#there is literally no project like acid rap and 10 days | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lafortis · 29 days

Note

if you have more modern rap suggestions i'd love to hear them! i really dig 90s/00s underground rap but i haven't found a lot of new stuff that scratches that same itch.

Lemme come back to this later because I gotta go light some stuff, but yeah, pretty much that's just kinda how it is. In terms of west coast hip hop, kendrick and earl have been holding down the lyricism department for a good ten years now (side note: absolutely criminal we never got them on the same track, and I think we're well past the point in both their careers where it would even make sense, but they're big fans of each others work lmao). Earls old shit (I'm thinking of Doris mainly, and somewhat I Dont Like Shit I Don't Go Outside) is more grungy and old-school sounding, but also he was young and Odd Future, so there's a lot of misogyny, shock horror ass lyrics with violence against women as a main theme repeatedly (which he's since recanted aggressively and last I saw he mostly makes fun of fans of his earlier music and by extension himself for being like that lmao), his new stuff is more mellow but also less bar heavy (just imo, some people love it even more). Mavi is someone I haven't had the time to get into much but heard recently, and he literally just sounds like 2013 Earl vocally, but with some solid modern bars and production, so that's nice. MIKE is also seemingly pretty earl influenced, but again, haven't got into him myself. They're both east coast tho. Actually calling Earl west coast feels crazy cus he's so heavily DOOM inspired, almost feels like dudes inspired by him being east coast makes more sense lol. Vince Staples is a no-brainer if you haven't heard of him, he's pretty much the exact description of what you're looking for I think. I started with Summertime '06 because that was what he put out when I was getting into hiphop, but his first project Hell Can Wait EP was great too, and he only got better and more artistic from there. I've never been into Jay Rock a ton, but his feature verses on Kendricks shit do a lot for me, and ScHoolboy Q makes mostly just bangers and gang shit but in a fairly old-school kinda way I guess. Not ab soul tho. Everyone on black hippy (the group comprised of those two, Kendrick and him) can get a shoutout except for ab soul. He's ruined too many of my fav songs with wack features lmao.

Freddie Gibbs is another AA rapper that sounds very old school and VERY west coast, but he's actually in the news literally right now about some allegations so maybe fuck him? seems uncertain and also as a fan of old school hip hop you may be less shocked by (especially gang affiliated) rappers being Not Good People, but still, it's 2024 and it'd be nice to bring that energy to hiphop at large.

In east coast terms... Fuck. Who do I even listen to that's east coast lol. Well, Run The Jewels is also a no-brainer, and El-P is NY at least lol. All three of their albums and any of their solo stuff would be great for you. J Cole is to me the epitome of mid, but lots of people who profess an appreciation for the old school seem to like him, so hey. I'd just 2014 Forest Hills Drive as a starting point I think. In the Midwest Chance the Rapper was great, and could be great again. You could start with Acid Rap or 10 Day, move on to Coloring Book, and then just pretend Chance's Big Day doesn't exist like the rest of us. Denzel Curry is solid as hell these days but I've never gotten into a whole project, just singles like Ultimate, RICKY, Walkin, and especially SUMO | ZUMO (iirc I was like "did he just say Zuko lmao" and that's what got me into him). Oh and Your Old Droog is highly spoken of but I haven't gotten into him personally, just no time lol.

Flying Lotus's rap alter ego Captain Murphy is great, I've never listened to one of his full projects tho. Really backpacker ass Kendrick fans have always recommended Ka, specifically Honor Killed the Samurai, to me, but personally I just bounce off it every time. Might be of interest tho. And finally, if you're interested in some more experimental shit, first you should go ask Brett afloweroutofstone (not tagging him but that's literally his brand), but second I'd say CLPPNG by clipping. is a good experimental album with great bars. Also Daveed Diggs was in Hamilton but we just don't talk about that.

Anyway I gotta go do my job but hope this helps!

