Good shit fellas. Good shit. Jay look like your uncle though Kanye.
So I downloaded Watch the Throne. If you don’t know what that is, I suggest a fine meal of poprocks, cyanide, and bleach. Now that the malice is out the way, let me just say that I really enjoyed this album. Though I don’t have to listen to music everyday, I like to think that I have an ear for good sh*t…like Rawse. Ughn. This album is that. It’s the type of ish you bump in the whip on a long drive or on the subway when you’re headed to the plantation. Oh you think I’ma share the link? Nah. I ain’t tryin’ to have Men in Black zapping my freedom.
I was readin’ some of the reviews online and saw that a good number of folks were unhappy with what Kanye and Jay-Z put out there. I can’t knock people’s taste in music. Everybody is different. However, I found myself wondering what album people had listened to and what the gripe was? After much thought and downloading of grown folk footage because sometimes I yearn for walls that are doing everything but surround that which matters to me most, I realized that maybe I just listen to music differently. Honestly, I fall in and out of love with music as the year goes by. Sometimes I need it in my life. Other times I could give 2 shits if it’s there. That isn’t much different than how I feel about a lot of things.
Loooove, I still don’t get enough of it. That has nothing to do with this post, but I wanted to beat my chest and proclaim it to the world like I’m in my teens, rockin’ saggy jeans, and my father was never there nahmean? That’s not a cool metaphor, but we can’t deny the reality. Might as well make reference to it. Rappers lazily do it all the time.
See, I’m not a music buff. I’m not the person that can listen to a song once and memorize the lyrics. I’m not the person who you can sit down for an interview and ask about the lyrics that have impacted my life. Real talk, I like to listen to stuff, feel good, get amped, and figure out how the producer crafted the beat(s). I like to imagine how the rapper heard an instrumental, got geeked, then wrote some dope sauce to accompany the melodies and baselines. I’ve written songs before, so I can empathize. I’m not saying they were good songs, but they tolerable enough to have people be like “Aight, I see you Slim. You still got that day job doe?” Maybe they were just being nice, but I like to think otherwise. If you tell me otherwise, I will delete your comment and de-friend you every place imaginable. Like any other artist, I’m sensitive about my shit.
Music for me is an expression of thought and creativity that can’t be matched in mediums other than screaming and beating up a pillow while a shrink nods and jots down “this muggafugga is crazy” in their discounted notepad, drawing or painting art, and writing. I guess musicians write too, but the way I’m thinking of writing is what you see in the body of this post. It’s the thoughts in my head conveyed in a way that some people will get and others won’t. I don’t worry about the repercussions of what I write because this is my space — not to be confused with that website where you catch STDs by responding to a message. If you don’t like the lane I’m in, turn on your blinker and take the next exit.
It’s crazy what I’ve learned about myself and music over the last year. I’m all about bass, samples, and tunes I can whistle while I work. I enjoy memorable lyrics that don’t necessarily blow me away because of the punchlines, but because they’re catchy and memorable. So when folks have deep conversations about the intricacies of metaphors and the 1 million interpretations of what a rapper meant, I’m just listenin’ to the beat and rhymes and enjoyin’ it for what it is. That’s just me though. What about you? How do you listen to music?
Mojo back! Mojo back! I took a weekend off and got my mojo back! I think.
Another great read. I always enjoy reading your thoughts.
The beat production and the ad libs (*Rick Ross Grunt*) are what grab my attention when i listen to music…initially that is. After subsequent listens, I then begin to care about the lyrics and meanings.
Watch the throne album?<———– THAT SH*T CRAY
Good read. Although I rate albums and write reviews and critiques on music regularly, I don’t bother getting into the intricacies of each lyric and metaphor. I’m not gonna lie, when I listen to Hip hop, I mostly listen to the hook/melody, the production and the Rapper’s delivery. If the music makes you feel good, that’s a win!
People are going so hard on their like/dislike for this album, it is bringing out the vileness in a lot of folk. I like what I have heard thus far. *kanyeshrug*
Half of the music I listen to now is not in English..its either in Spanish, French, or Portuguese. Even though I speak 1.5 of those languages I can’t always understand each lyric, but the feeling and emotions in the songs are stronger than whats being put out in the US and they have the power to put in all types of ummm moods..
And besides Drake, I don’t listen to the lyrics of any hip hop songs. When is the last time someone could rap an entire rap song, Biggie? When a lyric is memorable you will hear it whether you listed to the song or not.
Are you Cape Verdian?
haha no! Jamaican FTW!
but yeah I went to school in Boston so I picked their music up there, and I’ve traveled a lot.
Agreed.
I had to laugh at your photo comment b/c that was the first thing that I thought when I saw that photo. Jay looks a good 15 years older than Ye here. As far as how I listen to music, I don’t listen to the radio at all, so I don’t listen to much new music. I have two teenagers so I hear about a lot of artists and songs that I would rather not know about, but such is life. I appreciate lyrics and emotion in music, and when you can mix that with a dope beat or nice melody, all the better. Some stuff I just can’t get into though. If you offered me a million dollars to name a Gucci Mane song I couldn’t do it. I am very much into music and listen to it everyday, but only the music that I know I like.
I listen with a very discerning ear. I want to hear music that stimulates me mentally. I can listen to K’naan talking about life in Somalia or I can listen to Royce Da 5’9″ rapping about slapping somebody’s face off. As long as they are doing it in a way that is singular, I can vibe with it.
I always forget about Royce.lol. Whatever happened to that dude?
