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

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

did anyone else like the freeway/the jacka one?

I think you should check out the tape, Lex. It's different. You like RHQ, right? The chemistry between the two of them makes the tape work. It also kind of makes YT relax a bit - he's less high strung on this one than on most of the other stuff he has released this year. On the other hand, if you don't like Lifestyle I really don't know what to say to you. That's just obviously one of the year's few and far between classic singles.

I actually would recommend you try the Rich Gang tape. The songs are way solid and as a whole it addresses some of your problems with YT, including the formlessness that dogged his loosie releases this year. I doubt you'll love it, but it gives a sense of how Thug fits in as a commercial everyday player, and shows how well he can adapt to that role.

Just realized a lot of pubs probably will fall back on that schoolboy album as their token rap pick, which is really sad. It's an OK album but man, we should really be expecting more shouldn't we?

i don't really like rhq :(

only young thug performance i really properly love is on "try me" and kinda "about the money"

Schoolboy Q sucks.

How can a man not love Rich Homie Quan?

well, i'm not a fan of sing-song autotune, so

I'd start by sampling "Flava," the obvious standout. If you can't get with this one you you can probably save your time and skip the tape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hz8oU9zubc

with Nicki, Kanye and Kendrick all possibly dropping before the end of the year I do think it's possible that the critical consensus will end up gathering around a 4th quarter release. would not be the first time that's happened.

Yeah, Good Kid came out in late October, so it can happen. It won't be Nicki, though. Pinkprint's target release date is Nov. 24, which is after the buzzer for many major publications, plus I think "Assaconda" sapped some of her critical standing

Rich Gang would be if it was released as an EP with 6 songs. But Dayss Before Rodeo is the best release of year hands down no comp.

Rich gang tape is great lex. Enthusiastic endorsement

lex you probably won't like it but you should still listen to it

YG remains easily the best rap album of the year though

what's weirdest about the paucity of galvanizing rap albums is that i feel like it's been *such* a strong year for rap singles

i feel like rap songs have done well on the charts this year too & yet no one has really been able to mobilize that into a good album, though i guess you could argue rich gang did.

t.i.'s album might end up being half good.

Yeah I agree about rap singles, though few of those singles were by artists you'd necessarily expect a great album from right now

Tbh last year was the world's most annoying in terms of "the discussion," all of those event albums resulted in some of the most obnoxious rap conversations and what albums got notice couldn't have felt further from what music was worth hearing

Except beyonce

travi$ scott's single "upper echelon" is better by far than anything on days before rodeo. the production on DBR (and owl pharoah, which is better overall imo) is interesting but not enough to make up for how uninteresting - not trash, just unspectacular - his flow and lyrics are. and i'm by no means a lyrics-over-everything person. also it allots a guest verse to big sean, which, just no.

as far as this year in rap goes it's definitely trended toward singles rather than albums. vince staples' hell can wait and shyne coldchain pt. 2, the YG album, gibbs/madlib, schoolboy and future all have their merits, gibbs prob most of all. for pure dumb fun, coke boys 4 was solid.

also for all the young thug talk i dont see any mentions of "old english" and that's slanderous