Edit: rereading this and I realize I absolutely do not have to come back to this lmao. That's pretty much all my good recommendations

1 note · View note

earwaxinggibbous · 5 years

Text

Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2018

As I geared up to make the list of hits for 2018, I was prepared for difficulty, and I wasn’t wrong. Hence why there are a few little cheats here and there. Really anything that even had the potential to be a hit got on this list because the Hot 100 was fucking barren and I figure I’d rather give some exposure to some good artists that didn’t get what they deserved.

I do discuss alcohol/drug use briefly in my number 9 + 6 and abuse in my number 4. Let’s get this shit on the road.

10. Mine - Bazzi

This song is dumb. And I love it.

Mine by Bazzi, who no doubt will not show up on the charts next year, is a song that all of you know even if you think you don’t, because it’s the one with the memes.

You so! Fuckin! Precious! When you! Smiiiiile!

Yeah, it’s that one.

There’s not much to say about this one. It’s a quick and easy listen at only a little over 2 minutes. Bazzi has a nice enough voice, and the production manages to stand on its own. Honestly the reason it’s here is because the lyrics are adorable.

It feels very teenage, but not in the obnoxious way that Lucid Dreams is. It’s just very innocent despite the second line being about hitting it from the back. It’s a kind of innocence I can enjoy mostly unironically.

Like, whatever man. Just enjoy life.

9. Betrayed - Lil Xan

So I wasn’t actually sure when this song charted. I believe it was either late 2017 or early 2018, possibly with some crossover, but I’m counting it because I love this song so much.

Betrayed actually shares a lot of similarities with Juice WRLD’s Lucid Dreams. They were both towards the bottom on each respective list, they both have videos made by Cole Bennet, and they both have a sneaky anti-drug message.

Ironic considering his name is Lil Xan. Also I lied it’s not very sneaky at all. Which is good, if you’re gonna be anti-drug then just fucking do it. The beat is chill, the bars are chill, it’s all super chill. That’s probably in part due to the fact that Lil Xan has a super calming voice. This is weed music. Like Car Seat Headrest. And good weed music can be enjoyed when you’re sober, which Betrayed can be because it just sounds nice.

A good chunk of Betrayed is about the pitfalls of the rap game, and how suddenly everyone turns on you and wants your money, which is kind of neurotic but not entirely inaccurate.

This was actually the plot of a Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake song called Holy Grail from a few years back. And I hate to say it but this song does it way better, because it’s not trying to make fame out to be some horrible demon priestess who’s sucking your soul out of your ass, but rather, more of a lifestyle with very different complications.

Which is what it is.

So Jay-Z got outdone by a 12-year-old with face tats named Lil Xan, and if I heard about that my ego would be deeply, deeply bruised.

The only reason it isn’t higher is because, uh.

Oof, Lil Xan. Come on now.

8. King’s Dead - Jay Rock ft. Kendrick Lamar, Future and James Blake

So a lot of people actually didn’t like this song. Which... I kind of get.

Also apparently this was on the Black Panther soundtrack. I never saw that movie, but a lot of the lyrics on this, at least according to lyric genius, relate to that movie. Which I guess is why I have no clue what it’s about other than the average rap music cliches. The only thing I knew about King’s Dead for god knows how long was this gif of Kendrick eating corn in a palm tree.

I feel like the best argument against this song (other than Future’s high-pitched sampling of Slob On My Knob that made me lose my shit) is that there’s nothing really special about it. I mean yeah, Kendrick has a voice that’s smooth like butter, but King’s Dead has a generic beat and bars that just don’t stand out.

But I don’t know. I just love it.

This is just a nice fun song to chill out to. I can put it on, throw myself into bed, and let the cares of the day shloff off of my body as Kendrick whispers to me in the language of the ancient ones. This is nowhere near his best work, not even remotely close to it. All it is is nice and small and easy to listen to without being completely boring.

Maybe I also just like it because it’s been forever since a rap song really sounded like one. This is partially the fault of Future, who is on this song, and doing the same shit he usually does, but at least the rest of the song sounds like words. It feels like it’s been a whole decade since rap music wasn’t just an autotuned jumble, and while I’m easier on mumble-rap than most, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss good old fashioned regular rap.

