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alongtimeagoinablogfarfaraway · 5 years

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Favorite Albums 2018: THE TOP 5

#5- Victory Lap by Nipsey Hussle

Congratulations to the 2018 Stay Trippy Award winner. I’ve never really listened to Nipsey Hussle. I mean this was his first studio album release after all so I guess I can’t really be blamed for that. But the raw intensity that he raps with on this debut effort is something to acknowledge. Nipsey is blunt, track 2 “Rap Niggas” kind of exemplifies that with the chorus “I ain’t nothin like you fuckin rap niggas”. A simple statement but it’s the entire theme of the song and the message he’s trying to get across. Like I’ve said before, there seemed to be a theme this year with rappers calling out the up and coming new generation.

Victory Lap is a rap album through and through. His raspy unique voice delivers every verse with a confident brutal ferociousness. That statement may seem a bit much but it fits the way Nipsey raps in my opinion.

As I continued to listen to him rap, the image above is something I could picture him doing very easily. I definitely feel like Nipsey isn’t someone you want to mess with or double cross. I mean after all he does state in “Last Time That I Checc’d” that “I’m the street’s voice out west” and that is certainly is a bold and high remark to make about one’s self. But I can see it, I really can. I really liked every song on this album and yet I had never ever listened to Nipsey Hussle as I stated before so it was pretty obvious that this would be this years Stay Trippy Award winner. I should have more to say but after all I did just start listening to Nipsey this year, so we’ll see if he comes out with another within the next couple years, I’ll be keeping an eye out.

Favorite Song

Succa Proof

#4- Bobby Tarantino II by Logic

I don’t watch Rick and Morty and I was still laughing and loving the entire 2 min long introduction they have about listening to Logic music and listen to that Bobby Tarantino shit. Logic has taken on many alter egos but the Bobby Tarantino one started back in 2016 when he released the first Bobby Tarantino mix-tape. This is technically a mix-tape but I’m kind of considering it an LP since mix-tapes are something I’ve always considered something that you can obtain for free. Just like the first one, this second installment in the series continues the I don’t give a fuck, I’m having fun attitude. This album has the hit singles that Logic has started to become well known for but it also resurrected lots of fans favorite alter ego of his “Young Sinatra” on the song “Warm It Up”. A lot of people lost their shit when they heard him donning that name again in a song (and I was definitely one of those people).

Logic is the perfect blend of hip-hop and rap. This album/mix-tape whatever exemplifies that. The intro jumps right into “Overnight” and the energy never stops from there. Bobby is fun, he’s electric and he’s talented above all else.

And his music videos are just as entertaining as he is (Example above from “Everyday” music video). “Everyday” was probably my least favorite song but after watching the music video I sort of had more of an appreciation for it but that’s the thing, even the songs I don’t really like at first I seem to end up liking them at the end of the day because Logic is just that guy. He’s goes from a very poppy song like that and on the reverse has songs like “44 More” where he absolutely demolishes the beat he raps over ending with the line “now here’s 44 more” as in he 44 more bars. I mean that’s just as fun as fun gets. Logic’s the man and he absolutely knows it now. He dropped this just to drop it and give the fans more of what they want. He didn’t need to tease some album for years and years, he just gave the people what they want; more music. And it works in my opinion. This was one of the funnest albums of the year for me. That’s why it landed so high at #4.

Favorite Song

Wizard of Oz

#3- Astroworld by Travis Scott

I’m going to start by saying one thing, this is not Travis Scott’s best album. In fact, this may be my least favorite of his three studio albums that he’s released. And yet here it sits at number 3. That’s because I still throughly enjoyed this album. There’s the smash hit “Sicko Mode”, which Travis had to know would strike gold like it did. There was also the hit single “Butterfly Effect” but that song is mainstream Travis, it’s just not that good in my opinion. This leads me to my main point about this album. There are a good three to four songs I could care less about on this album, which usually means it won’t land this high on my list but every other song I pretty much loved. “Yosemite”, “Astrothunder” (mainly because of the track it followed), “Skeletons” and “Butterfly Effect” really are nothing special in my opinion. “Astrothunder” follows a track called “NC-17″ on the album where 21 Savage is featured and it’s just a great song. “Astrothunder” transitions the mood a bit too much for me following that song and it just didn’t work, I don’t know ya like what ya like and that was something I didn’t like.

