REVISIT: Kanye West - The Life of Pablo

Before we get Kanye's new 7-track album tomorrow (hopefully), I decided to go back to The Life of Pablo.  Even though this album rollout wasn't nearly as chaotic as his current one, it was still one of the weirdest rollouts of all time.  From the constantly changing titles to drama with Wiz Khalifa to constantly pushing the date back to making it a temporary Tidal exclusive, Kanye was making his fans go insane.  If there was anything the rollout did accomplish, it was interesting and controversial, which is Kanye's bread and butter.  This album is very polarizing among fans of Kanye and music in general.  People will praise its unpredictability and say it's Kanye at his best and others will say it's inconsistent and easily Kanye at his worst.  In my opinion, this is Kanye at his most Kanye, peak Kanye if you will.

Positives

Yeezy hasn't lost a step when it comes to production and once again, it is the highlight of the album.  There's tons of help from other great producers like Mike Dean, Metro Boomin, Charlie Heat, Madlib, and others.  The production is filled to the brim with samples, which isn't surprising since Kanye is a producer who relies heavily on them.  One thing that has definitely improved over the years is Kanye's singing, which shines brightest on the album's opener "Ultralight Beam" and on"FML."  While Kanye isn't the most lyrical rapper, you are always guaranteed to hear some quotable lines that are sometimes worthy of a chuckle such as:

"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous" - One of the best lines of Kanye's career on "Famous"

"Y'all sleeping on me, huh? Had a good snooze?" - Heard on the hook of "Feedback"

"I bet me and Ray J would be friends / If we ain't love the same bitch" - The opener of his verse on "Highlights"

"When did I become A list? I wasn't even on a list" - from his verse on "No More Parties In LA"

Negatives

This album is incredibly inconsistent.  There are some great tracks on here, even some of Kanye's best ever, but you can't deny that this album drags a bit long because of so much filler.  Did we need to tack on the 2016 hit "Panda" on "Father Stretch My Hands Part 2?"  Was there any need for tracks that don't even feature Kanye like "Lowlights?"  Did we need not one, not two, but three interludes that last less than a minute and add nothing to the album?  I thought "I Love Kanye" was pretty funny, but "Frank's Track" should have been a full song and the only good thing about "Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission" was its title.  Some of these songs just drag longer than they need to like "30 Hours" and "Fade."  While I did mention that Kanye has some nice quotables, he has a lot of questionable lyrics like:

"Now, if I fuck this model / And she just bleached her asshole / And I get bleach on my T-shirt / I'ma feel like an asshole." - The infamous line on "Father Stretch My Hands"

"I know it's corny bitches you wish you could unfollow / I know it's corny niggas you wish you could unswallow" - repeated three times on "Wolves"

"You left your fridge open, somebody just took a sandwich" - an out of place line on "Wolves"

"I remember being nervous to do Victoria's Secret / 'Til I pictured everybody with they clothes off" - 30 Hours

So how were the features?

As long as you were in the studio with Kanye West, he will credit you as a writer.  I bet he's probably credited someone as a writer for delivering pizza to the studio.  My point is, Kanye likes to give everyone credit, but for some reason, none of the features are credited on Spotify.  I found the many artists featured throughout on Genius.

1) Chance The Rapper (Ultralight Beam) - He had one of the best verses on this album, but I have to nitpick just one inaccuracy.  At the beginning of his verse, Chance says "I been this way since Arthur was anteater."  I get that if you look at the early design for Arthur, you could easily mistake him for one, but he's not.  HE'S AN AARDVARK GODDAMMIT LOOK IT UP!  But seriously, what makes his verse so great is the unintentional foreshadowing of the 2017 Grammys ("He said let's do a good ass job with Chance three / I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy").

Verdict: Liked

2) Kid Cudi (Father Stretch My Hands Part 1) - I remember loving the shit out of this song two years ago, and it was mainly because of Cudi.  His chorus is absolutely amazing.  It's weird how much I love him on this because the beat doesn't sound like something that would fit Kid Cudi.

Verdict: Liked

3) Desiigner (Father Stretch My Hands Part 2/Freestyle 4) - Ah, 2016.  The year when "Panda" was ruling the charts and everyone thought Desiigner was the next big thing.  But seriously, FSMH part 2 is literally "Panda" with tacked on Kanye vocals.  However, I enjoyed his outro to "Freestyle 4."

Verdict: Invalid for "Father Stretch My Hands Part 2," Liked on "Freestlye 4"

4) Rihanna (Famous) - I wouldn't say she's the highlight of "Famous," but it wouldn't be as great as it is without her contribution.  Her chorus is short but shows some graceful singing.

Verdict: Liked

5) Young Thug (Highlights) - He didn't really do that much for his contribution, but I enjoyed his vocals on the intro for the most part.  I honestly just don't like this song.

Verdict: Ehhhh

6) Chris Brown (Waves) - "You know what this song needs?  An out of place hook sung by Chris Brown!" - Nobody

Verdict: Disliked

7) The Weeknd (FML) - I feel like Kanye could have done something more with The Weeknd considering he is only given a short chorus, but this will do.  I love The Weeknd on this song.  Hell, I love The Weeknd on every song.

Verdict: Liked

8) Ty Dolla $ign (Real Friends/Fade) - On "Real Friends," he provides a nice bridge and some background vocals, and also trades some lines with Kanye.  "Fade" obviously has the weaker feature from Dolla, mostly because "Fade" is an awful song in general.

Verdict: Liked on "Real Friends," Disliked on "Fade"

9) Sia (Wolves) - I normally like Sia's singing, but I thought she was just okay on here.  I didn't like the end of her verse where she repeated "I was too wild" six times.

Verdict: Disliked

10) Vic Mensa (Wolves) - His part surprised me.  On the bridge of this song, he sings, which is not what Vic normally does.  He sounded great.  I don't just think he was a better singer than Kanye on this track, he's probably the highlight of this track.

Verdict: Liked

11) Kendrick Lamar (No More Parties In LA) - This was one of Kendrick's best guest verses.  He had some nice flows and some amusing lines here and there.

Verdict: Liked

12) Post Malone (Fade) - He had a short contribution that only lasted 4 lines and was drenched in vocal effects.  He is still the best part of that godawful track.

Verdict: Ehhhh

13) Sampha (Saint Pablo) - The album's closer would not be nearly as good without the beautiful vocals from Sampha.  His chorus and verse immediately take over the track and it's one of the best guest appearances on this album.

Verdict: Liked

So how were the singles?

1) Famous (feat. Rihanna) - Is this one of the best Kanye West songs of all time?  I don't know, but is this one of the most memorable Kanye West songs of all time?  Definitely.  This song is one of many moments on this album where Kanye goes full Kanye, especially when he references his famous interruption of Taylor Swift at the VMAs.

Verdict: Liked

2) Real Friends (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - This was one of my favorite cuts on this album.  I already mentioned how much I like Ty Dolla $ign's contribution, but I didn't mention how much I love the production from Kanye and Boi-1da.  This was one of the songs that took a more serious tone, and I thought those were some of the better songs on here.

Verdict: Liked

3) 30 Hours - I think this song is okay but it drags on for what feels like forever.  The outro, which includes background vocals from Andre 3000, could have been much shorter.

Verdict: Ehhhh

4) No More Parties In LA (feat. Kendrick Lamar) - The co-production from Madlib is amazing on this track, and it also features one of K Dot's best verses.  You could debate for hours whether Kanye or Kendrick had the better verse, but you could just sit back and get lost in the wonderful madness that this song is.

Verdict: Liked

5) Fade (feat. Ty Dolla $ign x Post Malone) - The production from Yeezy and Rick Rubin is very groovy and includes one of the more memorable samples on here.  However, this was one of the worst songs by far.  The beat felt wasted because the lyrical contributions from Ye, Dolla, and Posty just feel like a whole lot of nothing.  The outro, which includes sampled vocals from Barbara Tucker, drags on for longer than it needs to and just gets obnoxious after hearing it a few times.

