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Album of the Year 2016 #9: Babyfather - "BBF" Hosted By DJ Escrow - HipHop

Album of the Year 2016 #9: Babyfather - "BBF" Hosted By DJ Escrow - HipHop

Album of the Year 2016 #9: Babyfather - "BBF" Hosted By DJ Escrow

Posted: 10 Jan 2017 11:34 AM PST

Hello and welcome to another day of Album of the Year 2016. Today on the series I'm going to be talking about Babyfather's criminally underrated debut, "BBF" Hosted by DJ Escrow.

Artist: Babyfather

Album: "BBF" Hosted by DJ Escrow

Listen:

Bandcamp

YouTube

Spotify

Background by /u/ReconEG

Babyfather is a UK rap group consisting of Dean Blunt, DJ Escrow, and Gassman D, with Blunt serving as the ringleader of the group. Before starting Babyfather, Blunt was a member of Hype Williams, an electronic music duo made up of him and Inga Copeland. The two parted ways sometime in 2013, each going onto their solo projects, with Blunt diving deeper into his after releasing a few solo records in 2012 and 2013, most notably The Narcissist II and The Redeemer (which I've talked about extensively on /r/indieheads and on the Indieheads Podcast) In 2014, Blunt's interest started to dip into black music and race in general. This interest led to Black Metal, for which he explained the concept of during an interview with Rinse FM:

Black Metal basically is like… imagine like an essay and the heading or the thesis or the title is Appropriate Yeezus: Appropriation, Re-appropriation and the Empowerment of the Post-Black Male. And it's the idea of how in America the black man uses existing white images and claims them as his as a form of empowerment… so black Cobain and black this and black that which is actually not really that progressive. So it's this American idea of racial progression [which] is completely backward because you're just appropriating something and kind of calling it your own [and] that's something that's already completely died.

I think anything like that… anyone like that… that whole movement and I think that whole idea of like this progressive and new black but really you are just taking something that's been discarded and claimed it back and saying this "I'm black Cobain yeah we reappropriating." You're actually just picking something old up, the real progression is something that is undefined and is new and that's what Black Metal is.

This would lead into his newest project, Babyfather, for which he released their debut self-titled tape in 2015 via Hyperdub. Later that year he self released a mix entitled UK2UK, then early on in 2016 released another mixtape under the Babyfather name, Platinum Tears. This all led into their debut record, "BBF" by DJ Escrow, a polarizing record that was hit with criticism by The Needle Drop and Pitchfork, but heaped with praise by publications like Tiny Mix Tapes and Resident Advisor, both of whom had Babyfather top their album of the year lists. They also dropped the 419 mixtape in November.

Review by /u/ReconEG

PREAMBLE

There is no one way you can approach "BBF" Hosted by DJ Escrow. It is a multi-purpose record that covers a lot of ground despite it's seemingly simplistic nature. It's a response to the rise in nationalism in the UK, specifically that of the right wing nature. It's a story about a DJ and his attempts to move his way up in the rap world. It's the tales of a badman who isn't quite who he says he is. It's a look at the recent re-popularization of grime. One thing is very clear: this is a very British record. This is known right off the bat with the album's intro, "Stealth Intro", which is, and I don't kid, five minutes of Craig David saying "this makes me proud to be British" on loop with lush guitar plucking until they're interrupted by sirens and DJ Escrow's pitched up voice as starts ranting about sirens before transitioning into "Greezebloc."

Before I continue, I'm going to be splitting this review up into a few parts because of the multitude of ways to approach this record. I think the most relevant way right now is the album's slightly satirical look at nationalism, as with the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit decision, it's interesting to look through Dean Blunt's perspective of his country, as he carries the dual identity of being a British man, and the son of Nigerian immigrants in a time where one of those identities is being attacked.

PART 1: "THIS MAKES ME PROUD TO BE BRITISH"

Across the world, right wing nationalist movements have been taking off. While some have been stumped like in Austria, it's taken over some of the biggest powers in the world like the United States and the United Kingdom. These movements taking off like they have should not be surprising. As an older generation begins to die off and a newer generation begins to fill in the gaps, the older generation isn't quite ready to relieve that power just yet. Just as we think serious progressive movements are beginning to take over, those on the opposite end of the spectrum play one last power move that could end the game altogether.