But Travis did give us this song. I guess the powerful entries outweighed the less powerful because again this album landed the #3 spot. And at the end of the day this album was one that I listened more than most this year. I mean the first track “Stargazing” had me extremely pumped the first time I listened to it. Travis sings with that hallucinating auto tune of his and then out of the nowhere the beat drops and reemerges as something raw and intense and Travis just starts dropping bars and now we’re in a Travis rap song and not so much a Travis hip hop song. The production and delivery is brilliant and would you expect anything less because he is one of the best at those two things. I honestly thought that with his blown up fame and having already made two great albums that this album would honestly be a disappointment. Often now we find the albums with the biggest don’t always deliver and this was easily everyone’s most anticipated of the year. It didn’t deliver the expectations for me as much as it did for everyone else but there’s no denying that this album is a continued example of why Travis is one of the best hip-hop artists out there right now.

Favorite Song

NC-17

#2- Kids See Ghosts by Kanye West & Kid Cudi

The most definitive spots are always #2 and #1 for me. I always usually know right then and there when I listen to the eventual nominees which ones will take the top spots and be tough to beat. This album was one of them. This album combines two brilliant artists and musical minds. Kanye is nuts but this album is that example I was talking about in the first four out when I said he’s still got it though and still has a hand in some of the best albums being made. Kanye and Cudi are a great combo and this album displays that on every one of the seven tracks. Whether it’s Cudi’s echoing ballad in “Feel the Love” to start off the album (along with the lovely guest feature by Pusha T) or “4th Dimension” a song that when Cudi dives in with his rough vocals you get chills. It’s beautiful. There really just is something about that Kid Cudi when he starts singing and humming on a track.

There’s only 7 songs on this album but I love them all. That’s the kind of thing that will land an album with only 7 songs this high. For their first duo effort I’d say it was a huge success. Kanye’s passion and Cudi’s passion mix together very well and then on songs like “Extasy” we get an awesome feature from Ty Dolla $ign and it just works so well and fits in with the electric feel to the song. Sometimes I see how corny some of the stuff is that I say but it makes sense in my own head and hopefully somewhat to you the reader. Anyway, the album ends with Cudi sort of giving us an exit from an album that just really suits the name from start to finish. It’s a trip and a dream like kind of one at that. There’s the sounds you’d expect from a Cudi album and the production that you’d expect from a Kanye one.

I can’t ever deny how much of a role these two have played in my love for music growing up. Cudi has reemerged as one of my favorites as he’s been a part of two of my favorite albums within the past several years; this one and his solo album “Pain, Passion & Demon Slaying” back in 2016. Kanye is Kanye as I’ve said but this album left me with the feeling that I still need to be excited when he announces that music from him and GOOD music is coming our way. I just love the passion of this album most. Well done.

Favorite Song

4th Dimension

#1- Daytona by Pusha T

As the chorus to the first album on this song states “If you know you know”, I certainly knew I had probably listened to what would be my #1 for 2018 after listening to this album once. Why? Because I knew I needed to listen to it again right away after listening to it the first time. Look I was skeptical. This album had been teased as King Push for a long time, years to be exact and then at the last second the album’s title changed to Daytona. It brought back memories of Kanye constantly changing his name for The Life of Pablo. I didn’t want that to happen here. I had been waiting for Pusha to drop this album and I did not want it to disappoint. I think it’s safe to say that it didn't.

So let’s jump in then. My favorite song “Come Back Baby” where the lyrics:

“Bitch, I been had, bitches been bad We buy big boats, bitch, I’m Sinbad” And“They don’t miss you till you gone with the wind And they tired of dancing like a Ying Yang Twin You can’t have the Yin without the Yang my friend”

are said. I mean...ya just gotta love King Push. I mean he kind uses the Ying Yang Twins to shape a metaphor and to me that’s just great. Pusha doesn’t change what he does when it comes to his style of rap. He raps about being a cocaine cowboy basically. He raps about the lifestyle. He raps only as we’ve ever known him to and surprise IT WAS AWESOME. It resulted in a great album. Now I get all these rappers wanting to experiment and try something new to create all elements of their own music but what made you great, the type of music, the flow, the sound, it’s what MADE YOU GREAT. Pusha doesn’t try to be different he tries to be Pusha. It’s just seven songs of raw emotion and power coming from the likes of someone I would never want to fuck with, THE Pusha T.

Does that look like someone you want to mess with? NO. And let’s not forget that Pusha started the infamous beef with Drake this year off the track “Infrared”. I mean I didn’t expect Pusha to come out shots firing but then again I shouldn’t be surprised. You know he’ll challenge anyone and you certainly don’t question it. But back to why this album is great and why it deserves the #1 spot. Because all 7 songs are fucking awesome. Call it a weak argument but from start to finish Push doesn’t stop dropping bar after bar over beautifully produced beats and you just get lost in this album. You want to keep hearing more and more and when Pusha is being Pusha to the max that’s really all you can ask for when listening to one of his albums.

