It's out there. Not the antics. Not the rants. The music. What y'all think?

After first listen my main reaction is that it could stand to be more focused. Like 30 hours could have been insane with a little more focused. Give 3000 time to give you an actual verse. Same with Father Stretch My Hands...

He could have built a song around I use to love Kanye.

Alot of the songs seem like sketches of great songs that could have used a few more passes.

Actually, I am thinking what I pulled down may not have been the final finished album.

Will give another listen.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Outside of Ultralight Beam and Famous, much of this was hard to get through. It's as disjointed as his mental state. For someone whose catalogue is lauded for production, the lack of musicality on these last 2 albums is jarring. He had a run for the ages, but this feels rushed and uninspired. God bless him.

The production on both Yeezus and TLOP is great

Its still dope tho...

But I think he is more concerned with dropping art than dropping a proper rap album.

Also think so many new rappers drop half ass sing song raps and he is catering to that market.

College Dropout:
Real Friends
30 Miles
No More Parties

Yeezus
Freestyle 4
Feedback

Dark Twisted:
Ultra Light Beams
Famous

808:
Wolves
FML
Waves

etc..

Does it make a cohesive album? That remains to be seen. But I would be very surprised if I see the same level of hate as I saw with Yeezus as this seems to be a thank you note to his fanbase as a whole

Well put

The 808 section has my least favorite joints. I've also never listened to that album all the way through. Love the OG Robocop though.

his 1st 5 solo albums range from near classic to classic for me
and still stick around my regular rotation.
his last 2 have no replay value.

dude is just money grabbing right now
and suckering his fans with half baked product.

>It came out 12 hours ago my goodness

.

Praise it or shit on it, but declaring it with its place in his pantheon within 12 hours is just dumb.

lol @ you getting vaginal over someone else opinion of your hero.
thats some ima name her bonnie weirdo shit.

Old internet instant reviewer dummy.

I mean the new version is just solid modern trap a la 'Mercy' but that first version was one of the worst Kanye song's ive heard...surprised it made it out in the world

When I saw that he added it I was concerned but this version is official. I can rock to this at a party for sure.

Im here for the kanye musical collage...

yall can keep the rest


k thx bye

I listened late last night, woke up, immediately turned it backed on. The overwhelming majority works, and it works beautifully.

Not ready to decide where it rests in the Kanye discography, but I'd say top half after an initial listen, bare minimum.

Predicting a lot of mandatory OKP hate, but I love it

Don't like Wolves and Facts, but apart from those two I think the album is amazing

.

so many things that people mistakenly thought that Ye didn't still have in him.

Like this shit could've been so much better. And I think he knew that too. It's almost like he did it on purpose.

I swear alot of Christians believe the exact opposite of what I believe Christ taught. One dude on IG tells Kirk

"inclusion is not the way of jesus."

SMH.

This should be a separate post about Kirk Franklin and Christianity but I don't want to personally be about too many Kanye post.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBwZQEmMGkW/

.

I just picked the pics where it looked like he was enjoying life or having fun.
The comments man... these people sound crazy.

A chunk of church folks are awesome at chasing people away from church. A lot of them love excluding folks based on their criteria...most of which tends to be lazy or at best based on a line or two out of the book. Yawn.

I'm struggling with what to say about the album. I like it. A lot. I want to knitpick it because I hear 'holes'. Ultra light beam is glorious.

>I swear alot of Christians believe the exact opposite of what
>I believe Christ taught. One dude on IG tells Kirk
>
>"inclusion is not the way of jesus."
>
>SMH.
>
>This should be a separate post about Kirk Franklin and
>Christianity but I don't want to personally be about too many
>Kanye post.
>
>
>
>**********
>"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then
>they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
>
>"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

They met a Christian.

one of the definite highlights on the album

I think it's pretty great, and I love the I Used to Love Kanye song. There are some misses, but overall it's really good.

.

.

That means it's an album with strong religious influences felt on every song. Ultralight Beam is proof of this. The intro is the 2016 Jesus Walks for the masses.

Fuego Impressions after 4 listens:

I'm a Kanye supporter of greatness and this album is an early candidate for AOTY.

This is arguably his best album since MBDTF. This is the return of hungry Kanye and we are better for it. It might be better as far as album structure goes..


The only weak track on this album is the Freestyle.

This fake Future needs to retire. It's shocking that the artist in question is from Brooklyn...

