Album of the Year 2016 #6: YG - STILL BRAZY - HipHop |
- Album of the Year 2016 #6: YG - STILL BRAZY
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| Album of the Year 2016 #6: YG - STILL BRAZY Posted: 07 Jan 2017 04:40 PM PST Artist: YG Album: Still Brazy Listen: Album Background by /u/nd20 YG is a 26 year old rapper and fashion icon from Compton, California who first burst onto the scene with his one-night stand anthem "Toot It and Boot It" in 2009. Some called him a one hit wonder, and few realized the heights to which he'd eventually reach (even today, listening to "Toot It and Boot It" is likely to make you scratch your head and wonder how the same YG put out both that song and Still Brazy). Over the next couple years, YG remained mostly under the radar, working with Ty Dolla $ign and DJ Mustard as part of the Pu$haz Ink collective (though he did land on 2011's XXl Freshman List along with legends like Diggy and Lil Twist). He began building up a lot of buzz from 2011 to early 2013—especially within the California scene—with mixtapes like Just Re'd Up, 4Hunnid Degreez, and Just Re'd Up 2. He became pretty synonymous with DJ Mustard's hyphy-inspired 'ratchet' sound—he even came up with the (soon to be) iconic Mustardonthebeatho tag. In 2013, YG got signed by Young Jeezy to his CTE World label and released the first single off his debut album, "My Nigga". It was a smash hit that went multi-platinum, but people were still unsure if he had staying power or the ability to put out an entire solid album. My Krazy Life destroyed any reservations people had. An album that talked about gangbanging, fucking bitches, robbing people, and partying—an unfiltered Compton slice of life—My Krazy Life was hailed by some as the 'bad kid' version of Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city. To compare their stories to the classic movie Boyz n the Hood, if Kendrick was Tre, then YG is Doughboy—and unapologetic about it. DJ Mustard produced 8 of the 12 songs on the album, making the album feel like it was a YG & Mustard album the same way a lot of people consider Doggystyle a Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre album. Pitchfork said the two had a "symbiotic producer-rapper bond the likes of which has scarcely been seen on a mainstream field of play since Drake and [40]". On the album, we saw Mustard and YG both take their crafts to a higher level than ever before, with YG stepping up his raps from his mixtape days (not to mention being able to put together a thematically cohesive album) and Mustard making some of his best and most diverse (for his standard) sounding beats of his career. DJ Mustard had been known for making pretty formulaic beats—very danceable and extremely radio friendly to be sure—but formulaic nonetheless. For many people, including me, on this album DJ Mustard's minimalistic production was perfected by flavoring it with a tinge of 90s west coast g-funk. Under the trademark danceable ratchet DJ Mustard beats, the entire project had hints of Tha Dogg Pound and Snoop and Battlecat, giving it this sound that was throwback and modern at the same time. Instead of his production feeling overly samey, it made the album feel cohesive. The lead up to YG's sophomore album Still Brazy—and therefore the album itself—was defined by two major events: YG's falling out with DJ Mustard in late 2014/early 2015, and him being shot in June 2015. At the beginning of 2015, we all found out that everything wasn't good in their clique due to Mustard calling out YG on social media for allegedly not paying him. The two went back and forth a few times and even threatened to pull up on each other in real life. Later, on June 12th 2015, an unknown gunman got into YG's LA recording studio and shot him—leaving three bullet wounds and causing YG to go to the hospital. YG talks about the incident as being "some inside type, somebody-was-really-coming-to-get-me type shit...It was like niggas knew where we was at". We didn't find out this bit of info until after Still Brazy released, but the shooting had YG so paranoid that he even suspected his old friend and partner DJ Mustard of setting him up. Eventually YG and Mustard would make up, but YG's sophomore album had already found its sound—a decidedly Mustardless one. Album Review by /u/nd20 Still Brazy's sound is defined by DJ Mustard's absence almost as much as My Krazy Life (MKL) was by his presence. Still Brazy is the perfect followup to MKL, feeling like both the perfect evolution of it and the perfect contrast to it. The 90s west coast undertones of MKL make way for straight up (modernized) g-funk production on Still Brazy. With this album, it's not so much hints as it is a full blown ode to the classic production of DJ Quik, Suga Free, Westside Connection, early Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Producers like newcomer DJ Swish and Terrace Martin (who, combined, produce 7 out of the 13 songs on the album) take the warm, bass and synth heavy 90s LA gangster rap sound and modernize it perfectly. It is too easy to draw parallels to fellow Compton emcee Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, and cheapens the uniqueness of Still Brazy to do so. Both albums can be discussed as being part of the same wave of California rap revivalism—but while Lamar dabbled with the jazz and p-funk music of his parents' generation, YG unabashedly revels in the g-funk of the 90s. As Terrace Martin (who was heavily involved in the making of both albums) says, with YG, it "can't be jazz funk [like TPAB]—it's gotta be funky for him". The entire album is filled with dirty basslines and warbling synths that are equally likely to get you mean mugging or slap at a party. This new production style adopted by YG is the natural evolution of what we heard on MKL, and it makes this album just as sonically cohesive as his first. The album really feels like