Pusha starts off rapping over a high octane beat to start the album and ends it letting everyone know that he’s still here and that he’s been around and he’s going nowhere. I mean he clearly calls out Drake specifically but he’s also calling out everyone else too. Like I said, a lot of these rappers who have been around and established themselves have finally had it with the new generation and rightfully so...they’re all mostly trash (I’m looking at you Lil Pump, 6ix9ine, Playboi Carti...god there’s just too many to name). This album is refreshing and honestly it’s what a rap album should be. It’s dark, it’s gritty and at the end of the day it’s King Push reestablishing himself to everyone, although I don’t think he really needed to.

Favorite Song

Come Back Baby

So there you have it, my 2018 list. I really wanted to make something amazing this year with my list and make it more flashy (apparently I thought GIFs could achieve that) but I got lazy and didn’t prep enough. We’ll see if I can better prepare for 2019′s list and think of something to make it more enjoyable of a read. Last year I ended with my most anticipated albums of 2018. They were SremmLife 3 (SR3MM), Untitled A$AP Rocky album (Testing), King Push (Lol, Daytona), AstroWorld & Untitled Schoolboy Q album. Schoolboy’s didn’t happen and one of them ended up probably being my most disappointing album of 2018, A$AP Rocky’s Testing. Now if you know me you know he’s my favorite artist. He’s experimenting these days hardcore. Testing was a trip and a half but not one that I loved that much. Rocky isn’t as lyrical as he used to be and for me that’s disappointing. Anyways here’s my most anticipated albums for this year I guess:

Run The Jewels IV (I guess this is a thing? And if it is I’m gonna lost my shit)

Schoolboy Q - TBA

Childish Gambino - TBA (Again don’t really know if this is a thing)

Joey Bada$$ - TBA

Thanks to the very few who read this/maybe not very few. Here’s to 2019 and another great year of music!

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alongtimeagoinablogfarfaraway · 5 years

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Favorite Albums #10-6

#10- SR3MM by Rae Sremmurd

So let me start by saying that this was probably my most anticipated album of 2018. Yes I’m serious and if you listen to SremmLife 2 you would understand why and probably would have felt the same way. Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi have established themselves quite simply as SUPERSTARS. Of course within the past year or so everyone has become familiar with Swae less so than Jxmmi. Regardless, the two as Rae Sremmurd are well known to mostly everyone.

Now, this album was technically a triple disc album where we got the third installment of SremmLife as well as Swae Lee and Slim Jximmi’s debut solo albums. This became the downfall of this release and why it ends up at #10. The duo needed to focus on one collaborative effort but they wanted to give the people something different and new, which I do understand and loved because most people were waiting for Swae’s long awaited Swaecation while I couldn’t wait for Slim Jxmmi’s.

Brief exaggeration of how I felt in anticipation.

Overall the three mini albums are decent but this is not their best effort. We get hints of the nocturnal party sound that was nearly every song on SremmLife 2 in “Ballin”. Unfortunately Future is on the track and while I don’t mind it too much, that’s definitely what stopped this song from becoming my favorite across all of the three albums. So yes, I am including all three mini albums into this spot. If you like Rae Sremmurd you will enjoy what you hear BUT you will be disappointed. There are many hints of what make them great throughout the 27 tracks but there are just as many counters to that. But let’s be honest, I still fucking love these guys.

I mean...C’MON.

Favorite Song

Brxnks Truck

#9- TA13OO by Denzel Curry

Ever since listening to his smash hit LP Imperial I absolutely loved the sound and flow of Denzel. I listened to that thing constantly. The intensity yet precision that he raps with is something to admire. So of course I was waiting for his long awaited debut album, which finally arrived this year. Denzel is something else, that’s really what it comes down to. He continues to make me think that way after this album. It’s an album I need to sit down and listen to more carefully, that much I can already tell you. But from my couple of listens I already knew that this guy wasn’t going anywhere. His tenacity and his style hasn’t changed. While this album was nowhere near my liking that I had for Imperial, it still managed to make me excited for what’s hopefully next to come for this artist.

Curry can go from a hip hop sounding track in “CASH MANIAC/CAZH MAN1AC” to a bat shit crazy Curry staple in “SUMO/Zumo” and I can’t hate it. Here’s the thing with Denzel Curry, he has potential. He’s stayed very under the radar seeing as this was his first major release since Imperial back in 2016. I feel as if there wasn’t too much released by him in that time gap, which I’m either completely wrong about or I’m right and it disappoints me because I would love more music from this guy. Part of it though is that I don’t get the vibe from this wild rapper that he really wants a part of the mainstream life, which is certainly more than fine with me. Main stream success ruined some of my favorite rappers back in the day (Wiz and Tyga). Their music sucks now, I’m sorry. Curry? Not so much and the fact that he’s still a little out of most people’s radar is good.

Did I mention he’s a little bit crazy and entertaining? I expect his next album to hopefully set the bar for where his career can go. Here’s to really really hoping.