Andre 3K couldn't drop a verse on 30 Hours but came in for the chorus, SMFH.

The Max B tributes are great so WE NEED TO THANK CHANCE.

I'm going to dissect this album in the lesson at some point because it's literally that good.

with all kinds of oversights on the album too.

Chance's verse sums up the song perfectly + adds a great elemtent as an introduction to the album.... its spiritual, its personal, its youthful, energetic... idk

Not a massive fan of either C or Vic, but I think the song is perfect now

This time last year.
Everyone knows that Chance is the much more talented of the pair.
But Vic was getting the look (and signing to Roc Nation) meanwhile his output since signing has been horrendous. Down On My Luck was his last good song.
So then Chano comes through, stars on the album, is making creative decisions on the final tracklisting... and Vic's contributions vanish.
Lol.

I dont know if anyone else caught it, but during the MSG thing when Vic was playing his new song he seemed very intent on having Ye respond to the song, like a lil bro trying to impress big bro moment. And Ye seemed kinda uinterested. Vic is cool, looks like he's putting in a lot of work too. But his star seem to have faded a bit.

Chance has a lot of movement behind him and energy to him, his musical persona and voice has a way higher currency than Vic's atm

But it does seem like, I think u posted this somewhere else in this thread, Vic's verse on Wolves will be back before the album drops on iTunes next weekend. So at least thats something



>This time last year.
>Everyone knows that Chance is the much more talented of the
>pair.
>But Vic was getting the look (and signing to Roc Nation)
>meanwhile his output since signing has been horrendous. Down
>On My Luck was his last good song.
>So then Chano comes through, stars on the album, is making
>creative decisions on the final tracklisting... and Vic's
>contributions vanish.
>Lol.

He's on the song, he was in the studio... What the f***

The few songs I dont like is cool, 3stacks not killing the last minute of 30 Hours will always leave me feelin like I was robbed of a big moment :((

.

Perhaps the most pointless feature of all time

After my first listen I'd give it a B+.
If you cut a few songs it'd be stronger.
The album is trying to do too much, and it suffers for it. But the strengths of the album prevent it from getting dragged down for it's weaknesses.

The standouts after 1 spin were.

Ultralight Beams
Pt. 1
Famous
Highlights
Real Friends
NOPILA
Wolves (which I liked a lot more than I expected to)

solid B right now

I'm proud of him...

on his twitter

folks use to deliver physical albums.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Even though the tweet is cryptic I assume he means by putting Vic and Sia back in the song which tends to be the big complaint I see on social media

While your point is an interesting one, what's even more interesting is if I am right, dude is going back into the lab because of fan opinion; its rap music literally by committee.

I know he did another master of the Cruel Summer album.

What other changes are you referring to?

He did this with "Stronger" after it was released as a single, but single mixes are different from album mixes all the time. Same with the additions on "Runaway."

He also did a remix of "Say You Will" but that's hardly the same as what he's doing now.

Still looking forward to listening to it tho, after all the bugs are out of it.

I would appreciate it. I haven't looked for streams yet

.

lmao

Well done

Pimp only got flack when it was the lean winter months and niggas needed contrary think pieces; out the gate it was 100% critically acclaimed.

This record the jury is still out and you still have your 'ITS ABSOLUTE SHIT' 'ITS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME' even within this post, lol

There are still folks that don't reall mess with Pimp like that. They don't "get it" or think it's a "hard listen." Both are allowed responses. They are also allowed to dig Pablo on its own merits.

http://s30.postimg.org/7mp4mjsgf/image.gif

This is cohesive and to the point. None of that extra hard shit from Kendrick tops this album.

Kanye legit sounds like he had fun with this album whereas Kendrick was somewhere trying to be fake deep in a lab at 2 am.

and thinking anything on TLOP album rivals "Alright" or "Momma" or "Complexion". shit like a few others have said TPAB made YE go back in the lab

TLOP is dope though, if you prefer it aint nothing wrong with it, but let's not play into atruhead's racialized real hip hop antics

>and thinking anything on TLOP album rivals "Alright" or
>"Momma" or "Complexion". shit like a few others have said TPAB
>made YE go back in the lab
>
>TLOP is dope though, if you prefer it aint nothing wrong with
>it, but let's not play into atruhead's racialized real hip hop
>antics

MY BAD.

