Music Banter - View Single Post - Josef K's stupid copycat thread: In which I am given albums which I will then review

Josef K · 06-28-2015, 03:09 PM

Album: Mista Thug Isolation
Artist: Lil Ugly Mane
Recommended by: Machine
Familiarity: None, but wow that is a really ugly album cover. Let's do this thing.

1. MISTA THUG ISOLATION (12th Movement): Opens with some, like, noises. I didn't think this was that kind of album, but regardless it's giving me a headache. The one droning thing is fading out a little now, so actually this is kind of cool. I wonder when the actual rapping will start though. Oh, man, this is like an actual melody that I'm hearing now. Crazy. I imagine this is what will play when the aliens beam me up. Now everything's kind of fading out. This is pretty cool as an intro but definitely a little indulgent.

2. SERIOUS ****: Leads with what I assume is the hook. I don't love it - very poppy - but the production is pretty cool. Love the percussion mixed with the sax(?). I can't really make out the lyrics, other than in the hook, but honestly I don't really listen to rap for the lyrics unless I'm listening to Aesop Rock or something. By the second verse, his flow his getting a little more interesting, but if the rapping is growing on me the production is doing the opposite. This doesn't really go anywhere and I can't help but still think of this as an introduction in the same vein as the last track. The hook is still annoying.

3. MANIAC DRUG DEALER III: I like this a little more. The rapping reminds me a little bit of "Jeopardy" by Run the Jewels, though obviously this came out first. I like the piano, and the bridge/outro is cool. Whereas the last one kind of went nowhere, I feel like this one is getting interesting... but then it ends.

4. RADIATION(LUNG POLLUTION) FT SUPA SORTAHUMAN: I like this one the best so far, I think. Production is less reliant on annoying high-pitched noises and the percussion's pretty cool again. The sax during the chorus is a little smooth for me, but I can deal. I don't love the chorus in general - I feel like it's trying to be a poppy hook like on track 2 but there just isn't much there - but, again, the verses are cool. This is nice because it's actually changing up what it's doing (around the 3-minute mark). I like the end of the song a lot, although the transition was a little awkward. I like how even with everything having seemingly changed a bunch, he still fits the same chorus in. I like it more at the end than I did earlier.

5. SLICK RICK: I hate "Treat Her Like a Prostitute". I hope that isn't a problem. Anyway I really don't like the chorus, it's repetitive enough that it's kind of annoying. This first verse is making me blush! I like the keyboard thing I hear in the second chorus. Whatever, second verse is same as the first. Honestly this song's easily my least favorite so far. It's not just casually misogynistic, it's casually misogynistic in a way that a billion other songs have been, and have done better. But, again, those arena-rock keyboard stabs are pretty cool. They can't save the song though.

6. WISHMASTER: I don't like the "whoa-whoa" in the background, but otherwise this production is really nice. Love the strings, enjoying the general atmosphere. He keeps leading with the hook, which I get sort of sick of after a while (that is, not only am I sick of this specific hook, I'm sick of the way he keeps leading with the hook). I like that he speeds up his flow on the verses, sort of different from the other stuff on here. Maybe my favorite so far, definitely would be if the hook were less annoying and if there weren't that chipmunk cheering him on.

7. ALONE AND SUFFERING(INTERLUDE): I'm assuming this is another instrumental. Pretty cool. Oh, wait, no, he (or somebody) is singing now. This is soulful and kind of nice. I appreciate the sort of delicate quality the singing has but it's jarring because the production is kind of annoying in the way it has occasionally been over the course of this album. I don't like the fade out.

8. BITCH I'M LUGUBRIOUS: Like the title a lot. Flow reminds me of Killer Mike again. Maybe I was underestimating him when I complained about misogyny earlier - maybe the album's supposed to be sort of conceptual, like about how he raps about how much he hates and devalues women, but really he's just sad and lonely (hence "alone and suffering" and "mista thug isolation"). Whatever. Anyway, this song's quite good. The chorus annoys me less than others have, and I really like the production, although he could maybe ease up on the percussion here. I really like the atmospheric sound that (I think) he's going for, but the high-pitched noises on a lot of the album, in addition to the drums here, sort of ruin it.

9. CUP FULLA BEETLEJUICE: And now we're in a haunted house. I like how this kind of builds. I definitely started out underwhelmed with this song, but it's won me over and by about two minutes I see why two of the three reviewers on the side picked it as their favorite song. For once the hook just strikes me as catchy and not annoyingly so. Maybe not my favorite so far, but definitely competing with "Radiation" and "Wishmaster" for that title.