a classic 90s west coast gangster rap album, and little things like female RnB singer background vocals on "Who Shot Me" and "Gimme Got Shot" add to that throwback feel. A couple skits (including one of his father at the beginning, a mirror of the opening of MKL) move along the narrative of the album without feeling overburdened with narration like MKL did at times. We also get a little bit of a more hyphy-influenced sound, more like Mustard's production on the first album, on a couple tracks like Word is Bond and Why You Always Hatin (the former is produced by P-Lo of the Bay Area's own HBK Gang, and the latter features Bay Area emcee Kamaiyah). The plodding keys and incessant 'hey!' chants on these two tracks serve as a way to marry the styles of MKL and Still Brazy, and prevent the album from feeling too stuck in the past. YG's raps feel more meaty and substantive than the previous album as well. It's not intricate and overly complex lyricism, fitting into the west coast tradition of straight forward rapping. Whereas some people found that his rapping took a backseat to the production on the last album, on this project, the raps take equal billing with the beats. This is in part due to the change in subject matter. Similar ground is covered—a gangster rap album wouldn't feel right without trademark tropes—but on the whole, YG's raps become less focused on partying and more paranoid and political. He has deal with the downsides of the fact that he's richer and more famous than when MKL dropped: hood politics, handout-seekers, seeing police brutality, and most prominently—being shot by an unknown gunman in 2015. YG has the audacity to start the album with a posse cut, but it works. "Don't Come to LA" has a cold, menacing beat which fits perfectly with YG, AD, and Bricc Baby's rhymes about how everyone wants to come to Compton and act like they're down with the set and real gangbangers. All the featured artists come through with great verses, especially considering the fact that the majority of listeners wouldn't know them. AD in particular kills it with his aggressive and in-your-face verse, ending it by bluntly stating "Ain't no more passes on the set/All you niggas out here fucking up the west!". "Who Shot Me" is a clear standout and it has a great old-school storytelling vibe. YG details the night he was shot, and the feelings of paranoia and dark thoughts it caused him to have. "They knew the code to my gate, that was awkward," he raps. The slower paced beat really lends itself to his storytelling, and his rapping stands out in a way that it didn't at times on the last album. "Twist My Fingaz" is possibly the best track on the album, where YG addresses his shooting again, but this time using the incident to boast and self-mythologize, over an incredibly funky Terrace Martin beat that sounds like it could have been on an old DJ Quik album. "Gimme Got Shot" is another track that feels like an old-school storytelling song. YG addresses all the people that keep coming to him to ask for money now that he's made it, personifying them all as a dude named 'Gimme'. The first verse in particular has a dope flow and quotable lines, like when YG imitates Gimme's voice: "Niggas be like 'Give me a handout' / YG be like 'Why your grown ass hand out?' / 'Uhhh, fucked up my money, uhhh, shit got ugly uh baby mama was on me, damn man, we real homies?'". Another standout track is "I Got a Question", which we first heard in a teaser for the album. It has one of the dirtiest beats on the album hands-down, and YG flows impeccably flows on it, speeding up to double-time then slowing down (as he similarly does on later tracks like "Bool, Balm, and Bollective"), talking about the stress he faces—from his girl, from the cops. Lil Wayne also comes through with a top notch feature verse, the type that really grows on you the more you listen to it. "Got seventeen answers if you test me nigga / Got a question, where the fuck your weapon nigga" is peak gangster Wayne. "Still Brazy" is also one of the best tracks on the album, in which YG rhymes about his paranoia and the way he has to protect himself over a fast-paced and frenetic beat (produced by DJ Swish and Ty Dolla $ign). His delivery on this joint is great and matches the frantic feeling of the beat and the subject matter. "Paranoia (gasp) / paranoia (gasp) / Paranoia down in killer California / What's their motive? / What's their motive? / Shit! I'm the closest with some money that they know of". The final three tracks take a more political bent. YG is more of a fan of the Malcolm X school of political protest than Martin Luther King though. It's very much so a modern west coast version of certain Public Enemy songs like "Fight the Power" and "911 is a Joke". "FDT" is an in-your-face, disrespectful anthem, with both YG and Nipsey Hussle showcasing a hood dude's viewpoint—it's not discussing pros and cons of a certain policy, it's "FUCK YOU". On "Blacks & Browns", YG weighs (the conservative talking point of) black on black crime against discrimination and racism, and ponders how black people can help each other succeed. "Blacks & Browns" is dope because it shows a perspective often missing in hiphop, with Mexican-American rapper Sad Boy dropping a great feature verse. The final track, "Police Get Away With Murder", rounds out the political set of songs with YG talking about police brutality and addressing an imaginary judge over a Hit-Boy beat which is one of the most unique on the album. Favorite Lyrics by /u/nd20
Discussion Questions
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| Rappers to Watch From Every State in 2017 #6 - ID, ME, OK, HI, NC Posted: 07 Jan 2017 11:41 AM PST Straight up told y'all Clemson is winning the natty don't @ me. Also, still looking for artists for this list from Delaware, Kansas, New Mexico and Vermont. Let me know if y'all got some recommendations.
