Album of the Year Write-Up #8: Aminé – Limbo - HipHop | HipHop Channel

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Album of the Year Write-Up #8: Aminé – Limbo - HipHop

Album of the Year Write-Up #8: Aminé – Limbo - HipHop

Album of the Year Write-Up #8: Aminé – Limbo

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:35 AM PST

Album of the Year Writeup # 8: Aminé – Limbo

Artist - Aminé

Album - Limbo

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Background

Adam Aminé Daniel, otherwise known as Aminé, has had one of the more interesting careers in modern hip-hop since breaking into the mainstream in 2016. Born and raised in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Portland, Aminé was one of the first real breakthrough artists to come out of Portland. This created an interesting conundrum for Aminé, because while he was able to instantly become the shining jewel of whatever small hip-hop scene there is in the city, there also just isn't that many other talented people making music in Portland, at least not on the level that Aminé is. Also worth mentioning is that with there not being much of a scene for Portland hip-hop before him, Aminé had a ton of leeway with how he wanted to take his sound. For a young rapper in Atlanta, or in the Bay Area, it can be incredibly difficult to breakthrough without playing into the sound the city already has established. That's what the city plays, that's what most of the audience in the area wants to hear, and that's what they expect of you if you want to make it big there. But in Portland? Not really the case. As an extension of that, he didn't grow up just listening to one sound - his influences come from all over the country, citing Kanye West, Andre 3000, and Odd Future in particular. This helped set Aminé up for an unlikely career trajectory, where a distinct lack of a particular sound is what has propelled him into the limelight, and since nobody like him really exists, he found a unique niche in the modern hip-hop market.

While it's unfair to completely ignore Aminé's work pre-2016, much of it does feel like a young artist trying to find his footing. While there are some moments on these projects where his potential shines through, much of it is just unpolished and at times sloppy. All of that took a turn in early 2016, when his debut single "Caroline" was released. Reaching as high as number 11 on the US Hot 100, "Caroline" stands on its own among Aminé's work as the only song to reach true commercial success, with around 6x the views of his second largest video, "REEL IT IN". It would've been easy for Aminé to end up another one-hit wonder, as this time in hip-hop had plenty of artists come and go in a flash. But with the success of "Caroline", Aminé was able to partner with Republic Records and maintain his momentum. Even if he didn't maintain the level of popularity that "Caroline" had, he managed to land a spot performing "Caroline" on Jimmy Fallon (Link) and on the 2017 XXL Freshman List. Leading up to the release of his debut album Good For You, his singles "REDMERCEDES", "Turf", "Spice Girl" and "Wedding Crashers ft. Offset" all had decent commercial success and were fairly well-received. The album itself had largely positive critical reception, with many critics citing it's upbeat feeling and infectious hooks as reasons to keep an eye on Aminé in the future.

Just over a year after Good For You's release, Aminé followed it up with OnePointFive, which I will simply refer to as a project because Aminé refers to it as an "LP/EP/Mixtape/Album" and I have no interest in typing that more than once (he called it this as a jab at artists who release an album and then call it a mixtape if it flops). Prior to its release, Aminé had dropped a single with Injury Reserve titled "Campfire", and while it didn't end up on OnePointFive, I still wanted to highlight it because it's a fantastic track. As for the project, the aforementioned "REEL IT IN" served as the only true single. With features from Gunna, Rico Nasty, and G Herbo, OnePointFive is an amalgamation of fun pop-rap tracks that manages to intertwine a surprising number of heartfelt, genuine moments, with tracks like "DR. WHOEVER" and "TOGETHER" acting as standouts amongst what can otherwise seem like a relatively shallow project.

Following OnePointFive, Aminé was uncharacteristically quiet. Since "Caroline", there had been a relatively constant stream of music coming out of his camp, and the rollout of OnePointFive suggested that it was meant to hold fans over until the next full length album. So when it had been well over a year without any indication of when more music was to come, many fans were getting impatient. So when the lead single to his second studio album, "Shimmy", finally released, Aminé acknowledged the uncharacteristic wait with the first line of the track. The following singles, "Riri" and "Compensating (feat. Young Thug)" carried the braggadocious attitude of "Shimmy" while showcasing completely different styles from track to track. This somewhat set the stage for Limbo, which feels like the most confident, matured, and varied version of Aminé yet.