10. BREEZEM OUT: So we start with some very '80s synth - might be sampled from something because it sounds familiar to me - but then we end up right back where we've been this whole time. Frankly if your album is going to be 18 tracks long, it should need those 18 tracks. This does not. I'm not getting anything new from this and, while I don't hate this as much as DWV, I'm really not looking forward to the next eight songs. But yeah I guess this is fine. This album's production is a little one-note and I've kind of brought up all the elements I hear: '80s-style synths, atmospheric piano/keyboards, lots of sort of tinny percussion, spoooooky stuff, random high-pitched noises (sometimes the same as the spoooooky stuff mentioned above).

11. HOEISH ASS BITCH: Not into the hook at all. The first verse is pretty good and I like how he integrates the hook a into the verse - I haven't heard him do that before and it's a decent move. I like the bridge because I'm happy to hear him do something a little more minimal, but he doesn't really go far enough. At this point I'm really sick of hearing him call this woman a bitch, not just because I sort of object to the word - I do, but it's used in a lot of music that I like, so whatever - but just because it's really annoying. Like he's sitting there writing the song and he's like "Well I can't think of anything more to say. Better repeat the title eight more times and then something will come to me for sure!"

12. MONA LISA OVERDRIVE: I don't really care for the spoken intro. This is just more of the same. At this point I might not write my impressions of the next six tracks as I go unless something really grabs my attention. Oh, wait, actually this song is growing on me a little bit. More of those '80s synths I was talking about and he again does the thing that I like where some of the instrumental drops out at the beginning of a verse.

13. TWISTIN FT. DENZEL CURRY: We're back with the sax. I like this a decent amount, I guess - it's a little different, at least - but I wouldn't listen again.

14. NO SLACK IN MY MACK: This is giving me a headache. Machine, unless you come in here and tell me that the last eighteen minutes are the best part of the album and I absolutely need to hear them, I'm done with this. (Now watch as Machine says exactly that. My torture never ends.)

15. LOOKIN 4 THA SUCKIN: n/a

16. LEAN GOT ME ****ED UP: n/a

17. THROW DEM GUNZ: n/a

18. LAST BREATH(OUTRODUCTION): n/a

Overall verdict: If it were four songs long and the hooks were (way, way) less annoying, I'd be into it. As it is, thanks but no thanks.