Verdict: Disliked

Favorite Tracks

1) Father Stretch My Hands Part 1 (feat. Kid Cudi) - As much as I hate the infamous bleached asshole line at the opening of Kanye's verse, I absolutely love this song.  The introduction, which samples a choir led by Pastor T.L. Barrett, sounds amazing, especially when Metro's signature tag ("If Young Metro don't trust you, I'm gon' shoot you") kicks in.  I already mentioned how much I love Cudi's hook.

2) Freestyle 4 (feat. Desiigner) - While I think Tyler, The Creator's remix is way better (It's called WHAT THE FUCK RIGHT NOW and you can find it on YouTube), this was one of my favorites on the album.  The production from Ye sounds sinister, and while his verse tends to be repetitive, he makes up for it with infectious energy.

3) FML (feat. The Weeknd) - This was easily the best of Kanye's more serious songs.  The beat isn't too memorable, but it's nice, simple, and sets the mood for the track.  I already mentioned how much I loved The Weeknd's contribution and I loved Kanye's singing in the first verse.

4) Facts (Charlie Heat Version) - This song is an absolute banger.  Charlie Heat's production combined with other contributions from Southside and Metro Boomin almost made me fall out of my chair.  This track basically serves as a diss track toward Nike and an excuse to brag about the success of the Yeezy sneaker line.  This song also includes similar flows to Drake and Future's "Jumpman."  He mentions jumping over Jumpman and how Nike had to pay LeBron a billion dollars just so he wouldn't leave them.

Least Favorite Track

Wolves (feat. Sia x Vic Mensa) - Lyrically, this was the worst song on the album.  Not only in Kanye's rapping verse does he repeat the unfollow/unswallow sequence three times, he also features an out of place line about someone leaving the fridge open and someone else stealing a sandwich.  Sia was nothing memorable and while Vic's vocals sounded great, he couldn't save this track.

I also dislike Fade, but I already mentioned that at length in the singles section.

Conclusion

I don't score my revisits, but you get the idea of whether or not I like an album.  The Life of Pablo is all over the place, containing some of Kanye's best work and some of Kanye's worst.  There's a great album in here somewhere, but Kanye clearly got too carried away with the number of tracks, and it falls short of greatness because of it.  Thank God his new album is only seven songs because I don't want another bloated Kanye project.

I don't know any other releases besides the new Ye, but I will definitely be writing some reviews over the weekend.

What am I listening to? May 2018 Report

I didn't listen to music nearly as in May 2018.  I found many great albums and tracks, but I was also very busy with some personal matters and power outages.  Despite only listening to music on 17 of the 30 days, I still got some hefty scrobbles in.  Here's what I've been listening to the most in May and my current all-time rankings:

Top 10 Artists

I have 12 artists in the picture because I have a 3-way tie at 10.  The statistics show that I've scrobbled 122 different artists throughout May.  Most of the top 10 was pretty predictable given that most of my listens this month were for new releases.

10 (tied) KYLE/Lil Yachty/Post Malone (23 scrobbles) - KYLE is up there because of Light of Mine and will probably continue to increase because of catchy songs like "Games" and "Ikuyo."  I still play plenty of songs from Lil Boat 2 since I found many tracks to enjoy from the project.  That number will continue to go up since I'm not tired of it yet.  I also have quite a few songs from Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys that I enjoy, even if I didn't think too highly on the album.

Most Played Songs

KYLE - Ikuyo (feat. 2 Chainz x Sophia Black) - 6 scrobbles

Lil Yachty - Count Me In, She Ready (feat. PnB Rock) - 8 scrobbles total

Post Malone - 92 Explorer, Spoil My Night (feat. Swae Lee) - 8 scrobbles total

7 (tied) A$AP Mob/Drake/Lil Baby (26 scrobbles) - A$AP Mob is up there because of my recent revisit to Cozy Tapes Volumes 1 and 2.  I will be replaying some of the songs from 1 and 2 this summer so that number will probably go up.  Drake is up there because I still can't stop playing his singles and probably won't stop as far as I can tell, especially with the upcoming release of Scorpion.  Lil Baby is up there thanks to the release of Harder Than Ever and the only songs I'll see myself replaying a bunch are "Yes Indeed" and "Life Goes On."

Most Played Songs

A$AP Mob - Frat Rules (feat. A$AP Rocky x Big Sean x Playboi Carti) - 2 scrobbles

Drake - Nice For What - 8 scrobbles

Lil Baby - Yes Indeed (feat. Drake) - 5 scrobbles

6) Zaytoven (27 scrobbles) - Zaytoven is up there because of the release of Trapholizay.  The scrobble numbers aren't totally accurate since according to my May 25 (and ONLY May 25) scrobbles I played every song twice, but there were a few tracks I've replayed multiple times.  I could see myself going back to that project quite a bit.

Most Played Song - Go Get the Money (feat. Rick Ross x Yo Gotti x Pusha T x T.I.) - 4 scrobbles

5) BlocBoy JB (31 scrobbles) - At the beginning of the month, he released his debut project Simi, which I did like quite a bit.  There were many songs that I enjoyed from that project that I could see myself going back to throughout the summer.

Most Played Song - Nun of Dat (feat. Lil Pump) - 4 scrobbles

4) Juice WRLD (32 scrobbles) - Juice WRLD is up there because of the release of Goodbye & Good Riddance, but also is a part of the "I played every album that released on May 25 twice" scrobblefest.  I can't stop playing "Lucid Dreams" and I do see myself going back to a few tracks from the album even though I didn't enjoy it very much.

Most Played Song - Lucid Dreams - 6 scrobbles

3) Playboi Carti (41 scrobbles) - I found a lot to enjoy about Die Lit.  I added a good portion of the album to my playlist and I don't see myself growing tired of these for a long while.

Most Played Song - Shoota (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) - 6 scrobbles

2) A$AP Rocky (52 scrobbles) - I listened to a lot of Rocky over the past week alone with my recent revisit to AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP and the release of TESTING.  However, TESTING was played twice according to last.fm, so the number isn't totally accurate, but it is a high number, to say the least.  I added a lot from both ALLA and TESTING to my rotation and see myself playing quite a bit of Rocky throughout the summer.

Most Played Song - Praise the Lord (Da Shine) [feat. Skepta] - 3 scrobbles

1) Rae Sremmurd (53 scrobbles) - Rae Sremmurd had the longest release this month thanks to making SR3MM a triple album extravaganza.  Aside from Swaecation, I found a lot to enjoy from the other 2 projects and see myself going back to a lot of the songs I added to my playlist.

Most Played Song(s) - 42, Up In My Cocina - 10 scrobbles total.

All-Time Top 10 Artists

1. Lil Uzi Vert - 628 scrobbles
2. Smokepurpp - 454 scrobbles
3. Migos - 386 scrobbles
4. Travis Scott - 294 scrobbles
5. 21 Savage - 253 scrobbles
6. Drake - 213 scrobbles
7. Lil Pump - 206 scrobbles
8. Lil Yachty - 199 scrobbles
9. Famous Dex - 181 scrobbles
10. Future/NAV/Playboi Carti - 171 scrobbles

The top 5 remained the same since my last post and there's still have a lot of room between 21 Savage and Drake.  Drake and Lil Pump switched spots because I find Drake's recent output more enjoyable than Pump's.  NAV and Playboi Carti look to leapfrog Future into the top 10 with their new releases and the songs I liked from those.

Top 10 Albums

My May scrobbles came from 196 different albums.  Most of the albums are from the past month since most of my listen-throughs are from new releases.  Again, I have no idea why last.fm decided to count all of my listens this past Friday twice, but let's pretend that it didn't and that I actually gave these albums a relisten.