Limbo represents where Aminé finds himself in life. When speaking about the meanings behind it, he gives two. One represents not knowing where to go – being stuck in limbo. He's found relative commercial success, but with a style that can be hard to push into the next level. Even outside of music, Aminé captures the essence of a quarter-life crisis – figuring out how to transition from being the kid who's broke and doesn't give a fuck because he's just having fun, and turn that into figuring out what you actually want out of life. The other meaning relates to the game of Limbo – he told HighSnobiety, "I feel like I grew up thinking that once I achieved one level, the next level would be easier to achieve. But as I've grown, I've come to realize that with every level that I achieve, every level gets harder".

Track by Track Review

--- Writer's Note: On December 4th, Aminé released the deluxe edition of Limbo, adding an additional seven tracks. In a comment, I will add additional thoughts on these songs, but with how much less time I've had to sit with them, I didn't feel as though it was fair for me to give them a proper review without spending an appropriate amount of time with them and giving them a fair listen. So they won't be included in the main portion of this review. ---

Burden

"This is like some shit you go and pick your homie up from jail with", states writer/comedian Jak Knight before a single note has been played. Before you can even stop and think "what the fuck does that even mean?", the sample kicks in. Some r/hhh listeners will pride themselves in recognizing that this is the same sample used in Wrestlemania 20 by Westside Gunn, because they don't have better shit to do than remember obscure samples from one of Westside Gunn's 14,000 tracks from the last 3 years. It originates from Darondo's "Thank You God", and the way 22-year-old British producer Mac Wetha places it amongst the rest of the instrumental gives it a ton of shine, really helping to emphasize the mood he's trying to create. It's kind of a difficult tone to actually pin down in writing, because it's not quite somber, and it even branches into anger as he reflects on race and gentrification in his city. Throughout the project, Aminé's complicated relationship with Portland is on full display, as he goes back and forth between showing love to the city that made him and attacking how its treated its diminishing black community.

He certainly sets a tone early, as the first bars of the album tell you exactly how the album is going to feel – "When your skin darker, shit gets harder; This a Black album, like Shawn Carter". This serves to connect the portion of his audience that doesn't hail from Portland to the issues he's speaking on later. "Shit is legal now, the dealers know the jig is up; When it's us, n*ggas getting' years, maybe ten and up; Soccer moms do the same, but government don't give a fuck". It's a sharp juxtaposition with the chorus, where Aminé's crooning line "Bury me before I'm a burden" plays off of the soulful background vocal loop that I'm not even going to attempt to describe. But the point is, the beat's so cold it made Aminé wanna open up. His intro's are meant to be a bridge between him and his fans, basically like a, "Hey, haven't talked to you in a while, this is where I'm at right now". And once again he nails it, and he is now officially 3/3 for knocking his intro's out of the park.

Woodlawn

If "Burden" highlights Aminé's love-hate relationship with Portland, "Woodlawn" is mostly just the love for his city. It's the closest we get on this record to the type of over-the-top, joyful youth that Aminé originally broke through with. It's dedicated to a close friend who got locked up in 2019, and he told GQ earlier this year that when he played him "Woodlawn" over the phone, "he was dancing in his cell". The bouncing 808s give Aminé plenty of room to combine his flexes with the type of humor that he's become known for over the years.

There's a Buffie the Body in every city

And sloppy toppy the hobby, so baby get in the ride

Bitch you bad as fuck, swipe the Visa

Just watch what you spend cause my mama need rent

And my neck gotta look like a freezer

I keep some Prada on my ass

I put Chanel on the bag

Shawty wanna sit on my face like a new chair

I ain't gon' show up til' you pay up and its all there

While the track serves as an ode to his city, I think it's important to note the frustration he's shown towards the gentrification going on to the already small Black community in Portland. Woodlawn was once a vibrant Black community, but that community has been rapidly pushed out. He told GQ, "Going back home doesn't feel like home anymore". There's a level of frustration that is increasingly apparent throughout the project. On the surface, it would seem like a good thing to drive through his old neighborhood and see Black Lives Matter signs in front of every house. But when you consider that they pushed out Black families to buy that house, it can all seem incredibly shallow.

Note: To any aspiring rappers, please stop using Push-to-Start as a flex, that shit came out in like 2012 and unless you're also flexing on your iPhone 5c, it doesn't really work anymore.