06-28-2015, 03:09 PM	#29 (permalink)
Josef K A Jew on a motorbike! Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 800	Album: Mista Thug Isolation Artist: Lil Ugly Mane Recommended by: Machine Familiarity: None, but wow that is a really ugly album cover. Let's do this thing. 1. MISTA THUG ISOLATION (12th Movement): Opens with some, like, noises. I didn't think this was that kind of album, but regardless it's giving me a headache. The one droning thing is fading out a little now, so actually this is kind of cool. I wonder when the actual rapping will start though. Oh, man, this is like an actual melody that I'm hearing now. Crazy. I imagine this is what will play when the aliens beam me up. Now everything's kind of fading out. This is pretty cool as an intro but definitely a little indulgent. 2. SERIOUS **: Leads with what I assume is the hook. I don't love it - very poppy - but the production is pretty cool. Love the percussion mixed with the sax(?). I can't really make out the lyrics, other than in the hook, but honestly I don't really listen to rap for the lyrics unless I'm listening to Aesop Rock or something. By the second verse, his flow his getting a little more interesting, but if the rapping is growing on me the production is doing the opposite. This doesn't really go anywhere and I can't help but still think of this as an introduction in the same vein as the last track. The hook is still annoying. 3. MANIAC DRUG DEALER III: I like this a little more. The rapping reminds me a little bit of "Jeopardy" by Run the Jewels, though obviously this came out first. I like the piano, and the bridge/outro is cool. Whereas the last one kind of went nowhere, I feel like this one is getting interesting... but then it ends. 4. RADIATION(LUNG POLLUTION) FT SUPA SORTAHUMAN: I like this one the best so far, I think. Production is less reliant on annoying high-pitched noises and the percussion's pretty cool again. The sax during the chorus is a little smooth for me, but I can deal. I don't love the chorus in general - I feel like it's trying to be a poppy hook like on track 2 but there just isn't much there - but, again, the verses are cool. This is nice because it's actually changing up what it's doing (around the 3-minute mark). I like the end of the song a lot, although the transition was a little awkward. I like how even with everything having seemingly changed a bunch, he still fits the same chorus in. I like it more at the end than I did earlier. 5. SLICK RICK: I hate "Treat Her Like a Prostitute". I hope that isn't a problem. Anyway I really don't like the chorus, it's repetitive enough that it's kind of annoying. This first verse is making me blush! I like the keyboard thing I hear in the second chorus. Whatever, second verse is same as the first. Honestly this song's easily my least favorite so far. It's not just casually misogynistic, it's casually misogynistic in a way that a billion other songs have been, and have done better. But, again, those arena-rock keyboard stabs are pretty cool. They can't save the song though. 6. WISHMASTER: I don't like the "whoa-whoa" in the background, but otherwise this production is really nice. Love the strings, enjoying the general atmosphere. He keeps leading with the hook, which I get sort of sick of after a while (that is, not only am I sick of this specific hook, I'm sick of the way he keeps leading with the hook). I like that he speeds up his flow on the verses, sort of different from the other stuff on here. Maybe my favorite so far, definitely would be if the hook were less annoying and if there weren't that chipmunk cheering him on. 7. ALONE AND SUFFERING(INTERLUDE): I'm assuming this is another instrumental. Pretty cool. Oh, wait, no, he (or somebody) is singing now. This is soulful and kind of nice. I appreciate the sort of delicate quality the singing has but it's jarring because the production is kind of annoying in the way it has occasionally been over the course of this album. I don't like the fade out. 8. BITCH I'M LUGUBRIOUS: Like the title a lot. Flow reminds me of Killer Mike again. Maybe I was underestimating him when I complained about misogyny earlier - maybe the album's supposed to be sort of conceptual, like about how he raps about how much he hates and devalues women, but really he's just sad and lonely (hence "alone and suffering" and "mista thug isolation"). Whatever. Anyway, this song's quite good. The chorus annoys me less than others have, and I really like the production, although he could maybe ease up on the percussion here. I really like the atmospheric sound that (I think) he's going for, but the high-pitched noises on a lot of the album, in addition to the drums here, sort of ruin it. 9. CUP FULLA BEETLEJUICE: And now we're in a haunted house. I like how this kind of builds. I definitely started out underwhelmed with this song, but it's won me over and by about two minutes I see why two of the three reviewers on the side picked it as their favorite song. For once the hook just strikes me as catchy and not annoyingly so. Maybe not my favorite so far, but definitely competing with "Radiation" and "Wishmaster" for that title. 10. BREEZEM OUT: So we start with some very '80s synth - might be sampled from something because it sounds familiar to me - but then we end up right back where we've been this whole time. Frankly if your album is going to be 18 tracks long, it should need those 18 tracks. This does not. I'm not getting anything new from this and, while I don't hate this as much as DWV, I'm really not looking forward to the next eight songs. But yeah I guess this is fine. This album's production is a little one-note and I've kind of brought up all the elements I hear: '80s-style synths, atmospheric piano/keyboards, lots of sort of tinny percussion, spoooooky stuff, random high-pitched noises (sometimes the same as the spoooooky stuff mentioned above). 11. HOEISH ASS BITCH*: Not into the hook at all. The first verse is pretty good and I like how he integrates the hook a into the verse - I haven't heard him do that before and it's a decent move. I like the bridge because I'm happy to hear him do something a little more minimal, but he doesn't really go far enough. At this point I'm really* sick of hearing him call this woman a bitch, not just because I sort of object to the word - I do, but it's used in a lot of music that I like, so whatever - but just because it's really annoying. Like he's sitting there writing the song and he's like "Well I can't think of anything more to say. Better repeat the title eight more times and then something will come to me for sure!" 12. MONA LISA OVERDRIVE: I don't really care for the spoken intro. This is just more of the same. At this point I might not write my impressions of the next six tracks as I go unless something really grabs my attention. Oh, wait, actually this song is growing on me a little bit. More of those '80s synths I was talking about and he again does the thing that I like where some of the instrumental drops out at the beginning of a verse. 13. TWISTIN FT. DENZEL CURRY: We're back with the sax. I like this a decent amount, I guess - it's a little different, at least - but I wouldn't listen again. 14. NO SLACK IN MY MACK: This is giving me a headache. Machine, unless you come in here and tell me that the last eighteen minutes are the best part of the album and I absolutely need to hear them, I'm done with this. (Now watch as Machine says exactly that. My torture never ends.) 15. LOOKIN 4 THA SUCKIN: n/a 16. LEAN GOT ME ED UP: n/a 17. THROW DEM GUNZ: n/a 18. LAST BREATH(OUTRODUCTION): n/a Overall verdict: If it were four songs long and the hooks were (way, way) less annoying, I'd be into it. As it is, thanks but no thanks.