The Best Producer Alive?

Alright. Alright.

No matter how hard it is for me to say this, Kanye did it again.

Wait, before you call me a jockrider and a flip-flopper by me saying he did it again, I mean that he was able to convey and achieve what he wanted to do with this album musically. I still dislike "Love Lockdown." I still think his lyrics (which are notoriously known for being simple and gimmicky) are sub-par. But let's get one thing straight.

THIS IS A POP ALBUM.

There is no hip hop. There is no rap. Yes, this might be a pop album written from the perspective of a hustler, but isn't that the point? This type of music has been done before by distorting voice, using synth and echo (Kate Havnevik, Imogen Heap etc). But never has it been so dramatic, infusing disco and African-rhythms. He has some of the best rappers on the Earth in Jeezy and Wayne come in and buy into it. But most of all, he is able to paint a picture with this album. His lyrics don't necessarily have to be that great, because it feels like he's just talking to us on this record and because singing is such an emotional mode of communication, he wanted us to hear every single word this time round. And we do...but more about pacing later.

We've all played pariah to the bevy of emotional altercations and situations Kanye has gone through this year. He lives his life in front of cameras and perhaps he knows thats why we could understand this record. In many Kanye tries to make this album sound as sparse and shallow as possible, but the sonic layerings end up pretty complex starting with the anthem-like "Say You Will." This song almost gives you feeling of a dirge-type setting with the choir singing over the simple drum pattern over the fx effects giving the resonance of rain falling in a pitter patter pattern.

This can act as a positive and then as a negative for the track, "Robocop." Robocop is bloated as fuck and it frustrates me. This could have been a great song, but what makes this album great is the suble balance between vocal track and instrumental track. His voice is already weak and during some of the softer moments, it plays to his advantage because the fragility works for him. Him trying to sing over Robotic sounds mixed with the robust synths and strings just doesn't work at all. The instrumental is interesting, but the vocal track is a waste. Plus it sounds like something out of Hans Christian Anderson's B-sides and Kanye rambles about nothing towards the end. "Stop, Drop, Roll, Pop/Bitch I'm cold/I, take that go/Throw that bow/Oh, that was slow, that can go/That you know, took em' to the back, you know/Back in the flo' and went back in the door/back in the door."

As odd as Robocop seems to be in the album, some of the pacing and order is a bit intriguing. One of the standout tracks, "Amazing" featuring Young Jeezy almost divides itself in half as Kanye sings one of the more celebratory, Kanye-ish tracks on the album. The second half features a lively, entertaining Jeezy and adds a decent sprinkle of swagger (over his trademark sample, "yeah" that was manipulated to make him sound more like the Cookie Monster than himself) to the track as a whole. It's "amazing" that these tracks can sound so good even though he sounds more like Kermit than Kanye at points. Also embedded in this track are these avian/animal cries that seems to be peppered through the album as a whole. Consciously this might not do anything, but subconsciously it definitely adds to this natural, organic theme of heartbreak steadily taking hold from begining to end. Heartbreak is so ethereal and penetrating that the wild screams of animals are the screams that is ringing in his head from his heart and soul. My theory on this album is that he is trying to create a soundscape for his soul and thoughts. And everything incorporated in these songs are the manifestation of everything he feels inside. His success in doing it are the reasons I think he is the best producer alive right now.

This urban, toe-tapping, thumper-of-a-track flows into the 80s, disco-y track "Paranoid" feat. Mr. Hudson. This is definitely the club banger of the album. It definitely harkens a weird mix between Michael Jackson's Thriller/ABBA's Dancing Queen/John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever/M83's Saturdays = Youth. Its melody is so infectious I had to play the track at least four times before I could move on.

Anyways, this album is nothing special lyrically, but the production value on over half the tracks are genius. "Welcome to Heartbreak" beautifully uses piano, cello, and synth drums to create this brooding, urban banger while the strings turn "See You In My Nightmares" into a lush, stylished arena-sized pop ballad. The secret factor to the success of this album will go to the drum effect he uses throughout this album. Partway through I was expecting to hear Nick Cannon yell "Drumline." Chalk it up to the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine. The shit is classic. This is used especially well in the album's last track, "Coldest Winter," as it turns this tribute to his mother into a forceful, pop hit that really ends the album in a bittersweet moment. Mr. West can do a lot, but it may be too much to convert hip-hop heads towards his corner on this one, but he converted me.