Favorite Song

SUPER SAIYAN SUPERMAN/ZUPER ZA1YAN ZUPERMAN

#8- Trench by Twenty One Pilots

Yes, I like Twenty One Pilots. I only really started listening to them a couple years back when their song “Blurryface” blew up along with the same titled album Blurryface. Lead vocalist Tyler Joseph will sometimes jump into a fast paced rap or he will sing his lungs out with a quirky voice at times and a very catchy tune at others. Their songs usually transition from one sound to another midway through and your swayed from one emotion to another within the same song and that’s what I tend to love about their music and it’s what I loved yet again about this album.

Th album starts off with the songs “Jumpsuit” and then “Levitate” which are high octane melodies. This was similar to their previous album which started with “Heavydirtysoul”.I really fell in love with the sound of these artists and was glad that they didn’t sway away from what made them become so well known. I have yet to go back and listen to their early early stuff but what I have listened to in their last two albums has me excited for more albums in the future hopefully. Anyways like I was mentioning, I enjoyed that they didn’t start this album off slow or dis interesting. I’m not saying it’s the most WOAH start to an album at all but it’s enough to keep you listening. Eventually you find yourself halfway through the album without hitting your favorite song of the album yet (well that’s what happened to me). This is probably the first time my list hasn’t been compiled with all rap albums...although I guess Frank Ocean is more hip-hop than rap but oh well. I’m sure most didn’t expect this one but here it lands at #9.

Favorite Song

Chlorine

#7-Redemption by Jay Rock

TDE has Kendrick Lamar but they also have Jay Rock. He goes unnoticed sometimes, which is understandable...because Kendrick Lamar. You get it. BUT we shouldn’t sleep on Rock’s third album effort. It has the smash hit “WIN”, which was something new for him and certainly helps his case becoming more popular. What the album also more importantly has is the display of talent that this man has as a rapper. The album starts with the track “The Bloodiest” where we see the theme of a “comeback” and rightfully so the album is titled Redemption after all. This may have not been an album I listened to more than most but I listened to it enough and every time I did I found myself appreciating it more and more. Now I like my fair share of artists who aren’t the best lyrically but I do prefer a good rap album that involves well...rapping. This album stood out in that department and were it not for another album, this probably would’ve taken home the Stay Trippy Award this year.

Following the album’s first song we get “For What It’s Worth”, which slows things down a bit but to me shows the versatility that Jay Rock has that I hadn’t necessarily spent the time to listen for before. Because after we get another catchy tune in “Knock It Off” we jump into the raw sounding and raw spitting “ES Tales”. There’s a quick intro to this song voiced by Kendrick. Need I say more? When Kendrick introduces a song...you have to make it worth one’s while and oh he does. He talks drugs and how it’s “part of playing cool now it’s time to get rich”, the dream of every American whether they want to admit it or not. Jay Rock is rich but his next album will have to be one that proves he’s rich and perhaps one of the best rappers out there.

Favorite Song

ES Tales

#6- KOD by J. Cole

With an album cover that certainly draws ones attention with its colorful palette and the image of Cole seemingly representing an old time renaissance artist, it almost seems fitting this time around. I’ve come to expect good things whenever he drops an album and after listening once I remember thinking that, he delivered another god album. Now I wasn’t the biggest fan of 4 Your Eyez Only but it did come towards the end of 2016 and 2016 was a strong year and the album released late that year that stole the show for me was Cudi’s amazing Pain, Passion and Demon Slaying. KOD came out much earlier, 4/20 to be exact. Regardless of when it came out it would have made my top ten.

J. Cole is definitely one of those artists in my opinion who has his own certain style and sound. It’s smooth, it’s lyrical but he can also break out into a full fledged freestyle. But I think one of my favorite moments of the album was the last song “1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”)” where he essentially calls out all the young rappers for what they’ve been saying about him and just how they’re behaving in general. Cole is pronouncing himself a true artist and that all these new upcoming rappers need to learn where they stand in the rap game right now. He acknowledges that he understands their attitude at the time though because he was once there and thought it was all about the same things. “I remember I was 18. Money, pussy, parties, I was on the same thing”. He later explains how he wants to paint for them the large picture. Once again...seems to fit in with the renaissance like cover.

But let’s be honest, Cole still likes that money as shown above from the catchy hit “ATM”. I like Cole and I know not everyone does but he is definitely one of the best out there right now in my opinion. This album probably should be higher in my list but this year was a weird year for me. There were only a few albums I found myself going “God I loved that album” at the end of the year and while this wasn’t one of those I just throughly enjoyed it.

Favorite Song

1985 (Into to the “Fall Off”)

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alongtimeagoinablogfarfaraway · 5 years

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THE FIRST FOUR OUT.

#14- ye by Kanye West.