Kobe

When Kobe died, it was one of the first times where I just genuinely didn't believe it was real. Seeing video of the remnants of the crash and knowing Kobe was in it, I genuinely felt like "If anybody walks out of this, it's Kobe". Kobe's passing was for many people far more than just a loss of life, and it kicked Aminé's quarter-life crisis into full-gear. Kobe represented a lot of what it felt like to be that young kid who's just having fun and doesn't give a fuck, and as a fan he honestly felt invincible. "That was like seeing Superman die", he told GQ. For a lot of people in that age range that grew up on basketball and watching Kobe, the whole Mamba Mentality concept represented an entire attitude and an entire way of being, a state of mind. When he died, it was like that part of Aminé's (and my) childhood died with him, and that vulnerability and feeling of mortality kickstarted the process of figuring out how all this life shit works. Jak Knight does all the talking on this one, and he captures it perfectly – "he died and I feel like… a lot of my innocence in, like, being a young person died with Kobe. And now, like, with him being gone, I'm like let me figure out how money works".

"Woah."

Roots (feat. JID and Charlie Wilson)

On Roots, Aminé spends some time contemplating, well, his roots – his Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage. After all, this is a Black album. The song serves as a pretty straightforward metaphor, saying that his roots are what actually made him into the man he is, and they are what actually allows the flowers – his art – to grow. Without his roots, he wouldn't be able to bring his music to the world. Frequent collaborator Charlie Wilson helps him lay the hook, which basically just drives home the flower metaphor while serving as a relatively lowkey transition between verses.

Destin Route, commonly known as JID, offers a little spoken word interlude reinforcing the concept of the roots being what's actually responsible for the beauty of the flower. The following verse from JID is one of my favorites of his entire career, because while he's become known for his ability to quickly transition between intricate flows while spitting double time over whatever beat you throw in front of him, he's a much better writer than he usually gets credit for. He has a lot more in his arsenal than being able to rap fast, and this verse is packed to the brim with interesting metaphors on how Black history has allowed for modern Black culture to be as ubiquitous as it is today. It's an interesting way for JID to be able to lay a verse that can relate to Aminé's while still taking a different angle on the topic.

The instrumental from in-house producer Pasqué walks a line between being barebones and still giving the vocals enough to work off of. At times it can feel a bit quiet, but it serves the actual topic of the track well to give the vocalists the shine and to ensure the main focus of the track is on what is being said, as opposed to the instrumentation of the track.

Can't Decide

Aminé has made a lot of his young career off of talking about relationships in relatable, but interesting ways. It was kind of surprising that it took this long to have a track about Aminé's love life, and it fills its role in the album really well. The T-Minus assisted track gives Aminé a pretty comfortable pocket for two short verses, and the Luca Mauti guitar gives the track what it needs to actually be engaging and somewhat different from, well, just a song about girls over a T-Minus beat. Without that guitar this song would've felt like generic album filler, but it gives the song a lot more character.

As far as content, Aminé struggles with a budding relationship where he doesn't really know what the girl he's with wants out of it. It adds to the overall aesthetic of Limbo, where he once again finds himself unsure of where to go next. He doesn't know if there's anything more to get out of the relationship, and he finds himself stuck between two minds. While not a standout, it does add to the overall concept of the project and also serves a needed bridge between the dense "Roots" and the next track, the Young Thug-assisted "Compensating".

Compensating (feat. Young Thug)

Aminé landing a feature from Young Thug has actually been a long time coming – in the summer of 2016, he met Thug backstage at a European music festival, and Thug called him a "young legend". While it might not seem like much – a gesture that small could easily just be Thug complimenting some other artist backstage at a festival – co-signs from major artists can have quite the impact on a relatively small artist's career and, more specifically, their confidence. So it only makes sense for Thug to show up on a track where Aminé hits a much higher pitch on the main hook than most artists would ever attempt on a major single. But fuck it, Thug wouldn't be afraid to go for that note, so why should he?

T-Minus provides another instrumental here, but this one is certainly a lot more interesting, and it kind of has to be if you're going to get the most out of Young Thug. But even though he takes up a healthy chunk of the song, Aminé really steals the show on this one. The refrain Aminé offers before the main hook is honestly such a great earworm, and the entire track is catchy as hell. He told Pitchfork that "Every part of the song is like a chorus, it's all everything that should be addictive……I was like dancing in the studio with a joint in my hand, really happy". And it all comes together really, really well. T-Minus' production is just as catchy as the vocals, and Aminé and Thug are two of the best in modern hip-hop at finding little melodies that'll be stuck in your head for weeks. This song grows on me every time I hear it, and its already one of my favorites of the year.

