JPEGMAFIA announces album "LP!" coming 10/22, reveals cover and tracklist for "ONLINE" (20 songs) and "OFFLINE" (18 songs) versions – features Tkay Maidza and DATPIFFMANIA - HipHop

There's this film podcast Blank Check that goes through directors filmographies, with a focus on directors who get a lot of early success and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever they want and sometimes they're successful, other times they flop.

They've done like a really long Spielberg one I think. Recently they did John Singleton. They're currently doing John Carpenter.

Someone asked in their subreddit what were some examples of Blank Check musicians, here's that thread

For hip hop, I feel like Lil Uzi Vert was sort of in a Blank Check position after Luv Is Rage 2. He had this impressive mixtape run and building notoriety and buzz from 2015-2016 with Luv Is Rage, Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World and The Perfect LUV Tape.

Then he's quickly catapulted to the top of the charts by Migos' "Bad and Boujee", which sort of re-asserts Migos who had kinda of faded from when they initially popped off. Their debut Yung Rich Nation spawned some successful singles long-term but overall felt like a false start.

But back to Uzi: He leverages this attention from "Bad and Boujee" into a massive hit in "Xo Tour Lif3." Which wasn't conventionally released or put forward as a single either. It came as a part of a SoundCloud EP Luv Is Rage 1.5 and wasn't added to streaming until it gained buzz on the platform.

Then Luv Is Rage 2 is long-delayed so they can milk the shit out of "Xo Tour Lif3." The release is announced the day before it drops and it spawns hits like "The Way Life Goes," which covers car commercial band Oh Wonder. A lot of not having even been released as singles. This is sort of Uzi's nature. The album is fairly conventional for a mainstream release, the songs aren't that weird. It's got features from Pharrell and The Weeknd. It's produced by proven talent like Don Cannon, WondaGurl, Metro Boomin and Uzi's longtime collaborator Malaay Raw.

Then 2 years, 6 months & 10 days, after a long ass rollout with many non-album singles ("New Patek", "Free Uzi", "That's a Rack", "Sasuke"). Eternal Atake isn't a traditional commercial rap project. There's only one feature and it's Syd from The Internet. It's mostly produced by Brandon Finessin of Working on Dying. Uzi met Oogieman and Forza of Working on Dying 7 years earlier when the producers were high school freshman. The group was inspired by Cloud Rap, particularly Raider Klan and ScaceGhostPurrp. They claim to have created an out-growth of Cloud Rap called tread, characterized by high-tempo production, which exceeds trap's 140 BPM range and is usually set around 160 to 190, icy synths, busier drum programming with distinctive 808 patterns, often implementing off-beat hi-hats in addition to trap's triplets and a fast style of lethargic rapping.

One of these weirdos were tasked with following up a double platinum record with a single that will likely go diamond by the time his next album drops. And they did, it was the 3rd highest first week of the year. It wasn't only Brandon, there was also established producers like Supah Mario ("Silly Watch", "That Way"), Wheezy ("Urgency") and TM88, who appropriately returned for the sequel to "Xo Tour Lif3", entitled "P2".

There's also production from Chief Keef ("Chrome Heart Tags"), Bugz Ronin ("Homecoming", "Bust Me", "Secure the Bag"), and some other Working on Dying members.

The record samples some pretty recent stuff, including a song from Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight (2016), Flower Boy (2017), and Sweetener (2018). As well as a cover/remix of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way."

Some last thoguhts:

It also samples a pinball game
he let fans chose the cover
There's some 3 act structure to it that Vader goes into in the writeup mentioned below
He says Balenci like 15 times on "POP"
Pitchfork gave it 8.4 BNM, NME gave it a perfect score (as they do), and it was on a lot of Album of the Year lists.

I won't go any further into the record but I think that /u/Vadermaulkylo's writeup for our AOTY series was very good. It's a weird album, he also released an entire 2nd album a week later that was a sequel to one of his mixtapes with leaks from the album and the features that people were probably expecting. Ballsy move. All of this happened during a global pandemic!!

It's interesting though, despite it's success, Uzi said in a May 2021 interview with W that he wasn't happy with the way it turned out:

Your last album, Eternal Atake, is still charting one year after its release. But you've said that you weren't happy with the way it turned out.
All of my music for Eternal Atake got leaked, so I had to redo it. It didn't reach its full potential—I just knew it wasn't the sound I was going for. Let's just say Eternal Atake, for another artist, would have been really good, because it was super dumbed down to where everyone could enjoy it, but that's not my artistry. I want my new music to be more intimate to my real fans. I wanted it to be almost cultlike.

You're known for spending hours in the studio, editing your songs over and over. Are you still working that way?
No, I'm just leaving songs how they are instead of trying to make the perfect song. I was following the other guys too much.