#13- The World Is Yours by Rich The Kid

#12- Not All Heroes Wear Capes by Metro Boomin

#11- YSIV by Logic

UP NEXT:

Next I will be posting #10-6 of my favorite albums of the year. I plan on posting them tomorrow but want to be a little bit more in depth. There will be some albums that didn’t make my list that may have you wondering HOW? Well this is my personal opinion and really what this list usually comes down to is;

1- What albums did I listen to most?

2- What albums did I enjoy the most?

So with that being said, I know this first list isn’t too in depth or memorable but it gets the ball rolling for the good stuff in my opinion which is what a tease a precursor/prelude is all about. So enjoy! And I’m always willing to hear your lists or recommendations of albums I should have listened to below so don’t be afraid to comment on this or the post that led you to this with those comments or recommendations. I’m always looking for new music to fall in love with. Thanks for reading so far!

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alongtimeagoinablogfarfaraway · 6 years

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Justice League. Ugh.

I’m not TEAM MARVEL and I’m not TEAM DC. With that being said, to all of you out there who are in denial that DC and Warner Bros are not doing a great job at building their cinematic universe, I’m not quite sure I understand. Between Steppenwolf from Justice League and Doomsday from Batman vs. Superman, are you content with complete CGI villains whose CGI looks second rate? Or is it the terrible cheesy one liners from the likes of Superman saying that coming back to life felt “Itchy” in Justice League? I mean c’mon...if these things didn’t make your eyes roll at all then you’re probably also a fan of movies like Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, both god awful movies.

So let’s just get right to it and all the reasons that Justice League is a movie with no context and really makes you feel like you’re back in the 90′s watching those god awful Batman movies. Let’s start with the only reason I was interested in seeing this film, The Flash. I get awkwardness being a part of this character but every time he speaks? Look Warner Bros you miscast this character. Ezra Miller is no Barry Allen and I’m gonna be as blunt as I can with that. You just didn’t get it right. While the speed force effects and whatnot may be some of the only bright spots of the film, the rest just kind of plain stinks.

The writing/dialogue. Did we really need the dialogue of “My man” coming out of Aquaman’s mouth to Cyborg? The answer is no. Did we also need Batman saying something along the lines of “This guy really is tall” in regards to the non engaging villain Steppenwolf jumping onto his “Bat Crawler” or whatever the F it was called. Again the answer to all this is a resounding no.

The plot. So again the writing. Since we had no introduction to the Cyborg, Aquaman and Flash characters we were basically meant to be sold on these three within one movie that rushes them in and then the movies over. Well between all their cheesy lines and no depth of development to any of them I was not sold at all. And is that random family they kept cutting to all movie supposed to serve some purpose because they didn’t at all other than to be some of the people saved at the end by the Flash who awkwardly says some word in their language and sprints away. Sigh.

The villain is Steppenwolf. Oh wait whats that? You said this review seems like it’s all over the place and just jumping from one point to the next senselessly? Funny because that’s exactly what I felt when watching Justice League. So anyway, the villain. Steppenwolf is the general of Darkseids army. He mentions Darkseid randomly in the movie. If you don’t know what’s going on then it makes no sense. The fact that this is the only mention of the franchises supposed BIG BAD really makes no sense. There probably should have been maybe a quick back story on the whole connection but instead he teleports down to Earth and just starts swinging his lava axe yelling about getting the mother boxes. That’s pretty much the role he plays throughout the whole movie. How riveting.

It’s simple this movie gets 2/5 stars for me and for people who are like wow that’s a harsh rating....maybe you should watch the movie again because it’s entirely fair. Now for anyone saying “WHAT ABOUT MARVEL!” don’t worry I’ll be posting about the top, middle and bottom tier of movies within the Marvel Verse. DC and Warner Bros need to stop making movies for now but they’re in too deep now to stop. I mean there’s already other Jokers supposedly being cast and whatnot within the DC realm. The dumpster fire has already been lit, there’s no need to kick it over and start a bigger fire. Guess it’s too late.

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alongtimeagoinablogfarfaraway · 6 years

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Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2017

#1- This album starts with a track titled Down and it is everything that represents a calm before the storm. It is smooth and reminds us all that the two geniuses behind Run The Jewels are back. Then track #2-6 happens and our ear drums don’t have a second to calm down or recover from what happens next. I wasn’t sure if Killer Mike and El-P could top RTJ2 AND BOY WAS I STUPID TO THINK SO. I think it’s safe to say this is my favorite Run the Jewels album and if you know me that’s saying A LOT. Track #4 Call Ticketron is undeniably in contention for my favorite song of the year…or possibly the track before it Legend has it. Once I listened to this album I was sure there was nothing that would even come close to entertaining me and making me as happy as this album did listening to it. As with its two previous predecessors, Run The Jewels 3 continues to make you automatically transition from any mood into a crazy “I want to smash walls and conquer the world” kind of mood. These two play-off of each other so well and having seen them live this year I can honestly say it may be the most genuine and true rap duo out there right now. This album is pure GOLD as it would seem the hands depict on the cover. Maybe they knew they were making the epic conclusion to this history making album trilogy that have become tied for my favorite rap albums of all time. And just for those saying this came out in 2016, the physical copy dropped in stores January 2017, so shut it.