I'll discuss the TPAB vs TLOP after Kanye releases the definitive edition at some point in the next few weeks. Allegedly, there's a disc 2 floating around with a fixed version of Wolves.

let's not play into atruhead's racialized real hip hop
>antics

I was 50% trolling with the slur but 50% serious about the same (peckerwoods) on here and elsewhere who hated Kendrick's album loving The Life Of Pablo

So far I've loved all,I've heard from him this year

Sign in with FB (1 click) and u got the whole album right there for free

this exclusive to on site shit is OD annoying

I'm not a fan of the auto-tune Kayne - it sounds like Buck Rogers is mouth fucking Twiki.

Last night's SNL performance was filled with it and I am not a fan of the sound.

What's the ratio here?

I asked in The lesson, but no response.

more real vocals than autotune. But they're definitely in there heavy at points.

So 30% sounds of chicken stranglings :)

.

Can't wait for Chance the Rapper's album.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

LMAOOO wtf

if he doesn't find his own lane.


or maybe Future's created a new lane, and Designer is being situated as the Lupe to Future that Lupe was supposed to be to Kanye before Kanye decided to be this Kanye.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Voice, effects, rhyming pattern, content. Everything. He even pronounced words like Future lol

And what makes it worse is they had the "If young metro don't trust you..." intro, so you're kind of expecting Future to be on the track smh

.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA8jmM8lixW/

my bad if you already seen it.

I'm like damn. What if that child was exposes to quantum physic, what would she have been talking about.

alot of theater and he just goes on and on. this turkey is on my top 10 list of most overrated acts ever.

Nobody.

Flashing Lights
Street Lights
All of the Lights
Ultra Light Beam
Low Lights
Highlights

"Get ready..for your blessing..."

A good chunk of this sounds like it was thrown together in the past several weeks. Greats moments but a lot I can do without. Yeezus is better IMO and I wasn't even that big a fan. At least it sounded like a cohesive album outside of Bound. This feels like Ye selling us a mixtape.

Considering the hard creative shifts it pulls together pretty well

to the point that the more lyrical joint(s) oddly seem out of place

i think this album will probably age well once its easier to separate the non-musical context this was released like 808's and Yeezus

also: Fade need Project Pat or somebody

ultralight beam is the highlight of the album... probably one of kanye's best songs, in my opinion.

dope production, lyrics are suspect though. damn

kinda disappointed.

I like the stark contrast between those songs
like "I" and "U" on TPAB
I love when these artists take the listener down unconventional avenues
where the bright songs (Ultralight beam, !) exhibit artistic genius
and the darker, spots (Freestyle 4 and u) are borderline crazy



Freestlye 4 is so fucking Yeezus and i love it
shit is most definitely "I cant Hold My Liquor"pt 2




This is a STRONG album

That's a first listen anyway. Kanye has a habit of growing on me, but at the moment this isn't as good as Yeezus or MBDTF.

Started bright as FUCK... Ultralight Beam is gorgeous. Part 1 of Father Stretch My Hands ehhh... Part 2 brought it back.

Famous ft Rihanna starts good, but gets GREAT for the second half. Beautiful instrumentation.

Rest of it was decent. Some good moments... Real Friends is great, Feedback's good.

No moments that made me go "WHAAAAAAT" like on all his other albums though. Low key for Kanye.

Just to find out how half-ass it really is?

'Ye done lost his damned mind or he is really doing his best to create controversy before releasing this album to the masses. Ain't no way this joint sits on Tidal alone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kanye-west-white-publications_us_56c27e0ae4b08ffac12643f3

WHITE PEOPLE STAY AWAY!

LOL

Somewhere he's got his diabolical laugh going after Taylor's rebuke.

Especially if they don't give him a perfect score. Punishing them by limiting their access to him and saying they have no credibility. So a magazine who has been around forever like Rolling Stone, who gave perfect reviews in the past, loses all credibility because they don't perfectly review this one album? The crazy thing about it is that that shit seems to work. He dictates the narrative. I've yet to see an accomplished journalist truly stand up to him and call him out on this nonsense.

zero fux given

damn

LOL @ the notion...
This shit bout to get bootlegged like crazy...


"Get ready..for your blessing..."

That beat is too fuckin cold...