Regardless of whether it’s blind nostalgia or some level of actual quality, I enjoy King’s Dead for what it is. It may just be a rock and not a diamond, but it’s my rock and I love it.

7. In My Blood - Shawn Mendes

So like, what the fuck happened with Shawn Mendes? He just kind of got really good all of a sudden. Like when every genre, every artist, every newcomer and every single is shitting the bed, it’s Shawn Mendes of all people to bring it home. That’s like if Charlie Puth turned out to be the savior of music. It’s like if Chingy developed into a rap legend. And this song, In My Blood, is about something we all wanna do! Giving up.

Okay, so that’s not exactly what it’s about. It’s about the feeling of wanting to give up, but refusing to, in a very chronological way. With the verses representing the low points and the chorus representing the swell of energy that forces one to get back on their feet. It’s an incredibly well put-together song where Shawn’s voice is actually put to good use instead of him gargling pus like he did on Treat You Better. I’d be lying if I said he didn’t emote wonderfully on this.

I haven’t heard any of the other singles he’s released around this song, but I’m definitely interested in doing so because In My Blood is an experience, kind of in the same way that like, a really good Panic! at the Disco song is. It just punches you repeatedly. You ever been punched by a song? It feels great. I wish more songs would punch me.

In a lot of ways In My Blood is also nostalgic for me, since it brings me back to an era where I actually got excited about pop music because it was important to me some-fucking-how. And I don’t mean like, I was interested in pop like I am right now. When I was littler my parents basically raised me on old alternative music and jazz, and while I definitely enjoyed it I had literally no idea what other kids at school listened to. The first pop song I remember hearing was Pokerface by Lady GaGa, I was on the school bus, and it sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before. Over time my sister began playing the radio so that her friends at her new school would stop goofing on her for not knowing any pop artists, and hearing all this new music was kind of an experience. Of course after awhile we both moved into individualized tastes and neither of us really listen to the radio unless it’s during the holidays, but hearing In My Blood somehow reminds me of a time when being a hit actually meant something.

It’s a song where you put it on and it just owns the room despite its minimalism, and with tons of easy listening alt-crap hitting the stations nowadays, it’s nice, albeit surreal, to know that Shawn Mendes is the one who gives a shit.

6. Genius - LSD

In case you didn’t know, LSD is the combined efforts of rapper Labrinth, singer Sia and producer Diplo. I hadn’t actually heard of this group until pretty recently, and I wish I had because if you know me, you know about my wretched obsession with Sia. Maybe I’m too forgiving, but I can’t remember a single bad track she’s put out. And Genius is no exception.

Lyrically this song’s a bit lacking, despite the title. But soundwise it sticks like gum, with a layered production. I always say that they should have Sia work with one of these sing-rappers, so having it finally happen is proof that god might be listening to me.

It’s like bubblegum for your brain, it’s sweet, it tastes good, it’s fun and it sticks. Even after only one listen I couldn’t get the tune out of my head. And god knows I just want the charts to be fun for once. No, I don’t think this song charted, which is an absolute shame. LSD should absolutely have the star power to hit the top 100, but I guess this just wasn’t a good year for them.

Regardless, I have heard that LSD plans to do a full project, and after listening to the rest of their short album I am more than excited. The only reason this isn’t higher up is that, judging by the group name I was expecting it to be way more of an acid trip soundwise. It’s definitely hard to compare LSD’s Genius to any other type of pop in recent years, but I feel like that’s moreso because Diplo and company have taken all sorts of elements from all sorts of pop music and sneakily fused them together.

Regardless, Genius is a highly enjoyable listen. Sia’s at top performance as per usual, Labrinth sounds really nice beside her and Diplo’s production is solid. Also I seriously recommend the music video. It’s super weird. I wish animated music videos were more common with pop, to be honest.

5. Better Now - Post Malone

I almost feel like I’ve sinned putting a Post Malone song above a Kendrick Lamar song, but god do I love Better Now.

