I've been seeing all this talk around the internet about ranking the albums of a certain jayz. This I imagine will go down as the definitive list. I'm not going to talk about any of them because I've given this sh*t enough thought for a lifetime.
- Reasonable Doubt
- The Black Album
- The Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse
- The Blueprint
- In My Lifetime Vol 1.
- Vol 3: The Life and Times of S. Carter
- Vol 2: Hard Knock Life
- Kingdom Come
- American Gangster
- Blueprint 3
- Magna Carta Holy Grail
There's definitely a trend post kingdom come. If you're wondering, I didn't include the dynasty album because we're talking solo over here. Now I'm going to tell you how to establish what type of person someone is based on which album in jayz's ouevre they think is the best.
- Reasonable Doubt: this person is intelligent, really see's things for what they are. Has a slight tendency towards veering into self-absorption.
- Vol 1: this person has a vivid recollection of at least one "important" bottle popping experience. Does a lot of talking. Might still rock a platinum chain.
- Vol 2: this person has a hot97 tattoo. Would probably f**k dmx. Is definitely a good time.
- Vol 3: this person claims to have always been a fan of ugk. Has their life together. Other than the ugk lie.
- The Blueprint: this person also thinks college dropout is the best kanye album. Claims eminem shined more on renegades. Really disappointed in how the whole obama thing turned out.
- Blueprint 2: this person knows whats up, there's some jams on that motherf**ker, jays rapping harder than ever.
- Kingdom Come: this person actually read superman comics. Says they're "not a huge fan of music, really".
- American Gangster: this person is tripping. All the time. Not the fun kind of tripping either. Probably spent their fair share of time lining the walls at the club.
- Blueprint 3: this person never has and never will exist.
- Magna Carta: this person is hella old and yet, had never owned a rap album before.
Montreal singer/songwriter/producer (also frequent cannonhead collaborator) The Youngness, formerly NKLA, just smoke-bombed us with a new EP entitled "Black Moods". This 4 song instrumental collection showcases The Youngness's elite production range with beats that will make you do shoulder dances while deciding if today will be the day you finally launch yourself off the Jacques Cartier bridge. Montreal winters build character and more often than not that character develops a bad habit of chain-smoking cigarettes with a perma-scowl usually hidden under racks of MOOG gear. In MTL that’s what we like to call “Un bon plan d’action”. For his last official release as NKLA, The Youngness delivers a pleasantly depressing soundtrack for a cold February evening. When the sun goes down at 4pm and the only thing you can do until you go back to bed is look out the window of your filthy studio apartment and say "F**k thaaaat sh*t, I'm stayin' in and making beats".
Some songs are f**king classics even though you haven't heard of them. Partly because I'm the one who makes those kinds of decisions. Count Bass D is a weird character, a self produced rapper (out of nashville?), he dropped an album in 95 on some jazz sh*t with live instruments and all that. It sank to the bottom of the ocean and he disappeared and reappeared in the early 2000's with the diy basement vibe that was the flavor du jour. That mf doom/madlib/jaydee sensibility, where it feels like it was recorded directly to cassette tape. At some point after popping back up he dropped this song right here, produced by madlib and with dilla on the drum programming. That last part I can't confirm but goddamnit I remember that sh*t. I also recall this version being quickly replaced online by a remix that I can't seem to track down now. Then there's this third version I had never heard until two days ago but I'll be damned, it's dope too.
New york new york new york. Skinny played this the other night. This dude's name is highly googlable if you can remember how to spell it. If you can't remember how to spell it, forget about it, think of something else. I remember when cassidy was doing that battle and they had that piece of contemporary art disguised as a press conference where cassidy kept saying he was doing it for the chicken. That shit was great. I think this hook may take the crown for use of "chicken" though. You ever notice that all singing rappers can actually sing nowadays? They're more like singer/rappers, or if that phrasing strikes you as having negative implications, they're more like rapper/singers. I guess this isn't breaking news or anything, just something to think about as we all become victims of evolution.
This anderson paak interview is pretty great. Reveals the sad reality that when some people pop up out of nowhere, they're actually popping up out of somewhere, and somewhere is often a pretty sh*tty place. He doesn't get into any real nasty details but I can feel the chill of depressing stories through the screen. There's also good stuff like long sought after recognition and vindication and all that kind of sh*t. I don't know if y'all are reading cuepoint on medium.com but they got good things going on. They got this one story everyone should read by sheila e about meeting prince for the first time and her playing percussion on michael jackson's "don't stop till you get enough" and her being generally f**king awesome.
montreal montreal montreal. or vancouver? i don't know. I like this sh*t, you can hear the fuzz at the beginning. Even with all the spacey sh*t going on here, there's something really human about it all. Does the fact that it sounds like something I'd make factor into me digging this? yeah there's definitely some of that, but at least I know it nahmean.
I swear to god I ran this back at least ten times before I I got to the end. I didn't even realize there was a rap verse on that motherf**ker till just now! This sh*t is like twelve minutes long! Just floating the whole time. I'd highly suggest having the headphones on for this one.
You seen this sh*t? This is why you have to care about things and allow everything it's due consideration. I mean, college dropout didn't come out this way because this way is wrong. This way is kind of an l compared to real album. Can't lie though, I never heard this "keep the receipt" joint before. You notice at the end when odb is doing the "still making them hits" part, that at 2:58 kanye blanks out one of the labels and adds in "cashmoney"? I wonder who got the cut? I can picture odb f**ked up and saying biv10 or something*.
*check these husky college boyz work. Driving those ladies crazy maan. They start off hella shaky but they're cruuuiiising 2/3 through.