Shimmy

The first single out of Aminé in a year and a half, "Shimmy" was a hell of a statement – 'y'all ain't forget about Aminé, right?'. And to come back with an interpolation of Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya", with an accompanying album art reproducing the cover of the classic Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, was a bold angle for sure. Had he fumbled the track, a hell of a lot of people wouldn't have been very happy with an artist who, if we're being completely honest, just isn't that respected (yet) by hip-hop-heads. It's a bold move to risk swinging and missing on putting a new take on such a classic track from a late great. ODB was already on the beat when Boi-1da played it for Aminé, and so finding a way to interpolate that while paying proper homage was important.

Fortunately, Aminé nails it. Much of the song sways between Aminé bragging about his own talents and calling out other rappers for how fake their own personas and appearances are. The interpolation of ODB's "Off on a natural charge, bon voyage" leads perfectly into Aminé's take on the hook, and he continues the homage by adding the short interlude with "Ooh, baby, I like it raw". Overall, it felt like a respectful way to pay homage and also made for a great track, and a great reminder that, hey, this dude's kinda dope. Should probably keep an eye on him.

Pressure in My Palms (feat. slowthai and Vince Staples)

Despite being far from the biggest names on the feature list, this was the song many people circled when the tracklist for Limbo was announced. It was hard to imagine how those two would fit on the same track, and with Aminé of all people. I doubt many people would've responded with "idk maybe something grimy and bass-heavy?". But it works, and it works really damn well. The first half of the track is just that, with Aminé talking his shit while still delivering funny lines all over his verse. And while a lot of people were disappointed with how short the slowthai feature is, it transitions perfectly into Vince's verse. They both float on the beat, and Vince reminds everybody that he's still a really great rapper when he wants to be, and for just a second, you might even be able to forget about that time you heard The Vince Staples Show singles.

The transition following the second hook lets Aminé go back and forth with the uncredited Bree Runway for a nice bridge as the beat becomes far more laid-back, almost tropical. The last verse from Aminé is one of my favorites on the whole project, and while I've seen it criticized for not going in a more introspective direction and playing into the overall album concept a little more, I think he flows over the second beat really, really well and it's just a really nice sounding verse. Overall, this track is a clear standout, and it really showcases Aminé's versatility as he steals the show from some insanely talented artists.

Riri

One of the more polarizing tracks on the record, Riri continues to explore the relationship Aminé talks about on "Can't Decide". He continues to feel like things are one-sided, stating that "I was callin' your mama and you was callin' my accountants". The overarching feeling of being stuck in Limbo, and having to make a call on how to move forward with life, continues, this time venturing into his love life. Pasqué delivers a solid beat, and the change-up leading into the second verse helps keep things more interesting in what could have otherwise become a stale track. While it isn't a stand-out per se, I think the track got done a little dirty and it would've been much more well-liked had it been rolled out differently. It shouldn't have been used as a single, and it just doesn't stand up to "Shimmy" or "Compensating". Had "Woodlawn" been the second single, I don't think "Riri" would have been nearly as critiqued. It's an important album cut, as it helps tie together the rest of the relationship tracks on the album and tie those into the Limbo concept. But being used as a single, and then coming right after a song like "Pressure in My Palms" (which is honestly just a more impressive track) ultimately made this song look much worse than it actually is. It's a good album cut, it just wasn't delivered like an album cut.

Easy (feat. Summer Walker)

I wanted this to be a stand-out track soooooo much. I know a lot of rap fans aren't big fans of Summer Walker, but I enjoy her music a ton and I think Aminé has way more potential to deliver great R&B style tracks than he gets credit for. But this track just lacks some level of punch to make it truly stand-out. It's not bad by any means, and I don't dislike anything about it. I think Summer Walker sounds great, and Aminé plays off of her voice really, really well. He even takes on the role of falsetto on the hook, and it plays off of her more casual vocals and a laid-back beat. It's a good song, it just doesn't feel like it lives up to the potential that's so clearly there for the song to be a stand-out, and instead its just another good album cut that feels like it fell short of what it should have been.