Whom were you following?
I was listening to all the industry guys and their formats—it was confusing me, because these guys are getting No. 1's. But I realized the music ain't even living; their No. 1's are real quick. I had to realize this is their beginning; they're younger than me, so they have room to do that. I don't have room to do that. I used to always look at all the young guys and be like, Oh, shout out this guy. I ain't shouting out nobody no more.

Some good examples from the thread are Kanye West and Prince. I would argue that similar to Eternal Atake, Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red shares many parallels with Eternal Atake. I don't think it "cleared" commercially like EA, but it did fairly well and seems to have been a grower and is already fairly influential as far as I can tell.

Another good example of a "blank check" situation was Frank Ocean with Blonde and Endless.

So I guess the questions are:

What are some examples of rap blank checks that did not clear? Like big flops from someone who got lot of advance money and creative control?
What are some great successes?
Who are the "blank check" rappers/producers/R&B singers?
What rapper would you give a blank check?

just to get ahead of it: I know a lot of ppl think i'm evil and responsible for every post that is removed bc i have different kanye takes than them but: i don't hate discussion posts. I'm not being hypocritical by posting this because you imagine I remove a lot of stuff. I have consistently advocated for grey area discussion questions to be allowed or even re-approved, even when they kinda violate the rules as written. Make discussion question posts, they're cool. If you're not sure about it just shoot a PM my way and I can get some assurance that the post won't be removed.

submitted by /u/TheRoyalGodfrey
[link] [comments]

Erick The Architect - The Colors Show

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:08 AM PDT

submitted by /u/Stockinit
[link] [comments]

[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] Maxo Kream - WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 09:00 PM PDT

It has been 24 hours since the release of Maxo Kream's follow up to Brandon Banks. What are your thoughts so far?

submitted by /u/majorg17
[link] [comments]

Daily Discussion Thread 10/18/2021

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 12:30 PM PDT

Welcome to the /r/hiphopheads daily discussion thread!

This thread is for:

objective questions with right/wrong answers (e.g. "Does anyone know what is happening with MIXTAPE?", "What is the sample in SONG?")
general hip-hop discussion
meta posts...e.g. ideas for the sub

Do not create a separate self post for these types of discussions outside of this thread - if you do, your post will be removed, as stated in the guidelines.

Weekly/Monthly Threads

Other ways to interact

There are a number of other ways to interact with other members of HHH:

HHH JQBX room (Spotify premium required)
HHH Official Instagram Account
HHH Official Twitter Account

New to /r/hiphopheads or hip-hop in general?

Check these out:

20th: CL (🇰🇷) - Alpha (featuring Baauer + more) [South Korean Rap, K-Pop, Very Cherry]

22nd:

Fetty Wap - The Butterfly Effect
Wale - Folarin 2 (featuring J. Cole, Maxo Kream, Yella Beezy, Chris Brown + more) [Pop Rap, DMV, Maybach / Warner]
BIA - For Certain Deluxe (featuring Nicki Minaj, G Herbo + more) [Latina Trap, Epic]
Majid Jordan - Wildest Dreams (featuring Khalid) [R&B, OVO / Warner]
Pouya - Blood Was Never Thick As Water (featuring Denzel Curry + more) [SoundCloud Rap, Rape Music, Independent]
HONNE - LET'S JUST SAY THE WORLD ENDED A WEEK FROM NOW, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? (featuring Khalid, Pink Sweat$, NIKI + more) [R&B, Indie Pop, Atlantic/Tatemae]
JPEGMAFIA - LP! (featuring Tkay Maidza & DATPIFFMANIA) [Abstract Hip Hop, EQT]
Conway the Machine - GOD DON'T MAKE MISTAKES (featuring Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Beanie Sigel, Anderson .Paak, T.I., Benny The Butcher, Westside Gunn, Jill Scott, Keisha Plum + more) [Boom Bap, Shady]
Felly - Young Fel 2 [Frat Rap, 300]
Bktherula - LOVE BACK (featuring MATT OX + more) [Warner]
Don Q - Double Or Nothing [NY, Trap, Highbridge]
NorthSideBenji - The Extravagant Collection [Toronto Trap, NRTHN]
Big Zuu (🇬🇧) - Navigate (featuring Jme, AJ Tracey, D Double E, Unknown T, Kojey Radical, Novelist + more) [Grime, Big Joints / eOne]
Mega Ran - Live '95 (featuring Del the Funky Homosapien, Outlawz, Mickey Factz + more) [Nerdcore, RandomBeats]
Surf - ARCHANGEL (featuring Yeat + more) [SoundCloud Rap, Feltone]
Darko the Super - I'm Tired and It's a Lot of Bologna [Nerdcore]