#2- The fact that this album and RTJ3 came out in the same year makes this one of the best years of releases I can remember in recent history. These two albums cannot be touched and this is by far my favorite Kendrick album since his masterpiece GKMC. DNA may be one of my favorite tracks ever and if your mood doesn’t automatically change as soon as that song comes on then there’s something wrong with you. It’s amazing to say that I am alive to witness the greatness that is Kendrick Lamar and how he just continues to demolish anyone else out there trying to be the best. He is the best and has been and after this album it’s once again proof how close no one is to him. I mean what more can you say other than Kendrick Lamar has done it once again. I mean the album was so liked that it was re released in backwards order because that’s how he said it was really supposed to be listened to. Only Kendrick could do such things. We are witnessing one of the greatest and in an age where so many are losing their likability for me and should stop (Eminem), this is refreshing.

#3- I was not a fan of the song Bounce Back or Moves when I heard them prior to this album releasing. That had me worried about this album. Not sure why I still doubt Big Sean so much because now his last two albums have landed at the #3 and #4 spotson my top ten lists, which is pretty damn good. Now, when listening to the album I don’t mind the two songs previously mentioned. They fit well within the album but I honestly still am not a fan of listening to them solo (I know I’m weird). Bigger than me is this album’s One man can change the world but honestly I think it’s even better. It’s such a great song and so is Jump out the window and Halfway off the balcony and I guess I could go on and on. This album surprised me because Sean’s previous album was by far his best and my favorite. After listening to this I can honestly say I may like I Decided just as much and unlike most artists these days, Big Sean seems to keep getting better with his albums and I will never doubt him again unless he makes another extremely underwhelming album like Hall of Fame again but I don’t see that happening after the last two great albums he’s released. Sean’s one of the best and still underrated rappers in my opinion but he’s definitely in my top ten of favorite rappers these days and this album showed me why and that’s why it’s all the way up at #3.

#4- CONGRATULATIONS to the 2017 Stay Trippy Award Winner. You should know what this means whether you know me or have read my previous post. Before last year I had never really listened to Dave East at all so my first real listening experience of him landed him at the #4 spot with his debut album. Impressive. And also more than deserving of the Stay Trippy Award. I first really noticed Dave East off the song Olympian from the album that happens to be up next on this list. I loved what I heard and decided to go see if there was some music of his that I could listen to and sure enough his new album had come out, which was perfect. I was very impressed and am looking forward to listening to much more of Dave East. From a song like Phone Jumpin, which is a high volume type song I love to Maneuver, which is a little more low key, Dave East is already a rapper I can say I like a lot because he well….raps. These days with the way this music is evolving and changing and becoming it’s getting hard to discover true genuine rappers like this. Instead we’ve got the Playboi Cartis of the world who quite honestly just suck, don’t even try saying they don’t. Anyways, quite a debut for Dave East as he comes in at #4 in his first appearance on one of my top 10 lists.

#5-This would have been the Stay Trippy Award winner but everyone knows how obsessed I am with A$AP Mob and all it’s eccentric members. A$AP Ferg is no exception and while his first album had some awesome hits, he really has never delivered at the album level for me. I expected this album to be no different. There are a lot of features on this album, which is usually a component of most A$AP albums but they all worked great like Dave East on Olympian or Cam’ron (who I did not see coming at all) on Rubber Band Man. The ultimate BANGERS on this album include Mad Man, Nasty, The Mattress (a song about fucking on a mattress and other kinds of stuff, only on an A$AP album), and East Coast Remix. I didn’t anticipate this album even making my top 10 let alone to come in at #5 but this album is the Ferg album I’ve been waiting for and I feel like what everyone else should have been waiting for if they are a fan of him. That’s’ really what it came down to with this album and I found myself listening to it more than most albums this year, which is why it was up so high on my list.

#6- This album came out later in the year without warning…sorry had to do it, and I’m glad it did because it’s pretty much all I listened to for the weeks following its release. The first two songs of the album are Ghostface Killas and Rap Saved Me and they are two of my favorite songs of the year. The combination of Metro Boomin and 21 Savage had become hit or miss for me. Their debut project Savage Mode I loved but Issa Album really didn’t do it for me. The fact that Offset (my favorite Migos member) was also a joint artist on the album made me enjoy it that much more. This is what you would expect from a Metro Boomin, 21 Savage and Offset album and that’s always a good thing to me. I listened to this album probably the most or close to the most for the last two months or so of the year. This was a fun album, had its bangers on it (sorry for using that word a lot but I do love songs with good beats and that are noisy) and definitely surprised me at how much I ended up liking it because I’m honestly not the biggest 21 Savage advocate but on an album like this I don’t mind him and am a fan of his music and hooks.

