>The word "hype" wasn't enough to describe the media assault on the sprawling 80-minute To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), another meticulously crafted album that employed legions of writers, producers and musicians (including jazz pianist Robert Glasper and jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington). Six people wrote Wesley's Theory, including George Clinton, and four produced it, including Flying Lotus. Nine people are credited as writers for the funk-fest King Kunta, making it de facto a collage. The producers threw in more live instruments, resulting in a sound that is more revivalist than innovative, but also a sound that helps the general theatrical atmosphere. For better and for worse, The Blacker the Berry is the epitome of this emphatically pointless but fashionable avant-jazz-rap music. I begins as an olf-fashioned synth-pop hit of the 1980s before it begins to sound like a James Brown parody (with the lyrics "the number one rapper in the world" and "i love myself") accented by a jovial piano figure. The best psychodrama is possibly one of the simplest songs, the melodic funk-soul These Walls, and the best political sermon the equally straightforward funk ditty Hood Politics. But the music is secondary to the histrionics and it doesn't matter that the catchy and danceable Alright stands in opposition of the industrial beat that derails Momma, a fact that could account for at least eclecticism. This is a superficial and, ultimately, middle-of-the-road album from an artist who lacks the visceral energy of Public Enemy and Tackhead while also lacking the poetic depth of Kanye West and the musical genius of El-P. He tries to be all of them at once, but maybe he would be most credible if he were just himself: a brilliant script-writer of fictionalized real-life stories: the Christian parable How Much a Dollar Cost presents God disguised as a homeless man, and Mortal Man interviews the ghost of dead rapper 2Pac.
it's almost on the same level as "lusty negro attitudes"
Evan Edwards
>the poetic depth of kanye west
something something model something asshole etc.
Hudson Young
>the poetic depth of Kanye West
I'm in awe.
Jackson Perry
>I haven't listened to The College Dropout or Late Registration
Tyler Jackson
What the fuck, is this a thing this guy has actually said
Jaxson Bennett
I haven't. Point?
Lincoln Anderson
it's in the beatles copypasta
Elijah Martin
Those albums contain the "poetic depth" of Kanye Scaruffi is talking about.
Justin Richardson
Ur dumb.
Nathan White
Oh Late Registration is one of my fav hip hop albums ever, don't get me wrong. However, at his very best Kanye can only hit the level of an average Kendrick verse. If you can name a single Kanye verse that has the impact of Kendricks second verse on u I will concede but I don't believe anything Kanye has ever said had more emotion than "You even Facetimed instead of a hospital visit / Guess you thought he would recover well / Third surgery, they couldn't stop the bleeding for real / Then he died, God himself will say "you fuckin' failed" / You ain't try" I don't even like TPAB that much but to deny this is just dishonest. It seems Scaruffi is more hung up on the amount of people that worked on the album rather than the actual quality of the music.
Dylan Torres
Holy shit, I guess I've only seen the shortform version of it then I guess, because Jesus Christ dude
Evan Fisher
Wow did Kendrick do anything on that album? I could do this shit too if its this easy
holy shit
Cameron Carter
Well first of all he wrote all the excellent lyrics nd his delivery of them is perfect. Also the entire album is irrefutably his own personal vision, and regardless of the collaborators he brought in to help him bring this vision to life he still had an artistic message in mind that he wanted to deliver. Scaruffi seems to think the album is disjointed and attributes this to the amount of people who worked on it, but I would suggest that it works together as one cohesive album.
Leo Sullivan
I think Scaruffi's view is that modern music relies on the production of the group whilst presenting the idea of the lone artist writing and recording all of the music. His nostalgia for the past permeates through his desire for the romanticised "genius" of the artists of antiquity.
Samuel Gonzalez
I feel like scaruffi just learned the word hype and is wants to use it as much as possible now
Anthony Butler
This is so accurate and probably one of the best assessments of his writing I have ever seen. Good job
Camden Robinson
>It's another 'Scaruffi being a contrarian and we're giving him attention for it' episode.
