Travi$ Scott - Days Before Rodeo - best rap release of 2014 so far?

Onyx surprisingly good!

Brad Paisley's iPhone "album titles" memo pad hacked.

i mostly love the opening of thugger's verse

Drop top baby...

― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 17:30 (Yesterday) Permalink

with the BIRDman I know you HEARD man

RT srs or not confirming my theory that Trav Dolla $cott is a way for "cooler" (however defined but mean this negatively obv) rap fans to listen to currently buzzing rappers/producers without really listening to their own stuff. I mean don't get me wrong Kanye's thrown some guests on his albums & made it work even some times where I haven't been a fan of 'em otherwise, but this guy? Nah

Yes

Throwing in Iamsu!'s,Sage The Gemini's and G-Side's albums on the ever-growing list of 2014 rap albums that are better than Scott's. And probably Zilla Shit 3 too, although I haven't listened to it yet.

Also, 10 Summers.

yeah i love the IamSu! album

Schoolboy Q, really?

Raccoon this is a serious question but are you hip-hop's version of Jeff Gilbert

Like your one word dismissals are cuet

look what he brings to the table

Thanks for the recs, Spottie. Excited to dig into those this week. Also thanks for the reminder to revisit Mastermind; that's an underrated little record.

*questions raccoon tanuki's trendsetting*

Gonna give you a second chance after the Schoolboy Q and Rick Ross slip up. But some reactions to Travis otherworldly delivery recalls to mind the reaction for years to Kanye rapping (not same, but same reactions), then all of a sudden everyone started biting his style. Even further back, people used to say 2pac couldn't rap (though I'm getting doubtful any one here goes that far back, looking at the stuff you listen to), yet now the opinion is enitrely different. Look at how much fans of East Coast rap hated on Bone Thugs? Those dudes would not get any credit, simply because they were wildly different in style (even after Notorious Thugs). T.S is versatile, has a different style on each track on Days Before Rodeo. Honestly think he's too creative for you if you prefer prosaic shit like Schoolboy and Rick Ross.

Past rappers have been underrated and dismissed, ergo Travis Scott is underrated and dismissed.

Also there are few rappers who've been as critically beloved from the start as Kanye

this thread was funnier when racoon kept demanding someone show him a better 2014 album and everyone ignored him imho

yeah, this evolved into a good rap year-in-review thread, sorry I took the bait

yes critically, not internetly. same style of reaction. guy does something diff, gets hate. yet, dross gets love.

i read one youtube comment saying people aren't ready for t.s production yet

"Travis otherworldly delivery"

"guy does something diff, gets hate."

lol this guy bites more famous rappers' style, i would probably love him if he did something diff but he doesn't. He takes a bit of the strange things one can hear one kanye's last 2 albums, some ATL beats + i guess some cudi and wow this is so different you guys are not ready for his genius.

I'm not crazy about makonnen but at least that's someone doing something different.

raccoon name your next ten fav releases this year and also your top 50 all time please.

Thanks for the recs, Spottie. Excited to dig into those this week. Also thanks for the reminder to revisit Mastermind; that's an underrated little record.

― Evan R, Wednesday, September 3, 2014 9:09 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, i havent really loved a ross release before but I've kinda fallen for this one a bit

pretty weird to refer to any Ross album as a "little record"

has he gone unplugged?

thread is A+ for evan, sisilafami & spottie's recommendations

deej had some too! that HD is good, listened yesterday.

http://i.imgur.com/3MM38O8.png

hm

Mastermind is still a Ross album, but it trims a lot of the red-velvet bloat of God Forgives in favor of more of a straight hip-hop feel that really suits him. Kind of feels like his take on a NY rap album

Part of the problem here is that "better than Travis Scott" is a low bar, IMO the schoolboy record is p boring

yeah it is low! i don't even rank any of those albums that high tbf, outside of maybe 100s.

people used to say 2pac couldn't rap (though I'm getting doubtful any one here goes that far back, looking at the stuff you listen to)

can I get a lol

Travis Scott is the new 2pac. You heard it here first.

