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Jay Z's "4:44" is out now.

Why did this thread turn into a discussion about Eminem? His last album he rapped about poop and raping Iggy Azalea. He's not musically relevant outside of his dusty fanbase and he hasn't been in years.
 
theignoramus said:
Why did this thread turn into a discussion about Eminem? His last album he rapped about poop and raping Iggy Azalea. He's not musically relevant outside of his dusty fanbase and he hasn't been in years.
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literally like last 30+ posts have nothing to do with eminem....

dummy questions discussing eminem...by REDISCUSSING EMINEM.
 
theignoramus said:
Why did this thread turn into a discussion about Eminem? His last album he rapped about poop and raping Iggy Azalea. He's not musically relevant outside of his dusty fanbase and he hasn't been in years.
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Em is working on a new album and you realize he also actually has a lot of young fans too right? Corny of you to say that tired shit.
 
Finally back after paying my debts to GAF society (got banned). But I've been lurking this thread and those first couple pages are hot trash.

This album is premium, high tier, hip hop. This is neck and neck with DAMN. to me. Family Feud, Marcy Me, Legacy, Smile, Kill Jay Z....yo man this whole album is high quality. Story of OJ music video is crazy! And we still getting Adnis?! Yes. Whole album is consistent. Quotables for days. No ID blessing our eardrums on every track.

Jigga dropped a classic in 2017 while being 47yo in the game. Crazy. Black excellence man. Hope these new age cats understand the meaning. The game is different, the sound is different, the vibe is different. I'm an old head in a young body that can still respect the new but I also see that legacy doesn't mean the same these days. Lil boat got a single or two. XXX got a song or two. Uzi has more potential than seen. Thug still not confident enough to call his mixtapes albums. Drake is bored. But then you still have Travis Scott doing good albums. A$AP Rocky, Ferg, Earl Sweatshirt, Vince Staples etc. putting in the work. Kendrick obviously, Cole obviously. It's levels and I respect them all to some extent.

P.s.

I love Ye but whole that L my dude.


And Bounceounce
3uPjhke.jpg
.

Shout out Cassidy, Fixed, Syphon, etc for respecting the sound.

And shame to all y'all dudes clownin Em. My dude stale now but his legacy tho. Still washing dudes on they on tracks (weep for big Sean).

And Daffy come on bruh...
 
On the topic of Em, he is an amazing artist from a technical standpoint.

I’ve never liked a full Em project because for every “Till I Collapse” there’s 9 tracks about how “zany” he is. For every “Stan” there’s 5-7 tracks about murdering his baby mother & rapping in a Triumph voice. Content is just so corny.

Maybe you have to be white to understand / appreciate that kind of shit. Shrug.
 
After multiple listens it goes

Reasonable doubt
American Gangster
The blue print
Black album
4:44
It's one of jays best and i like it the same as DAMN.
Ima black 28 yo fan of lyrical rap.
Used to love em but everything since the Eminem show/8 mile soundtrack has been lackluster imo.
Did I cover all the basics?

Oh yea I been knew who guru and no i.d are because I listen to music not skim through it.
 
Hopefully Ye' comes back apologetically. I don't want them to be really beefing. And he was definitely in the wrong. Did Jay shout him out on Twitter when he got inducted??
 
vsaintlo said:
I don't but if anything the last decade or more is an good example. Remember when the South first took over so many artists. People said the same stuff about the game changing. Yeah you have you staple artists Tip, Gucci, Jeezy but they were arguably established. A lot of artist died out there is a graveyard of careers of Southern rappers who cam and went.

No cares about OJ, Zoe, F.L.Y. etc they came and went. Made their club bangers and dipped. Tity Boi switched up his whole style and became 2 Chainz to reinvent himself.

Fashion/Business is the new outlet in Hip-Hop. The trends/endorsements these guys set will have a greater impact than solely their music because it is all one to them.
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Lol @all of this. God old rap fans are just the silliest

Uno Venova said:
how much did that album sell.
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Who fucking cares
 
It's alright. It's an album that's so completely different from the current landscape of hip-hop, it's almost fitting it released alongside Vince Staples' "Big Fish Theory."

I feel like some of Jay's delivery in this album cribs Kendrick's style at time, but other than that, the album's focus on more personal issues and going away from the bragging and name drops along with No I.D.'s really soulful production results in an intriguing dichotomy between Bey and Jay.