This is, as Thom Yorke of Radiohead says, "the last desperate fart of a dying corpse." While Yorke was describing Spotify, I think this quote could also accurately describe this recent right wing nationalist movement. But anyways, how does this relate to "BBF"? It doesn't. Not directly at least. There's no rants about Nigel Farage or the value of the Euro. The closest we get is DJ Escrow saying "Free all of my niggas locked down. Fuck Trident, yeah. Fuck MI5. Fuck MI6, yeah. Obviously you can't hear this but fuck you innit."

As I said in the preamble, "BBF" serves as Dean Blunt's perspective of the UK right now and its rap scene. But much like his previous solo albums, it's also about Dean Blunt himself. His blunt (no pun intended) and simple rap style goes to show how powerful of a writer he is. Blunt makes the most of the least and is able to perfectly capture a mood in a few words and the music that surrounds it. The mood here is very foggy, with Blunt giving us occasional breaks through the smoke, realizing where he is and who he is, realizing he can't keep up his badman persona forever.

Anyways, nationalism is a terrible and ignorant movement and this album takes a couple of digs at it, mostly through the recurring vocal sample of Craig David saying "this makes me proud to be British." Also, while Dean Blunt was the draw for most people coming into this album, the real star of the show isn't him, it's DJ Escrow.

PART 2: "LET ME JUST PLAY THAT FUCKING TUNE"

"You hear the sirens, yeah? The sirens is a real ting. Man hear the sirens every fucking night. Man's tryna do my ting, and I hear the fucking sirens."

These are the first words we hear of DJ Escrow on this album. Throughout the album, we learn of his character more and more and realize he's a somewhat of a sad figure. While Blunt has his whole badman persona mostly figured out, DJ Escrow is still trying to figure out his way from being real to being real. We hear his fast-talking diatribes throughout the entire album, relaying troubles with his baby mama, paranoia about the police, fear of falling into the corporate world, and his dreams of becoming a rapper.

Despite Dean Blunt being the draw of the album, DJ Escrow is really our main character, as he ends up taking up a majority of the runtime on the album. On my repeated listens of the album for this review, I didn't quite realize how important he is to the whole experience. He is the observer to the world Dean Blunt creates on this album, and much like Escrow, you want to model yourself based on the badman persona Blunt cultivates.

And you see his struggles to try to get there. Two tracks that highlight some of these multiple struggles he has are "Platinum Cookies" and "The Realness." On "Platinum Cookies," Escrow tries to wow us with a set of bars: "Who's back, who's back? / See a little cat / Run around the flat like 'What?' / Man don't wanna get jacked like 'Naw' / Naw, [?] that, that / Show up from the back / Swing it in your hat 'til you're bleeding that, that" He ends of this set with "Yeah man's got bars as well, you know" before getting into another set, telling us he's aware they're basic, but "I'm a DJ first, innit?" He then compares himself to Wiley, saying that Wiley used to be a "shit MC" then saying he's gonna be sick like him one day. It's kind of a sad and desperate song, but one that's wholly endearing because of Escrow's character.

Then onto "The Realness", where Escrow tries to reach out, telling listeners that they don't have to get into crime to make it, trying to explain there's other ways before realizing his words go into one ear, but out the other. "I'm chatting too much here / Let me just play that fucking tune." He then goes into a speech about his trust issues, sounding more like Mark Kozelek than a radio DJ for a mixtape. His speech is then slowly interrupted by harsh noise leading into the track "Flames." Where on "PROLIFIC DEAMONS" Escrow was able to be one with the noise, this time it consumes him. It represents his come to terms with reality and the brutality of it all.

We hear Escrow one more time on "Message", bringing up an extremely poignant point about division and how if we all worked together, we could do a "big ting." Even in politics and economics, we could use "rhythms" to make good things for both, for everyone. It's hard not to relate to Escrow on this album. We see these big figures we look up to and want to emulate, but at the same time want to stay true to ourselves. On this album, DJ Escrow is our Nick Carraway and Dean Blunt? Our Jay Gatsby.

PART 3: "I'M TRYING TO FIND MINE"

This review is essentially part 3 of my Dean Blunt album review trilogy. In my last review on 2014's Black Metal, I made point about the last track on that album, "GRADE." Essentially, the song is a fight between the badman persona he was building up towards the end of the album and his normal anti-social self seen on the first half. This fight seemingly continues on "BBF".

For the most part, Blunt is able to keep his badman persona intact but there's little cracks on the surface when you dig deeper. The deep emotional trauma on albums like The Narcissist II and The Redeemer is still here, it just takes a bit more digging to find it. "Meditation", the album's lead single, touches on Blunt's paranoia: "I don't know what they asking of us / Everyone got a question for us / Can they give a nigga privacy? / What is that? Where is he? Who is she?" However, he's still able to make that neurosis cool and keep the persona up, but the cracks do show.

