Publication End Of The Year Lists 2016 • Page 39

Was Jamila Woods a mixtape? I loved that. No real objections otherwise, other than the fact that the Nef the Pharaoh blurb was written for Dej Loaf lol

 

i think technically album

i also tweeted at him about the dej thing lol

 

The Woods record still isn't on spotify. Wasn't it a free download? I feel like it'd be fair game to class as a mixtape if so.

 

I mean if we can call something that's only available on a paid streaming service a mixtape we can call anything a mixtape

 

she presented it as an album afaik and while the distinctions are increasingly meaningless i am going to defer to her on this one

 

Oh wait what was it on? Apple?

 

im talking about coloring book lol. if thats a mixtape anything is

 

Oh okay. I follow now.

 

I don't consider them bonus tracks, especially Facts. St Pablo, having been added later, an argument could be made there. I've seen a lot of people claiming everything after (or from) 30 Hours is the bonus track section. Only evidence I've seen is some random person commenting on Rap Genius (or whatever it is now). That comment (mis)interprets the end of 30 Hours as if it indicates the lines about being the "bonus joint" to mean the rest of the album and not simply the ad-libbing part of that song. If there is any better evidence that everything from that point onward is 'bonus' material I'm happy to be proven wrong.. Until then I'll consider all songs to constitute the real album, which makes sense unless you consider one of the best tracks No More Parties in LA and the single Fade to have been add-ons.

 

there is an intermission following what is pretty clearly, aesthetically/tonally/emotionally, the conclusion of the album. as well as the fact that he does explicitly mention recording 30 hours as a bonus/"adlib track". and the fact tthat none of the songs that would be "bonus" were on the tracklist sheet he kept posting pics of. and im pretty sure none of them were even played at the MSG event? maybe fade but i think thats it. singles are bonus tracks legit all the time nowadays anyway so fade becoming one doesnt really mean anything.

 

The last point I agree with. The rest I'm not so sure. He only released one version of the album on that first day and it had all the songs on it except St Pablo. I notice no real shift from 30 Hours onward. In fact I find the first half of the album to be more haphazard and incohesive than the back half (aside from Facts).
But most importantly Fade and No More Parties in LA were both slated for SWISH earlier on:
Swish Track List
1. "Nina Chop"
2. "Father Stretch My Hands"
3. "Waves"
4. "High Lights"
5. "30 Hours"
6. "No More Parties in L.A."
7. "Fade"
8. "FML"
9. "Real Friends"
10. "Wolves"

 

I don't think the back portion meshes together at all. You have a rappity rap boom bap song, an improvised song, a Chicago house lift, a remix of his worst lyrical song in ages, and then saint pablo

The final track list he shared before MSG only included "fade"

The original version didn't have franks track either. At least not as it's own song. It still doesn't mean anything, you're welcome to think it's all part of the album but I don't think it makes any sense to think of it that way. I don't listen to the album anymore anyway.

 

The stretch from Waves to No More Parties is the strongest part of the record imo. The first side has songs that are fairly short, and feels like a sequence of three-quarter finished ideas rather than anything cohesive. Especially when the songs themselves sprawl in different directions but often end up nowhere, unlike the to-the-point laser sighted cuts on Yeezus.

 

I've more or less viewed the track list up to "Wolves" as a complete thought and everything after as bonus tracks/the after-party.
And the album hangs together amazingly in that way

 

I know it's well regarded around here but I don't go much on Father Stretch My Hands (or Pt 2). Soon after you have Feedback which is decent but goes for about two minutes plus the Ghetto Oprah part which is essentially a skit within the song. Then Lowlights, which is appropriately named, and Highlights which is middle of the road imo. Freestyle 4 sounds like it should have been a bonus track more than any other except perhaps Silver Surfer Intermission. I Love Kanye is alright but plays out like an interlude. As part of a 20-track sprawling work this early to middle section doesn't bother me. But if I thought of it as being over half the 'real' album I wouldn't like it too much that's for sure. Each to their own.

 

http://www.passionweiss.com/2016/12/20/the-pow-best-rap-songs-of-2016/

 

my 2014 list popped up on the "on this day" on fb today, forgot how weird of a year that was critically. down year for rap, generally a big number of the "critically acclaimed" records that were high on lists that year i wasn't a huge fan of.

 

eh. i think 2014 was fine for rap. no big ticket names besides future &nicki really but i mean.

honest/monster
sell sole
luca brasi 2
pinata
water
pinkprint
broke with expensive taste
THA TOUR!!!
my krazy life
hell can wait/shyne coldchain vol 2
cilvia demo
ilovemakonnen
midnight life
life after deathrow

 

Why did u cross these out???

 

MKL is def my favorite that year p easily. not many of those were big crossover critical records like this year though.

more of just showing how different 2014 and 2016 is: this year was dominated by big ticket names, leaning towards pop and rap, 2014 was a bunch of smaller names and less critical consensus. like, the defining names for that year were what? a war on drugs, fka twigs, run the jewels. sun kil moon? aphex twin? swans?

 

killer year for punk/emo music though, though less in the critical/publication circles

 

i didnt....the mods are against me

 

Please never say 2014 was a down year for hip hop when iLoveMakonnen EP dropped and changed the world.

 

if u think tha tour and pinata weren't big critical successes you were living in a cave

 

also i dunno why you're phrasing war on drugs, twigs, rtj, skm, aphex and swans like theyre not huge critically acclaimed consensus acts