#7- Oh Logic. He’s probably in my top 5 for favorite artists right now. His last album The Incredible True Story is still my favorite but if you’re looking for an album where someone is trying to send a message than look no further than Logic’s Everybody. Racial discrimination and civil rights issues are becoming more prevalent than ever once again and whether it’s a guest montage from the amazing Killer Mike or the many many claims that he isn’t ashamed to be black and white, this album is a movement and it’s a movement towards trying to make the world a better place. While this album wasn’t everything I hoped it would be you cannot deny appreciating the powerful message that Logic depicts and as I listened to it more and more I began to realize how great this album really is. Logic does not shy away from his feelings about race and the problems in the world right now and it’s one of the greatest displays of that from an artist on an album that I’ve seen recently. A great album with an even greater message, which is why there was never a doubt whether this would or would not crack the top ten. I mean c’mon, whats better than having a song called Black Spider-Man on your album? And it’s a fucking awesome song.

#8- My girlfriend Alexis wouldn’t stop telling me to listen to Khalid. If I didn’t credit her for my listening to this album she probably would take my head off (She actually just texted me saying “I better get a shout out”). Now not only did I enjoy this album but it was also the official Stay Trippy Award runner up. American Teen, Young, Dumb & Broke, Another Sad Love Song and 8Teen are some of my favorites off this album but the album as a whole from top to bottom is great and it just gives off the feel that the title of the album looks to embody. Let me just say that I do still hate the song Location. I wish that song wasn’t on the album but it’s whatever because I enjoy every other song very much. After listening to this album I’m very excited to see what we get next from Khalid and if I will like his next album as much as I liked his debut one. One of my favorite things every year is trying to discover new artists and finding new music and albums to listen to. This was one of my favorite examples of that happening last year and with all that being said it had to make it into my top ten list.

#9- Now because of how much I love A$AP some might think this is another interesting pick for my top ten but to be honest on a weaker year this may have made it much higher up on my list. What held this back from being higher up on my list was that is that while it was an impressive debut effort from one of my favorites A$AP Twelvyy, it wasn’t anything that stood out as exceptional. To be honest this album did meet my expectations and in some ways exceeded them. It has the feels of an A$AP album between the typical skits or fellow appearances from the other mob members, Twelvyy does a good job of establishing himself as a good artist. However there are many songs that depend upon some heavy features like one of my favorite tracks A Glorious Death featuring the Flatbush Zombies. There are also a couple songs here and there I found myself not too fond of, which is another reason this album ended up towards the back end of my top ten list.

#10- Last time Jay-Z released an album was in 2013 and it was Magna Carta Holy Grail. The album really wasn’t anything memorable and that hurts saying that considering we’re talking about one of the greats Jay-Z. Perhaps that was the beginning of the end. 4:44 definitely proves otherwise. Now I feel like a lot of people may be wondering why this is all the way back at #10 barely making it into the top ten. This album is great and definitely has some great songs, I mean it starts off with great back to back tracks in Kill Jay-Z and The Story of O.J. Everyone was so awed by this album going “OMG Jay-Z admitted to cheating on Beyonce”. I mean he admitted he did something wrong and while that seems to have gotten the album a lot of its initial attention, I think people began to realize the heart and soul Jay-Z sort of lets out in this album. While this wasn’t an album I listened to nonstop throughout the year there’s no denying it was one of the ten best rap/hip-hop albums to come out in the year 2017.

2017 had A LOT of music come out from many of my favorite artists. It was honestly one of my favorite years for music but there were still come anticipated albums that did not come out that has me looking extremely forward to 2018. Let me finish by giving my top 5 most anticipated albums for 2018 as of this moment.

1- SremmLife 3

2- Untitled A$AP Rocky album

3- King Push (But I’m pretty sure this is the new Life of Pablo that will take years to come out because he’s already said it’s coming out two years in a row)

4- AstroWorld

5- Untitled Schoolboy Q album

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alongtimeagoinablogfarfaraway · 6 years

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Star Wars The Last Jedi.

If you were to ask me what my initial thought was leaving the theater after seeing Star Wars: The Last Jedi for the first time I would tell you two things. It was interesting and intriguing. Not sure if I’ve ever left the theater thinking those two things after seeing a Star Wars film. Most people are expecting numerous massive and pointless battles along with hokey dialogue that makes you giggle and then that epic FINAL LIGHTSABER DUEL. We can thank the prequel trilogy for most of that.