9 (tied) Tee Grizzley - Activated / Post Malone - Beerbongs & Bentleys / Ski Mask The Slump God - BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI / NAV - RECKLESS (20 scrobbles) - 3 of the 4 albums were new releases and Bb&b was playing a bunch of songs that I enjoy.

8) Lil Baby - Harder Than Ever (21 scrobbles) - His album was longer than most releases at 17 tracks plus I love "Yes Indeed" so much.

6 (tied) Lil Yachty - Lil Boat 2 / BlocBoy JB - SIMI (22 scrobbles) - Like I said earlier, BlocBoy JB got a lot of scrobbles thanks to his new release and Lil Yachty got plenty thanks to the many tracks I enjoyed from Lil Boat 2.

5) Zaytoven - Trapholizay (24 scrobbles) - I listened to the album twice.

4) Juice WRLD - Goodbye & Good Riddance (27 scrobbles) - I've been listening to the singles quite a lot and I also played the album twice according to last.fm.

3) A$AP Rocky - TESTING (32 scrobbles) - That album was so good I listened to it twice.

2) Playboi Carti - Die Lit (39 scrobbles) - It's a recent release and there are numerous songs that joined my rotation.

1) Rae Sremmurd - SR3MM (46 scrobbles) - All of Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi's solo material are within those albums, and it being long did give it an advantage

All-Time Top 10 Albums

1. Lil Uzi Vert - Luv Is Rage 2 - 282 scrobbles
2. Smokepurpp - Deadstar - 264 scrobbles
3. Travis Scott - Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight - 195 scrobbles
4. Migos - Culture II - 191 scrobbles
5. Lil Yachty - Lil Boat 2 - 148 scrobbles
6. A$AP Ferg - Still Striving - 144 scrobbles
7. 21 Savage x Offset x Metro Boomin - Without Warning - 143 scrobbles
8. Playboi Carti - Playboi Carti - 129 scrobbles
9. Lil Uzi Vert - Luv Is Rage 2 Deluxe - 125 scrobbles
10. Lil Pump - Lil Pump - 120 scrobbles

The top 4 remains the same since my last post but we could see a shift within.  Migos is only 4 scrobbles behind Travis Scott and since I'm still enjoying my favorites from that album, it could get into the top 3 pretty easily.  Lil Yachty's latest project jumps 2 spots into the top 5 since I've been playing A$AP Ferg and Metro Boomin's projects less and less.

Top 10 Songs

I played 448 different songs this past month.  I didn't play individual songs too much.  I only played 13 songs more than 5 times.

8 (tied) Rae Sremmurd - 42 / Tay-K feat. Maxo Kream - I <3 My Choppa Remix / Playboi Carti - R.I.P. / Rae Sremmurd - Up In My Cocina / HoodRich Pablo Juan feat. Gucci Mane - We Don't Luv Em Remix / Lil Baby feat. Drake - Yes Indeed (5 scrobbles)

3 (tied) DJ Esco x Future - Chek / Drake - God's Plan / KYLE feat. 2 Chainz x Sophia Black - Ikuyo / Juice WRLD - Lucid Dreams / Playboi Carti feat. Lil Uzi Vert - Shoota (6 scrobbles)

1 (tied) Comethazine feat. Ugly God - Let It Eat / Drake - Nice For What (8 scrobbles) - I guess that Comethazine song was so short I didn't notice how often I played it.  It's a banger, I'd recommend it.

All-Time Top 10 Songs

1. Lil Uzi Vert feat. Playboi Carti x Offset - Of Course We Ghetto Flowers - 66 scrobbles
2. Travis Scott - sweet sweet - 65 scrobbles
3. Famous Dex feat. A$AP Rocky - Pick It Up - 61 scrobbles
4. Lil Uzi Vert - Sauce It Up - 57 scrobbles
5. 21 Savage x Offset x Metro Boomin - Mad Stalkers - 55 scrobbles
6. Ethereal feat. Playboi Carti - Beef - 54 scrobbles
7. A$AP Ferg feat. A$AP Rocky x Playboi Carti x Famous Dex x Rich The Kid - Mattress REMIX - 53 scrobbles
8. Migos - Stir Fry - 51 scrobbles
9. Rich The Kid feat. Kendrick Lamar - New Freezer - 48 scrobbles
10. Kodak Black feat. XXXTentacion - Roll In Peace - 48 scrobbles

There wasn't much change since my last post except Migos leapfrogging Rich The Kid and Kodak Black to number 8.  There still probably won't be much change until next month.  The only song I could see making its way into the top to is "God's Plan," currently tied for 15 at 45 scrobbles.

My next listening report will come at the end of June or early in July.  Tomorrow I will be revisiting The Life of Pablo by Kanye West ahead of his rumored release on Friday.

Hot Take Tuesday 5/29/2018

Welcome to the first post in a new weekly series where I'll state some opinions that could be unpopular among certain demographics.  Sometimes, the consensus of the general public or on different parts of the internet (Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc.) can be very different.  I could say something that is unpopular among one demographic but accepted among another.  The links within this post are bolded.  Anyway, let's get started with a real crowd pleaser [/s]:

We Need to Be Careful of How We Label Problematic Artists

Just so we're clear, I dislike most of 6ix9ine's music and think what he did was stupid and disgusting.  However, I refuse to call him a pedophile.  To be completely honest, people are way too quick to throw labels like "abuser," "sex offender," or "murderer" at someone who may have just made an honest mistake or deeply regret their crime and work to reform themselves.  Someone is only deserving of those labels if they have done it multiple times.  6ix9ine is not a pedophile because there was only one instance of sexual misconduct during his young life.  He admits that he didn't know the girl was 13 and while she was naked, they did not have sex.  He hasn't slept with other underage women nor has any other underage girl come forth and accuse him of sexual misconduct.  I get that it is very hard for a victim of a sex crime to come forward and report it but in order to rightfully call someone a pedo, we need more evidence of 6ix9ine doing pedophilic things.  Another example is Famous Dex.  He had actually been caught on camera beating an ex-girlfriend and has said himself that he deeply regretted it and wanted to reform himself.  People were quick to label him as a "domestic abuser" even though there was just one instance of Famous Dex being the perpetrator of abuse.  He doesn't deserve the label unless he has had multiple instances of abuse.  You know who does deserve these labels?  XXXTentacion is VERY deserving of being labeled an abuser because of the awful things he's done to multiple men and women.  There is actual hard evidence of him beating his then-pregnant ex-girlfriend, "playfully" sucker punching a woman, punching a fan in the face during a concert, beating a guy until he was unconscious and making his beaten face part of the cover of a released single, and the list just goes on and on.  R. Kelly is VERY deserving of being labeled as a sex offender because of multiple reports of his sexual crimes coming out over the past couple of decades.  Chris Brown is VERY deserving of being labeled as an abuser because he almost killed Rihanna according to the police report and even got a tattoo of Rihanna's beaten face on his neck.  Tay-K is VERY deserving of being labeled as a murderer because of the many crimes he was arrested for.  I don't have a problem with people listening to or refusing to listen to artists with disgusting criminal records.  In fact, I will admit that I listen to and enjoy some music from XXXTentacion, Tay-K, and other artists deemed problematic.  It happens to be very easy for me to separate the artist from the art they make.  What I'm trying to say is that people need to stop throwing around these labels if the artist is actually trying to reform him or her self.  Scumbags are only deserving of being called scumbags if they do scummy things regularly.

Using Autotune =/= No Talent

Many casual music listeners believe that if an artist uses autotune it means that they can't sing.  That isn't true, or at least entirely true.  Autotune is mainly used as a pitch correction tool to clean up an ugly high note.  Basically, it is meant to quickly hide flaws in one's singing.  If you're not a good singer whatsoever, autotune will make you sound even uglier.  Not too many singers can hit high notes very well and it takes A LOT of practice.  In fact, artists like T-Pain and Travis Scott only use autotune to fit a certain mood or aesthetic.  There is actual proof that T-Pain can sing without autotune.  Need another example?  Here's a video of Lil Uzi Vert singing 7am live without a backing track or autotune.  It sounds almost identical to the original song.  Autotune is not just something that can magically make anyone sing better.  In fact, I have criticised multiple artists that normally rap for how their melodic music sounds.

