I love trap music, but god damn having to stomach shit like: Migos’ 2014 mixtape Rich Nigga Timeline clocks in at 80 minutes. He has the right amount of material to make an album, but unfortunately it is curiously quite prevalent in hip-hop to throw a shitload of songs onto an album and have listeners stomach ~20 more minutes than necessary. Despite the overall quality of each song, there is no denying the repetition and ever-so-noticeable drag found around the ~45 minute mark. Unfortunately, much like his previous albums, If Youre Reading This… is just too damn long. Opener “Legend” continues the theme from Nothing Was the Same of perfectly showcasing what you are in for: solid rapping hidden behind an R&B vocal style (alongside an incredible overuse of “nigga:” 15 uses in Nothing Was the Same’s opener “Tuscan Leather” and 9 uses in “Legend”-at least he is learning)? Cole style (found in Cole’s hit single “Power Trip). Right off the bat, you can pick up on this The Weeknd-esque flow, and you can certainly sense the Miguel/J. It seems as though “R&B Drake” is somewhat heading towards “cloud rap Drake”-then again, those two personalities definitely have a similar type of atmosphere, at least nowadays (see: The Weeknd). This ethereal near-cloud rap style of production unexpectedly worked/works so well with Drake, showing his sheer diversity in which you can clearly tell he could rip a track up using any type of flow he has to give. His production style has certainly expanded since then, solidifying his preference towards a more hazy (or cloudy, hehe) type of beat a la Main Attrakionz or Friendzone (this was first clearly seen in the Nothing Was the Same standout track “Pound Cake”, unsurprisingly produced by Boi-1da).
He expanded both ways, showing off a quite impressive R&B progression (see: “Hold On, We’re Going Home”) and a.pretty good progression in regards to his.pretty good rapping (“Tuscan Leather”). He no longer constrained himself to the purgatory between solid R&B and.pretty good rapping. He still had that curiously-interesting droll-style with some faux-drab scattered around (at least at face value), but it oddly worked quite well when dichotomously compared to the “conscious rap” (in the positive sense) parts of the album. His usual R&B/rap combo went from expectedly “pretty good” and standard to unexpectedly intricate and forward-thinking.
2013’s Nothing Was the Same was a massive step up for Jewish/Canadian/former wheelchair-bound tv-star type of hard-ass nigga ~Aubrey Graham~ in terms of finally diversifying his sound. A$AP-the difference in quality is astounding, and you can definitely blame the production on tracks like “Get High” for the (generally agreed upon) garbage that is Deep Purple.ĭrake is on a fuckin’ roll. Just peep Deep Purple in comparison to $AP. With up and comers like Hit-Boy and Clams Casino, it is quite hard to overlook how the production can sometimes overshadow the smooth ass flow that Rocky is known for. As much as I love A$AP Rocky, there is no denying the fact that his beat choices absolutely push the quality of his tracks tenfold. The beats can easily make or break the tracks because the lyrics are, more often than not, nothing special (“see Gucci that’s my mofuckin nigga…”).īeat dependency has unfortunately seemed to become more apparent and almost mandatory in recent years.
Both artists are known for forefronting the “trap” sound (see: T.I.’s influential Trap Muzik). He also loves Jeezy’s “I Luv It,” which certainly falls under the same purple light as the majority of T.I.’s tracks. This perfectly sums it up I would say “What You Know” is definitely up there in terms of all-time production quality (as far as trap goes), so it makes definite sense to dig the track over the rest of the album, despite the subpar (even for T.I.) lyrics and flow. Despite the superb consistency and quality of that album, he insisted we listen to “What You Know” on repeat. “I cannot really dig a track unless I dig the beat,” my boy said to me one day while bumping King by T.I.
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