Rethinking old reviews, A$AP Rocky's growth and attending a Dinner Party
This week, the boys discuss their past reviews, how A$AP Rocky's re-released mixtape set the foundation for his career and a live performance for the ages.
Welcome back!
We took a little break last week to get some rest, but we’re back!
This past week on the podcast, we took a page out of Pitchfork’s book and looked back at some of our old reviews and rescored them! Like Pitchfork, we didn’t *actually* change any of our scores, but we did have a good discussion about how our opinions have changed on the 20 or so albums that we have reviewed thus far.
Find links to that episode below.
In the meantime, this week in the newsletter:
Nnamdi explains how Adele’s upcoming album made him reconsider his opinion of Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy.”
Avery wrote about Robert Glasper’s and Terrace Martin’s incredible string of Dinner Party performances, including a live show in New York City.
And Noah reflected on how LIVE.LOVE.A$AP laid the foundation for A$AP Rocky’s career.
Rescoring old reviews:
How Adele made me reconsider my review of “Certified Lover Boy”
Nnamdi, @NnamEgwuon
I was probably a tad bit too critical of Drake’s sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy. As mentioned in the intro, we spent this week’s podcast reconsidering our past album reviews. More specifically, we discussed whether or not our scores still held up. I still firmly believe that the rationale behind the 6.5/10 I gave CLB is fair. I was mad at Drake for not showing any real growth on the album. He’s comfortable in his status as rap’s reigning champ and as such, doesn’t really have much to prove. His bars didn’t sound wittier than his previous albums. His production wasn’t sharper. The tracklist wasn’t more cohesive or thematic. It was just a regular, good-ole Drake album. And as a longtime fan, that was frustrating. And that frustration was reflected in my score.
But nearly 10 weeks removed from the album’s release, I find myself reckoning with a contradictory realization: Drake's formulaic approach to rapping may feel inauthentic, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hit.
“Knife Talk” doesn’t differ much from the rap offerings on Scorpion, but it’s still one of the best collabs this year. “No Friends in the Industry” is essentially a refurbished version of 2015’s “Energy,” but it’s still arguably one of the year’s most-infectious rap tracks. The verses on “You Only Live Twice” could easily fit on one of Drake and Rick Ross’ previous collaborations, but the song’s replay value only increases with each listen. “Get Along Better” and “Pipe Down” could be Take Care deep cuts. “Fountains” was an attempt to recreate the “One Dance” effect. The B-side to “In the Bible” could’ve been Dark Lane Demo Tape’s “Chicago Freestyle.”
The point is, my score was low because we’ve heard it all before. But upon further consideration, I’ve decided my 6.5 should really be a 7. Because while unoriginal, the *music* on Certified Lover Boy is pretty solid. And considering the album’s expected to spend a fifth week atop the Billboard 200, America seems to agree with me.
Drake has mastered a formula, and I can’t fault him for exploiting that. Especially considering that the degree of scrutiny he tends to face isn’t spread evenly.
Adele has recorded the same type of ballad since bursting onto the scene with “Hometown Glory” in 2007. And no one will ever fault her for that. Why? Because she’s good at it. So good at it that she’s made a habit of scoring behemoth first-week sales (25 sold more than 3.3 million in its debut week) and breaking all-time streaming records (as she did, again, with Easy on Me). Adele created a formula, perfected it with 21, and has been riding that wave ever since. If she can get away with it, I guess Drake can too.
In an interview back in October, Adele revealed Drake was the only artist who’d listened to her upcoming album, 30, ahead of its release. I wonder if she opted to play the album for Toronto’s finest, because he, and only he, can understand the simultaneous peace and pressure that comes with releasing an album to the masses that they’ve heard before. And that’s not a dig. It’s an acknowledgment that both Adele and Aubrey have earned the right to play it safe, sell millions of records, and then do it all over again.
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Seeing Robert Glasper and Terrace Martin
Avery, @AveryDalal
If you listened to our podcast at all throughout 2020, you know that there was one album that we all pretty unanimously agreed upon as being one of our favorites.
That would be Dinner Party by Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington and 9th Wonder.
When Nnamdi and I found out these two men were performing that album, we had to go.
The surprisingly intimate performance took place at The Blue Note in NYC.
Glasper has a residency at this venue and performs songs from different groups he has been a part of on different nights.
The set started with Glasper and Martin riffing off of each other, it’s clear that their banter was well rehearsed at that point. They told stories of their career, the longest of which was about how they worked with Kendrick Lamar to get on To Pimp A Butterfly. The story was about how Martin had gotten himself replaced on TPAB by Glasper on the piano.
They then proceeded to play “How Much a Dollar Cost”, which Martin did contribute to instrumentally.
A lot of the night felt like we were eavesdropping on two friends who were just talking and playing music together. They made everything they did look so effortless and natural. They would flow in and out of conversation and performance that I wouldn’t even notice that they started playing a song.
Later in the set, they brought out BJ the Chicago Kid to perform songs off of the Dinner Party album.
I was so pleasantly surprised to hear how good of a singer BJ the Chicago Kid is! He sounded incredible.