Who: ylti Songs to Check Out:
Yoooo holy shit I did not see this coming. Ylti is nice coming out of Idaho. One of the few people in this list who doesn't seem to heavily rep his city (see "Crack"), or is at least salty at the lack of competition and hip hop scene in the area, but the surprises don't stop there. Dude also made his own light-up shoes, which actually should probably be a little less surprising, but hey, man of many talents. Ylti raps with a lazy flow over bass-heavy beats and my god does it work together. The production on his music is excellent, with just some work on mixing needing to be done to improve the song. Honestly the dude's sound is all there, he's just got to continue to work on his lyricism and consistency – occasionally he'll seem to lose the flow in the song which is seen more in "No End" and then pick it up later. You'll have plenty of work from him in the year to see how he grows since he promises minimum of 35 songs and 5 mixtapes in 2017. He references Lil Wayne a lot in his music and his goal is for 2017 to be the year he does a feature for the man so expect him to be bringing his best. Overall I was way pleasantly surprised with homeboy and am definitely looking forward to what he has coming. You can say you get a G-Eazy vibe from the dude or whatever but realistically he's another artist who has his own sound without a close mainstream comparison (to my knowledge). He works a lot with the artist Gino Driggs, also from Idaho. It's worth checking him out too, they work great together and he has a style pretty similar to ylti. [edit: Just talked to ylti, funny enough Gino is his real life brother, shit is really cool seeing them work so much and so well together.] Both of them seem to have big plans for 2017 – I'm not gonna say they're gonna take the world by storm tomorrow or nothing, but they definitely deserve the artist to watch in 2017 title from Idaho. Son is nice. Who: Spose Songs to Check Out:
For y'all to truly understand how I feel writing this, just read all of this in the voice of someone who is eternally sighing. I'm not sure what you'd define Spose, but if you hate Lil Dicky (I do), or hate Hopsin (I do), you'll probably hate this guy. That being said, he's easily the biggest name coming out of Maine right now and is honest to god improving, as well as growing his fan base, so he's the rapper to watch from the state. Before I continue with this write-up I want to make it clear that I'm not using corny as an insult here. I don't know which other word to substitute but I'm essentially using it to mean "clever lines that are meant to be funny and relatively immature". If you like the comedy rap type stuff like this, that's perfectly cool with me and I'm not hating on the man in the write-up. He's doing great at what he does. To expand on Spose improving, I think he's come into the fact that he's going to make corny lines pretty naturally and it's what his fanbase loves, so he isn't emphasizing the lines as much and is letting them just flow. For those of us who don't like those kinds of lines, they don't stick out as much, which as whole improves his song since the flow is more consistent over the songs. His project Why Am I So Happy?, while still having its fair share of the joke songs, had made a lot of strides since his big hit "I'm Awesome". And all of his music isn't just comedy stuff, he has his more serious songs like "They Tell Us". The production on his music is excellent and his delivery is generally pretty solid. It's really just the content of his music that gets the flak but I don't have much of anything to complain about in his composition. There isn't a ton else to add to the write-up since Spose is a pretty well known entity at this point. It's been a while since he's dropped a project but I'm sure once he does one of the songs will find it's way to /r/videos and everyone there will praise it as real rap and the dude will blow up in a major way akin to every youtube rapper. I respect the man, he knows his lane and he sticks to it and kills it. So keep doing you Spose, you're doing well and I respect the hustle. Who: Josh Sallee Songs to Check Out:
Fans of K.A.A.N. are going to feel pretty good about Josh Sallee, especially since he has worked with K.A.A.N. multiple times in the past. I was debating whether or not to go with Jabee for OKC, but Josh Sallee being on KD's song pretty much solidified his choice. Even if he is a little bitch and abandoned his city. You know, maybe I shouldn't have chosen Sallee, but the man was pretty instrumental in building the current rap scene in OKC, so I'll let it slide. Sallee is another artist whose bread and butter is rapping outrageously quickly and continuously. He may appeal more to the commercial side of music, however, slowing down for music and having solid hooks more often than his MD counterpart. Take "The Worst" for example, he shows his ability to slow down a little bit, and then continues to delve into faster and more aggressive rapping to convey his frustration as the song continues on. "The Remedy" is an even better example of his ability to slow down, not really picking up the speed until the second third of the song. His music is a great compromise for the people who appreciated K.A.A.N.'s ability but would like something