If Bey went bombastic and grandiose against Jay's infidelities (having a full-length film made for the album, going to several different genres for inspiration, having all-star collaborators, concerts everywhere), then Jay's gone simple and low-key. All in all, it's an intriguing album and I'm glad that Jay decided to go intimate instead of full-on trap like those pics with Zaytoven suggested.
 
I sat down with Prince, eye to eye
He told me his wishes before he died
Now, Londell McMillan, he must be color blind
They only see green from them purple eyes
They eyes hide, they eyes high
My eyes wide shut to all the lies
These industry n*ggas, they always been fishy
But ain't no Biggie, no lazy eye, huh
This guy had 'Slave' on his face
You think he wanted the masters with his masters?
You greedy bastards sold tickets to walk through his house
I'm surprised you ain't auction off the casket

AotY right here folks
 
It's kinda weird seeing the reaction to Kill Jay-Z. The whole song is about how despite being "matured", Hov managed to disrespect 3 of the biggest people in his life and focuses on how each responded.

Hov cheats on Beyonce - Beyonce calls him out on Lemonade, Solange attacks him in an elevator
Jay abandons Kanye in the midst of mental breakdown - Kanye rants about him to the world while on tour

"Fuck wrong with everybody?" is what you sayin'
But if everybody's crazy, you're the one that's insane
He's talking to himself. Initially, he just writes it off as "man, everyone's out to get me" as if he's the victim of it all. Then he realizes "wait....maybe they all have a point".

I mean, the song is literally called Kill Jay-Z and features lyrics like "How can we know if we can trust Jay-Z? And you know better, nigga, I know you do
But you gotta do better, boy, you owe it to Blue"
It's him talking about how he's fucked up with treating the biggest people in his life and how he has to be better. It's a pretty deep look at what it's like when you've done the people that you're supposed to stand by dirty.

I still say Jay & Ye are probably done with each other for now but the more I think about it, the likelier it is we'll see them have a reunion performance at the Grammys or Coachella or whatever years down the line.
 
I can see some artist getting in their feelings about the masters/master line

bout to see alot of budget Chance's out here soon
 
shoelacer said:
Lol @all of this. God old rap fans are just the silliest
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Your like a day late. But okay at the "old rap fans". Would a few or some have been better wording than a lot? Those who adapted lasted those who didn't fell of. Gucci of all people has adapted. Did you look at my other posts I'm not a detractor. I like all Rap/Hip-Hop. If the game is not a multi-faceted industry why are rappers starting liquor companies and going to fashion week. Things have changed so you change with them just trying to point this out.

You think Givenchy and Maison Margiela work with rap artists because they were on the block? No cause that shit sells and rappers are movers and influencers. I'm acknowledging the game has changed and you adapt nothing wrong with that. Jay-Z told us about this already on "Off That" from BP3. Tie ya shoe laces @shoelacer don't trip.

Why is talking about rap so divisive?
 
vsaintlo said:
Your like a day late. But okay at the "old rap fans". Would a few or some have been better wording than a lot? Those who adapted lasted those who didn't fell of. Gucci of all people has adapted. Did you look at my other posts I'm not a detractor. I like all Rap/Hip-Hop. If the game is not a multi-faceted industry why are rappers starting liquor companies and going to fashion week. Things have changed so you change with them just trying to point this out.

You think Givenchy and Maison Margiela work with rap artists because they were on the block? No cause that shit sells and rappers are movers and influencers. I'm acknowledging the game has changed and you adapt nothing wrong with that. Jay-Z told us about this already on "Off That" from BP3. Tie ya shoe laces @shoelacer don't trip.

Why is talking about rap so divisive?
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It's crazy after looking through the whole thread I see way more " old dusty fans don't understand" comments then " I don't like mumble rap" comments. It's almost like the young bulls get emotional when someone doesn't like an artist they like. That's what's causing all the division in rap discussion recently. Hey I don't like yachty he barely rhymes. Man you just a old dusty hater.
 
Gorillaz said:
I can see some artist getting in their feelings about the masters/master line

bout to see alot of budget Chance's out here soon
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they shouldn't, jay's just trying to put the spotlight back on that stuff to the benefit of a lot of the young artists out there that may or may not be getting swindled by the industry. it was also a play on Prince's famous quote when he changed his name and wrote Slave on his face.