The Post Malone conversation is still very much underway, with a lot of people saying they hated Psycho because it was boring (which I can get even though I don’t agree) and that they hated Jackie Chan because it was just really really stupid. But, much like Candy Paint, I have yet to hear anyone say they dislike Better Now. And I do honestly believe that he hit it out of the park on this one.

This one’s sort of the reverse of Genius. It has pretty basic trap production, but really nice lyrics. Possibly building on the story from I Fall Apart, though with a slightly more mature outlook, Post talks about an ex-girlfriend who he misses, trying to drown his feelings in alcohol, drugs and expensive stuff in the wake of the relationship.

A total bummer, but Post sells it pretty well.

Like damn. That’s a detail right there.

I mean, I could argue that nobody has a specific drawer for socks they don’t like, but who cares really.

Anyway, unlike I Fall Apart, which was a turn-off for a lot of people because it felt spiteful and juvenile, Better Now doesn’t really place the blame on Post or his ex, which is a much more realistic scenario. Because really, his ex isn’t at fault for no longer being in love with him, but Post isn’t at fault for pining. He’s only human. Judging by the lyrics, the story is that Post was dumped for being a druggie in this song.

Though Lyric Genius also argues this is a reference to the death of Lil Peep, who was close personal friends with Post Malone in real life. If this song is somehow in a weird roundabout way an ode to Lil Peep, honestly it does feel like it’s a good send-up to him from another rapper. Like yeah, a love song might seem weird as a tribute to a dead friend, but it definitely does feel like a mournful, sad song about longing for a close person who’s gone for the long run.

Whether this is a tribute to Lil Peep or just a breakup song, it definitely carries the weight of the emotions, partly since Post just generally sounds sad all the time. And in a year full of pissy break-up songs, this is the one that hits home more than any other for me. If Post is going off of past experience, it shows, and if he isn’t he’s just a really good actor I guess.

4. Freaky Friday - Lil Dicky ft. Chris Brown

This song is the bane of my fucking existence.

Why do I laugh at this? Why do I laugh at jokes about Lil Dicky having a small penis still? Why am I losing my shit at the idea that a white guy in a black guy’s body would immediately wonder if he can say the n-word? Why am I, a grown man with presumably mature tastes, going ‘hee hee hoo hoo’ over the phrase “I’m DJ Khaled! Why am I yelling?” And why the fuck, in the year 2018, am I actively enjoying a Chris Brown song?

Lil Dicky I have a soft spot for. We’re both Jews, we’re both stupid, we both look dead inside in every photograph taken of us. We’re basically like long lost twin brothers. Plus I do think he’s a skilled rapper, with his greatest track easily being Professional Rapper featuring Snoop Dogg, and if it had been my choice, that song would’ve been his first big hit. But no, it had to be Freaky Friday. A song that, for all accounts and purposes, is about as funny as an early Your Favorite Martian song, and yet still makes me roll into a screaming fit laughing my ass off.

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I’m over the Chris Brown drama just because there’s plenty of worse artists charting right now. Forgetting it would be an offense to everyone involved. Do I think he’s probably matured since? Maybe. But that doesn’t excuse or explain away what he did. But for me to pretend I don’t enjoy this song would be disingenuous, and it breaks my heart to actually enjoy a Chris Brown song. In 20-fucking-18.

Everyone hates this song. And they’re valid, honestly. I just like the chorus, maybe? I don’t know. It’s hardly Lil Dicky’s best work, but fuck me. Of course I had to be the one suffering with the curse of enjoying Lil Dicky’s Freaky Friday to the point that I put it above a ton of songs that are probably objectively better, all because I laugh at dick jokes and love a catchy chorus.

But I will give it credit, this is the first popular comedy song in a long time I’ve been able to get down to. Selfie and What Does The Fox Say made me wanna scoop my eyes out with a melon baller, but of course the fucking Chris Brown comedy song makes me shriek in body-wracking laughter as if I’ve never heard a joke before.

It’s been at LEAST a year since I felt this shitty for enjoying a song, but that’s life I guess. Just enjoying bad music by bad people for bad reasons.