Trap Music Is the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Hip-Hop

In the past three years, hip-hop and rap have been absolutely exploding in popularity.  If you like following the weekly Billboard charts like me, you can see that there are more hit songs in the genre than ever.  Hip-Hop has passed Rock as the most popular genre in America, and why is that?  Because of the accessibility and appeal of trap music.  The popularity of trap music and "mumble rap" has made more fans of rap than ever before.  More and more people will trash the latest wave of hip-hop because of "trash lyrics" or "getting carried by production."  To an extent, I do agree.  I enjoy many trap artists and I am willing to admit that many of them have incredibly shallow and basic lyrics.  In fact, I'm listening to a Playboi Carti song as I type this sentence.  But as hip-hop fans, shouldn't the end goal be getting as many people to listen to and appreciate the genre as possible?  I personally think so, and if someone is curious about the artists or era of music that you think is "better," you should be willing to show them instead of being so goddamn hostile about it.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, these are my opinions.  You don't have to agree with them, and that's the beauty of music discussion.  If everyone shared the same opinion, what would be the point of debate and discussion?  Anyway, I will come out with my What am I listening to? post sometime tomorrow.

Playlist Additions 5/28/2018

I listened to a lot of albums this week so the number of songs I added to my playlist was pretty high.  From last Monday until now, here are all the songs I've added to my playlist:

1. 1017 Eskimo feat. Gucci Mane x HoodRich Pablo Juan x Yung Mal - Yeah Yeah
2. Sheck Wes - Mo Bamba
3. Wifisfuneral - Genesis
4. Gunna feat. NAV x Metro Boomin - Car Sick
5. G Herbo feat. Lil Uzi Vert - Who Run It Remix
6. A$AP Rocky - L$D
7. A$AP Rocky - Excuse Me
8. A$AP Rocky - Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 (LPFJ2)
9. A$AP Rocky feat. Lil Wayne - M'$
10. A$AP Rocky feat. Rod Stewart x Miguel x Mark Ronson - Everyday
11. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Ant x A$AP Ferg x A$AP Nast x ASAP Twelvyy x Juicy J - Yamborghini High
12. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Twelvyy x KEY - Crazy Brazy
13. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Nast x Yung Lord - Money Man
14. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Ant x Playboi Carti - London Town
15. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Ant x Lil Uzi Vert - Runner
16. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x Lil Yachty x MadeinTYO x Offset - Bachelor
17. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x Tyler, The Creator x Playboi Carti x Yung Gleesh - Telephone Calls
18. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Nast x A$AP Ant x Chief Keef x Playboi Carti - Blowin' Minds (Skateboard)
19. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Twelvyy x A$AP Ant x A$AP Nast x A$AP Ferg x Playboi Carti - Walk On Water
20. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Ferg x A$AP Twelvyy x Lil Yachty x KEY x ScHoolboy Q x Smooky MarGielaa - Bahamas
21. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x A$AP Ferg x Joey Bada$$ x Kirk Knight x Nyck Caution x Meechy Darko x Zombie Juice x A$AP Twelvyy x Playboi Carti - What Happens
22. A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky x Playboi Carti x Quavo x Lil Uzi Vert x Frank Ocean - RAF
23. Yellow Claw feat. A$AP Ferg x Creek Boyz - Fake Chanel
24. Young Nudy feat. 21 Savage - Since When
25. YG feat. 2 Chainz x Big Sean x Nicki Minaj - Big Bank
26. Denzel Curry - Percs
27. Juice WRLD - Lean Wit Me
28. Juice WRLD - I'm Still
29. Juice WRLD - Hurt Me
30. Juice WRLD - Long Gone
31. Juice WRLD - I'll Be Fine
32. Zaytoven feat. Quavo x 2 Chainz - Wake Up & Cook Up
33. Zaytoven feat. Ty Dolla $ign x Jeremih x OJ Da Juiceman - What You Think
34. Zaytoven feat. Future - Boot Up
35. Zaytoven feat. Gucci Mane x 21 Savage - East Atlanta Day
36. Zaytoven feat. Lil Uzi Vert - Strong
37. Zaytoven feat. Future - Mo Reala
38. Pusha T - If You Know You Know
39. Pusha T - The Games We Play
40. Pusha T - Santeria
41. Pusha T feat. Kanye West - What Would Meek Do?
42. A$AP Rocky feat. Moby x T.I. x Kid Cudi - A$AP Forever Remix
43. A$AP Rocky feat. FKA twigs - Fukk Sleep
44. A$AP Rocky - Buck Shots
45. A$AP Rocky feat. Juicy J - Gunz N Butter
46. A$AP Rocky - OG Beeper
47. A$AP Rocky - Kids Turned Out Fine
48. A$AP Rocky - Black Tux, White Collar
49. Anerdson .Paak - Bubblin

1-5) I added these while listening to the Most Necessary playlist on Spotify.  It's a great source if you want to look deeper into the realm of up-and-coming rappers or if you need new music to listen to.

6-22) I added all of these songs while listening to the last 3 A$AP albums for my revisit.  Some of these (L$D, Bachelor, Telephone Calls, Blowin Minds, Bahamas, What Happens, RAF) were songs I've added back, but most were new favorites.  My mini-reviews for these 3 albums are here.

23-26) These were some of the new singles that dropped this past Friday.  These were all reviewed in my last Single Reviews Post.

27-31) I added all of these songs while listening to Juice WRLD's debut project Goodbye & Good Riddance.  You can see my review here.

32-37) I added all of these songs while listening to Zaytoven's latest project Trapholizay.  I added back "Wake Up & Cook Up," which was a single he released in December of 2017.  You can see my review here.

38-41) I added all of these songs while listening to Pusha T's latest album DAYTONA.  This album surprised me and turned out to be my favorite listen so far this year.  You can see my review here.

42-48) I added all of these songs while listening to A$AP Rocky's latest album TESTING.  This album was also very enjoyable because of how predictable it was.  You can see my review here.

49) I never noticed this song until a couple days ago.  I found this song while shuffling Spotify's RapCaviar playlist.  This song reminded me that Anderson .Paak is a highly underrated, awesome artist.  I never reviewed this song when it came out and slept on it for what felt like too long.  I highly recommend listening to this song.

Best of May 2018

May was definitely the best month for music in 2018 so far.  Some of my favorite albums of 2018 were released this month.  We also got some great singles too.  This will be very long, but here are all 15 albums I listened to that I ranked this month along with the top 10 songs of May 2018 [NOTE: I counted Rae Sremmurd's triple album as 3 separate albums]:

Albums

15) NAV - Reckless

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-nav-reckless.html

Score: 3/10

While I did see improvement from NAV on this album, it was still painfully boring and generic.  His production was chill but was so chill it could probably put you to sleep.  The features were at least okay, but couldn't save the album.  While I will compliment NAV on deciding to sing with more emotion, his high-pitched autotune sounded awful.  It was a pretty shitty album overall, which was enough for me to make it the worst album of the month.

Singles

Wanted You - feat. Lil Uzi Vert [Liked]

Freshman List [Ehhhh]

Favorite Tracks

Faith - feat. Quavo

Champion - feat. Travis Scott

What I Need / Daheala Outro

Least Favorite Track

Glow Up

14) Swae Lee - Swaecation

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/playing-catch-up-in-2018.html (#15b)

Score: 3/10

Swae gave some nice melodies but didn't have enough substance to make up a whole album, even if it was as short as 9 tracks.  It was incredibly boring and almost put me to sleep.  This was definitely one of the most disappointing albums of 2018.

