Maybe it’s because I’ve been listening to DMX lately, but the dialogue at the end of “Reincarnated” has shades of X in it too, along with, obviously, 2Pac.
Based on the scores of the albums he’s reviewed this year I don’t think he’s a fan of mainstream hip hop.
He’s always been a weird reviewer to Kendrick. But also Morale only got a 7. something and then wound up pretty high in their top albums of the decade so far.
Didn't occur to me that you guys would be talking about this in here when I posted it in the Hip-Hop thread but yeah that Drake lawsuit is an astoundingly bad look for him, I can't even imagine how he thought that would go over The more of this pathetic shit he pulls, the more people are going to forget that he actually put up a pretty good fight with Pushups and Family Matters (until the abysmal Heart Part 6)
Alphonse completely nailed my misgivings about the redundant "victory lap" tone of the album (I thought the concert was the victory lap!), the boring petty beefs and the lazy self-mythologizing. I hadn't picked up on the "black capitalism" element creeping into his music, which is maybe most deflating of all - come back Eckhart Tolle, all is forgiven....
I'm a bit mixed, I think it's a good overview of Kendrick the person and recent history (I've also felt some misgivings about his focus on the Black Executive angle, starts to veer into a bit of Killer Mike's latest territory, although I've known for a bit that he's about that life and just ran with it, but it's worth talking about) but not a good review of the album necessarily. For example, I think he's free to mention the Lil Wayne situation for a literal line, not even seeming mad about it more disappointed, given Lil Wayne's tantrum about it before and now reinforced after the album drop.
The Pitchfork review is great if you actually read it. I don’t agree that Reincarnated is unlistenable though - that’s just a bad take
Yeah it is a good review, and the points they make are valid (outside of the reincarnated take lol). I disagree personally though. however, I give less criticism than them because in a moment where he’s at the pop zeitgeist, he releasing his most accessible, capitalist/commercial, and pop-focused album. It makes sense with where he’s at in his career and what he’s achieved thus far. Whether you want to dock him points for that, it’s up to personal preference. I don’t, but I can’t fault others for doing so
I really think this is a much more focused and consistent version of what he was trying to do with DAMN. could end up top 3 Kenny for me with time, I'm enjoying it more with every listen ...peekaboo is ass though lol miss me with that one
I don’t like Peekaboo or Man at the Garden. Then those last few songs are much weaker than the first half of the album. For that reason I won’t say it’s better than DAMN, which is a much stronger album than I think a lot of you are remembering
That's either second or third for me, it swaps places with GKMC after TPAB. Which will probably never be topped.
it be high up in my rankings too if I had to rank. The production is just so good that it stays undefeated.