slightly less taxing in terms of focus to listen to. He's definitely trying out a lot of new sounds, taking the parts of commercially popular music and implementing it in his music in ways that make sense. He's not a dude who's out there trying to emulate anyone just in hopes of catching fire, he seems to be genuinely trying to grow himself as an artist. Josh is one of those guys who seems to really be a big deal in his city's scene. Most people assumed that Josh was going to be the guy for OKC, and it makes sense considering his impact on the scene. His fast rapping is what seems to be his most popular music, but him experimenting with other sounds has been done really well, and I'd expect him to grow in a more accessible way as other audiences begin to find him. Hush Hush was a great project for him and I expect him to continue his consistent streak to produce some great music. Who: Tassho Pearce Songs to Check Out: Coming back into the game recently with his drop of G.O.O.D. Company about 2 years later than expected, Tassho Pearce is making sure people know he's not ready to quit just yet. Naming his last album after his time spent in Hawaii with some members of G.O.O.D. Music – probably a good connection for the Cudi verse since the song was made right around the time Cudi left G.O.O.D. – Tassho has been fortunate enough to work with some of the biggest names in hip hop. With simpler lyrics over pretty cool production, Tassho is accessible and follows an easy formula that makes sense as to why he's the first artist to make moves from the islands. You won't be blown away positively from his lyrics, but he exudes enough confidence and swagger than it can be ignored a lot of times. Production and hooks are definitely the stronger parts of Tassho's music, and he'll need to continue to work on his writing before he can carry a song like "Satellites" where he's working with a very well known entity. Otherwise, his music is a look into his life growing up in Hawaii, and he's proud of the culture he grew up in. I'll be honest with you guys, I'm not huge on Tassho, and I attribute that to the fact that I can't get past the man's lyrics and how he'll casually cram too many syllables into a verse sometimes. If you can look past the lyrics, the dude's production is great and the overall sound is pretty solid too. Since he did miss his release target by almost 2 years, Tassho has sort of fallen out of the spotlight. However, he opened up his album with a shoutout from Kanye, and if he can reconnect with all the people he networked with back in the day, I think Tassho can make himself a more familiar name in the states. Who: Deniro Farrar Songs to Check Out: Out of the Queen City is Deniro Farrar, an undeniably honest, conscious rapper. He won't deny his past and he won't hide from rapping about current social issues around the country, especially in his newest Black Panther inspired project Red Book, Vol. 1. He's been able to collaborate with the likes of Flosstradamus and Denzel Curry and is continuing to grow, signing a record deal with VICE and Warner Bros back in 2013. The leader of #CultRap is continuing to grow and gain a bigger following, and his connections with growing artist Denzel Curry bodes well for his future. Deniro has a deep, raspy voice and a sound reminiscent of Freddie Gibbs in a way. Rapping over chill but hard hitting production, his newer rap is much more about political and social injustice and about Farrar's new life, coming from a change he made in his own life – Farrar recently cut off smoking and starting eating healthy and working out, which he lends to his new sound pretty heavily. Another major role in this change is the death of his friend and other Charlotte rapper Donkey Cartel two years ago at the hands of an off duty officer, as well as the rise in deaths of unarmed black men from police. Deniro envisions a future where there is a society of equality but has no delusions that it will be easy to achieve, and his frustrations with these grievances that arrive in society is present in his music. As Deniro continues to rap about "liberating the minds of the people so that we can come together as one and rise up against the crooked government, all evil, and oppression" – I'm sure he won't run out of material any time soon given the new political environment – look forward to seeing the development of his style further as he continues to polish things up and reach out to bigger resources. His current quality is excellent with goes without saying considering his popularity and resume; be ready for 2017 to be an even bigger year for him. Still looking for artists from KS, DE, NM, and VT. If you guys have any recommendations, let me know. I also have the schedule for the rest of the series finally planned out so if you guys want to know when a certain state will be posted, message me. Have a good weekend fam. [link] [comments]  |
| Childish Gambino - A**Shots (STN MTN) Posted: 07 Jan 2017 02:54 PM PST |
| [Fresh] ETHEREAL - How'd It Happen? (feat. Lil Yachty & Lord Narf) Posted: 07 Jan 2017 09:42 AM PST |
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| ScHoolboy Q Performs Yay Yay Live (Feat. a Dancing Mac Miller) Posted: 07 Jan 2017 05:23 AM PST |
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