Singles

Hurt to Look [Disliked]

Guatemala - feat. Slim Jxmmi [Ehhhh]

Favorite Tracks

Touchscreen Navigation

Heat of the Moment

Offshore - feat. Young Thug

Least Favorite Track

Lost Angels

13) Desiigner - LOD

I didn't review this album

Score: 4/10

This was the first of many short 7-song albums from G.O.O.D. Music set to release this summer.  However, Kanye never tweeted about nor did he mention this one.  Life of Desiigner was announced in 2016 when Desiigner had a #1 single in "Panda" and was named a 2016 XXL Freshman.  He dropped a half-assed mixtape called New English and then released five singles since that never reached the success "Panda" had.  Basically, by the time G.O.O.D. Music shelved the album and killed Desiigner's hype, we finally got a surprise drop.  There were a couple songs that surprised me, but this ultimately rounds out as a generic trap album that wasn't nearly as good as his 2017 singles (which didn't make this album).  At least it was better than New English.

Favorite Tracks

Priice Tag

Tonka

LA to NY

Least Favorite Track

Destiination

12) Juice WRLD - Goodbye & Good Riddance

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-juice-wrld-goodbye-good-riddance.html

Score: 4/10

I didn't know about Juice WRLD until a couple weeks ago and after hearing "Lucid Dreams" I wanted to hear what he would do on his debut.  Aaaaaaaaaand it's the same song 15 times, including 3 skits that add nothing.  He never deviates from the same melancholic tone throughout the album.  However, there were a few enjoyable tracks, and I still think he has potential to grow as an artist.  The only way he can grow is if he changes his subject matter or at least makes an effort to improve his lyrics.

Singles

All Girls Are the Same [Ehhhh]

Lucid Dreams [Liked]

Lean Wit Me [Liked]

Favorite Tracks

I'm Still

Hurt Me

I'll Be Fine

Least Favorite Track

Used To

11) Lil Baby - Harder Than Ever

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-lil-baby-harder-than-ever.html

Score: 5/10

I liked some songs from this project, but most of them turned out to be pretty forgettable.  The beats were listenable but pretty generic.  The lyrics consist of your typical flexing.  The features did a pretty good job.  I had some fun listening to this project, but it's really a by-the-numbers trap album.

Singles

Southside [Ehhhh]

Yes Indeed - feat. Drake [Liked]

Favorite Tracks

Throwing Shade - feat. Gunna

First Class

Life Goes On - feat. Gunna x Lil Uzi Vert

Least Favorite Track

Bank - feat. Moneybagg Yo

10) Ski Mask The Slump God - Beware the Book of Eli

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-ski-mask-slump-god-beware-book.html

Score: 6/10

Following a messy rollout and a short-lived leak from Ski Mask himself, we ended up getting this project.  The project was incredibly short, rounding out at 10 tracks and 21 minutes.  Having a project this short is pretty underwhelming given the long months we waited for this.  It was enjoyable, but it being so short was what prevented it from being better.  Oh yeah, and there was also leaving off the best tracks from the leak like "With Vengeance," "SkiMeetsWorld," and "Worldwide."

Singles

DoIHaveTheSause? [Liked]

Favorite Tracks

Coolest Monkey In the Jungle - feat. SahBabii

Child's Play

Bukkake - feat. Rich The Kid

Least Favorite Track

Throwaway - feat. Ronny J

9) Zaytoven - Trapholizay

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-zaytoven-trapholizay.html

Score: 6/10

It's your standard beat tape from a trap producer.  There was great production and there were high-profile features throughout.  There's nothing more to this project than that but for the most part, I found it enjoyable.

Singles

East Atlanta Day - feat. Gucci Mane x 21 Savage [Liked]

Left Da Bank - feat. Young Dolph [Disliked]

Wake Up & Cook Up - feat. Quavo x 2 Chainz [Liked]

What You Think - feat. Ty Dolla $ign x Jeremih x OJ Da Juiceman [Ehhhh]

Go Get the Money - feat. Rick Ross x Yo Gotti x Pusha T x T.I. [Liked]

Favorite Tracks

Boot Up - feat. Future

Strong - feat. Lil Uzi Vert

Mo Reala - feat. Future

Least Favorite Track

Black Privilege - feat. Plies x Trey Songz x Trouble

8) BlocBoy JB - Simi

I didn't review this album

Score: 7/10

I never got the chance to review this project, but I absolutely loved this.  I don't think BlocBoy JB is a great rapper, but his energy and stutter flow are what make his music so enjoyable for me.  The album was 18 tracks but didn't feel long since it was only 48 minutes.  The production, which mostly came from Tay Keith, is hard as bricks.

Singles

Shoot [Ehhhh]

Look Alive - feat. Drake [Liked]

Rover 2.0 - feat. 21 Savage [Liked]

Nun of Dat - feat. Lil Pump [Liked]

Favorite Tracks

Asian Bitch - feat. Moneybagg Yo

Mamacita

No Velcro

Least Favorite Track

Feature

7) KYLE - Light of Mine

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-kyle-light-of-mine.html

Score: 7/10

KYLE's studio debut was actually quite enjoyable.  Although it's a few months late, you shouldn't count KYLE out just yet.  He shows lots of talent in his singing and rapping, along with some stellar beat selection.  KYLE is known for his bubbly personality but gets more serious with Light of Mine.  This is definitely KYLE's best project.

Singles

iSpy - feat. Lil Yachty [Liked]

To the Moon [Disliked]

Playinwitme - feat. Kehlani [Ehhhh]

Ikuyo - feat. 2 Chainz x Sophia Black [Liked]

Favorite Tracks

Games

OpenDoors - feat. Avery Wilson

iMissMe - feat. Khalid

Least Favorite Track

It's Yours

6) Slim Jxmmi - Jxmtro

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/playing-catch-up-in-2018.html (#15c)

Score: 7/10

I had changed my opinion on Jxmtro in my first On Second Thought... post but that doesn't mean I still won't rank this album highly on my month-end list.  Slim Jxmmi has energetic rapping and flows but isn't really great at making hooks.  This album ended up being very enjoyable for me.

Singles

Brxnks Truck [Liked]

Chanel - feat. Swae Lee x Pharrell Williams [Ehhhh]

Favorite Tracks

Anti-Social Smokers Club - feat. Zoe Kravitz

Cap - feat. Trouble

Changed Up

Least Favorite Track

Juggling Biddies - feat. Riff 3x

5) Tee Grizzley - Activated

I didn't review this album

Score: 7/10

I thought it could have been shorter, but I enjoyed this album quite a bit.  This is definitely a step up from Tee Grizzley's debut My Moment.  He improved on all fronts, including lyrics, storytelling, and even his beat selection.  I do think he should have varied his features a bit.  We didn't need 2 Lil Yachty features nor did we need any sort of Chris Brown feature.

Singles

Colors [Ehhhh]

Don't Even Trip - feat. Moneybagg Yo [Liked]

2 Vaults - feat. Lil Yachty [Ehhhh]

Fuck It Off - feat. Chris Brown [Disliked]

Favorite Tracks

Jettski Grizzley - feat. Lil Pump

Set the Record Straight - feat. Chris Brown

Bloodas 2 Interlude - feat. Lil Durk

Least Favorite Track

Robbin

4) A$AP Rocky - Testing

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-aap-rocky-testing.html

Score: 7/10

I just reviewed this album today.  A$AP Rocky experimented, or should I say tested, different sounds on his latest album.  While there were some inconsistencies in things like Rocky's vocals and the features, Testing showcases some fantastic flows and beats.  The unpredictability of this album was what made it such an enjoyable experience.

Favorite Tracks

A$AP Forever Remix - feat. Moby x T.I. x Kid Cudi

Buck Shots

Purity - feat. Frank Ocean

Least Favorite Track

CALLDROPS - feat. Kodak Black

3) Playboi Carti - Die Lit

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-playboi-carti-die-lit.html

Score: 7/10

I have changed my opinion since that review and I now view this album in a more positive light.  This album was non-stop bangers from front to back.  It was one of the most fun listens I've had all year.  The lyrics are still basic and sub-par at best, but that doesn't take away from how enjoyable this album is.