"if i fuck this model/and she just bleached her asshole/ and i get bleach on my t-shirt/im gonna feel like an asshole"

smh. what a damn letdown. the beat and hook is so fresh, then these fuck ass lyrics

>"if i fuck this model/and she just bleached her asshole/ and
>i get bleach on my t-shirt/im gonna feel like an asshole"

Wifey gonna know he was cheating and thats why he feel like an asshole.

The whole album is him reconciling being a father/husband with his desires to do wild shit like he used to.

Wtf does that even mean?

>Wtf does that even mean?
>
>

but its typical Ye humor and didnt bother me

Like, SO fucking far.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I didn't go in with an open mind, but I have to admit that I quite like it. Still his second worst imo.

the first line after ultra light beams is about a model bleaching her asshole....

he refuses to call a woman a woman its always bitch...

when its good its great but when its bad its pretty bad.. overy all it sounds like he could have used a rick rubin in there when they were putting this thing together....

Im not mad it the album at all though... You can hear how on every album he is learning from his catalog...

Feedback is def my fav joint oh hear this song will bang in the clubs...Its monster part 2!!!!

:)

It's good... Really good.... But I feel like it could be great!!

Debarge kinda held back or was held back.... DJ Quick knew how to let Debarge really get it in and make a track do what it do...

>Debarge kinda held back or was held back.... DJ Quick knew how
>to let Debarge really get it in and make a track do what it
>do...

Shit if nothing else I'm excited just to hear that song. I miss that dude. Was just listening to Rhythm-al-ism a few weeks ago and fell into a YouTube rabbit hole of checking for Quik/Debarge performances and came across this gem. I need to see Quik live just to say I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnDXUT8WECE

.

I forget the name of the person, but someone else assisted producing that track; in particular that clever flip of the Sister Nancy sample.

no doubt. there's never a lone producer on a Kanye track nowadays.

PRODUCTION KANYE WEST AND HAVOC

CO-PRODUCTION NOAH GOLDSTEIN FOR ARK PRODUCTIONS, INC., CHARLIE HEAT FOR VERY GOOD BEATS, INC. AND ANDREW DAWSON

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION HUDSON MOHAWKE, MIKE DEAN #MWA FOR DEAN'S LIST PRODUCTIONS AND PLAIN PAT

http://www.kanyewest.com/credits/

that was involved with the portion of the song I was referencing earlier. One of the better moments of that album, but I'm not a huge fan of TLOP, so I dunno how much my opinion is worth.

I thought he just came in for a bar here and there, every 'Future' guest appearance is this Desiigner (or however you spell it) dude.

1. some contractual shit made it impossible for Future to be on it and they just called up the understudy

2. They lying and that is Future in a mask like some WWE shit.

I've never heard it to my knowledge but that's the lineage. I wonder if that song sounds a lot like Future as well. Haven't had the time to check it out.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Those aren't new lyrics from Desiigner in Father Stretch My Hands...that sample is a full snippet from the song Panda.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

on the credits

No Future! LOL

http://www.kanyewest.com/credits/

One of his guest appearances is basically him doing his 'Panda' song through

must be Jehovah witness or grew up in a catholic household...

that shit takes me back.

i can't believe i couldn't initially place who it was

I love everything about that song

I went and checked out her discography after seeing her on snl. Damn she can sing.

But then Kanye was the weakest part of that performance as well.

Couldn't go without taking a shot at Kanye.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

and kinda annoyed. the song and the performance felt disjointed and somewhat disingenuous (mostly b/c of Kanye, i think).

but i listen to actual Gospel music somewhat regularly.

Jumping up at the end to plug his album kind wrecked the mood they established. But I was feeling the non-kanye moments from it.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

it's not that i don't like it, it's just one of my least favorite songs

as an atheist, those songs are very grating to me as an adult, though I get why a lot of Black folk love them. I find them irritatingly grandiose AF

Kanye shrug

really catholic church was so damn depressing, always

the service was...LOL.

hell, I didn't even know when the sermon started and ended.

Not bad, everything is listenable, plenty of quotables and his personality is all over it. Just not enough standout great/classic type songs like he's made before.

High lights is ironically the highlight to me.

John Forte is right, this enwurd really hates women

it's bringing down my love of the album :/

and y'all right about Father pt. i and ii, those are ideas not songs.

it would be dope if he actually re-released a better version of this whole album

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I am convinced that the Kanye we all love was those dudes writing for him.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

.