"I'm a monster
I'm a maven
I know this world a changin'
Never gave in
Never gave up
I'm the only thing I'm afraid of." - Kanye in Amazing...

8.0/10

Best Tracks - Say You Will, Amazing, Paranoid, Coldest Winter


This. Is. Truth.

Stale Paper Trail

Ever since King dropped, I have been a staunch TI supporter. Why? Straight outta the bloated "Swagga Like Us" joint, TI says, "Sell alotta records I respect and salute that/but spitting real life on hot beats I'm the truth at." He leaves it up to Lupe and Weezy for the wordplay. He leaves the double entendres at the door. He focuses on what is going on in his life and in his streets. There is a gritty, dark underlining manner that demands attention. Yet, TI has the knack of spitting a hook which, to his credit, gives his songs a radio-friendly disposition.

In King there was a certain bravado that youth carries as a bedside partner. Completely accurate and justified that this man was making street bangers, "What You Know," "Why You Wanna," and "Top Back." While there may have been pressure for his next release, TI vs TIP, he did a great job culminating an album that really captured a ton of energy (credit: Just Blaze and Wyclef Jean). TI was taking a chance making a metaphorical album conveying his inner struggle with his present and past. It was deep and it worked. And once again, he found a way to bring us closer to who he is. It was in this album that you could hear his doubt in what he was doing in the street, while trying to justify his actions.

Enter Paper Trail.

The album may be a God bless to all of his fans considering the circumstances. Busted for a weapons charge, TI should have gone away for a long time. Without going through the rumor mill for why it didn't happen, he got away with house arrest. So in his home studio, he prepared for the appropriately titled, Paper Trail. That being because this was the first album since his mainstream success that he actually wrote the lyrics down on paper for modification and reworking later. I can honestly say after plenty of listens, this albums sounds minimally better lyrically than any other TI album.

In his second released single, "Whatever You Like," TI offers a humiliating display of word choice, ultimately warning listeners that this may be his most superficial album. "Stacks on decks/Patron on ice/We can pop bottles all night/And baby, you can have whatever you like/I said, you can have whatever you like," crudely sings the chorus. This attempt at a sexual love song slightly mirrors Weezy's tactics for dropping the explicit "Lollipop" first, only Static Major's textured sound juxtaposed with Weezy's oddities made it refreshing and not cliched. It's tracks like this that are sandwiched between tracks like "Live Your Life" and "No Matter What" that make the track lineup slightly hypocritical.

TI doesn't come through as clear on this album as others. He's conflicted. At the end of "Ready for Whatever," the beat dies down and a exposed TI goes into his marred history saying, "True enough I was dead wrong/I broke the law and deserved to be punished/I understand that/But listen I have a house full of kids/A mama and an old lady who's life is in my responsibility.../In order to understand my training of thought/You have to put yourself in my position/You can't expect me to think like you/Cause my life ain't like yours." While the honesty serves its purpose for this track, you start to pick up that he is caught between his apologies and his justifications.

True enough, that cerebral cut flows into the frentic, upbeat "On Top of the World" feat. Ludacris. Lyrically, this is the strongest track on the album, partially because of Ludacris who unleashes his knack for finishing each line with a punch. Not to mention that this collaboration puts an end to a feud that has rivaled the Jay/Nas beef. Surprising chemistry. But in terms of the album's flow and context, it is another head-scratcher in its placement. This album is a bit of a rollercoaster in its reflective, apologetic moments sitting next to its bratty, egotistical moments sitting next to its ballad, love-addled moments.