Favorite Tracks

RIP

Love Hurts - feat. Travis Scott

Shoota - feat. Lil Uzi Vert

Poke It Out - feat. Nicki Minaj [Yes I am aware that I had this as a least favorite before.  However, I have changed my mind, as seen in my On Second Thought... post.]

Foreign

Least Favorite Track

Fell In Luv - feat. Bryson Tiller

2) Rae Sremmurd - SR3MM

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/playing-catch-up-in-2018.html (#15a)

Score: 8/10

I originally had this album much lower, but after multiple listens, this is now my favorite of the three albums in SR3MM.  The only flaws were that half of the 9-song album was released as singles and that it was only 9 songs.  There isn't a single bad song on here, even though there were some problems in some songs like some being a verse too long or someone not switching their flow after the hook (cough cough Swae Lee cough).  Other than that, this album was a ton of fun and even has some of their best songs together.

Singles

Perplexing Pegasus [Liked]

T'd Up [Liked]

Powerglide - feat. Juicy J [Liked]

CLOSE - feat. Travis Scott [Ehhhh]

Favorite Tracks

Up In My Cocina

Buckets - feat. Future

42

Least Favorite Track

Bedtime Stories - feat. The Weeknd

1) Pusha T - Daytona

My review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-pusha-t-daytona.html

Score: 10/10

The other album I just reviewed today was probably the most enjoyable listen I've had all year.  There weren't any flaws whatsoever.  Its seven track length was perfect and left no room for filler.

Favorite Tracks

If You Know You Know

Santeria

What Would Meek Do? - feat. Kanye West

Infrared

Least Favorite Track

N/A

Songs

10) Juice WRLD - Lucid Dreams

As of right now, Juice WRLD has yet to make a better song than this.  The production from Nick Mira is absolutely amazing and the hook is an earworm.  There isn't much else to say other than that it's catchy as hell.

9) A$AP Rocky feat. Moby x T.I. x Kid Cudi - A$AP Forever Remix

If it weren't for Kid Cudi's infectious verse, I wouldn't have remotely considered this song to be on the list.  I like listening to the solo version, but I knew there was something missing, and Scott Mescudi was the missing piece.

8) Denzel Curry - Percs

Yet again, Denzel Curry came through with another hard-hitting banger.  Denzel Curry combines his clever wordplay with bassy, aggressive trap beats and speaks out against drugs such as Percocets.

7) Playboi Carti feat. Lil Uzi Vert - Shoota

The production from Maaly Raw is incredible.  The song goes from good to great when Playboi Carti starts rapping and the drums kick in.  It's very hard to pick a favorite song from Die Lit, but for now, I'm going with the only song from there to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

6) Pusha T - Infrared

This song is nonstop bars all the way through, including shots at Drake and the Lil Wayne-Birdman situation.

5) Lil Baby feat. Drake - Yes Indeed

Out of all the Lil Baby songs I've listened to, this is indeed the best one.  Drake's verse was very smooth, Wheezy's production slaps, and Lil Baby delivers his best flows and quotables (Wah, wah, wah/Bitch I'm Lil Baby).

4) Rae Sremmurd feat. Future - Buckets

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard this song.  I love the dark, muddy production so much.  I love Slim Jxmmi's flow on this track.  Future delivers one of his best guest verses.  Swae Lee even had the funniest line on the whole project (What's in my cup, that's wonderful stuff).

3) Travis Scott feat. Lil Uzi Vert x Kanye West - Watch

This is one of the best Travis Scott songs I've heard since Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight.  The beat from Pi'erre Bourne is beautiful, especially the outro after Kanye's verse.  Lil Uzi's hook is very catchy and Kanye managed to deliver an energetic verse.  The weakest part of the song is definitely Travis but he wasn't even bad.

2) Royce Da 5'9" feat. Eminem x King Green - Caterpillar

That beat will get stuck in your head.  Royce's hook and verses showed some amazing flows, but the best part of the song is definitely Eminem.  Why his recent guest verses are way better than his recent solo material is beyond me, but he murders his verse.  What keeps this song from #1 is Eminem ending his verse with too many lines related to fecal matter and this song also happens to exist in the same month as...

1) Childish Gambino - This Is America

This might just be the best song of 2018.  Gambino shows that you don't need complex lyrics to make good social commentary.  What makes this song even more memorable is the accompanying music video and the ad-libs from Young Thug, 21 Savage, and BlocBoy JB among others.

Those were what I thought of the albums I listened to and my 10 favorite songs of May 2018.  June is shaping up to be an even better month as Kanye West and Drake are both rumored to be dropping albums.  My next post will be a playlist additions post of the many songs I've added over the past week and my second What am I listening to? post.

REVIEW: A$AP Rocky - TESTING

Testing is the third studio album by A$AP Rocky.  It had been three years since his last album AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP.   I relistened to and reviewed that album on my first Revisit post.  Although he hadn't made any solo music before 2018, he didn't disappear.  He was the forefront of not one, but two A$AP Mob projects known as the Cozy Tapes series.  In late 2017, he began what would be one of the weirdest album rollouts in recent memory.  He started by putting out two singles on SoundCloud that were met with resentment from fans, saying he's selling out and moving to a more mainstream trap sound.  In late March 2018, he moved his rollout to streaming services as he released "Bad Company" with Memphis up-and-comer BlocBoy JB, which was also met with hate from fans and music critics.  The single was clearly going for mainstream appeal but didn't end up charting.  His next single, "A$AP Forever," which includes a sample from Moby, actually did chart, but was still very polarizing among fans and critics.  Little did we know, those singles were just a test.  They were in fact throwaways that didn't make the album.  Needless to say, I was excited to find out that we were mostly getting new material.

Positives

A$AP Rocky has one of the best flows in hip-hop right now, and it continues to shine here.  The album was appropriately named as A$AP Rocky experiments with, or tests out, different sounds throughout Testing.  When artists try to experiment, it can either go extremely well or extremely badly.  For the most part, A$AP Rocky executed his experimentation very well.  He uses modern hip-hop/trap beats on songs like "Fukk Sleep," "OG Beeper," and "Black Tux, White Collar."  He also uses piano-based beats like on the song "Brotha Man" and uses guitars on songs like "Purity."  Rocky's beat selection throughout this album is fantastic and very pleasing to the ears, even on the abrasive opener "Distorted Records."

Negatives

While there are parts of his experimentation on Testing that work, there are other parts that fall flat.  Let's start with the vocal effects.  Rocky has been known to use low-pitched vocal effects on songs like "Goldie" and "Wild For the Night," but he also experiments with different melodies on this album.  A$AP Rocky is far from melodic and this album only proves this statement further.  Songs like "Brotha Man" and "Changes" were brought down by Rocky's use of autotune, which ironically made him sound worse.  He also experimented with his features.  There were 9 throughout the album, and many did something that was outside of their comfort zone, which will be elaborated in the next section.

So how were the features?

A$AP Rocky had 9 other artists do verses or maybe even a different task.

1) Moby (A$AP Forever Remix) - Moby is credited for a feature on both the original single and the remix on the album.  He's credited because of the sample used, which doesn't even feature his vocals.

Verdict: Invalid

2) T.I. (A$AP Forever Remix) - He just had a spoken word intro and didn't spit any verse whatsoever.  I'm kind of glad he didn't because I don't see a rapper like T.I. fitting this beat, but I felt like his part was pointless.

Verdict: Invalid

3) Kid Cudi (A$AP Forever Remix) - If there was any artist that would fit perfectly with this beat, it would be Cudi.  You could get lost in his amazing flow and vibrant hums.