Prince said:
People think I'm a crazy fool for writing 'slave' on my face but if I can't do what I want to do, what am I? When you stop a man from dreaming, he becomes a slave. That's where I was. I don't own Prince's music. If you don't own your masters, your master owns you.
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here's an article about when Prince resigned with Warner and got his masters back

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articl...-gets-masters-back-which-labels-say-scares-us

The April 18 announcement that Prince had re-signed with his first label, Warner Bros. Records, where he had resided from 1978 to 1996 and produced some of his best-selling and most compelling work, came as a shock to the music industry and fans alike. For one thing, the artist's fallout with Warners had been so acrimonious that in 1993, Prince bizarrely changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his label's insistence that he release less music (and not flood the market).

Even more surprising to industry insiders was the label's announcement that it had given Prince ownership of the master tapes to all of his Warners albums. In addition to giving the artist the kind of control over his work that he has always sought, it was a lucrative deal. In 2013, his Warner Music Group catalog scanned 286,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. If Prince had owned the catalog then, Billboard estimates his cut would have been nearly $1.7 million instead of the estimated $657,000 in royalties he would have been paid.

But it's a sure bet that artists, their managers and their labels were paying attention to the deal for another reason: Industry executives suggest that although WMG's negotiations with Prince began over the label's desire to get the artist to cooperate with plans to reissue his records, a key issue on the table -- one that the industry is watching intently -- is Prince's desire to reclaim his master recording copyrights under the 1976 Copyright Act. Under this legislation, an artist can regain control over a master recording copyright after the first 35-year term of that copyright expires.

Despite its title, the act took effect in 1978 -- copyrights to albums released that year and onward began to expire in 2013. As a result, in recent years, dozens of acts, including the Eagles, Billy Joel, The Police, Blondie and Journey, have filed termination notices, which sets the stage for a watershed moment that one label executive says "scares us silly."

Not surprisingly, label executives say they prefer negotiation to litigation over termination notices for fear of triggering a landmark ­precedent-setting case. One says that since artists can only reclaim their master-recordings rights in the United States, a label might agree to pay enhanced international royalty rates, if a termination notice is waived. Or, a label may offer the master copyright when facing an artist's audit or lawsuit over digital royalty payments.

Smaller-selling acts may find labels less responsive to termination notices because, executives say, in most cases the high cost of litigation will outweigh the economic benefits of reclaiming the copyrights.
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here's an article about Prince's legacy on that subject

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ive-legacy-music-business-20160422-story.html

Prince was a streaming skeptic before it was fashionable, yet also a born futurist, a pioneer of giving away free music and creating new distribution systems under his purview. He almost never settled for less than total control of his music in the marketplace, and when he didn't get it he fought risky public battles for it. Artists today owe him a profound debt for that.

In the current climate, Prince's near-wholesale shunning of streaming services (and his camp's itchy takedown-notice trigger finger for unauthorized bootlegs) seems almost soothsaying. As anyone who tried to memorialize him on the Internet on Thursday discovered, it's nearly impossible to find embeddable, authorized Prince songs on most popular services like Spotify and YouTube.

This was by design. Prince famously declared in 2010 that "the Internet is over" as a hope for revenue-generation in music. "Tell me a musician who's got rich off digital sales. Apple's doing pretty good though, right?"

Of course, he eventually signed onto Tidal, perhaps out of faith that its big coterie of musician-owners represented a counterweight to larger tech and music biz demands and paltry royalties.
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Prince had been down that road before when the stakes were maybe even higher. He saw his fight with Warner Music in profoundly racialized terms, a grim fact of the music business that stretches back as long as white executives have recorded black artists. He wasn't just trying to negotiate a better contract -- he framed the whole discussion in terms of freedom and his own artistic agency.
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yeah Prince is the man

here's some more on the music industry as a whole and why he supported Tidal

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...artists-record-contracts-are-slavery-20150809

Two days after Prince announced that he would release his new album HitNRun exclusively to Tidal, the singer revealed the reason he is sidestepping a record label and offering the LP directly through Jay Z's streaming service. "Record contracts are just like — I'm gonna say the word – slavery," Prince said. "I would tell any young artist... don't sign."

Speaking to a small group of reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists Saturday at his Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis, Prince expressed concerns over the future of the music business, NPR reports. He also voiced his disapproval about how record labels turn artists into "indentured servitude," since the artists have little control or insight over how labels take their music and profit off it online.

"Once we have our own resources, we can provide what we need for ourselves," Prince said of why he chose to team with Tidal. "Jay Z spent $100 million of his own money to build his own service. We have to show support for artists who are trying to own things for themselves."
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hence Jay's verse on Caught Their Eyes
 
Pretty hypocritical to call fans old or dusty if they like a particular style, artist, or sound but then get all worked if some fans dont like the latest sound or artist.