The only thing I hate on the album is all of Desiinger's parts. Some of the lyrics are cringe worthy and terrible only afew lines here and there.

or does he have to pay for them based on the fact that
some of these dogs will be performed live and money
will bee made off them?

This has to be some type of typo yo.

The same greg that worked with the GOD?

I'd say it's good, but bloated and sequenced oddly.

I'd get rid of Lowlights, Freestyle 4, and Silver Surfer Intermission, end with No More Parties in LA and 30 Hours, and change a few other things. But overall - its a much better listen (initially) than Yeezus. Feels like where 808s, Yeezus, and MBDTF intertwine.

30 Hours, while great - is so obviously just a sketch. I'd rather it be finished.
I HATE the final 30 second of Feedback. Just feels like a copout.
I'd love for FML to have a moment where the beat truly kicks in.

No More Parties in LA feels like the heart and soul of this album to me - even more than Ultralight Beam. Kanye got his mojo back, Madlib showed out, and Kendrick (while good) is overshadowed. I will listen to this one over and over.

There's so much good here....I wonder if and when a retail version is released it'll be different.

Sounds like you want WAVES.. lol

I think this tidal release was a disaster for him.

It's got to suck that the album was pirated gold already.

http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.37515/title.kanye-wests-the-life-of-pablo-pirated-more-than-500000-in-one-day

I think he will put together a more delux finished project to sell to try and recoup what he lost on tidal.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

pretty sure everyone said Tidal's app was downloaded like crazy.

Ye has to be seeing a nice chunk from new subscribers.

Folks are getting paid off Apple dropping dough for exclusive streaming (I think Drake got like 20M for that itunes exclusives).

Or streaming + sales (Beiber still moved 500k albums for purpose even though it was freely available on streaming sites).

or exclusive sales then streaming (Adele).


But exclusive streaming on a service like Tidal (which I don't think pays big upfront, but I could be wrong).

I think that could be an L.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

U beat me to it.....

get a chunk of change.

Maybe it's for the love of Jay but I doubt it.

Any big artist who gives Tidal an exclusive for the first week or 2 HAS to get paid. It's damn near insane to think otherwise.

edit: did a little research. Ye owns 3% of Tidal. When Rhianna went exclusive with Anti they signed up a million new users in one day.

http://time.com/money/4225485/kanye-west-tidal-life-of-pablo-money/

Back when the music service re-launched, Jay told Billboard that West and 15 other artists each had “3 percent equity in the company.” It’s not Apple Music-level money, but if West can convert enough users to switch to Tidal from Apple Music/iTunes during a special 90-day free trial period, he may reap the benefits eventually. But that’s a big “if.”

not much money upfront or in the short term, and the real pay day is on acquisition or going public which is not at all guaranteed.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I would do it if I wasn't hurting for money.

and while Ye acts like he is about to file he ain't broke or anywhere near broke.

because lord knows Tidal wasn't playing those studio fee's/flying out guests/hiring songwriters for the past few years for Riri and Kanye

Considering both Rihanna and Kanye are signed to Def jam, I assume they already have a deal worked out where a hefty fee exchanged hands outright between the companies. Now THEIR cut of the deal might be nothing...but people got paid

doesn't exchange hands.

>edit: did a little research. Ye owns 3% of Tidal. When Rhianna
>went exclusive with Anti they signed up a million new users in
>one day.
>

That's because she gave her fans a free download code. Ye didn't do that. People aren't gonna sign up with Tidal just to stream his album. He's not that important.

Anti was also available on other streaming services and in physical formats the following week.

while we want to believe he isn't that important, he has some loyal fans.

WE won't sign up to Tidal but a fraction of those new people will sign up and some will forget and pay a month or 2 before cancelling.

it's risky but I think it pays off in the end.

for people who couldn't make it / didn't live in NYC.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Most folks will cancel after the free 30-day trial...I know I am.

Google Play Music shits all over Tidal on catalog and interface alone. Tidal is KILLING my battery and constantly locks up. The interface is cumbersome and there's no EQ....

of course you wouldn't think anyone would sign up.

Hell, I will admit I didnt think Tidal would be a success but shit is lowkeu working out for them.

as far as those people sticking around. Most won't, but some of them will stick around and thats the whole point.

I really think old heads underestimate these younger fans who follow these artist every move.

but they fickle too.....