Mama

I saw a ton of people hating on this song when it came out, and y'all need to call your damn mother. Look, I get it. The rap song dedicated to their mom, about how she was their number-1 fan and made it where they believed in themselves, blah blah blah, its overdone, whatever. But on the other hand, no. I accept no hate towards these songs whatsoever. I love hearing these rappers open up and show love to their mom, and I'm an absolute sucker for them. And it's so important to have these songs out there and released, because it means so much to them and you never know how life can turn. Mac Miller's "I'll Be There" is proof of that – it hurts like a motherfucker to listen to now, but you know it means the absolute world to his mom that that song exists and that it meant enough to him to put it on his project. And to relate it back to Kobe - as Jak Knight said in a conversation with Aminé for Interview Magazine - "Oh, shit. God is dead. I didn't know they could kill that n*gga. That means I'm easy". So no, do not say a single foul word about this song because it's important, even if it's not important to you.

Becky

In one of the more interesting concepts on the project, Aminé reminisces on a rather unique situation from his childhood. Growing up in one of the only Black neighborhoods in Portland, Aminé finds himself conflicted on a relationship with a white girl. When he brings her around his neighborhood, he feels like he's being looked down on for being with a white girl when white families are constantly displacing Black families around his city. It's even worse when they're around her friends, where he sees them "clench their purse, lock their doors when I'm around". His family doesn't want the risk of being with a white girl and catching a case, and her family isn't even allowed to know about the relationship at all.

While this seems like such a specific issue, it's an important one to apply in a much broader way. No matter how much he tries to explain his concerns to her, she just can't understand the feelings he's going through. It serves a pretty direct metaphor for a lot of modern racial issues in America, where no matter how Aminé tries to explain what he's going through and what he's feeling, he can't really make her understand what he's going through. The only way to really understand it is to actually live through it, and his frustrations with that make him decide the relationship just isn't worth the risk at all. And really, it's about a young kid realizing what his city and his country are actually like. It awakens him to the problems with Portland, and how even though it's "so progressive" and "so liberal", it's still fucking Oregon and it can still be racist as fuck. Just because you're not chanting "Build that wall" doesn't mean you're any less racist when you're shutting down hip-hop concerts in the city just because it's attracting predominantly black kids.

Sonically, the track is pretty interesting as well. He changes up from the standard rap-sing song structure, singing the verses and rapping the hook. While the beat doesn't do a whole lot, it's meant to take a back seat to let the topic at-hand take center stage. Ultimately, though, there isn't enough going on in the track to give it much replayability. It's definitely an important song, and I don't want to diminish that or how important the topics are. He just needed to do a little more to keep listeners coming back to the song, because as it exists now it's just an album cut – an important one, but an album cut nonetheless. And when compared to some of the things he does on earlier tracks, it can feel like it falls short, and like he could've explored the issue a little more and gone more in-depth.

Fetus (feat. Injury Reserve)

Yeah, this one's tough.

This song is so….forward-looking. Hopeful. Not just positive, there's fear in there too. But ultimately, it feels like its one for the future. Aminé and Injury Reserve team up to contemplate on what kind of life they'd be providing their children, what kind of world they'd be coming into.

On June 29, 2020, Jordan Alexander Groggs of Injury Reserve passed at 32, survived by four children. This song was the first Injury Reserve music to be released after his passing. This song was always going to be a heartfelt, touching track. It's a track of trying to figure out where to go, figuring out what kind of life you could give your kids and if you're ready for everything parenthood brings. Parker Corey's production adds a moody atmosphere fit for introspection, and every rapper delivers. It's not fair to ignore Aminé's or Ritchie's efforts, because their contributions are excellent in their own right. But I don't feel qualified to talk about this song anymore than I already have. It's beautiful, its haunting, and it's perfect.

"Hope I can be half the father that my mama was".

Rest in Power Jordan Alexander Groggs

My Reality

The closing track to Limbo feels like the perfect way to book-end Aminé's first real trip into introspection across an entire project. He's certainly had moments of it, and the reception to those moments likely helped Aminé become more comfortable exploring these ideas. The track feels like Aminé finally feeling triumphant – he made it. He's found his footing and has a successful career, he overcame all the odds. It feels like an exclamation mark on what is certainly his most complete and intelligent work yet. The surprise Daniel Caesar appearance for the outro gives the track some additional punch, and it only makes sense that the last voice you hear isn't Aminé. After all, the first voice you hear isn't Aminé either. That feels like an overarching theme on this project, that while Aminé is speaking strictly from his own experience, he knows that there are people all over the world who can relate to what he's saying, and that's kind of the point. He's making music about his own experience, but it isn't just for him.