Now while The Force Awakens fit the Star Wars criteria and was simply just an amazingly fun movie, its sequel brought something entirely different to the table just as Empire Strikes Back did after A New Hope. NO, The Last Jedi is no Empire Strikes Back, no Star Wars movie will ever touch that, but what it was next to A New Hope is what The Last Jedi feels to be next to The Force Awakens. I know I’m repeating myself a little but just wanted to clear the comparison up that I was making.

We waited two years for the huge answers to the huge questions that Force Awakens left floating out there and when all was said and done we didn’t really get the two biggest answers we were looking for and those are;

1) Who the hell is Supreme Leader Snoke?

2) Who the hell are Rey’s parents?

We’ll start with Supreme Leader Snoke. My brother brought to my attention one of his big theories about what the deal is with this character and just hear me out because it really backs up when you look at all its angles. The theory is that Luke created the illusion/persona or what ever you wanna call it that is Snoke. Luke mentions multiple times in the film that what he saw in Kylo Ren’s mind terrified him and that he did not think he would be able to control him. So in response he created someone who COULD control Kylo to a certain degree. Kylo in a way feared and respected Supreme Leader Snoke, something he did not feel towards Luke at all. He wanted to find Luke and kill him, end of story.

Now to those of you shaking your heads at this theory let’s look at some of the key components of it.

1) Snoke’s dialogue and facial expressions mirror the Emperor to a TEE. I was waiting for him to literally just spill it and say I’M EMPEROR PALPATINE it was so similar! Physically who does Snoke look like? He looks like the burned Vader that we all saw in Return of the Jedi. Who is the only person that has interacted with these two and knows what they both look and sound like? Luke Skywalker. It only makes sense that Luke could conjure up a character that has all the features of his two biggest foes. No one else could make up an illusion that looks and sounds like Snoke did.

2) The Force Awakens brought this character out of nowhere teasing him up to be this big bad villain. Then two years later in the long awaited sequel that everyone wanted the answer to who Snoke was, he instead was cut in half as if he was nothing and we got no answers about him AT ALL. Do we really believe that’s all there is to that? They introduced this seemingly all powerful Sith who everyone fears just to kill him off as if he’s nothing? Yeah think about that, does that really make any sense at all because it doesn’t.

3) Before Snoke dies he mentions how he can see into Kylo’s mind, he knows his every move. Well here’s a fun fact, Luke mentioned how he can essentially do the same thing and how he looked into Kylo’s mind and saw the terrible things he was going to become or could become. Everything Snoke mentions that he can do are all things Luke in one way or another is capable of and even mentions in his own ways at times in the film.

4) Lastly, Snoke mentions in the throne room scene that he was the one who allowed Kylo and Rey to mentally communicate with each other. If so, why didn’t he have this happen in Force Awakens as soon as he realized she was out there to try and reel her in? The first time the two have this episode of mentally communicating with each other is RIGHT AFTER Rey meets Luke on the island. Coincidence? Yeah I’m not really thinking so. There’s honestly many more points I could make but I think that these are the big ones.

Who are Rey’s parents. Well everyone assumes they’re no one because Kylo told her so. I guess people really are that gullible. So none of you think Kylo was lying to her to try and get into her head and make her think she was nothing so that he could manipulate to try and get her to join her? Because it’s really as simple as that to explain why we probably haven’t seen the last of delving in the history of who Rey’s parents are.

Now let’s say her parents were nobodies. Why is everyone up in arms about this? It was made clear that this trilogy would end the Skywalker saga. Deal with it, they’re moving out with the old and bringing in the new something no one had an issue with and now that they’re doing it many people are up in arms. Honestly at this point I’m under the impression that only die hard Star Wars fans such as myself understand the intricacy of this movie.

Now trust me I have many problems with this movie but it has an entirely different feel than Force Awakens but in a good way, a very good one. So I’ll quickly end with my favorite moments. The entire throne room scene because it was one of the most WTF Star Wars moments and scenes ever. The falcon chase scene in the final act on Crait where Chewie and the Porg fly in just in the knick of time. The opening space battle where we finally got a space battle without twenty interruptions and lastly Rey’s self realization in the underground cave on the island which resembled Luke’s in the cave on Dagobah in Empire. Love it or hate it I think most die hard Star Wars fans have to appreciate the originality that Rian Johnson was able to bring to this chapter in the Star Wars saga. Episode 9 has a lot of stuff to answer and conclude like WHERE ARE THE KNIGHTS OF REN THEY’VE GOTTA GET IN ON THIS...anyway, this movie was great and too many people think it’s all black and white and what was said was said and done was done. I love Star Wars to death and thanks for listening to my rant.

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