3. High Hopes - Panic! at the Disco

How is it that we’re having a Panic! at the Disco hit in 2018? Whatever, I’m not mad.

I mean, come on. A swelling Brendon Urie anthem about finally being able to achieve your dreams and shit? That’s really all I need on a bad day, isn’t it. Thanks 2018.

I don’t even remember if this song has good production or not. It’s really loud. Everything is loud. Do you think I care if it sounds good? I mean, Brendon sounds good, but like. Biz Markie’s Just A Friend fills me with emotion and it sounds like it’s being sung by a donkey. My standards are not high. Maybe I’d need higher standards to not like this song.

Frankly, I don’t care if the production is bad. Because this song is just good mood music, and I like that it’s loud. I want Brendon to scream in my ear about having high hopes. Do you think I care how it sounds?

No but really. It’s a perfectly well-built song, Brendon performs well on it. Bless this shit though. If there’s anything that represents hope in my mind, it’s Brendon Urie skittering up the side of a building while singing about having high hopes and his mama and whatever whatever. In a year full of dour break-up songs and people dying and abusers getting famous, all you can really have is high hopes. And that’s all there is to it.

2. Neva Lavd Yah! - Dusty Ray Bottoms

Can we all agree RuPaul’s Drag Race is kind of a hack show at this point? I mean, Season 10 was a disaster and so far AS4 has been a disaster too. I’m not even sure why I still watch it at this point.

Anyway, this is kind of a cheat. Neva Lavd Yah! charted on Billboard LGBT, and actually charted pretty high. Not the actual Hot 100, but do you think I care anymore?

So we’re all mad that rock music is dead, and that the only remnants we have of it is Imagine Dragons and other similar garbage. But don’t fret (unless it’s on a guitar) because Dusty Ray Bottoms, queen of my heart, is here to solve that problem. Full electric guitar and drums. No autotune. Just pure Dusty Ray on the track here to kick ass.

I guess Neva Lavd Yah! is a generic “fuck the haters” anthem, but for once I actually believe it. Maybe it’s because it’s being sung by a 50-foot-tall gay man with dots all over his face. Maybe it’s just because, with every drag queen doing techno music, Dusty Ray has done something completely different. God knows I was sick of every drag queen doing overproduced electronica about nothing at all.

Neva Lavd Yah! isn’t polished or clean. It’s screaming and loud and full of passion. Sometimes you’re just a 50-foot gay who wants to yell, sometimes you’re a 5-foot gay who wants to yell. Maybe you don’t feel like yelling right now, but you’ve probably been in that mood before. Neva Lavd Yah! is for when you wanna chill in a garage with an electric guitar and write songs and then scream with your shitty garage band and it’s the 90′s and you’re gay.

Damn right.

And before we move forward,

let’s hit those honorable mentions.

I Like It - Cardi B ft. Bad Bunny and J Balvin

This song really did almost get on the list, and I mean it was like a baby dick’s length away. I almost feel bad that I let Mine on instead. Cardi I am so sorry.

Nice For What - Drake

This was the only good song Drake released this year, and while Drake talking about “strong women” on the same album as I’m Upset seems like bullshit, I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t at least kind of a banger.

Now or Never - Blair St. Clair

This was the only other big drag queen hit I remember this year. It was released in the wake of Blair St. Clair coming out about a sexual assault, and while I do think it’s an empowering song, I don’t like the way it sounds that much.

Pray For Me - The Weeknd ft. Kendrick Lamar

How I liked King’s Dead more than this I can’t even explain to you. The beat on Pray For Me rocks my tight ass though. Plus let’s be honest, The Weeknd and Kendrick are a fucking dream team.

I Love It - Kanye West ft. Lil Pump

I can’t hate this. Fucking look at it. They’re in roblox costumes!

Famous Prophets (Stars) - Car Seat Headrest

Not a hit, which is the only thing that kept it off of here. Consider Song of the Summer by Remo Drive, Humanity by Gorillaz and When You Die by MGMT also in this spot.