There is enough variety in rap today that you can enjoy and find whatever fits your preference yet of you like an older sound over some of the new stuff then you just old or dusty.
 
vsaintlo said:
Your like a day late. But okay at the "old rap fans". Would a few or some have been better wording than a lot? Those who adapted lasted those who didn't fell of. Gucci of all people has adapted. Did you look at my other posts I'm not a detractor. I like all Rap/Hip-Hop. If the game is not a multi-faceted industry why are rappers starting liquor companies and going to fashion week. Things have changed so you change with them just trying to point this out.

You think Givenchy and Maison Margiela work with rap artists because they were on the block? No cause that shit sells and rappers are movers and influencers. I'm acknowledging the game has changed and you adapt nothing wrong with that. Jay-Z told us about this already on "Off That" from BP3. Tie ya shoe laces @shoelacer don't trip.

Why is talking about rap so divisive?
Click to expand...

Aizen.S.Kennedy said:
It's crazy after looking through the whole thread I see way more " old dusty fans don't understand" comments then " I don't like mumble rap" comments. It's almost like the young bulls get emotional when someone doesn't like an artist they like. That's what's causing all the division in rap discussion recently. Hey I don't like yachty he barely rhymes. Man you just a old dusty hater.
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facts.

Dudes catch feelings fast when you says some Mumble rapper shit is trash or even criticize that style. That's why I don't even bother with rap threads here.
 
vsaintlo said:
Your like a day late. But okay at the "old rap fans". Would a few or some have been better wording than a lot? Those who adapted lasted those who didn't fell of. Gucci of all people has adapted. Did you look at my other posts I'm not a detractor. I like all Rap/Hip-Hop. If the game is not a multi-faceted industry why are rappers starting liquor companies and going to fashion week. Things have changed so you change with them just trying to point this out.

You think Givenchy and Maison Margiela work with rap artists because they were on the block? No cause that shit sells and rappers are movers and influencers. I'm acknowledging the game has changed and you adapt nothing wrong with that. Jay-Z told us about this already on "Off That" from BP3. Tie ya shoe laces @shoelacer don't trip.

Why is talking about rap so divisive?
Click to expand...

Sorry, that was unnecessarily dismissive of me. I just think singling the south off as a place with a 'graveyard' full of failed artists is unfair though. Every region has that, especially the east coast. It's kind of the nature of the music industry in general.

I get what your point about adaptation, but I don't fully agree. Gucci, specifically, kind of had the industry adapt to him when he got out - his voice sounds different, but for the most part his style is in tact. Hell, he put out like nine albums in prison, all mined from the same hard drives - he literally couldn't adapt lol.

The game has changed indeed, but I don't think we see eye to eye in terms of what has changed and how dramatic the effects of those changes are. The biggest change in general has been how much record sales across all genres have tanked, though.
 
"Marcy me
Streets is my artery, the vein of my existence
I'm the Gotham City heartbeat
I started in lobbies now, parlay with Saudis
Sufi to the goofies, I could probably speak Farsi
That's poetry, read a coca leaf from my past
Came through the bushes smellin' like roses
I need a trophy just for that
Old Brooklyn, not this new shit, shift feel like a spoof
Fat laces in your shoe, I'm talkin' bustin' off the roof
Hold a Uzi vertical, let the thing smoke
Y'all flirtin' with death, I be winkin' through the scope...."

Marcy Me is an incredible track and the second verse on Marcy Me is one of my favorite Jay Z verses period, the song feels like nostalgia/reminiscing.

I'm trying to get adjusted to this album still, but his flow and lyricism honestly feels no different than it did on MCHG personally, probably even more degraded on the flow and vocal scale, but that feels like an artistic choice along with the offbeat rhymes to a certain extent (because obviously age plays a role).

Not really sure what people at loving here if they weren't feeling tracks like F.U.T.W, Blue, or Nickles and Dimes.

Edit: And why are people excusing things like Jay's terrible chorus on Smile?
 
phanphare said:
they shouldn't, jay's just trying to put the spotlight back on that stuff to the benefit of a lot of the young artists out there that may or may not be getting swindled by the industry. it was also a play on Prince's famous quote when he changed his name and wrote Slave on his face.



here's an article about when Prince resigned with Warner and got his masters back

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articl...-gets-masters-back-which-labels-say-scares-us



here's an article about Prince's legacy on that subject

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ive-legacy-music-business-20160422-story.html
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Fucking legend, man.
 
