Page 1 of Results for "#rap"

Looking back on it the progression for If Looks Could Kill and its character Look Killa was insane. It all started with the Fashion Demon snippet going viral on TikTok. That snippet ended up getting released as a full song called If Looks Could Kill. That song ended up being the lead single off an album of the same title and that album spawned Destroy Lonely's character Look Killa. Part of me thinks this was all planned out especially since he did a very similar thing for his previous album No Stylist. It started with a song going viral on TikTok which turned into a full-length project. Still, I wonder how much influence Destroy Lonely actually has over this. I lived through the rollout of both projects and actively saw both songs go viral on TikTok. I can personally say that the growth of those songs seemed very organic and not like a massive label campaign which makes me doubt the theory of it being a deliberate attempt from a label. Another part of me thinks Destroy Lonely is taking a more reactive approach to things. Waiting for one of his songs to go viral and then releasing a body of work to accompany that single and take advantage of its virality. This could very well be said for No Stylist but it seems unlikely that he'd be able to film a short film, design a character, and build a universe in the time it took for If Looks Could Kill to go viral. Maybe it's just a coincidence that all this happened in perfect order but that seems just as unlikely. Regardless, No Stylist is a great album.

Anyone who has ever tried to do anything creative has likely experienced "creative block". Even writing this now is a struggle for me. I haven't felt like I had much to write about recently but I want to explore this topic. The first question we must answer is what it means to be creative and what is the job of an artist. In its simplest form creating art is merely taking one's experiences and influences and turning them into a tangible product. All artists do this, knowingly or not. All artists make things they desire to see outside of their heads. The things they desire to make are a direct result of their own personal experiences causing them to favor certain things. By examining the output of an artist we are able to get a greater picture of what life was like for that creator and what they were going through when they created their work. I think on some level all creators are aware of this. They know deep down that what they make reflects them and their life in some way. Even when they aren't making work that would be categorized as "serious" or "deep". People don't ever stop having experiences, people don't ever stop picking up new influences. But at some point, we don't know how to express these things and feel like we have nothing to express at all. Creative Block often times manifests itself as a lack of motivation but I think it's deeper than that. When someone experiences Creative Block it isn't because they don't know what to make, the answer is often right in their face. It's due to discomfort in wanting to share their experiences with the world. To bring this back to Kendrick Lamar, I think there's a lot we can learn from seeing his experience with Creative Block. There was a 5-year gap between Kendrick Lamars Damn and Mr. Moral and the Big Steppers. Obviously, Kendrick Lamar's life didn't stop in those 5 years. He was still learning and growing as a person so what prevented him from coming out with a new album sooner? For the first time since the early days of his career, he had to write about his present life. Every major release from Kendrick Lamar leading up to this album spoke about a past event in his life. While surely traumatic, the events Kendrick Lamar chooses to explore in his previous work are all topics he's already processed. He is able to see them clearly and make connections that he likely wouldn't have been able to make in the past. Mr. Moral and the Big Steppers was different, it explored issues that Kendrick Lamar was actively living through and will likely continue to live through for the rest of his life. Making such a large project about something so vulnerable where you know there will be millions of eyes examining every aspect of it is a tall task. Coming to the conclusion that the life in front of you is the story you have to tell is an even taller order, especially when everyone around you thinks you've made it. This likely caused a large sense of discomfort for Kendrick Lamar and lead him to believe he didn't have a story to tell. A great example of this is his leaked track Hooligans where he flat out says "I got something to say, which is nothing to say". Listening to the plethora of Kendrick Lamar leaks and demo tracks in between Damn and Mr. Moral and the Big Steppers might make you think he didn't know what direction to go in for his next project. You, the person reading this, might not know what direction to take for your next project. I can assure you, the answer is almost always right in front of you.

First, I'd like to express my gratitude that he didn't label this a "deluxe". Although it's practically the same thing, it is refreshing to hear a new term. Of all of Tyler's albums, this one seems the most fitting to receive a deluxe version. The main album is about luxury and Tyler celebrating his success after his last smash-hit project. It's maximalist and decadent, two aspects that perfectly warrant a deluxe. My sincerest apologies for not reviewing Call Me If You Get Lost when it came out. Before entering the deluxe I want to speak about the main album. CMIYGL immediately enthralled me with its loud and confident rap production. Initially, songs like Juggernaut, Lemonhead, Hot Wind Blows, and Lumberjack had my attention in a chokehold. The rest of the album was largely lost on me until I decided to listen to the whole project. I love the production shift on this album from Igor. It is nice to hear Tyler rapping more. There were a couple of dull moments on this album. Specifically tracks 11 through 13 didn't move me much along with a couple of other tracks across the project. Overall though I'd say it was an excellent project, I couldn't think of a better follow-up to Igor. The deluxe was truly great. It was the perfect send-off for this era of Tyler. It had all of the braggadocious bars and heartfelt moments of CMIYGL while at the same time feeling like a sincere goodbye from this era of Tyler. I still wonder why Tyler chose to keep some of these songs off of the main album. To be completely honest there isn't a single skip in the deluxe. I do feel like we could have gotten a more substantial performance from A$AP Rocky on Warf Talk. I also would have loved to hear Kanye on Heaven to Me. I can't wait to see what direction Tyler goes next. Favorite songs The main album Sir Baudelaire - I love Michael Irvin by Westside Gunn. When I heard that beat as the intro to the album it was a great surprise. Shout out to my air fryer Hot Wind Blows - I love this Lil Wayne verse. This beat sounds like fresh linen Sweet / I thought you wanted to dance Juggernaut - I love the Lil Uzi verse and the Pharrell verse The Deluxe Stuntman - Really fun song Dogtooth - Funner song Heaven to me - The production on this song is amazing. Like "What a Day" but better. I love the storytelling in this song. Sorry not sorry - Just a great ending Songs I really liked at one point but had to stop listening to Wasyaname Runitup Lumberjack Lemonhead