These cracks really begin to open up on the double dose of "Shook" and "Motivation", the first of which starts off as a fairly chill gangsta rap song, but begins to uncover the unglamorous world of this badman. Yet, despite the increasing tension of the song's lyrics, Blunt's tone remains dormant, telling whoever he's talking to in the song "don't panic." But at the same time, could he be talking himself down too? After Escrow's rant mentioned in Part 1 of the review, the song transitions into "Motivation," a trap banger that wouldn't sound out of place at all on a Future album, which opens up with the same refrain as "Shook": "Shorty fell in love with a hustler / Shorty fell in love with a G". Towards the end of the track, Blunt raps "Everybody's here when I get it / But ain't nobody here when I hit it / Forget it", before coming back in 20 seconds later to say "You're never gonna get it, boy." Is he talking about money? Is he talking about his depression? Is he talking about a girl? It's hard to tell but there's some there lurking in Dean that he doesn't want us to know.

This further develops on "Esco Freestyle", as Blunt raps about buying/using cocaine, but later regretting it: "I never should've did it / Never should've did it", then trying to justify his actions with "Every nigga want a good time / I'm trying to find mine." From his previous work, you know Blunt has been through some serious pain and is now willing to do anything to suppress it. Is Blunt really the badman other rap stars from the UK hype themselves up to be? Speaking of...

PART 4: "IT'S LIKE THERAPY, INIT? IT'S SOOTHING"

On September 15th this year, Skepta won the Mercury Prize for his album Konnichiwa, beating out the likes of David Bowie, The 1975, Radiohead, ANHONI, and more. The win was the ultimate culmination in the recent mainstream resurgence of grime, a genre known for it's pulsating electronic beats, fast-paced flows, and tough bars. On "BBF", Blunt pulls a heavy detour from this style with a snail-paced flow, basic lyrics and lowkey production, with a couple of exceptions. However, he still keeps up the gangster image seen among grime artists, but somehow comes off as a more intimidating figure.

As I've said before, Blunt is supremely good at doing the most of the least and this album shows it well. From a lyrical, technical, and production standpoint, this is one of Blunt's most minimal works yet and nearly no element is wasted. The album was all produced by Blunt himself, with Arca showing up on a few tracks to lend some production work, giving the album some of it's best sounding beats.

Inbetween the lowkey but pulsating Arca beats and chilled out west coast inspired vibes, the album throws the occasional curveball at you. Specifically on the track "PROLIFIC DEAMONS", which is, and again I don't kid, DJ Escrow going hypeman mode over harsh noise. It is completely jarring on first listen but absolutely hilarious on your fourth or fifth listen when the album's themes begin coming together. While Blunt has repeatedly stated that Babyfather isn't a joke project or a satirical one, you can't help but find some satirical bend in tracks like these.

Then you have the less ear-shattering curveballs like "God Hour" featuring English artist/composer Micachu, who gives a nice break between the Escrow tirades, Blunt's laid-back raps, and harsh noise for a string heavy indie pop track that calls back to Blunt's solo work without sounding out of place on this record.

EPILOGUE

Dean Blunt recently announced that he'd no longer play shows in the UK. After releasing this album, it makes sense. With the Brexit decision and the rise in hate crimes since the decision, Blunt's testimonial of being a black man in Britain, son of immigrants, was one that wasn't listened to. He talked about this in a recent conversation with fellow British artist GAIKA, both of them discussing feeling out of place in their own country.

On "Stealth Outro", Craig David once again is repeatedly saying "This makes me proud to be British." Expecting this repetition to loop again for the track's 3:26 runtime, the phrase instead fades out less than a minute into the song and the guitar plucking and light strings fully take up the mix. Seemingly, Blunt no longer needs to keep up this facade. He has realized he isn't accepted where he's from, and he's fine with that.

"BBF" Hosted by DJ Escrow is a Dean Blunt looking into his culture. It's a culture that's far from perfect and Blunt knows that. It's in these imperfections that Blunt is able to derive some great and powerful music from it. It's very much like an iceberg, where on the surface there doesn't seem to be much. For a long time I only looked at this album on that surface level but after diving deep and really studying parts of the record, there is so much to gather from it, it's quite insane. So if you've read through this whole thing, please listen to this album as it's possibly the most important and relevant rap album of 2016, and most definitely the most important album to come out of the UK in years.

