Dreadful list... how can you compose a hip-hop albums list of 40 overlooked and not-so-overlooked albums and still leave off artists like Black Milk? This year-end list is better while still remaining a mixed genre one: http://atribecalledx.com/2013/12/11/top-20-favorite-albums-of-2013/
First, I'd like to say that people are allowed to have their own opinions about music. Are you seriously going to downvote someone because they don't like the same exact same thing that you like. Surely, we can be more mature than that.
On first listen, I really like the songs on this album, but it's not as perfect as the blog author and his co-signers are indicating. I wouldn't even necessarily compare it to GKMC because it's not quite on that level, although it strives to be in some parts. Side A is where I would love to see hip-hop grow towards, Side B is what I'm getting bored of hearing in Millennial rap music. I don't know about you guys, but I've been around hip-hop music my whole entire life and I've really had my fill of cliches in rap-music- the club bangers telling women to pop their body parts. Sure, it's fun music to party to, but party music can be made much more tastefully and have been for years. I grew up on Golden Era hip-hop from the late-80s to the mid-90s. I compare the quality of a rapper to a lot of artists and innovators from that time period. Side A reminds me of the quality honest open-book hip-hop from the '90s but with a contemporary sound. Side B reminds me of production in experimental/alternative/cutting edge urban music that has been exploited and watered down over the last 3 years. I understand how a lot of younger people are blown away by some of those beats- but honestly from Jay-Z's album to Drake's album to this- all of them use progressive beats- but still I'm much more impressed by the shit the Prodigy and Bjork was putting out in 1999. (Death Grips does nothing for me, and I've been listening to abrasive electronic music since the '90s)
As music fans, we have to be careful not to overpraise things just because we have an immediate attachment to it. The songs from Side A, I may be likely to still be listening to in 10 years. The songs from Side B, while not disposable, I probably won't be listening to. What stands the test of time speaks for itself.
This is just one of many reasons why I prefer not to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl. Too many annoying chatty people around me, seating usually too far from the stage unless I pay an arm and a leg to be down there, and it's not intimate enough.
Stereogum is just as trendy as the rest of them. I'm so tired these alternative publications that are all over something one minute and over it in the next.
Rolling Stone has become quite inclusive of indie music over the last 10 years. Criticizing for the sake of criticizing in this little indiespehere of ours is beyond cliche. All of these lists are subjective anyway. Nobody ever will be correct. Rename your lists- "Albums I Liked This Year" and it'll be more accurate.
A lot of kids are going to treat this album as the trendy flavor of the month, especially with the Pitchfork co-sign. But I want to state this- for a lot of us who grew up in South Los Angeles or who came from the inner-city- this is our story, our reality.. There are a lot of alternative kids of color who come from neighborhoods like the one featured on this album. This album resonates a lot deeper for people who experienced what Kendrick experienced and knows exactly what it feels like to come from that environment, that city, that hood. Just wanted to clarify that for some of us, this is more than just music. It's artistry takes it to another level of appreciation. The bar has been raised.
Also, for those still confused with the narrative, I have a detailed analysis in my review: http://atribecalledx.com/2012/10/30/kendrick-lamar-good-kid-m-a-a-d-city-album-review/
Great show! Great visuals, strong performance- it was really great. Andrew- if you can find footage of the opening performer covering Thom Yorke's "Atoms for Peace," through that up- it was a solid acoustic cover with piano and cello.
Comments