Syphon Filter said:
aren't they cool with each other again? also i hope he doesn't name it that, shit is corny as fuck lol.btw i doubt kanye can bet jay in a battle, he doesn't seem the type to be a battle guy.
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I hope not. I want more completely avoidable, bitter rivalries. Ye, Future and Drake on a rebuttal track. Whew.
 
shoelacer said:
Sorry, that was unnecessarily dismissive of me. I just think singling the south off as a place with a 'graveyard' full of failed artists is unfair though. Every region has that, especially the east coast. It's kind of the nature of the music industry in general.

I get what your point about adaptation, but I don't fully agree. Gucci, specifically, kind of had the industry adapt to him when he got out - his voice sounds different, but for the most part his style is in tact. Hell, he put out like nine albums in prison, all mined from the same hard drives - he literally couldn't adapt lol.

The game has changed indeed, but I don't think we see eye to eye in terms of what has changed and how dramatic the effects of those changes are. The biggest change in general has been how much record sales across all genres have tanked, though.
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We're good it's all shop talk. Outside of losing weight I feel Gucci has stepped it up a little. His recent collabs seem to have pushed him into mainstream acceptance which is good. I think the tank is crazy overall as well. Country music did claim 10 percent in sales last year! Streaming is a whole new monster not to mention Youtube and piracy/free sites but it is what it is.

No complaints though there is more variety now than ever. From A$AP to Rexx Life Raj to ATCQ to Tyler and all the artists who are still doing it.

Bounceounce said:
Which points of my post?
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I think they're not sure whether you like or dislike the album. I might be wrong lol but I think I feel you Jay's albums are like that. Kingdom Come grew on me are on. Beach Chair is one of may favorites. I have been listening to BP3 over that 24 hours as well as 4:44. I gave it a 7.77 but I might tag on that .23 after a few listens.

jmood88 said:
Family Feud and Bam are two of the best-produced songs I've heard all year.
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Oui.
 
I think older artists who are willing to evolve their sound are the ones who stick around the longest. Like TI, Check Run It is a song more like more recent artists and less like TI's "normal" sound

He was willing to evolve
Jay-Z he's evolved

More and more artists are willing to evolve and that's positive. Shows a willomgness to growth and showing the willingness to listen to new artists and not just diss them for being new
 
LionPride said:
I think older artists who are willing to evolve their sound are the ones who stick around the longest. Like TI, Check Run It is a song more like more recent artists and less like TI's "normal" sound

He was willing to evolve
Jay-Z he's evolved

More and more artists are willing to evolve and that's positive. Shows a willomgness to growth and showing the willingness to listen to new artists and not just diss them for being new
Click to expand...

That's why G-Unit died out. No growth Banks was nice raspy voice smooth delivery he hung on for a while best song out of the G-Unit camp to me in recent memory was 50's "I'm The Man". I like that song.
 
LionPride said:
I think older artists who are willing to evolve their sound are the ones who stick around the longest. Like TI, Check Run It is a song more like more recent artists and less like TI's "normal" sound

He was willing to evolve
Jay-Z he's evolved

More and more artists are willing to evolve and that's positive. Shows a willomgness to growth and showing the willingness to listen to new artists and not just diss them for being new
Click to expand...

Unless you have your own niche i.e. Currensy.
 
vsaintlo said:
This is true. I think Tech N9ne is a great example of this.
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Yeah there are a few artists who are an anomaly to the current generation of music, those two are just a couple I can think of that been on the same shit since I was in middle school, and theyre still loved for it lol.
 
Aizen.S.Kennedy said:
It's crazy after looking through the whole thread I see way more " old dusty fans don't understand" comments then " I don't like mumble rap" comments. It's almost like the young bulls get emotional when someone doesn't like an artist they like. That's what's causing all the division in rap discussion recently. Hey I don't like yachty he barely rhymes. Man you just a old dusty hater.
Click to expand...
I try to stop myself from throwing up every time I see that Target commercial with lil ⛵️ covering it takes two. If I don't like it, I don't like it. Doesn't mean that I'm hating.
Zeus The Dino said:
The sample chops on this album is crazy
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Yep, back in like 2004 when I was heavy into production, I had a CD of No ID beats, and this was when he didn't really have anything out there of note since the early Common albums, and they were the best beats around and I was flabbergasted at little to none of his stuff getting placed on albums. Like jaw on the floor. And I don't recall anything from that treasure trove of beats seeing the light of day.
 
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