>of course you wouldn't think anyone would sign up.
>
>Hell, I will admit I didnt think Tidal would be a success but
>shit is lowkeu working out for them.
>
>as far as those people sticking around. Most won't, but some
>of them will stick around and thats the whole point.
>
>I really think old heads underestimate these younger fans who
>follow these artist every move.
>

I can't call it I guess......i'm still annoyed that we went from Napster to this clusterfuck.... this is NOT how downloadable, instant access music model was supposed to play out. Music industry is turning into Cable TV model.... FOH having to subscribe to multiple services just to get my music.....


"Get ready..for your blessing..."

etc....if I could simply subscribe to them and have access to all of their catalogs in a SINGLE app...

Having 4 different apps to stream/listen/purchase music is NOT ideal.


"Get ready..for your blessing..."

but it's going to get tricky once I cancel.

shit, I prolly won't ever cancel. lol.

they got like 2M subscribers? Spotify got like 20M and ain't making no money.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

from billboard

Even so, gaining 490,000 subscribers in six months is an achievement for this relatively small company, and Tidal’s high­-definition, lossless-audio option, which costs $20 per month, seems to be helping to differentiate it from peers:

Riley says 45 percent of new subscribers opt for lossless.

And from a purely financial standpoint, Jay Z, 45, may have already made his money back: $56 million was not a huge price for a fully functioning streaming service. He paid $110 per subscriber, a fraction of Spotify’s $425-per-subscriber valuation at its last funding round; Deezer is hoping its upcoming initial public stock offering will fetch up to $330 per revenue-generating subscriber.

and I said "low key successful"

45% of new users are paying $240 a year for lossless.. which is crazy IMO but I think Tidal is a niche app and doesn't need to rule the streaming world to make money.

discredited last year shortly after it opened up....
Folks paying top dollar to listen to alleged high quality music on shitty earbuds lol....



"Get ready..for your blessing..."

how many people on here have bought a shirt and paid triple the price due to the logo on it?

and every other streaming service

technically TLOP would just be considered a mixtape

that would be dope as hell if that were the case

or do you have to pay for clearances even when you perform the songs publicly

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Ended up just becoming a piece of "FML" instead of a full track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuxFEJjN_I4&feature=youtu.be

That "Y'all got jokes (Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!)" intro is classic stupid.

I wonder how much more is going to trickle out of this album's sessions.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkJqKOb0ZhY

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/46fhqk/all_180216_leaks/

I'm on my laptop and won't be on my desktop until tomorrow afternoon, hopefully this stuff doesn't disappear if only for the academic experience.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

thanks for posting that.
i wouldn't've thought to check that particular sub.
Like a dummy. Of course that's where it would be.

weird leak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgPqIVVQZ7Q

http://www.dopefile.me/9z7sn8m0dn38

the version that Reeq posted was what i wanted on the album
but the lyrics on that song hit me
its an introspective joint


cant believe drake helped him with that one
but ive had that one on repeat all day


the things we've done in pursue of the punanny smh lol

to the LP

3-4 songs are def better in different fashions, in particular "Wolves" (which I knew would be better if it started with the Ocean solo), "FML" and a remix of "Love Kanye", also the OG mix of "30 Hours" is on it

thank that lesson head

Will it ever be finished? Are we just watching Kanye unravel?

I'm definitely not subscribing to Tidal, and I'll get my hands on a copy one way or another. But when I hear TLOP for the first time, I want it to be the best possible version. I'm in no hurry.

Fiiiiinally listening to the album


uh...rich kanye is boring as fuck


he needs to reevaluate some shit.

is he making hits? yeah, sure

its the content thats yawn inducing

I ain't get my ga damn link or my merch. This nigga pulled the okey doke on me but the "album" still goes.

.

im glad it exists

but

we are in Kanye overload


dude needs to take a seat and produce for other people for a few years.

shouldn't we just stop trying to tell niggas, who we don't even know, what to do?

WOO!

Ultra Light Beam: The choir is mixed better. Everyone’s vocals except Chancer the Rapper have a lot more reverb. There’s also new lyrics from Chance the Rapper and Kirk Franklin.

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1: Background vocals at the end of Kanye’s verse and a little on the hook. The snare isn’t as loud as the original release. Beat is a lot more clear.

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2: New mix includes the addition of a bass line beginning at the 1:08 mark.

