him, and I'll seriously take it into consideration, but so far he seems fairly unoriginal and pretty bland to me.