While hearing the songs that I knew were amazing, the most entertaining parts of the performance, in my opinion, were when Glasper, Martin and the rest of the band would just riff with each other and kinda improvise in their performance.
There would be moments where one of them would get a certain tune stuck in their head and they’d start playing it while the rest of the band just filled in to fully realize that tune. It was incredible, they are some of the most talented musicians I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live.
It felt like a great jazz performance. It’s just that these jazz artists that we were watching are friends with some of the biggest names in popular music. I mean, have you seen the tracklist and feature list to Martin’s new album?
It was such a memorable show, and again, probably the most sheer talent I’ve seen on stage, just in terms of musical ability. If you get the chance to see either one of them live, I would highly recommend it. If you are in NYC and have the ability to go see one of Glasper’s shows at the Blue Note, you shouldn’t hesitate to do so.
Now on the 97 Demo Mix:
Songs from: Meg Thee Stallion, Flo Milli, Mick Jenkins and Reason
LIVE.LOVE.A$AP is just a peek into how ‘trill’ and creative A$AP Rocky could truly be
Noah, @noahamcgee
A couple of weeks ago Mac Miller’s Faces was released on streaming, and fans love it! Including myself. Last week, A$AP Rocky’s debut mixtape LIVE.LOVE.A$AP celebrated its tenth anniversary and as a present for his fans, Rocky released the album on streaming services. Although many fans, like myself, had already listened to it before.
On the podcast, I mentioned that this mixtape was probably his worst work. Which is not a shot or a diss. It’s just a testament to how much Rocky has grown and improved since releasing this mixtape a decade ago.
Going back and listening to this mixtape I notice a couple of things. Dope beats, dope flows, a “pretty motherfucker” and his love of drugs. That’s it. And I enjoyed it at the time. It was vibey, psychedelic and felt fresh at the time. But I didn’t think there was much room for improvement.
Especially since this was a guy from Harlem, New York who wanted to sound like he was from Houston, Texas. Especially on songs like “Purple Swag” and “Trilla.” He even says "I'm Texas trill, Texas trill, but in NY we spit it slow.” Throughout the project, Rocky also uses the chopped and screwed voice that gained popularity in Texas and uses production that is reminiscent of Houston rap groups like UGK and Geto Boys. Heck, he even has a song called “Houston Old Head.”
But what I didn’t know is that this first mixtape was just a blueprint into the kind of artist Rocky could become.
On his next project, he did something that I thought he couldn’t. Improve and experiment. On LONG.LIVE.A$AP Rocky still had dope beats, dope flows, and was still a “pretty motherfucker.” But, this time, he had moments where he experimented with sounds and voices that I did not think fit his style.
A song like “Fashion Killa” comes to mind. He sounds like he’s trying to sing on the hook and the beat sounds like it should be for your favorite pop star, not a rapper.
Even on “Wild For The Night” Rocky chose to tap dubstep and electronic DJ, Skrillex for the production. While it hasn’t aged well it shows he was willing to jump into a world he wasn’t familiar with. Which helped create the skeleton for his next two albums.
On AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP, those psychedelic influences that Rocky introduced on his first mixtape, blossomed on his sophomore album. Especially, on his third single, “L$D” where on the entire song he is singing about being on LSD (where it also sounds like he’s on it too). But in this case, it’s captivating and engrossing. Not boring.
Remember how I mentioned his production was reminiscent of UGK? On this album, he actually got UGK on the album on “Wavybone” which also features Juicy J, another southern rap legend. Which shows the respect he gets from southern artists.
Now while this album could sound samey and is lengthy (66 minutes) it shows that Rocky can create a cohesive, creative, experimental and psychedelic album that is also willing to take chances. Something that I felt he didn’t have the ability to pull off after his first mixtape.
But, on TESTING, Rocky’s 2018 album, it all came together and he went to another level.
He still has his signature bouncy songs where his flow is impeccable and the production flawless like on, “Distorted Records,” “A$AP Forever,” and “Praise the Lord (Da Shine).” His songs that have strong southern influences are also still there like “Tony Tone” and “Gunz N Butter,” the latter featuring Juicy J and sampling Project Pat in the production.
But on “Fuck Sleep,” “Brotha Man” and “Changes” I was more impressed with Rocky than I had ever been before. On “Fuck Sleep” electronic artist FKA Twigs was featured on the track. But unlike his collaboration with Skrillex, her inclusion on the album has aged well. “Changes” is the perfect mashup of everything Rocky has experimented and improved on in one song. His singing voice, his lyrics and his willingness to pour out his emotions in his music.
“Brotha Man” is by far, one of the most impressive songs I’ve ever heard. It is reminiscent of one of the greatest singers of all time with the best album of all time. Yes, this song reminds me of Marvin Gaye. From the subtle piano production to the use of French Montana and Frank Ocean’s voice and Rocky’s chopped and screwed voice that has become his signature. It sounds like Gaye jumped into 2018 and made a song, it was beautiful.
So while LIVE.LOVE.A$AP is not the most enticing listen, it is a sign of what came for A$AP Rocky and the creative future he had in music.
Edited by Hope Davis :)
Ep. 66: Reviews Rescored
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