While I have my quaffs about the album, the first half is filled with sure fire crowd-pleasers with its highlight being Just Blaze-produced, "Live Your Life." The energy comes screaming out from the offset of the hook. Rihanna was the perfect choice as her voice injects a subtle strength that sends this track into high favor. X-factor? The sample of "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone still brings a tiny smile to my face. The audacity and brilliance of Just Blaze goes unnoticed sometimes. Not this time. He produces the strongest track on the album.

From there however, it gets confusing. "My Life, Your Entertainment" furthers the theme that hip hop is killing him while his saving grace as well, and the producer Drumma Boy did well giving Usher a nice backdrop for his usual, syrupy delivery. After that is the laughable track, "Porn Star" and the transparent Swizz Beat-produced anthem, "Swing Ya Rag." I understand why he put "Swagga Like Us" in the last quarter of his album. There is really no reason to finish the album if not for the West made banger or "Every Chance I Get." On that track, TI comes shining through lyrically and smashes the beat the pieces. It's no coincidence that his swagger is no stronger than on this track. The contemplative nature is thrown out from the beginning and he can sound no better, however even the duet with Timberlake (which was actually produced by Timberlake and Rob Knox) can't save the last bit of the album from mediocrity. The problem is Justin shopped a Justin track to TI. After a whole album of ATL-molded trap music, the album's ender sounds like a B-side to Future Sex/Love Sounds.

TI tries as hard as he can to hammer the point in the summation. "That part of me left yesterday/the heart of me is strong today/No regrets I'm blessed to say/the old me dead and gone away." That would be fine if that weren't what the last album were about. Well the song would be fine without the goofy bridge that speeds the track up just have to flow back into its lurching pace. Anyways, although the message mirrors past albums, the confusion personifies itself all the way through this album. From the shifty track listing to his colloquial speech, TI successfully let us in again, only this time he couldn't control the art. The art controlled him. He fell into his own wallowing in some tracks ("Ready for Whatever and "No Matter What") and then tried to compensate for it with rap cliched nonsense ("Whatever You Like" and "Swing Ya Rag").

The point is that as far as the mainstream rap game is concerned, Weezy Baby still owns the year's best rap record. And I'm sure the sales will still favor Wayne after the dust settles. TI still offers more of an array than most rappers, but failed to top his previous efforts with this album. Ultimately, it is forgettable. And for that there is no paper trail.


Best Tracks - Live Your Life, I'm Illy, On Top of The World, Every Chance I Get

6.1/10


This. Is. Truth.

Hip Hop Ain't Dead Yet...

Oh. My. God.

The US Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

63 years later, four men on hands and knees push hurried breath into the rotting corpse that is hip-hop. Taking turns, each turns the pale, blue body to a healthy hue. Lately, there have been few hip-hop albums that generate excitement and been met with critical approval. The last four, arguably:

Tha Carter III, Graduation, American Gangster, TI vs. TIP

And as I woke up this morning, the four titans of wordplay, the four princes of double-endentres, the four kings of rap, the four horseman that can alone save hip-hop marked their beginning.

One song. One verse apiece. Devastating on their own accords.

Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I. teamed up to make one of the most unique, infectious hip-hop tunes of the year, "Swagga Like Us." For those that scream out debates over which rapper destroyed the track best is forgetting the point. These are the highest selling foursome in the last year teaming up to tackle the raging apathy that has struck the music populace.

The debate is pure fuel to what they are trying to do, infect the scene with fire. It, sadly, is up to cheap ploys like this to get people's attention. But I suppose if you want to get some attention, this isn't a bad way to do it.

"No one on the corner has swagga like us," serates through the track over and over again. The sample of MIA from "Paper Planes" sounds fresh, but the synths weight the track down so the subtle nuances are near non-existent to void. I could do without the rockets taking off after every verse. I wish it would have had a grittier feel instead of the polished gleam that oozes from the production, but that perhaps is more telling than the lyrics.

These men are at the top of the game. There is no hustle. There is no hunger. You can feel their bloated bellies sucking all the wind out of the quips. That being said, it is Jay, Kanyeeze, The self-proclaimed best rapper in the world, and Mr. TIP.