Closing Thoughts

Limbo is one of the best projects to be released this year. At times, it can feel like some of the best hip-hop to come out in quite some time, especially in the front half of the project. Really, the first eight tracks – from "Burden" to "Pressure in my Palms", are all genuinely excellent, even if they aren't always as boundary pushing as Aminé is capable of. Had the deeper cuts of the project lived up to that standard, I think Limbo would be getting far more love from year-end publications and would be considered amongst the absolute best in what has been a relatively dry year for music. Unfortunately, though, the standard he sets early on isn't carried on every track, and some of the R&B-style cuts just kind of blend together, with few standout moments to separate them.

Overall, I think the project pretty comfortably sits as Aminé's best work. The joyous, carefree nature of his early work meets the internal struggles of a young adult just trying to find himself in the world, and being completely unsure of where life will take him next. And when Aminé hits on this record, its arguably the best music he's ever made. Aminé could have very easily faded away as another one-hit wonder, fading into obscurity as so many of his contemporaries from the #BlackBoyJoy Summer of 2016 did, or like much of his 2017 XXL Freshman class did. But somehow, he keeps sticking around and honestly, I think his best work is still ahead of him. But that potential that's been on full display since he broke through with "Caroline" is starting to really come together, and Limbo is the most complete work the Portland starlet has put together, shoring up the weaknesses of his past work while amplifying the strengths.

Favorite Quotes

  • "At the barbershop I got the bald fade; That was before the chubby n*ggas had the Balmain; You know Giuseppe-ass n*ggas with the Louis shades; Type to call a girl a bitch if she don't give 'em play" – Aminé, Burden
  • "Maybe I'm the one who really need the Lord to save me; The last time I went to church was in the fuckin '80s, can you believe that? I was born in '94, can you believe that?" – Aminé, Burden
  • "Look, RIP Kobe, N*gga RIP Kobe, You was like a dad to a n*gga, so I'm sad, my n*gga, had to get you tatted on me" – Aminé, Woodlawn
  • "Yeah all I see is red, so we awake the dead; She likes my third eye, she loves my third leg" – JID, Roots
  • "I fucked up once again; And you know that I'm never too proud to beg; It's hard to admit that I made my bed; And you know I'ma always wish you the best" – Aminé, Compensating
  • "I eat a lil' cheese like a snack, baby" – Young Thug, Compensating
  • "I've been flyer than a pelican" – Young Thug, Compensating
  • "You've been givin n*ggas surgical head; You've been eatin out a young n*gga flesh" – Young Thug, Compensating
  • "You thought you made you an anthem, but you just sang you a Fergie" – Aminé, Shimmy
  • "Man, this like when Fergie peed her pants" – Aminé, Pressure in My Palms (Fergie roasts on back to back tracks!)
  • "Feel like I'm Harden, I was shootin' on Artesia with him" – Vince Staples, Pressure in My Palms
  • "I keep her bad and boujee, booty on a hundred thousand; Big-headed, barely fit her weave around it" – Vince Staples, Pressure in My Palms
  • "I know very untalented people with a lot of love in their heart who are doing great" – Jak Knight, Pressure in My Palms
  • "I'm protective cause this world got a evil will; They givin' guns with every muthafuckin' Happy Meal" – Aminé, Fetus
  • "Can't believe my baby girl's already turnin' six; Pray you nothin' like your daddy, stay away from drugs; Hope I can be half the father that my mama was" – Groggs, Fetus
  • "I think we are just so used to life not being valued that we think wasting it on kindness is a bad idea. You should be gettin' money, you should be fuckin hoes, you should drive fast cars. And then you realize that you, sometimes, you get those things….and now you're just a n*gga with those things….and it's like well, I never tried a grapefruit by itself. And now you're just a n*gga peelin', like, eatin' a grapefruit, and you're like, "This is nice….Why is this nicer than my Ferrari?"" – Jak Knight, Fetus
  • "I'm steppin' over n*ggas and I'm skippin' the practice; A.I, when it comes to the checks, I'm like "Taxes? Taxes? Taxes?" – Aminé, My Reality