Mastermind is still a Ross album, but it trims a lot of the red-velvet bloat of God Forgives in favor of more of a straight hip-hop feel that really suits him. Kind of feels like his take on a NY rap album

― Evan R, Wednesday, September 3, 2014 11:13 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I like this description, OTM. Actually I wasn't feeling Teflon Don either cuz both aggro Ross/smoove Ross a lot of times doesn't do much for me though I liked a couple songs on it. I didn't pay tons of attention to GFID but Mastermind's the first from dude I've really enjoyed, though I've come to accept that I'll never dig him as a rapper, unless the new-and-improved Ross becomes even newer-and-more improved, but honestly I think it's partially the voice. He doesn't ruin any of those tracks though, if they fail it's cuz I don't like the beat, or I don't like The Weeknd Weeknding

Iamsu! album is tight but it may just be the Drakiest album I've enjoyed thus far

I don't like this tape, any of the Nicki songs OR My Krazy Life besides "My Nigga"/the remix, I'm so not a hipster. Wait RT are you into Run the Jewels tho cuz that's hipster central, how do I know cuz I saw white bearded dude with "I'm glad Reagan dead" shirt at Iamsu in-store. I do like some of the Wayne C5 tracks so far tho so maybe mini-hipster

BTW Iamsu! not gonna be on Carter V you heard it here first I got the inside knowledge

idk Wayne throws lesser-known rappers on his albums sometimes, figured it might be a possibility. Or maybe I'm just thinking of Tech N9ne

The Iamsu album had a few nice tracks but way too lightweight and r&b influenced for my taste. a lot of the new bay stuff i hear at the moment is middling rappers (at best) over homogeneous ratchet beats, it's been like this for about 2 years now. HD - stuck in my old ways was good but he's released better before, jacka and laroo was surprisingly alright, clyde carson was poor imo, joe blow was a bit of a letdown considering how good his other releases have been the last few years...

There's def. songs that're a cut below but I would not call Iamsu album homogeneous ratchet beats

a couple the R&B-ish tracks are what I like about it, the intro is great, "Ascension" is dope minus the spoken bit, "Martina" is cool. I still need to get that "Hipster Girls" bonus track

"Only That Real" and "What You 'Bout" (another bullshit guest verse Wiz's dropped this year tho) are my go-to's though. And "Stop Signs"

I would not call Iamsu album homogeneous ratchet beats

Yeah, you're right, it's just me I think, I'm burned out on that whole aesthetic and the rappers that come with it. Too short and E40 sound good on that one track :D

even though I like Short (well casual fan but when I hear him I like him) I was sorta surprised that he out-rapped E-40 on that track. Not the greatest 40 verse tho, but yeah track is dope

kool john's shmoplife tape is dope

ohyeah 4got about that one

"Stop Signs" off the Iamsu has one of my favorite beats this year. Intro is v dope too.

The "Stop Signs" beat sounds a lot like "Drank in My Cup," and other Houston type things.

hmmm my go-to point of comparison was "What's It Gonna Be"

So 2014 is shaping up to be the first year in quite a while without a big, mass-consensus great rap album. Obviously that could change if Kanye or Kendrick (or maybe Chance?) dropped a full length before the end of the year, but right now I don't think there's any one rap LP that's going to dominant EOY lists.

The closest thing to a widely acclaimed rap album has been YG, but I think a little of the buzz about the album has cooled, and I think it's too contemporary/"non-lyrical" to really unite the masses (it sits at 80 at Metacritic); I don't think it's going to be remembered as the masterpiece some critics greeted it as. The highest rated 2014 rap album at Metacritic is Isaiah Rashad (82), which is really good but nobody feels passionate about.

Anyway, kind of a wonky conversation, but I think it's interesting, since so many casual listeners only pay attention to rap when a widely heralded release demands their attention. I've enjoyed how decentralized the conversation around rap is this year, but I think a lot of good music is falling through the cracks because of it.

Rich Gang tape is the rap album of the year so far.

Yeah it's fantastic. It might not even be the top rated Young Thug release of the year, though. I think months ago writers over zealously coronated Black Portland as the YT 2014 release people are supposed to care about, mostly because it was the closest thing to an official new YT mixtapes. Rich Gang is obv way better though

Black Portland will be forgotten by 2015 lol. It was all we had at the time.

my krazy life isn't a "masterpiece" sort of album and it's better for it imo. i probably listen to the best bits of it more than any masterpiece.

i really hated the young thug tape i gave my time to this year, unsurprisingly (1017 thug 2) and i hate the rich gang single so i presume you wouldn't recommend that tape to me?

schoolboy q and sage the gemini both made decent albums that just ended up being alright, i guess my rap albums of the year are yg, dj mustard, GANGSTA BOO & LA CHAT omg i have been caning that album this month. YEAH HO