Verdict: Liked

4) FKA twigs (Fukk Sleep) - Their feature wasn't much, but she did have a short singing verse.  I didn't expect her to fit so well with the instrumental.  Those vocals sounded nice and smooth.

Verdict: Liked

5) Skepta (Praise the Lord [Da Shine]) - I liked his production on this song, but I didn't care too much for his vocal contribution.  He doesn't deviate from the flow he uses on the hook, which gets old after a few bars.

Verdict: Liked on production, Ehhhh on his verse

6) Kodak Black (CALLDROPS) - Okay, what the actual fuck was that?  I would say it was phoned in, but that's literally what his verse was.  It was recorded like it was through a phone call.  On top of having to hear speakerphone quality, unintelligible vocals, you also have to hear Kodak Black sing.  And if there's one thing Kodak Black can't do, it's sing.

Verdict: Disliked

7) Juicy J (Gunz N Butter) - How could you not let Juicy J rap on this song?  The production sounds like something he would rap over, but Rocky only has him do ad-libs that you don't even notice unless you look up the lyrics on Genius.  The sample from Project Pat and the spoken word Interlude from producer Hector Delgado were bigger contributions to the song than Juicy J.

Verdict: Invalid

8) French Montana (Brotha Man) - There is nothing less exciting than a feature from French Montana.  To make matters worse, his only contribution to the song is a chorus that he sings.  I never want to hear French Montana attempt to sing ever again.

Verdict: Disliked

9) Frank Ocean (Purity) - He was by far the best feature on the entire project.  I loved his rapping and flow throughout his verse.  He should rap more often.

Verdict: Liked

I would also like to add that there were many other uncredited features and vocals.  Diddy has uncredited vocals and ad-libs on "Tony Tone."  Playboi Carti and Smooky MarGielaa have uncredited verses on "Buck Shots."  Frank Ocean and Snoop Dogg have uncredited vocals on "Brotha Man."  And BlocBoy JB has uncredited vocals and ad-libs on "OG Beeper."

So how were the singles?

None of the singles for Testing made the album, but there was a remix to A$AP Forever that did.  However, I will talk about the two promotional singles that he put on streaming services.

1) Bad Company (feat. BlocBoy JB) - Contrary to popular belief, I like this song.  The production is very mellow and chill and I also loved the energetic verse from BlocBoy JB.  However, I didn't really like Rocky's sleepy autotuned vocals all that much.

Verdict: Liked mostly because of production and BlocBoy.

2) A$AP Forever (feat. Moby) - The solo version of this song took a few listens to grow on me.  I didn't like it at first because I thought there were too many instances of "gang" and thought the beat switch and sample were unnecessary.  However, after about three listens, this song clicked with me and led me to do a complete 180 in my opinion.

Verdict: Liked

Favorite Tracks

Even with some inconsistencies, I still managed to love many tracks from Testing.  This section was very hard for me.

1) A$AP Forever Remix (feat. Moby x T.I. x Kid Cudi) - I think this remix is way better than the original song.  It had less repeated instances of the word "gang," which was what annoyed me the most on the original.  Kid Cudi's verse was also an amazing contribution that made the song so much better.

2) Buck Shots - This was the best of the trap bangers here.  Surprisingly, A$AP Rocky is the weakest link on this track.  Playboi Carti uses a more melodic sound for his short verse, which sounded surprisingly good.  I also liked Smooky MarGielaa's melodic verse.  That was the highlight of the track.

3) Purity (feat. Frank Ocean) - What a beautiful album closer.  The guitars sounded beautiful in the production, Frank Ocean steals the show with his verse, and I loved the distorted Lauryn Hill sample.

Least Favorite Track

CALLDROPS (feat. Kodak Black) - This was an incredibly easy pick for me.  In my opinion, this song was the best example of where Rocky's experimentation fell flat.  Sure, the production gave off a nice vibe, but this song just didn't need to be on here.  I already mentioned at length earlier why Kodak Black's verse was terrible and made the song even worse.

Conclusion

This album was a bit inconsistent, but the songs that hit really hit.  I think the misses were very few and easy to overlook and the constant experimentation made for an overall enjoyable and interesting listen.

Score: 7/10

I personally don't know where to rank this album.  Maybe I'll have a better idea if I end up revisiting this.  It definitely seems like the type of album that needs extra listening.

This concludes my ninth review.  My next post will be an end of the month write-up which will be coming later tonight at the earliest.

REVIEW: Pusha T - DAYTONA

Daytona is the fourth full-length project from Pusha T.  It is one of many G.O.O.D. Music albums Kanye West has produced for this summer.  The album was originally supposed to be called King Push but that was either been scrapped or postponed to an even later date because the singles (Drug Dealers Anonymous, Circles, HGTV Freestyle) didn't take off.  Either way, it will be the first time we hear a full-length album from Pusha T in three years.

Positives

Kanye West is responsible for production throughout the album and he did a fantastic job.  There isn't a single bad beat on here.  I do not listen to Pusha T's music nor do I consider myself a fan, but I won't deny his talent.  I think he is one of the most underrated rappers today.  His hard-hitting flows and bars (even if it's mostly about cocaine) are some of the best in hip-hop right now.  There are quite a few quotables throughout the album such as:

"Cause you rappers found every way to ruin Pateks" - Subtle hit at Migos and Offset on Hard Piano

"It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin." - Not-so-subtle hit at Drake on Infrared

"The only rapper sold more dope than me was Eazy-E." - Braggodocious bars on Infrared

Negatives

I don't think there is a single negative aspect on this album.  My notes originally only had that it was too short since it's only 7 songs and 21 minutes long.  However, I think that having 7 tracks was a great idea.  Having just 7 songs leaves no room for filler and guarantees that your best content will be on the album.  Basically, there was nothing wrong with this album whatsoever.

So how were the features?

Two artists were featured on Daytona.

1) Rick Ross (Hard Piano) - I've always liked Rick Ross as a feature artist.  This was one of his best guest verses in recent memory as he showcases some amazing flows.

Verdict: Liked

2) Kanye West (What Would Meek Do?) - He starts off with a callback to his recent joke song "Lift Yourself" (WHOOPTY-WHOOP!) and actually proceeds to lay some solid bars and flows.  It wasn't too memorable of a verse but I liked it.

Verdict: Liked

Favorite Tracks

This was the hardest section of the review because every track was great.

1) If You Know You Know - I thought this was a great way to start the album.  I loved how he didn't let the beat ride to start the album and just started rapping instead.  I also found his hook to be very catchy.

2) Santeria - This song probably had my favorite beat on the album.  This was also where Pusha's flow sounded best.  I thought 070 Shake's vocals for the chorus was a nice touch.

3) What Would Meek Do? (feat. Kanye West) - This was my favorite song overall.  The lyrics didn't relate too much to Meek Mill's case like I thought, but I thought this was great regardless.  There was no hook, just two and a half minutes of spitting from Pusha and Kanye about how they would respond to shit-talking.

4) Infrared - This was an amazing outro.  No hook, no hard-hitting production, just three minutes of non-stop bars from Pusha.  You got clever brag bars, shots at Drake, and commentary on the Lil Wayne-Birdman situation.  Easily the best song, lyrically.

Least Favorite Track

I usually find one or two tracks that I didn't like on my favorite albums, but I don't think there was a single track that I disliked or didn't care for.  So no track will be featured in this section.

Conclusion

This was such a great listening experience.  There was no filler, no bad moment, or a boring stretch. It's safe to say that this is the best album of the year so far.

Score: 10/10

The only other Pusha T album I've listened to was My Name Is My Name but I think this is definitely his best project.  I'm looking forward to the other G.O.O.D. Music albums Kanye has in store for us.

This concludes my eighth review.  I still have to write up a review for Testing and do my end of the month write-up, which will both be up by the end of today or early tomorrow.