Discussion Questions

  • For fans of Aminé's older work, how would you compare this project to his older ones? Do you prefer his older, more introspective style or his older, more carefree music?
  • For people that grew up watching Kobe, did his death have a similar impact on you?
  • Do you prefer the songs where he's predominantly rapping, or the R&B-style cuts?
  • Do you think Aminé's singing is good enough to warrant how much of the project it takes up?
  • Do you think he does a good job of paying homage to his influences on the album (ODB on Shimmy, Kanye on My Reality), or do they feel like toned-down versions of someone else's style?
  • What's your favorite feature? Did anybody steal the show? Did Aminé mesh well with everybody, despite having such a wildly varied feature list?
  • Was this project worth the wait? Do you think his next project will be better than Limbo, or has he already made his best work?
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Daily Discussion Thread 12/28/2020

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 03:52 PM PST

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Report: Lil Pump Banned From JetBlue AirWays for Refusing to Wear a Mask

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 04:50 PM PST

Ex-Nintendo of America President Reflects on Declining Kanye West Collab

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:02 AM PST

Kid Cudi - Sept. 16

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 04:56 AM PST

Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats - 'Cosmic'.m4a

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 01:30 PM PST

Young Thug says he has more hits than Jay-Z, immediately walks back statement

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:55 PM PST

[SHOTS HESITANTLY FIRED THEN IMMEDIATELY RETRACTED AFTER TAKING THE HINT FROM THE INTERVIEWER]

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1343703852365864961?s=19

submitted by /u/PmMeYourChromebook
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A Social Media App for Music

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:37 PM PST

I have been making this app with my friends. It's called MySound and you can share music from Spotify and Apple Music. You can open your friend's playlists in Spotify or apple music (the app converts the playlist). You can also follow people and like their playlist. Pretty cool if you wanna check it out. Also follow me on there my username is @ Dylan iOS only:

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/mysound-share-music/id1517458369

submitted by /u/dylanbaij
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Playboi Carti - Stop Breathing

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:13 PM PST

What lyrics did you hear that made you think “Wait, what did he just say?!”

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 03:22 AM PST

For example, I was listening to the new Lil Durk album and on 'The Voice' he says "and I nut in all the hoes I fuck, I blame the porn sites" I had to rewind that 4 times to make sure that's what he said. Any lyrics that made you guys feel like this?

submitted by /u/bizzys92
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Playboi Carti - On That Time

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 10:59 AM PST

Vince Staples, Teyana Taylor - Limos

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 10:31 AM PST

Yo what is The Game doing in IG?

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:55 PM PST

He's gotta be goin broke or something, I can't understand why else rappers would offer promoting random people on their Instagrams. I know Freddie Gibbs posted a video a while back telling people that shit is a scam...seems wack to me too. What do y'all think?

submitted by /u/Devo43evo
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Playboi Carti - ILoveUIHateU

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 03:05 PM PST

Big Sean - Paradise (Extended)

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 08:46 AM PST

Three 6 Mafia introducing Mark Henry at a WWE SmackDown 2006

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 12:54 AM PST

I never made the connection that Three 6 performed Mark Henry's intro song. As a former huge fan of the WWE and current Three 6 fan, this is so dope to me

https://youtu.be/ThfVvz-h-Lw

submitted by /u/ProudKingbooker
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UnoTheActivist - Pissy Pamper (Kid Cudi Remix)

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:41 AM PST

Craziest rhyme scheme you've heard?

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:23 PM PST

My favourite is JME on "Issmad" from his newest album "Grime MC".

He finishes each bar with either a number or a letter and makes it rhyme for each bar and makes the number/letter increment each line. Usually changing the number/letter every 4 bars.

Standout bars:

"My booking fee was under 1K

When I started spitting in the year 2K

Feds don't like me like the 3 Ks

'Cause I film them and upload in 4K"

...

Also:

"Man are out here tryna make one M

I need a mixdown, send it to(two) M

I go to Yiannimize for the wrap, 3M

So I drive to the cashpoint for(four) M's

See me on road in the AM

But you can't keep up in your BM

Man's a T high streeter like CM

Don't follow you so you can't DM"

The effort isn't needed to make the song a banger (imo) but the extra effort goes a mile and makes me constantly rewind to catch some new bars each time.

submitted by /u/LordNadez
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Quarantine got me so lonely im sippin 40s

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:01 AM PST

Playboi Carti to Headline Free Livestream Concert on New Year's Eve

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:13 AM PST

https://www.complex.com/music/2020/12/playboi-carti-to-headline-cyberwurld-new-years-eve-event

​

Playboi Carti will head into 2021 with a special gift for fans.

