Before we get into this, let’s talk for a second. I know my last two posts were NFL related, but aside from thinking being a professional sports analyst; I have an extensive amount of knowledge on music, and how it’s made. I have been making music for the past 12 years, here is a link to my music. (SHAMELESS PLUG SHAMELESS PLUG!)
Now to the review.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
As we know Kanye West has been on a winning streak of unseen measures since his alcohol induced mental lapse during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech a couple years ago.
To dropping, in my opinion, his best solo project to date.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Then of course, dropping Watch The Throne with Jay-Z. Which, again in my opinion is one of the best collaborative albums to be released in the genre.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
So now with signings to Kanye’s label like Pusha T, Big Sean, Kid CuDi, John Legend, ect. Kanye felt the need to release a group collaborative album. The question that I had going into this is, will this album live up to the bar Kanye set with his last two projects? In short no it doesn’t. Here’s why
01 – “To The World” – Kanye West feat. R. Kelly & Teyana Taylor [Prod. by Pop & Oak. Co: Hudson Mohawke, Million $ Mano, Ken Lewis, Travi$ Scott & Anthony Kilhoffer]
This song has a “All The Lights” feel to it, the production has that “epic” feel to it with the sampling of Sterling Simms’ Walk On By. The difference is they didn’t have 13 or so people lay the vocals, they had Kanye and R.Kelly. Which is good, and R.Kelly is a more than capable singer, which he proves on this track. However, Kanye gave a half-hearted verse and it lacks the emotion displayed in All The Lights. If you’re going to try to recreate something you have to have the whole vibe of the song, and this one doesn’t. In the end it’s not a bad song though
02 – “Clique” – Kanye West & Big Sean feat. Jay-Z & Cocaine 80s [Prod. by Hit-Boy. Co: Kanye West, Anthony Kilhoffer & Noah Goldstein]
Hit-Boy is one hell of a producer, this beat the type of banger that I’ve come to expect from him. He composed the majority of the beat and used a “hey” sample found in James Brown’s Funky President. This track sounds like it’s trying to be Niggas In Paris part 2, the only problem is Big Sean sticks out like a sore thumb. I don’t care that they are trying to push him as a “good” rapper he isn’t up to Kanye’s level let alone Jay-Z’s. The song is good for the most part, but the chorus comes off lazy instead of the minimalist effect they were going for.
03 – “Mercy” – Kanye West, Big Sean & Pusha T feat. 2 Chainz [Prod. by Lifted & Kanye West]
This song is a problem, all I know is when I first heard this I thought it was going to have the “A Milli effect” with rappers where everyone and their mother raps on it. The beat is dope it starts off with a sample from Super Beagle’s Dust A Sound Boy and a sample of Reggie Stepper’s Cuh Oonu, about half way through the song Kanye’s part gets switched up with a sample of Tony’s Theme from Scarface. Sample clearance on this song must have cost a sh#t load of money. Everyone did their thing on this but I think 2 Chainz had the best verse, which is crazy considering who is on it. Although Pusha T stole the show for best line on the song with this gem
| “That white frost on that pound cake so your Duncan Hines is irrelevant” |
To really understand that you need to understand it’s a double entendre. Dunkin’ Hines used to be a pretty big drug dealer that happened to play ball, and Duncan Hines is a cake company. Put two and two together folks.
04 – “New God Flow” – Kanye West & Pusha T feat. Ghostface Killah [Prod. by Boogz, Tapez & Kanye West]
This is the one a lot of people had a problem with at first because of the sampling of Mighty Healthy by Ghostface Killah. First off the beat is a banger, not sure who did the sampling but they sampled Marcos Valle’s Bodas De Sangue, amongst other things for background effects like (Funky President, and Private Duckworth’s chant from Full Metal Jacket, a Sermon Fragment from Rev. G.I. Townsell, and the drums from Synthetic Substitution by Melvin Bliss). Pusha T bodied the first 2 verses on this and he had a nice in and out sequence with Kanye, Kanye came through with a dope verse, and then things get epic when the God himself Ghostface Killah comes onto the track. This was a surprise to listeners because a version with just Kanye and Pusha T leaked weeks before the album came out. This is easily my favorite song on the album.
05 – “The Morning” – Pusha T, Common, CyHi The Prynce, Kid Cudi & D’banj feat. Raekwon and 2 Chainz [Prod. by IllMind & Kanye West. Co: Jeff Bhasker & Travi$ Scott]
Staying with the dancehall theme on this album, D’banj opens the song off with the chorus. I’m not sure if this was composed or not if there was a main sample on this I don’t know it, and can’t find it but it does add more from Funky President, samples John McLennan’s Get Me To Church on Time, and even samples New God Flow. Raekwon starts this song off continuing with the G.O.O.D. Music and Wu-tang Connection, and he did well on this starting the verse off with this
| “Barbecue and blow in the back of the crib” |
Which set the tone for his entire verse. He heralded himself and everyone on the song as the “Mark Zuckerbergs of the block.” Common, Pusha T split a verse by 8 bars neither said anything overly incredible in their verse. 2 Chainz split one with CyHi, CyHi had the most quotable line in this song
| “What makes you think the Illuminati would ever let some n*ggas in?” |
The song is finished off by Kanye which wasn’t an overly impressive verse either.
06 – “Cold” – Kanye West feat. DJ Khaled & DJ Pharris [Prod. by Hit-Boy]
Look man Hit-Boy needs to stop doing this with beats, he is literally setting the tone for the rest of the producers out there. And that tone is “I’m better than you.” I don’t even know why Khaled was on this, he provides no value to the song. It’s like if Kanye wanted this played in Florida Khaled said “eh, you better let me yell my uselessness in the beginning.” Kanye ate this beat alive taking personal jabs at a bunch of people, and quoting Ma$e’s Lookin’ At Me. This is easily his best effort on the album as a rapper. This song leaked a long time before the album came out and it had the best video of all of them with this fan made effort.
