Album Rating: 5.0

Idk dude. Pots's take is a take. Freddie Gibbs and a whole bunch of different hip hop figures cosigned this record. Some heads do like this record too, just not many. Not that fans have anything to do with the merit of an artist's sound at their core. Sure, it's definitely not experimental in the same way that Dalek or Clipping or Pyramid Vritra or some shit is, but it's experimental in the way the songs are written and arranged. Producing with dissonance, noise, and odd time sigs, or screaming on the beat aren't the only ways to be experimental. Plus it has a budget behind it like not many albums of this kind do.



The bottle clinks on U, or the spoken word concept incorporated into every song. Again, blending all of these separate genres on a record. For Free? is his own take on some Amiri Baraka/Gil Scott Heron type jazz/beat poetry. Something like Alright or King Kunta are entirely their own beast. Wesley's Theory is so packed with musical nuggets that you can listen over and over and hear little nuances that you missed before. Just a few examples of what makes it great. Nobody pop OR underground wrote songs QUITE like this before or since. Plus, the whole thing reads to me like a love letter to blackness, black art and black music. As a black dude, that shit really made me proud to be me when it came out. I'd hardly call this particular record inconsistent even though Kendrick definitely can be on the whole. I personally don't skip a track on here, but I might just be a dick-rider for this album in particular lmao. This album was never about "fad" music, cause funk, jazz, old school soul, and r&b despite having millions of fans, are comparatively underground in relation to something like Drake or Billie Eilish tbh.



And as a person that likes hip hop across the board Outkast, RTJ, Kendrick, and Nas are all perfectly worthy of top spots in someone's mind, even if they are a bit obvious. That dude might just be an asshole but those artists have nothing to do with that.

Yeah I always saw this as a celebration of a long and rich history of black artists, way more than just hip hop.

A gathering of artists who all specialize in different musical directions, ThunderCat, FlyLo, George Clanton, Bilal, Snoop, Rapsody. Lift them all up simultaneously.

Lol "George clanton"

Also that's like 2 total musical directions across all the artists you named

Album Rating: 5.0

Well, Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, SZA, Ambrose Akinmusire and Pharrell also. Lol and good job grievously undercutting the diversity of just that line up. Like all those artists have widely varying sounds despite LOOSELY falling into some of the same genre classifications

I used to really love King Kunta but ever since discovering Suga Free it really just didn't appeal to me anymore

"Well, Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, SZA, Ambrose Akinmusire and Pharrell also. Lol and good job grievously undercutting the diversity of just that line up. Like all those artists have widely varying sounds despite LOOSELY falling into some of the same genre classifications"

so with these additions we have 3 whole explicitly interconnected musical directions. can't we rate this highly without grievously overstating the diversity of that line up?

"Freddie Gibbs and a whole bunch of different hip hop figures cosigned this record. "

well, not that it matters but freddie gibbs is mediocre at best imHo and none of what i said contradicts "hip hop figures cosigned this record" anyway.


"Not that fans have anything to do with the merit of an artist's sound at their core... [etc etc]"

i don't really know where to start. I think u may be grievously reading into what i said at the expense of your own understanding of what i actually meant, which was largely praise. being nuanced doesn't equate to an 'experimental' nature and what you said about dalek/clipping/pyramid isn't an accurate representation of my perception of 'experimental' either. i also think you have some negative connotations with the term 'fad' that i didn't mean to imply. when this came out the trajectory of relatively underground music like alt r&b, neo-soul, nu jazz, experimental hip-hop and other adjacent sub genres was hot. it still is. i admire that he took note of this and selected his guests and direction to compliment that and bring something so fresh to a larger more mainstream audience. but i'm not going to credit him for initiating a particular musical renaissance when he really just took the reigns on it. innovation is just as valid as invention and i don't think there is any need to conflate the two or to exaggerate ones accomplishments to justify a great and culturally quintessential album as the great and culturally quintessential album that it is. for me personally yes, the album has its ups and downs but thats besides the point that what i was saying was meant positively.


"And as a person that likes hip hop across the board Outkast, RTJ, Kendrick, and Nas are all perfectly worthy of top spots in someone's mind, even if they are a bit obvious. That dude might just be an asshole but those artists have nothing to do with that."

As a person that also likes hip-hop across the board i like outkast kendrick and nas too. rtj not so much tho admittedly. But don't get too hung up on that subjective digression from the point. Whether or not hip-hop elitists think this is the GOAT or if I personally think those are respectable candidates for GOAT is a completely different topic and those anecdotes are irrelevant to my initial comments about this.

no u dont understand 3.5 is too low!!!

if i just 5'd this and said all the same shit i'm sure there would be no problem

precisely

Album Rating: 5.0

album is at least a 3.6

I give your rating a score of 2/5

Yeah well I give yours 2 and a half thumbs sideways

Album Rating: 5.0

wow well now i am semi-gruntled

The Full Gruntle sounds like a RTJ song

Album Rating: 4.5

Pots hates Nas

he's not my fav rapper oat but illmatic and it was written are classic and near classic respectively

Album Rating: 4.5

Ok Nas hater

Album Rating: 4.0

after that the industry turned him to poo real quick



he has some old unreleased thats probably really good too that wont ever come out

the turn of the century was rough for the hop

I think God’s Son was a pretty great album. My favorite of his is It Was Written though.

Also there were tons of classics around the turn of the century everywhere