REVIEW: Zaytoven - Trapholizay

Trapholizay is one of countless other projects by or involving Zaytoven.  Zaytoven has been a household name in hip-hop and trap music as he has provided beats for artists like Gucci Mane, Migos, Future, and many others.  In my opinion, he is one of the best producers currently making beats.  Trapholizay is the follow-up to his 2017 mixtape Trapping Made It Happen and a collaborative project with Waka Flocka Flame and Big Bank called The Brick House Boyz.  The singles leading up to this project and the features were very interesting and worth checking out.

Positives

As expected, the beats on this project are stellar.  While there are a couple songs where he co-produced with Metro Boomin (Back On It) and DJ Mustard (Show It), the best beats on the album are from Zaytoven himself.  I also think the strongest part of the album is the last third (tracks 9-12), which showcases two tracks with Future (Boot Up and Mo Reala), a track with Lil Uzi Vert (Strong), and a song with Gucci Mane and 21 Savage (East Atlanta Day).

Negatives

The main thing that brings this project down are the hooks.  While some are enjoyable, there are many hooks that are too repetitive like "Left Da Bank," "Wake Up & Cook Up," and "Boot Up."  You also have songs with hooks that are downright grating like "Black Privilege" and "Show It."  I also got tired of the high-pitch "Zaytoven" tag by the halfway point of this project.

So how were the features?

Just a warning, this album is made up entirely of features.  There were 20 different artists on here so this will be long.

1) Gucci Mane (Intro/East Atlanta Day) - On the intro, it's mainly a speech where Gucci Mane praises Zaytoven and (rightfully) refers to him as a legend.  On "East Atlanta Day," he gives a repetitive, but catchy hook and also flows very well on his verse.

Verdict: Invalid for the Intro, Liked on East Atlanta Day

2) Young Dolph (Left Da Bank) - His hook is insanely repetitive and his verses, while decent, don't do much to save the track.

Verdict: Ehhhh

3) Rick Ross (Go Get the Money) - I liked his hook, even though it consists of Rozay rhyming machine with machine over and over again.  It's kind of catchy.

Verdict: Liked

4) Yo Gotti (Go Get the Money) - He easily has the weakest verse on that song mostly because of his voice.  However, I do like his flow.

Verdict: Ehhhh

5) Pusha T (Go Get the Money) - I thought he had the strongest verse on that song and his flow sounded amazing.

Verdict: Liked

6) T.I. (Go Get the Money/Show It) - As for "Go Get the Money," I thought his verse started very slurred but got better as it went on.  I didn't care for "Show It," and I hated his hook.  His verse doesn't do much to save that song.

Verdict: Liked on Go Get the Money, Disliked on Show It

7) Quavo (Wake Up & Cook Up) - Most of his hook just consisted of him repeating the song title, which can be catchy after a few listens, but also annoying to others.  I also think Quavo spat one of his better verses on this song.

Verdict: Liked

8) 2 Chainz (Wake Up & Cook Up) - He delivers an amazing flow and an overall great feature verse.  What else is new?

Verdict: Liked

9) Offset (Back On It/Show It) - On "Back On It," I thought his flow was great as always and I thought his hook was decent.  What brought him down was the autotune.  I have no idea why he was credited as a feature on "Show It."  He doesn't contribute much but is credited for ad-libs on T.I.'s verse, which you can barely hear in the background.

Verdict: Ehhhh on Back On It, Invalid for Show It

10) Young Scooter (Back On It) - He was okay, not great but not terrible.

Verdict: Ehhhh

11) Ty Dolla $ign (What You Think) - I think Ty Dolla $ign is an underrated feature artist and I love the verse and hook on this track.

Verdict: Liked

12) Jeremih (What You Think) - His verse grew on me.  I didn't like the way the autotune made him sound at first but I thought he did a good job.

Verdict: Liked

13) OJ Da Juiceman (What You Think) - What was he doing on this track?  He doesn't fit the mood whatsoever and is out of place on a track with two other auto-crooners.

Verdict: Disliked

14) Plies (Black Privilege) - He delivers an annoying verse where he rhymes me with me, homie with homie, baby with baby, and now with now.  I also hate the way he says the word baby.

Verdict: Disliked

15) Trey Songz (Black Privilege) - His hook was the worst part of the track and made it the worst song on the entire project.  His bridge towards the end was pretty decent but doesn't make up for the awful hook.

Verdict: Disliked

16) Trouble (Black Privilege) - He was probably the one redeeming quality of this song, but that doesn't say much.  His verse starts out strong but gets worse as it goes on.

Verdict: Ehhhh

17) Kodak Black (Show It) - His verse sounded okay but was unintentional comedy.  Most of his verse ended with words like "lilly-dilly," "piggly-willys," "dealie," and "wheelies."

Verdict: Somewhere between Disliked and Ehhhh

18) Future (Boot Up/Mo Reala) - Of his two solo tracks, "Boot Up" was the weaker of the two because of the repetitive hook.  However, his verses are strong enough to make up for it.  The closer, "Mo Reala," is the better of the two.  The hook sounds better and Future conveys more emotion on that track.

Verdict: Between Ehhhh and Liked for Boot Up, Liked on Mo Reala

19) 21 Savage (East Atlanta Day) - I honestly think he outrapped Gucci on this track.  He delivers a great verse with nice flows.

Verdict: Liked

20) Lil Uzi Vert (Strong) - I love the tracks that Uzi and Zaytoven make together.  The song "Birds" was the best song on Trapping Made It Happen.  The production is very spacey and his voice fits the track very nicely.

Verdict: Liked

So how were the singles?

Zaytoven dropped 5 singles for Trapholizay, 3 of them in 2017 before other projects.

1) East Atlanta Day (feat. Gucci Mane x 21 Savage) - I think this was the best single.  It has one of my favorite beats on the entire project and both artists do a great job here.

Verdict: Liked

2) Left Da Bank (feat. Young Dolph) - This was the worst single.  Dolph's hook was boring and his verses were okay at best.  This also had one of the weaker beats on this mixtape.

Verdict: Disliked

3) Wake Up & Cook Up (feat. Quavo x 2 Chainz) - I think this song is a good banger, but the hook is pretty repetitive.  It's not a big issue as the production and both verses are pretty strong.

Verdict: Liked

4) What You Think (feat. Ty Dolla $ign x Jeremih x OJ Da Juiceman) - The beat is nice, but the features were inconsistent.  This song would also be way better without OJ Da Juiceman, who feels out of place.

Verdict: Ehhhh

5) Go Get the Money (feat. Rick Ross x Yo Gotti x Pusha T x T.I.) - I already reviewed this single in my first Single Reviews post a couple weeks ago.  It's a certified dinger.

Verdict: Liked

Favorite Tracks

Since almost half of the album was released as singles, there weren't too many to choose from.

1) Boot Up (feat. Future) - I thought the hook was a bit repetitive, but Future does a good job on the verses.

2) Strong (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) - Once again, the song with Lil Uzi is the best song on the project.  The spacey production compliments Uzi's voice and flows so well.

3) Mo Reala (feat. Future) - Like I said before, this was the better of the Future tracks.  In addition to what I already said about Future, I love the piano keys on this track.  They sound amazing.

Least Favorite Track

Black Privilege (feat. Plies x Trey Songz x Trouble) - This track was offensively awful.  Trey Songz's hook sets the tone of what you are about to hear as it's so bad it makes you question why you chose to listen to it.  Trouble and Plies don't do much to save this track either, leaving barely any room for redeeming qualities.

Conclusion

The singles obviously carry a lot of weight, but I found this project to be very enjoyable.  Zaytoven's production throughout made this project very interesting and fun.

Score: 6/10

There aren't too many songs outside of the singles to write home about, but it's a decent project nonetheless.  I haven't listened to all of Zaytoven's projects, but I liked this better than Trapping Made It Happen.

This concludes my seventh review.  I have two more reviews and an end of the month write-up on the way, which should all be out by tomorrow.