On to number one, and if you know me you probably know it already.

1. Kamikaze - Eminem

Listen. I don’t care if this didn’t chart. I don’t care if it didn’t get close. I don’t give two fifths of a fuck if Eminem isn’t as good as he used to be. I don’t give a single rat’s ass.

Because I fucking love Kamikaze.

(The song.)

The album was fine, I wasn’t huge on the whole “call out everyone” angle it took. Sure sometimes it landed, but other times, like with the Tyler the Creator diss, it was completely pointless and kind of petty.

But the title song? It bangs.

The lyrics are good, obviously, it’s an Eminem song and he hasn’t been struggling with lyrics since... Revival I guess. The production on Kamikaze is interesting, the chorus is catchy. I just love it. It puts me in a good mood for reasons I cannot explain using words of the English language.

Maybe I just love Eminem too much. But in a year of stolid depression like 2018, all I wanted was for my favorite rapper Eminem to say “fuck” and yell a lot and just be kind of motivational in his weird way. And he did it. And I understand if people don’t enjoy Kamikaze (the song or the album) but I just can’t not love it, it makes me so excited every time I hear that intro. I feel like a child almost.

I saw Eminem live for the first time this year at Governor’s Ball. It was an experience. My feet were killing me because to get good spots, my sister and I had to sit through Chvrches. (Didn’t like them very much.) It was loud and crowded. It started raining, I was cold as shit and tired and this enormous drunk guy in a wifebeater nearly elbowed my head clean off of my shoulders just due to a lack of spacial awareness. And I didn’t even give a shit until it was over.

The music ended, and I realized I was freezing my ass off. And that’s what good music does to a guy I guess. And being able to download a new, really good Eminem song was like capturing that moment in a bottle. A bottle of white boy spite, but a good bottle nonetheless.

Of course I’m biased. God knows if this song is actually better than something like In My Blood or Genius, but I love this song too much to put it any lower than number one.

Whenever I need motivation or I’m just really pissed, this song is here for me to listen to, so I can lose my shit by the side of a man who I’ve literally begun referring to as my dad at this point. And that’s just what I want. A song that I can feel next to. A song that can feel with me. And as good as some of these other songs are, I don’t feel with them like I do with Kamikaze.

See you next year, I guess.

#top 10 #top 10 list #top 10 best hits of 2018 #year end countdown #panda posts #positive review #pop song review

2 notes · View notes

jakejamesjournalism · 5 years

Text

chance the rappers debut ‘album’ The Big Day isn’t really one at all

6/27

From 10 Day to Acid Rap to Coloring Book, hip hops most prolific mixtape run since 05-07 Lil Wayne came to an end this week. Chance released his debut album appropriately titled The Big Day, a 77 minute freewheeling concept album about marriage and the joy that comes along with it. The lighthearted odyssey of an album is like most Christian weddings, a festive celebration in the presence of God.

Chancellor Bennett is now a married man. When we first met him he was a troubled youth suspended from school and airing out his dirty laundry. 10 Day (literally recorded in during the length of the suspension) showed a boy oozing talent everywhere with an untamed ear for melody. That keen ear for melody expanded his sonic palette on his breakout mixtape, 2013’s Acid Rap. Chance became every college students favorite rapper. A psychedelic rap mixtape, Acid Rap tells the story of a black boy in America and his relationship with the world, music, substance abuse, women, himself… The honesty and relationship my generation has with this mixtape has it constantly ranked as the best Chance the Rapper project by his ardent fan base. Acid Rap is indeed a generational mixtape that will always run deep in the young hearts of those who loved it on first listen and used its emotional weight to help them through the angsty high school years the album was tailor made for. The sheer raw talent that takes over the sound of the mix acts as its biggest strength, offering gut-wrenching pieces of vulnerable songwriting most “rappers” cannot achieve. Harnessing this sound into one complete singular vision was something I could get behind. I thought the young boy from Chicago’s best days were ahead of him.