Fresh off the release his Whole Lotta Red album, the ATL rapper is gearing up to take the stage at Cyberwurld, an online New Year's Eve celebration presented by Thunder Studios. Carti will headline the virtual event, which is billed as a fusion of music, technology, and gaming. Sada Baby, $NOT, Jasiah, Popp Hunna, ilyTOMMY, Lil Eazzyy Bktherula, Sparoh, and Ken Car$on are also slated to perform.

​

Cyberwurld will be free to stream via Twitch beginning at 8 p.m. PT on Dec. 31. You can learn more about the inaugural event here.
>The concert is expected to by Carti's first live performance since dropping Whole Lotta Red on Friday. His long-awaited sophomore album featured guest appearances by Kid Cudi, Future, and Kanye West, who also executive produced the project alongside Matthew Williams.
Carti has been teasing the effort for the past couple of years, and recently called it his "best work yet."

Here's the IG post by Cyberwurld

My bad if someone already posted this, I didn't see any threads about this.

submitted by /u/leetcode4life
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Moneybagg Yo & NBA Youngboy - Contempt of Court

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 10:53 PM PST

Tried to make a movie/ documentary out of my childhood days in the late 90's era. Freestyles, Blunts, Cyphers, highschool, laughs, getting kicked out on the LA streets as teens and making the best of it.

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:17 PM PST

How is this not El-P’s best bars?

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 10:38 PM PST

Mach-Hommy - Soon Jah Due (ft. Earl Sweatshirt)

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 01:29 PM PST

Trust Gang may of had the best year in underground hiphop

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:39 AM PST

I am going to be in the minority that says this but TRUST had an amazing year, maybe the underground hiphop label, if you consider all the projects they released. And for the sake of the argument I'm including all of Ransom's projects this year. I apologize if I'm wrong to include them.

38 Spesh

  • Loyalty and Trust 2(With Flee Lord) One of the better Flee Lord releases this year, this tape brings out a good combo and they've always worked well together.

  • Trust the Chain (With Planet Asia) Solid project, Planet Asia is a terrific MC, I think the fact he's collabed with Trust so often is an overlooked fact. He's a legend in California and to collab with Upstate NY quite often is special. Also the beats on this album are crazy, 38 does his thing.

  • 6 Shots EP- What I love about these Upstate dudes is they release a lot of EPs that are quality and this 6 Shots EP is a terrific capsule of pure talent with features from Ransom & Eto. The song Flour City 2 is amongst my top 10 songs of the year, they both go crazy.

  • Interstate 38- The production value on this album and the amount of effort put into 38 is evident. This is a solid album and I think at 33 minutes, 38 delivers one of his most complete albums. His production stepped up this year and his lyricism stays on point.

Che Noir

  • Juno- Che's first album, entirely produced by 38 Spesh, this 23 min project demonstrates why she's one of the finest MCs from Buffalo. Notable songs like Queen City are fire. I'd like to see her continue to make complete songs.

  • As God Intended (Prod by Apollo Brown)- Legendary producer Apollo Brown gifts Che with a bounty of nice beats and the connection to a legendary feature with Black Thought this album is solid boom bap and it's one of my favorite projects of the year.

  • After 12- Che Noir produced this EP and showcases that like 38 Spesh, she's good on the boards and the mic. This EP also has one of the verses of the year with Sa-Roc's verse on Moment in the Sun feat RJ Payne. (seriously that verse blew me away)

Ransom

  • Director's cut Part 1-3, Deleted Scenes, and Crime Scenes- Ransom collaborated with Canadian producer Nicholas Craven and made some of the best rap projects of the year. I especially like Part 2. Ransom is easily one of the top MCs this year and I highly recommend checking out all his projects this year. They're relatively short and an easy listen.

  • Ransom's guest features. Ransom has been on a tear this year with his guest appearances. Torch Carriers, Mind over Matter Working with other talented artists seems to bring out the best in him and he doesn't waste a bar

Griselda has a terrific year and released 11 projects this year- nothing to sneeze at- but I am very impressed by Trust and the quality of their output

submitted by /u/BiggieSmallz12345
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Migos perform Handsome & Wealthy w/ a Live Orchestra (Trap Symphony)

Posted: 28 Dec 2020 06:37 AM PST
at