After the disappointing offerings from The Game and Young Jeezy, Paper Trail and Blueprint 3 might be the most important albums of each of their careers. Graduation set Kanye's legend. Jay has been on the downward spiral - who would've thought one of the best of all time would need a solid album to cement his purpose in the music scene? And T.I. could come through as the hip-hop hero uniting fan boys and critics like no one else can.

This song will no doubt be chopped and screwed to several verses that will ultimately be better, but there is no bigger draw than these four names at the moment. Cop and it and bounce to it a couple of times.

Check out Paper Planes Remix: Bun B and Rich Boy as well.

For the record: T.I. murders everyone on this track.

Best line - "How it feel to wake up and be the shit and the urine/Tryin to get that Kobe number, one over Jordan." - Mr. West

Honorable mention goes to Weezy for "I require what I desire I got stripes/A-did-as/Mami scream papi no mas/Run up in your shit just me no moss/Running this shit like I got four thighs."


This. Is. Truth.

N.O. Easy 3-Peat

"I love being misunderstood /Why?/Cause I live in the suburbs /But come from the hood"

The self-proclaimed, Best Rapper in the World, Weezy F. Baby delivers his third installment of Tha Carter to much anticipation. For so long, rappers have straddled this invisible, impossible line between staying true to the people from their hoods and appealing to the people that will pay their way out of the hood. How can you sell a million records and still stay true to the people that were blowin your tracks out of their Deville back when you were your hometown's best kept secret?

Enter: Tha Carter III

The supposed final piece of tha Carter trilogy feels like a streamlined, polished piece of art that strives to be better with each listen. And with the cover art parodying Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die and Nas' Illmatic, his intentions are heard in volumes: He's here to change the rap game. In the song, "Mr. Carter," Wayne fires, "And next time you mention Pac, Biggie, or Jay-Z/Don't forget Weezy Baby," which just furthers his efforts to align himself with the few rappers that have been able to bring the hood with them on their rise to super stardom. And if this record were his resume for the title of greatest rapper on Earth, the references of Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Babyface might just push any doubter in his favor.

The first single released off the album, "Lollipop" will forever be the song that changed Lil Wayne from great rapper to great artist. Suddenly, Wayne was heard all over the world on the radio, T.V., and club due to that song. The sweet melody layered in between the robotic-sounding, yet sweetly crooning voice of Wayne exposed a new path for hip/hop to follow. Hot on the heels of Kanye's Daft Punk remix of stronger and T-Pain's successful singles, "Lollipop" took all the above and meshed it down into a syrupy banger that would open eyes towards Wayne and his hip/pop music endeavor.

Beyond the disorientating nature in which he delivers his message, Wayne has more one-liners than the entire cast in the movie, "First Sunday." Self-diagnosed in the song, "La La La:" "Wittier than a comedy/Nigga write a parody/But I ain't telling jokes...apparently," Wayne is so lyrically different and talented, it can come across as laughable.

"...Savage like Lil Webbie and Randy..."
"...Even Gwen Stefani said she couldn't doubt me..."
"...I don't O U like two vowels..."

Nearly every line is a double-entendre and while this builds an interesting rhyming pattern, it is the intended meanings that drive this record. Both "Comfortable" and "Tie Me Down" are Wayne's most straight-forward songs on the CD besides "DontGetIt." Sounding strangely exposed and intimate, Wayne explores love and loss in ways that go past the usual rapper's bravado. Using Robin Thicke, a certain soul is infused into "Tie Me Down" that conveys the evolution of the already elder Wayne in the rap game. Just further proof that Wayne has come a long way since riding the coattails of rappers such as Juvenile to finally grab the spotlight himself at an old 25.

This record is one of the most important rap albums in a long time because Wayne now stands poised as the next legend. Successfully bridging the gap between pop and underground hip/hop with this album, the hard part is now over. With Jay and Kanye talking about other avenues to explore, music needs Weezy as much as Weezy needs his music. Creatively, he will try everything to demonstrate and illustrate his martian-like environment in which he operates, and the fact he already has a decade of musical work under his belt means the progression into the jarred, inexplicable mind of Wayne is far from over.



8.5/10


This. Is. Truth.