The way it currently stands, Uzi is at a crossroads in their career. Everyone wants the old Uzi back, and with his EP Red+White, that seems to be the direction they're headed. My concern is with the long-term effect of that. While Uzi might be able to win over old-time fans temporarily, how will their music hold up as rap itself evolve and as Uzi, themself, ages? Uzi has been rapping since they were in High School, and their music has hardly changed in that time period. Uzi is almost 30 now. If their music doesn't evolve, their music won't reflect where they are in life and will feel outdated and inauthentic. We have heard statements from Uzi that they plan on experimenting a lot more on their next project The Pink Tape. Even more recently Uzi stated that he plans on making more thoughtful songs rather than rapping about "random stuff". Hopefully, this means we get a more meaningful and forward-thinking Uzi project. Hopefully, the Red+White EP was just a sample of Uzi's old sound to placate old-time fans. Only time will tell. The only thing that's certain is that I'm going to listen to it the day it comes out.

Green Eyes & Window Seat - Erykah Badu I finally started going through her discography and these songs have stuck with me like no other Worth It & Tomorrow 'Til Infinity - Young Thug The chorus on both of these songs is so good and I love Thug's emotional vulnerability on both Seigfried - Frank Ocean Need I say more. Thank you Layla for making me revisit this song. Kant Nobody Lil Wayne on a swizz beat is something to behold. Definitely stand out in Lil Wayne's modern discography Private Landing - Don Toliver Justin Beiber's verse on this song is unironically good and is honestly my favorite part of the song

1. To Pimp a Butterfly 2. Good Kid M.a.a.d City 3. Mr Moral and The Big Steppers 4. Damn 5. Section 80

1. Life of Pablo 2. Yeezus 3. 808s 4. Ye 5. My beautiful dark twisted fantasy 6. Graduation 7. Donda 8. Jesus is King 9. College drop out 10. Late registration

i think the word deluxe has beef overused as of recently and has largely become a trend but i think what baby keem did here was a good application of the word. while technically being new material, the 7 additional songs don’t expand of any of the themes of the main album and they don’t experiment sonically(relative to the main album). these songs do seem to tell their own story but this story definitely exists in the universe created by the rest of the album. this is why i think baby keem chose to make it a deluxe and not a separate ep. one thing that immediately stood out to me was the arrangement of these songs. the moment i saw 7 songs my mind went back to Kanye’s Ye album. Kanye’s album makes use of a Chiastic structure which seems to also be the case in baby keems deluxe. Chiastic patterns are biblical literary devices that tells a story that “mirrors” it self like a palindrome. listening to the deluxe this way reveals just how many parallels there are from the front of the deluxe to the back. this was a refreshing take on an old concept. favorite songs - bank account (i’ve been listening to the snippet for months) - highway 95 (i drive that highway everyday and i don’t take lauryn hill samples lightly) - a life of pain (the piano arpeggios create this indescribable tension)

I encountered a really interesting theory on TikTok regarding the storytelling devices used on Kendrick Lamar's first two albums and I wanted to expand it to the rest of his discography. To paraphrase the existing portion of the theory Section. 80 is a book (the campfire motif), Good Kid Maad City is a movie (the linear story telling), and To Pimp a Butterfly is a poem which I shouldn't have to explain. That leaves Kendrick's two newest albums to examine. Mr Moral and the Big Steppers is a play centered around therapy, most evident in songs like We Cry Together, Worldwide Steppers, and Auntie Diaries. Despite arguably being his most approachable album, Damn was the hardest for be to figure out. Initially I thought of it as a journal taking a deep dive into each of Kendrick's emotions. Unfortunately the lack of a linear story-line largely ruled this device out. Each song on this album seems to live in it's own self-contained world. The only thing comparable to this style of story-telling is a TV Show.

ive lived with this album for the past two years. listening to this album is truly a transformative experience. The album has the ability to build these psychedelic environments for each of its tracks to exist in. In large part I think this is due to NAV’s ability as a producer and less to do with his rapping ability. Which brings me to the reason I was so hesitant to review this album. A lot of rap fans don’t like this album due to NAV’s rapping ability and his vocal performance. While those are both legitimate hindrances to the album, I’d be disingenuous if I said I still didn’t enjoy it. NAV’s delivery is stiff and robotic and the occasional cliche lines do take you out of the experience of the album (shoot a 30 no curry). But in a very strange sense I feel like this almost adds to the character of the album. NAV’s delivery has a very interesting contrast to the atmospheric beats he raps on and the corny lines add a sense of humor. Overall, a very good listen Favorite tracks: - Myself (the outdo is heavenly) - My mind - Nav (Nav by Nav on Nav[the album]) - Some way (Justin beiber diss track) - Up