He’s a member of “supergroup” Slaughterhouse now with Joel Ortiz, Crooked I and Joe Budden. He made nice with Eminem and the group is signed to Shady/Aftermath. He’s still one of the most deadly MCs out there.
When it comes to music, it’s like my growth is stunted. I’m the type of person who can reminisce on music from childhood up until my teens but when it comes to current stuff I’m way behind the curve. After hearing about an album so many times I’ll finally go check it out or maybe one night when I can’t sleep, I’ll head over to Amazon to see what may have come out in the past six months or so. I love Drake but I didn’t even know his first album came out until around nine months later. Seems like I always know when a new Beyonce joint comes out though. Other than that I’m mostly in the dark.
Let me tell you, I am eternally stuck in the 90′s. I had to discover most of the music I listen to from that era by myself because they were only playing Pop & Asian songs where I was before, but I can’t bring myself to go on the same kind of avid search for the songs du-jour. I only know a few current songs, and I gave up listening to the radio years ago. They pretty much play the same 10 songs, give or take 2, throughout the day.
I’m a music junky and I have to have my fix everyday, lol. I’m not necessarily a person who remembers every lyric, but I need music that evokes certain emotions in me or fits a mood that I’m in. If a song can make me cry, that musician is a damn good artist! That why I love me some Stevie Wonder or Donny Hathaway. I follow the mainstream artists as well as those so called “underground” artists as well. If I need romance I listen to Eric Roberson. If I want to dance are just get trippy it Little Dragon. If I’m feeling blue or mellow its Bjork’s Vespertine or some Miles Davis and so on and so forth. Bottom line, if it can make me sway, bop or sing along at the opening notes, I’m all for it!
I think that being an English teacher lends itself to me having a fixation with figurative language. So metaphors, simlies, literary references, etc. always get me with music. I enjoy 808s and Heartbreak–:) beats and drums make things vibe, but sometimes when I hear music live it changes my entire thought process about the songs. I saw JL(my husband) and Sade the other night. I have seen him 12 times, but Sade definitely did the dang thing!!! Her voice sounded like it did when my mom used to clean the house in the 80s. Awesome.
I live and breathe music. my day doesn’t feel complete if I have to go without (like today, been in too many meetings and conference calls). On first listens, I try feel the actual instrumentation, then I do the in depth lyrical analysis. I think because I grew up writing poetry and prose, I’ve always been a fan of good words. I don’t write much anymore, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE when I come across lyrics that speak to an experience or my feelings on an issue. I could probably answer all questions with lyrics if I tried…that’s how much I am into music.
I understand everyone isn’t a huge music head and have very surface level opinions on it, so I try not to really debate people. in addition to preferences. having said that, WTT is a good album but I think the hype of it all and the level of two rappers involved, it was inevitable that people were going to be underwhelmed. The hype was just TOO huge.
I don’t think I knew you wrote poetry. And if I did know then I forgot…and I’m sorry.
But yeah, the underwhelming was unavoidable I guess. Though for me, I didn’t have these crazy OD expectations. I wasn’t blown away by HAM so I thought the album would be a lot more of that.
There are only so many ways you can instruct me on how to kill myself, Slim. I’m waiting until you run out so that I can enjoy my life in peace. Sheesh.
I listen to music the same way I read, except that reading temporarily fell out of favour with me during my undergraduate years. I can and will fall in love with cheesy ass songs if they give me the urge to dance and sing along (without wanting to strangle the person or thing that got them stuck in my head), and music is a solid part of my life. Very rarely will you catch me out of my house without my headphones. Music keeps me company and content as I actively avoid the gaze of strangers. I had to pause my Ipod just now, because it also gets me through the housechores that I’m currently taking a break from. I love me some R&B, Soca, and others, but more so the rhythm & blues. There are some songs that I will likely never fall out of love with. However, all you will get from me is a blank stare if you ask me to break down the merit of any one song or book. I’m not a connoisseur, nor do I feel the need to assign any particular merit to things I enjoy. It’s either I like it, I don’t, or I’m in transition. Sometimes, it’ll be the beat that I love, sometimes the sentiment behind the song, but you will be hard-pressed to find me writing a paragraph detailing why any one song or book is the most awesome thing next to Google.
I listen to music the majority of the day. Wake up to it, my Itunes library is going while the TV is on mute. I have to have music in my life on a daily to function properly..lol..sounds dramatic but it’s true. I would rather listen to good music than do anything else during the day. With RnB I listen to the lyrics first. No matter how sensual the beat or music is if the lyrics are corny, I can’t get with it. With Hip Hop, the beat catches me first, but I am all about wordplay. I also like to have first listens of albums with my headphones in. That way I can take in every part of the song, the lyrics and the music. If I’m feeling the song I will listen to it over and over until I know every word, adlib and hook. All of that to say, I love music, from the classics to the ratchet.
Good Post
I kida see what you mean slim and thats a different twist on it because I was pist off when I heard this album..lol $14 for nothing..Im a hardcore Jay fan, been one since 96 Reasonable Doubt and I guess I don’t like change or don’t respect the musicality in this last project..Jay raps different now and for whatever reason im not feeling it..Its like he’s running through his versus, back in the day he would stop, stand still, fold his arms and spit verses like hes telling you a really loud secret…now its like hes running, out of breath and whispering through his verse..lol
PS im a true music head, my ipod is full of 70′s soul and 90′s rap, might be part of the problem as well..lol
lol at whispering and running out of breath. Though now that you mention it, I can see/hear that. It just doesn’t bother me. Let me give this listen #5.