I’m glad Kanye never shot a video and let this one ride.
07 – “Higher” – Pusha T feat. The-Dream, Ma$e & Cocaine 80s [Prod. by Hit-Boy. Co: Kanye West & Mike Dean]
LOOK AT YOUR MONEY…..this song is the simp anthem. Hit-Boy made another banger on this. Pusha T spit some simping on this verse but he passed it off by putting the whole “well she caught me cheating” cop out in his verse. Ma$e came through with a dope verse,
| “So many Ghosts in my garage they think my house haunted.” |
he still has his flow, and he even took a little jab at Loon. This song is alright regardless of the simping content.
08 – “Sin City” – John Legend, Teyana Taylor, CyHi The Prynce & Malik Yusef feat. Travi$ Scott [Prod. by Tommy Brown & Travi$ Scott]
This song seems confused. Travi$ Scott seemed to be struggling with the his verse, with his read between the lines to be white kind of wordplay, it has me screaming NO MAS! Teyana Taylor is not a good singer, sorry Ye she’s not. She is airy and a little flat at times. CyHi was rapping but didn’t really say much either. If there was ever a song that needed Pusha T it’s this one, especially after his song Alone in Vegas. I wasn’t really interested in Malik Yusef’s spoken word, it felt like he was lecturing the listener. I guess the best part of this song was the beat.
09 – ”The One” – Kanye West & Big Sean feat. 2 Chainz, Marsha Ambrosius & Cocaine 80s [Prod. by Kanye West. Co: Hudson Mohawke, The Twilite Tone, Mannie Fresh & Lifted]
I love the mellow vibe on this song, I really wish I knew what relevance Marsha Ambrosius chorus had to do with anything. Yezzus killed his verse my favorite line was
| “It’s hard preaching the Gospel to the slums lately, so I had to put the Church on the drums baby” |
The reason that line is crazy is because he has frequently sampled Baptizing Scene by Reverend W.A. Donaldson, which was sampled to add to that line and also used at other parts of the song. The chorus features a sample of Hit-Boy’s drums from Niggas in Paris, and other smaller stuff was added to create the song such as, Public Enemy’s Public Enemy no.1, and Dave and Ansel Collins’ Double Barrel.
Big Sean comes next and he raps about the come up it was alright but didn’t wow me by any standard. 2 Chainz did his usual thing with his verse that didn’t really add anything to the song. They would have been better off adding Common on this instead of 2 Chainz but this song is good.
10 – “Creepers” – Kid Cudi [Prod. by Dan Black]
Now to my least favorite song of the entire cd. Is it just me or is Kid CuDi becoming exceedingly sloppy as an artist? The beat sounds like something that would be used for a We Are The World benefit song. Kid CuDi keeps saying he’s doing his thing, well Scott I’m sorry your thing doesn’t sound good musically. This song features the worst line on the entire cd too
| “If I had one wish it’d be more wishes, duh” |
I have a hard time believing with all the talent on G.O.O.D. Music there wasn’t a better song created in the album making process that would be better suited for this spot on the compilation album. I hate this song.
11 – “Bliss” – John Legend & Teyana Taylor [Prod. by Hudson Mohawke]
Hey, a Hudson Mohawke beat that wasn’t touched by another producer, nice. This song is 2 parts good one part bad. John Legend + Hudson Mohawke are good, take a guess as to what the bad part is. The part that annoys me is instead of getting a new beat from Hudson they used Ice Viper off of his beat tape, which I mean it’s a dope beat but come on Ye get him in the studio and give him shine. This song would be so much better if they let like Marsha Ambrosius stick around and sing Teyana’s part.
12 – “Don’t Like (Remix)” – Pusha T, Kanye West & Big Sean feat. Chief Keef & Jadakiss [Prod. by Young Chop. Co: Kanye West, The Twilite Tone & Noah Goldstein]
I’m not happy this made the album I mean I’m not hating on it or anything but it came out so long ago. I wish it had Pusha T’s extended verse where he says
| “Camping out in that corridor, f*ck you waiting on Jordan’s for? I middle man it for 23 just meet me somewhere around Baltimore.” |
But it didn’t. Sir Martin Louis Swag King Cole didn’t rap anything that stuck out but his verse didn’t disappoint, if that makes sense. I like the Chicago shoutouts on this (Bump J, Derrick Rose, L-E-P, and Jay Boogie). Smedium Sean gave a smedium effort (sorry I haven’t really been a big fan of him since he crossed over from the mixtape circuit). Jadakiss, man I need to talk to you Jada “jean jacket with the sleeves cut” really? What kind of ghetto neanderthal stuff is that? It’s a vest, and yes I know Bigghostfase said the same thing in his review but I thought the same thing. I don’t know Jada did alright despite that. And since it’s Chief’s song I should probably review his part, I don’t really like him as a rapper but eh he did enough to get Kanye to put it on his compilation record. Kudos kid.
Verdict: While most of the record was looked at as good by me I have a hard time not comparing it to Kanye’s discography. It sounds like one his albums, but it sounds like one that doesn’t measure up to his previous work. For everyone else this is one of the better albums in their whole catalog, but for for Kanye it doesn’t measure up. Still though it’s a 3.5 to a 4 (if I’m being generous) out of 5 for me, if I take the music at face value. This album probably didn’t hit as hard as it should have because the majority of it leaked before it dropped, c’est la vie I guess.