Chase Stewart
this honestly just isn't a well written review in almost any way
Oliver Rodriguez
>"You even Facetimed instead of a hospital visit / Guess you thought he would recover well / Third surgery, they couldn't stop the bleeding for real / Then he died, God himself will say "you fuckin' failed" / You ain't try" are you being serious right now? Nothing about this emotional ffs
Matthew Campbell
you can blame david bowie for that
Noah Gray
Agreed
Ok the lyrics are fine but other than that he literally did not produce or even direct the rst of the music
John Cooper
>You even Facetimed instead of a hospital visit / Guess you thought he would recover well / Third surgery, they couldn't stop the bleeding for real / Then he died, God himself will say "you fuckin' failed" / You ain't try
This is below average Kanye West
Elijah Rodriguez
>The political correctedness on Islam started with George W Bush, who kept insisting that Islam is "a religion of peace" hijacked by evil terrorists. It doesn't take a PhD in history to find out that Islam was founded by a warrior who personally killed a lot of people (besides marrying a child) and that Islam was founded with a war and that the whole point of that war was to expel all other religions. I very much appreciate the vast majority of Muslims who are peaceful and tolerant (more peaceful than US citizens who murder each other at the tune of 20,000 murders every year), but we can hardly credit Islam with making them peaceful and tolerant. I admire them for being peaceful "despite" Islam, not because of Islam. Calling Islam what it is (a violent, racist and intolerant ideology) may not solve the many problems of the Islamic world but at least it wouldn't insult our intelligence.
I can't believe Scaruffi of all people is an islamophobe To think I used to respect him...
Anthony Hughes
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Joseph Collins
He said nothing wrong.
David Brown
Thats how it should be
Kevin Russell
my respect for this man just went up ten fold.
Connor Gray
In all seriousness, can someone give me an example of a poetic lyric from kanye pre 808s
Luke Phillips
>Now if I fuck this model >And she just went to college >And I also went to college >Imma feel like a college brilliant lyricism right here
Jace Baker
listen to his first two albums
they are filled with great lyricism
Nicholas Flores
I have listed to them extensively, the lyrics ARE great but I don't really think they're pottery
Joseph Morgan
what exactly is "poetry" to you?
Cameron Williams
>I went to the malls and I balled too hard >"Oh my god, is that a black card?" >I turned around and replied, "Why yes >But I prefer the term African American Express" not really poetic but I always loved this line
Christopher Perez
All in a good time aexy
Bentley Thomas
>N-N-Now throw your motherfuckin hands (get em high!) >All the girls pass the weed to your motherfuckin man (get em high!) >Now I ain't never tell you to put down your hands (keep em high!) >And if you losin yo high, then smoke again (keep em high!)
He a poet and ain't even know it
Brody Perry
idk but I feel like if you had to classify any of his albums as poetry then it would be MBDTF, his first 3 are from when he was a normie and have a lot of songs that reflect that
Wyatt Edwards
Thanks
Why Bowie specifically? He contributed to other artists just as they contributed to him. Not much of a fan, save Low, but it's clever to use other artists to trial your ideas. The Idiot (1977) is the perfect example.
Given the nature of post-modernism, I think it's all but impossible to synthesise the enormous number of sources necessary to produce a work that matches the complexities of society. Composers such as Beethoven and Mozart, even Cage and Stockhausen, were sheltered by comparison to the artists of today. The constant deluge of information strips music of its meaning. Meanwhile, artists that stay within the realms of their society's understanding are ridiculed for appealing to a niche or genre.
Mason James
common example but...Gorge ous. 808s in general is way more emotional than any Kendrick song
Adam Lopez
What is u
Landon Ramirez
>Why Bowie specifically? He contributed to other artists just as they contributed to him. Not much of a fan, save Low, but it's clever to use other artists to trial your ideas. The Idiot (1977) is the perfect example.
What's wrong with it? Negros do have lusty attitudes
Julian Ross
You're my devil, you're my angel You're my heaven, you're my hell You're my now, you're my forever You're my freedom, you're my jail You're my lies, you're my truth You're my war, you're my truce You're my questions, you're my proof You're my stress and you're my masseuse Mama-say mama-say ma-ma-coo-sah Lost in this plastic life, Let's break out of this fake ass party Turn this into a classic night If we die in each other's arms we still get laid in the afterlife
Anthony Gonzalez
I never got what was wrong with this statement. Perhaps Sup Forums doesn't understand what lusty means or why their music was so.
Brayden Turner
>2016 >people still hate Kanye
holy fuck, grow up guys
Easton Lee
Typical problem of bilinguals; he means vigorous and loose, not full of sexual desire.
Angel Reyes
He delivers the line in character as a drunk and crying friend Much more emotional impact when actually listened to