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

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

i am still kinda mystified by the gibbs thing, it reminds me of how lamp (i think) described whiney as having every characteristic of being a hipster except something is missing, except freddie gibbs is like that w 'classic gangster rap artist' for me

kevin gates is better than all of them fwiw

kevin gates is awesome. haven't been disappointed by anything of his.

The highest rated 2014 rap album at Metacritic is Isaiah Rashad (82), which is really good but nobody feels passionate about.

hi dere, best release of the yr, that or future

Music in general is lacking in quality and diversity right now though

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/fez_/vporly-sm.gif

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

― lex pretend, Tuesday, October 7, 2014 9:57 AM Bookmark

RHQ is definitely singsong but I can't recall him ever using autotune?

yeah don't think he has

plus a lot of the Rich Gang stuff he doesn't even do hooks, my favorite thing about "Lifestyle" is really his verse

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVhKub975yg

this song is gonna be an anthem for basics up in the club if it isn't already, though i must say i like the production leading up to the obligatory and entirely cookie-cutter drop.

real groundbreaking reverbed/pitch-corrected vocals and otherwordly delivery amirite

Year-end list making time is almost here, so I'm trying to catch up with anything I missed. Anybody else have any rap recommendations? Dej Loaf has been my go-to for the last few weeks, but I haven't heard much else that's blown me away.

JUNGLEPUSSY

i was way late on it but it's such a good album

i don't get dej loaf really

freddie gibbs & madlib's "pinata" is prob overall the best end to end rap album, followed closely by RTJ2 and the YG debut record, all 3 of which have prob

other than that - both gangsta boo releases (witch and underground cassette tape music), kevin gates' by any means, both vince staples releases...

those cam'ron 1st of tha month EPs have also been really solid & not generating that much discussion

*have prob been mentioned already

Lex, is it her voice/delivery you're not feeling or her lyrics? I think her messaging is on point, and just love her overall presence. She's got that whole Rakim "I don't need to raise my voice" thing going, and her inflections are deceptively precise. There's a lot going on underneath what seems like a static delivery.

and yeah that RTJ album is godly. Gangsta Boo might have the most essential guest appearance of the year on that

i like her lyrics, you know my feelings on that kind of delivery by now

haha, yeah, no surprises there. And I could see a lesser rapper doing the same thing coming across like a rapping Jhene Aiko or something, but I think Dej pulls it off and makes the contrast between hard words and soft rhymes work for her without leaning on it as a shtick

anyway, junglepussy: https://soundcloud.com/vice/sets/junglepussys-satisfaction-guaranteed

so much presence and charisma

my fave '14 release not mentioned by slothroprhymes up there is Sweetz P's "#Liferrrs Guide To Watching Porn Without Headphones"

http://www.datpiff.com/Sweetz-P-liferrrs-Guide-To-Watching-Porn-Without-Headphone-mixtape.570016.html

NehruvianDOOM pushing DBR close now. Listening to the new Migos with peaked interest. RTJ2 is dated masculinity trope

xxpost have never heard of junglepussy before, enjoying it thus far

NehruvianDOOM pushing DBR close now. Listening to the new Migos with peaked interest. RTJ2 is dated masculinity trope

― Raccoon Tanuki, Wednesday, November 12, 2014 1:07 PM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

trolling is one thing, incorrect spelling is quite another, my god don't you have standards

That Migos is so good

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/travis-scott-is-worse-than-iggy-azalea-1682870003?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow