2020 - HipHop

Daily Discussion Thread 01/27/2020
Album of the Year #21 - 7 EP (Lil Nas X)
The Game - Ali Bomaye (feat. 2 Chainz & Rick Ross)
Nas, DMX, The Lox and Gang Starr announce April 2020 'Gods of Rap II' UK tour
2 Chainz announces "No Face, No Case" project with Skooly, Sleepy Rose, Worl, and HOTTLOCKEDN. Dropping February 7th.
Osheaga 2020 Lineup Announced - including Kendrick Lamar headlining, Brockhampton, PartyNextDoor, Earthgang, Lil Tjay, slowthai & more
[FRESH] Young Nudy - No Go
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Isaiah Rashad - The Race Freestyle
Rolling Loud Miami 2020 Lineup Announced, May 8-10
Kobe Bryant - L.O.S.E.R (Shaq Diss)
The Alchemist & Boldy James announce tracklist for "The Price Of Tea In China" LP
The Game NME Interview: “Me and 50 Cent should have died in that beef” – The Game claims that his latest album, ‘Born 2 Rap’, will be his last, but says the one thing that would bring him out of retirement, his verdict on Wiley Vs. Stormzy, SoundCloud rap and why he sympathises with 6ix9ine
PLAYBOI CARTI - NO LIE
Jedi Mind Tricks- I Against I
Juicy J - Who Da Neighbors (Prod. Lex Luger)
Nipsey Hustle ft. Puff Daddy - Young Nigga
The Coup - "The Guillotine"
Dreamville - Rembrandt..Run it back feat JID, J. Cole and Vince Staples
50 Cent - U Not Like Me
SJ (OFB) Sentenced to 21 years for Murder
Da$H - "Parachute Escape / Counseling" (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
Talib Kweli - Guerrilla Monsoon Rap (ft. Black Thought, Pharoah Monche & Kanye West)

Daily Discussion Thread 01/27/2020

Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:07 AM PST

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Album of the Year #21 - 7 EP (Lil Nas X)

Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:51 AM PST

Streaming Links

Apple Music

Spotify

Tidal

Background

Montero Lamar Hill was born in 1999 in a small town just outside Atlanta. His parents divorced when he was 6, and he spent 3 years living with his mother and grandmother inside Atlanta before moving in with his father instead, north of the city. He later reflected back on the move, saying "There's so much shit going on in Atlanta—if I would have stayed there, I would have fallen in with the wrong crowd".

So instead of running in the wrong crowds, he turned to social media, reportedly running a fairly large Nicki Minaj fan account on twitter (@NasMaraj), eventually being banned from Twitter due to "violating spam policies". Montero later called the reports a "misunderstanding". He'd always wanted to something creative, so he spent his time on Twitter making memes and jokes in hopes of gaining a substantial following so he'd have a platform to promote himself someday.

His first major encounter with music was playing the trumpet in fourth grade, and even made junior chair by junior high, but gave it up due to not wanting to look "lame", a decision he says he regrets. Later on, during his time cultivating a following on social media, he decided to make a song on a whim, choosing the name Lil Nas X as a tribute to famous rapper Nas. "Shame" went up on SoundCloud, and as the song gained a small following over the summer, he decided to quit school to make music, and started to put out more songs, while crashed at his sister's house, living off of money he'd saved from various odd jobs.

His success was definitely not instant. He posted a few songs over the next few weeks, to not much fanfare. "I could post a funny tweet and it would get 2,000 retweets, then I'd post a song and it would hit, like, 10." Until one night nearing halloween, while browsing beats on YouTube, he discovered a beat from a producer in the Netherlands called YoungKio, built from a sample from a Nine Inch Nails song. He says he pictured a "loner cowboy runaway" listening to it, resonating with him personally, as it reminded him of his own situation.

He paid $30 to lease the beat, then spent all of November writing the lyrics, choosing the name "Old Town Road" due to it sounding like a real country place, and the goal of the song from the beginning was to go viral. He posted a snippet on Twitter in December, with the full song two weeks later, and also began retweeting memes from his friends and followers, building hype behind the song. By March, the song had charted off of social media clout alone, with Hill finally signing his first record deal with Columbia.

Review

So before I get into the song by song review, I'd like to explain my parameters. I'm using a X/10 format, but that's only within the limits of this album. What this means is that there will be at least one 10/10 as that will be the best song off of the album, and all other songs will be rated by that scale. So the 10/10 song(s) doesn't necessarily mean I think it's a perfect song, and a lower rating doesn't necessarily mean that the song is bad.

Old Town Road [Remix] (Feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) - 9/10

The most famous song on the album by far. Infectious, catchy, melodic. The song will burrow its way into your head and stay there for weeks, with a memorable hook, great beat, and the endlessly quotable verses.

The song itself is a metaphor for Lil Nas X's life at the time of making the original, with taking his horse to the old town road, and riding till he can't no more being a metaphor for him not wanting to go back to working, and instead choosing to march on forward with his life. To quote his own explanation, "I'm at this point where I could keep going, and it's limitless at this point."

Billy Ray Cyrus' feature cemented the song's place in the country charts, after the original song was removed for being closer to hip hop. His verse is almost the inverse of Montero's, having reached all the stardom and fame, and wanting to go back home. "Old Town Road" actually has more meaning to Billy Ray than it may for Hill, because earlier in his career, when he would perform in Kentucky, in a town called Argellite, and just outside it, there was a bridge called "Old Town', the road leading up to which was called "Old Town Road", which was revealed in a tweet made after the song hit #1.

Panini - 10/10

Definitively my favourite song on the album. The beat is almost old school techno, which works amazingly with the flow of the verses, and complement's Lil Nas' voice really well. The desperation towards the end is characterised really well, and the song has definitely stuck with me most out of the album, which considering the album contains the longest running Billboard #1 of all time is quite a feat.

The song is a reference to a character from the cartoon Chowder. The song is about the fans that are possessive of you when you're small, but stop riding as hard for you when you make it big. The song is part anger, part "i-want-you-back", and he catches that feeling really well, especially in the third verse, where he claims he'd rather have " a big Benz, not another fan", then right after saying he still wants them as a fan, trying to reason with them and see why it is they don't love him anymore.

F9mily [You & Me] - 8/10

The best way to describe this song to someone without playing it to them is to tell them it sounds like the theme song for a mid-2000s kid's sitcom on Nickelodeon. The song, as titled, is about family, about two people needing to fix their relationship, drawing perhaps from his experience with having his parents divorce at a young age. The song has a rock vibe to it that works surprisingly to its favour, and gives it said mid-2000 Nick sitcom vibes.

The song likely gets its name due to Lil Nas X and Travis Barker (the producer) not being able to agree on the name, with Lil Nas X calling it "9" before release, and Travis calling it "FAMILY".

Kick It - 7/10

Kick It is told from the perspective of a leech/fake friend, where they see Lil Nas X's success, and try to be a part of his life, be it by selling him weed or just by hanging out with him. Later in the song, this turns into anger, and blaming Lil Nas X, telling him he's talentless, and is only going to end up being a one hit wonder, most likely out of jealousy. The beat has kind of a haunted/space-y vibe to it, and matches the shallowness of the person being portrayed quite well. Unfortunately, while the song is strong thematically, it's a little too short to really deliver the message it's trying to send across, but otherwise sounds great and continues the trend of blending hip-hop with other genres all across this EP.

Rodeo - 5/10

In the vein of OTR, Rodeo is a trap-country fusion, but featuring a fellow rapper rather than a country artist, in Cardi B. The song is about him trying to stay with his partner while also dealing with fame and its consequences. The song has all the right pieces, but fails to stick the landing for me.

The beat is great, but the lyrics are severely lacking. Bar Cardi's verse, the entire song repeats the same 4 lines from the first verse 3 times, on top of a repeated pre-chorus and chorus, and Cardi's verse isn't great, and yet still the best part of the song lyrically. If the song was stronger lyrically, it would definitely be sitting up there with Panini/OTR Remix for me, but alas.

Bring U Down - 7/10

Almost like a fusion of the themes of Kick it and the musical style of F9mily, this song is a rock/trap fusion, about another ill-wisher for Nas. This particular song is about people that want (as the name implies) to bring you down after seeing you on the rise. The song is from this person's perspective, and portrays them as plotting, vindictive and saying that they have nothing to lose.

Unfortunately, like Rodeo, this song comes up a little short lyrically, and would have gone really well with another verse.

C7osure (You Like) - 8/10

A song that can be looked at two ways, in one, about growing and progressing in both his career and his life, becoming the artist and person he knows he can be, and two, which is likely the more intended way of being looked at, as his coming out song. The song makes various references about being set free, and mentions "news I behold unfolding".

He later stated on Twitter "deadass thought I made it obvious" after a lot of people missed the subtle hints in the song and pride flag hidden in the album art.

Old Town Road - 8/10

It may seem strange having two versions of the same song book-end an EP, but I think it exists on the EP to serve as a reminder of where Lil Nas X started, and another statement of him just having started, and him still riding till he can't no more, almost as a look to the future. This version of the song is a lot more raw and unfinished than the Billy Ray Cyrus remix, and is almost poetic in how it finishes the album.

Final Verdict - 8/10

On the whole, almost all the songs on this EP would really benefit from another 30-60 seconds of run time, perhaps a byproduct of Lil Nas X being an artist to make his rise on social media and memes, where grabbing attention for too long becomes harder and harder. However, it cannot be denied that he has serious talent when it comes to writing, and fusing together genres so seemlessly, and bringing back sounds not in the mainstream anymore using trap, which is prevalent in its influence all across mainstream msuic nowadays.

Favourite Lyrics:

From Panini:

It's a dream, he
wished it on a genie
I got fans finally,
ain't you wanting them to see me?

From Old Town Road:

Ridin' on a horse, ha
You can whip your Porsche
I been in the valley
You ain't been up off that porch, now

From Rodeo:

If I took you everywhere, then
Well, you wouldn't know how to walk
If I spoke on your behalf, then
Well, you wouldn't know how to talk

Talking Points:

Does Lil Nas X have the staying power to become even more of a household name?
Will he ever make a hit as big as Old Town Road again?
Does the genre fusion all across this EP work for you?
Where does Lil Nas X go from here?
Is Lil Nas X the sign of the next evolution of the soundcloud rapper, making his rise through memes and twitter jokes rather than just gaining a huge following directly through his music?