On 2016’s Coloring Book, Chance the rapper sounds like a man. We grew up with Chancellor, and even though it’s not my favorite, the nostalgia of Acid Rap will always bring back memories of simpler times when life was all about getting by in class and talking to the pretty girls at parties. It’s a beautiful nostalgia, and there isn’t an artist on the planet that does nostalgia better than Chance. But Coloring Book was a triumphant transition into the inevitability of adulthood. More inspiring than its predecessor, the gospel fusion comes off as something even an agnostic can get lifted to. Similar to ‘Acid Rap’, ‘Coloring Book’ is a concise and cohesive 57 minutes of music. The so-called mixtape went onto become the first streaming only project to debut on the Billboard 200. More impressively, it became the first self-released hip-hop mixtape to win a Grammy. Chance can call them mixtapes all he wants, but his natural gift for capturing his entire sonic expression so completely in his individual projects shows how meticulous of a curator he really is.

This type of knack doesn’t come by often which is why the excitement for his first album was something I couldn’t contain. His diligence displayed in his mixtapes had me expecting a lot from his first self-proclaimed album. Rumors were spurred about him working on a joint album with Kanye titled ‘Good Ass Job’ somewhere in the middle of the records recording process and a single titled Groceries were the only previews we got. One of the many perks of not having a label, leaks are far easier to prevent. Kanye may have been invited to his actual wedding, but he doesn’t get the invite to this party.

What would have to be referred to as wedding rap, The Big Day uses it’s extraordinary 77-minute run time to share the elation he and his wife experienced on their wedding day with everyone. With God. Several unexpected guests stop by to celebrate including a totally game Nick Minaj and the perfect amount of Gucci Mane over a great beat by Timbaland. Shawn Mendes gets invited to party on the bounce cut ‘Ballin Flossin.’ Although the 22 tracks don’t feel as indulgent as they do convivial, the runtime does work against the album formula he so wholeheartedly nailed on his mixtapes. It’s ironic that his first album is more carefree in its structure than its mixtape predecessors.

Chance offers a little bit of everything on an album that features him simultaneously at his best and most disposable. The first 2 tracks, both featuring surprising guest vocals, Ben Gibbard being by far the most surprising, are incredible. The first song doubled down on the Coloring Book opener by doing something even more grandiose. It doesn’t feel forced at all, and neither does its transition into obvious highlight ‘Do You Remember’. The Ben Gibbard assisted track nails the Chance brand nostalgia as well as ever. “Do you remember how when you were younger the summers that lasted forever? Hold That Feeling Forever” sings the Death Cab front man. Chance throws it back to real time youth with lines like “trust in my dogs like Balto” and “My daughter on the swing like the 2017 Cubs/ My daughter mother double-ringed up.” It’s a beautiful hip-hop indie collaboration that for once doesn’t feel the least bit insincere.

The rest of the marathon often features a few highlights and more than a few let downs. Most of which are linked directly to the performance of its curator. It features music all over the spectrum, by far his most diverse release thus far. Maybe there’s a disconnect here because it’s the first Chance project that hasn’t mirrored the events of my personal journey at the time. I myself have not experienced the joy of walking down the aisle marrying the women you love in the presence of your daughter. With Acid Rap we were both learning the ways of the world, experimenting with different perspectives. Coloring Book was when we didn’t do the “same drugs” and comfortably moved into the role of adulthood with our hearts on our sleeve. Chance is celebrating his Big Day while I am single spending time in New York City still working on that adulthood thing. The debut album here feels less like an album than anything he’s done before. It sounds like a good mixtape from an up and coming talent trying to find a singular sound to hone in on. Chance has already accomplished this, which makes the albums lack of cohesion problematic. He found that vision in his mixtapes which come off as great albums. Regardless of the duplicity, it’s all good. The album exudes bliss at the seams. When you piece together the message of The Big Day, through all it’s flaws it’s tough to be a cynic (even if you are currently at this very moment trolling him for loving his Wife so much.)

All Day Long

Do You Remember

Zanies and Fools

Big Fish

0 notes