Feedback: It’s shorter. Kanye’s vocals are more balanced with the beat now. The bass is also a lot more mixed. Beat is a lot more different in general.

Highlights: Vocals now sit behind the beat. Young Thug’s vocals are a lot more clear and less harsh.

Freestyle 4: Vocals clarified, weird ass noises and strings added to the background, bass added right before Desiigner verse at 1:31 mark.

Waves: Kanye’s first verse is re-recorded. Lots more echos. The snare doesn’t make you deaf anymore!

FML: Vocal’s are more mixed. They sit on top of the beat now. Background vocals added.

30 Hours: The shoutout/adlib outro isn’t in time with the beat like it is in the original. He added the pause from the SoundCloud version for the Victoria’s Secret line.

No More Parties in LA: Transition to Facts is smooth. Not as jarring as it was before.

Facts: Piano line from MSG is back but is barely noticiable. Synths are a lot louder.

Fade: Way more minimal. The bass line is back too. More like the Yeezys SZN 2 performance. Doesn’t have all the cool sounds from the previous album version and the transitions aren’t as clean as before. It actually ends with an outro instead of cutting off.

http://www.olisa.tv/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/kanye-disses-amber.mp4?_=1


like Reeq state above

but i'm feeling the newer version

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/31/11337504/kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo-apple-music-spotify-streaming

"Get ready..for your blessing..."

http://www.madonnarama.com/posts-en/2016/02/19/highlights-the-unreleased-madonna-and-kanye-west-song/


"Get ready..for your blessing..."

This is crazy because he keeps making it better and better,

imagine if Stevie Wonder or EWF was doing this back in the day.. and if MJ was doing this ...wooooo...

at some point he is going to have to stop.. maybe ...

They tweaked their albums and spent major time on them, THEN released it. How much better can you really make Off The Wall?

cement???

this fool released a beta version of his album. After several weeks he is turning it into what it should have been on release and people are eating this up. What if Stevie or MJ did this? WTF?

i can understand how some folks could hate that idea and wanna hold onto the one and done idea

why not?

What's next freemium albums? You get the album for free but each song comes with one minute snippets priced at $1. The artist charges for song revisions without letting you preview the full track. Unlock the full album for $40 without the option of copying it other formats.

Artists and producers do not follow the Kanye model.

your music model example is just false.

you pay for subscriptions these days. (tidal, spotify, apple, torrrents if you're smart)

you get it all with a monthly price. no microtransactions.

stop crying.

...

rjcc, come get this nigga.

People that paid for TLOP first edition are screwed now thanks to this. They paid for the album and now they need to shell out more money. Industry needs to avoid this because it turns people off. The album should be final upon distribution.

My example is on point and accurate if this starts a trend.

http://jeff.zone/post/142071901511/are-you-able-to-download-the-new-version-of-life

Tidal was handing out free updates as they posted.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Based on the false premise that the more you worked on an album the better it becomes. There is a point when an a piece of art is done, and any further work you do on that art will only be for the worst.


>This is crazy because he keeps making it better and better,
>
>imagine if Stevie Wonder or EWF was doing this back in the
>day.. and if MJ was doing this ...wooooo...


They did this back in the day. Only they didn't release unfinished works. MJJ worked on Thirller for 9 months.

From what I read about the recording of this album is that Kanye seemed to only work on this album in earnest like a month before it dropped.

>
>at some point he is going to have to stop.. maybe ...


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>Based on the false premise that the more you worked on an
>album the better it becomes. There is a point when an a piece
>of art is done, and any further work you do on that art will
>only be for the worst.
>
>
>>This is crazy because he keeps making it better and better,
>>
>>imagine if Stevie Wonder or EWF was doing this back in the
>>day.. and if MJ was doing this ...wooooo...
>
>
>They did this back in the day. Only they didn't release
>unfinished works. MJJ worked on Thirller for 9 months.
>
>From what I read about the recording of this album is that
>Kanye seemed to only work on this album in earnest like a
>month before it dropped.
>
>>
>>at some point he is going to have to stop.. maybe ...


^^

There are a lot of artist that will tell you that when the album came out they wish they had made certain changes. The album was good when he dropped it. He has made it better with the changes.

Like you can hear him trying out a rhyming scheme and lyrics involving Matt Barnes but he never got around to actually writing the lyrics.

That's different from MJJ wishing that maybe he could have tweaked the drums in Beat It. Also we don't have any idea whether if MJJ got the chance to make changes to Thriller post release, that those changes would actually improv any of the songs.

When a work of art is done, it's done.

They tried to "improve" or "update" thriller with the Thriller 25 which had remixes with Kanye, Will.i.am and other folks and attempted to update the sound and we can all agree it was hot garbage.



>There are a lot of artist that will tell you that when the
>album came out they wish they had made certain changes. The
>album was good when he dropped it. He has made it better with
>the changes.
>
>
>
>
>
>


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

he shoulda put Saint Pablo on there for the masses.

i did it myself but still.

i feel like its a bunch of half songs.

>i feel like its a bunch of half songs.

Imho in a good way, but your milage may vary.

The changes have been all production/beat construction/mastering not in song length or songwriting additions.

If not you'll only get half songs. You could of course play the album for 500 hours and unlock the full versions of some of them.

i feel like he's going to keep pushing updates

Spotify and Apple around in a similar fashion. Especially since it's been confirmed Tidal pushed new copies of the album to paying customers; would Apple be on board to constantly update their servers and give users free MP3 downloads every two weeks as well?


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Just discovered it was on Spotify and am giving it my first spin right now. I just finished "Wolves" and I haven't enjoyed a single song besides "Real Friends" which I would describe as "not miserable"

The hooks are terrible.

The lyrics are worse than terrible and his lyrics are usually just normal terrible.

The beats are a shitshow. The mixing even sounds off.

I went in with super low expectations too, which I thought would actually result in my enjoying it more. But it's just a fucking mess.

I listened to Yeezus maybe 3x through and gave up on it besides Black Skinhead. But at least I can say that album had some quality production value and could recommend it to people who I knew were into that album's type of sound.

This album .... what a fucking mess. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I don't get why people think it is good but hey good for them. he's never been a good rapper in my opinion but I used to love his music. those times are long gone.

>I don't get why people think it is good but hey good for
>them. he's never been a good rapper in my opinion but I used
>to love his music. those times are long gone.

So it's like ... what do I even listen for. His lyrics are *especially* terrible on this album, which is saying something cause he's always been poopoo on the mic.

edit: would just like to note that I don't have an official verdict on this album and I'm responding solely to Kanye as a producer as a job title. I'm not currently arguing whether he is GOOD at producing music, just that it is specifically what he does.


everything else is subjective, but this is saying Steve Albini or John Congleton (or Dr. Dre, or Rico Wade) don't produce just because they don't play the music themselves. They are both known as "producers", why is it that Kanye suddenly isn't just because he isn't in the trenches chopping up the samples.

And, to that point, who's to say he ISN'T? There hasn't been a Kanye album yet that doesn't sound like something that would only come from him; Life of Pablo may be a bunch of sketches, but these are clearly his sketches/collages.

Still, I mainly bristle at the primary contention that Kanye "doesn't even produce" anymore. If anything, he's producing more than ever before considering all the disparate elements that have grown to be a part of his sound since bringing Jon Brion on over a decade ago.

I look at Mike Dean, HudMo, Noah Goldstein, Charlie Heat et. al. as session musicians he employs to play specific parts he visualizes in a song, which has been a method of studio music recording and production for as long as the medium has existed.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I'm probably just projecting because I really hate his music these days, so I almost want to *believe* that it's not him making it.

Anyway I don't really care to argue the point, cause it's probably wrong; I just hate his last two albums a lot. That's all I got.

Like dude has people bringing him fully formed beats and what not.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I'll go back to listened to Oddisee, K Dot etc


you know, the artists at the true forefront of hip hop right now



your reign at the top...

>your reign at the top...

He was at the top of the game for the better part of a decade, probably longer.

February original
March 14th (new "Famous")
March 15th ("Frank's Track" split from "Wolves")
March 30th (Remastering, remixing)
April 1st (iTunes/Spotify release)


but if you're being technical, there's probably three. February, March 15th and March 30th.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

but this nigga done jumped the damn shark

after only hearing the first tidal version


this shit is so fucking innovative - the concept of an album being a living artifact

real talk, I hope he keeps working on this thing and pushing out versions until he dies

can you imagine how insane the wikipedia page would look?


the first version was ok but not great. spotify version is a lot better

im more into hearing how this evolves

I wish I could turn in my work half done and then slowly finish it later when I feel like it and have people say I'm innovative.