Favorite Lyrics:

Fuck, it's a wrap

Cause I guess a nigga back

Pull that, and the niggas leave

Oh shit, there's that nigga Dean

  • "Greezebloc"

Everybody's here when I get it

But ain't nobody here when I hit it

Forget it

You're never gonna get it, boy

  • "Motivation"

I feel it in my chest now:

All the pain

Can't get the vest out

It's been too long, G

  • "Deep" ft. Arca

When it came down to it

I realized that the only person I could depend on one hundred percent and be was me

Trust is a luxury I can't afford

Betrayal is something I can't ignore

  • "The Realness"

Talking Points

  • How would you compare this album to Dean Blunt's previous work, solo and with Hype Williams?

  • Do you find this album to be wholly satirical?

  • What do you think is the future of the Babyfather (and Blunt in general) after this project?

  • And finally, is this album really worth digging into or is there not much there?

Hope you guys enjoyed my write-up! Come back tomorrow as /u/fozzik talks Danny Brown's Atrocity Exhibition.

submitted by /u/ReconEG
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Migos and Childish Gambino collab on the way according to Offset

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Big Sean is the musical guest on SNL on January 21, Aziz Ansari is hosting

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Ugly God - Water has entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #100

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Free Nationals LP coming 2017!!

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Lil B, Believe in Earth: A Very Rare and Based Visual Experience

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Kodak Black challenges Lil Wayne to a fight: 'I'm Finna Knock That Stupid Ass N**** Out'

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Kanye on Def Jam Poetry (Eventually became All Falls Down, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Gold Digger, and Bittersweet)

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Solange has her sister Beyoncé interview her for Interview Magazine

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Travis Scott Feat. Kanye West - Piss On Your Grave

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Kendrick Lamar Freestyle Over Kanye West's 'So Appalled' In 2009

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Young Jeezy - My President (Farewell Obama)

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Daily Discussion Thread 01/10/2017

Posted: 10 Jan 2017 10:24 AM PST

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

Thread Guidelines

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

  • Please be helpful and friendly.

  • If a question has been asked many times before, provide a link to a thread that contains the answer.

Other ways to interact

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

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Yung Lean - Hoover

Posted: 10 Jan 2017 12:08 PM PST

Action Bronson - Easy Rider

Posted: 10 Jan 2017 08:12 AM PST

DJ Crazy Toones passed away yesterday but the post didn't get much love on here. Here's one of his best tapes: That Nigga's Crazy Vol. 1

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RiFF RaFF x DANNY BROWN - WETTER THAN TSUNAMi (epilepsy warning)

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[FRESH VIDEO] Ramriddlz - H2o

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Tyler, the creator - 2SEATER

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21 Savage & Metro Boomin-No Heart Confirmed RIAA Platinum

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Lil B - Suck My Dick HO [BASED MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTED BY LIL B]

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Coloring Book Overrated?

Posted: 10 Jan 2017 10:19 PM PST

Please don't crucify me. As much as I want to like Coloring Book, everytime I listen to it I'm just dissapointed. All We Got starts off pretty hype but then Kanye comes and wipes his ass with it. No Problem is fun but I really don't like Chance encouraging violence when a big part of the mantra that got him here was straying away from violent-esque lyrics. But then DRAM starts singing and I can't believe that someone thought that it was a good idea to put that on an album. Smoke Break and Mixtape are just boring. Nothing against Justin Beiber but Juke Jam is just awful. It sounds like they put minimal effort into that song. As for All Night, the chorus is dumb and annoying, Chance's verse is cringy as fuck and Jay Electronica should just go home at this point. And I don't need to listen to three minutes of gospel choir on How Great. If I wanted to I would just go to church like I do every week and listen as this exact same song is sung.

Also I feel like Chance is just being the hype man on his own album. Alot of songs are curated to the feature and not Chance. Seriously, Smoke Break is just a Future song ft. Chance and Mixtape is just a Young Thug song ft. Chance. And plus the features aren't really that good either. MBDTF had a ton of features and they were all awesome and everyone was lashing out career defining moments. But on Coloring Book, most of these features sound half-assed and seem like they were written in the studio the day of recording. Chance doesn't take any risks with anything here and kinda sets out on making tracks that leave everyone decently happy at the end and that's about it. There's not much that blows me away about this album.

Not saying that there were some great moments here, but it just seemed that Chance was riding hype and didn't Coloring Book his full attention.

On a side note I'm sick of hearing how Chance is such a champion for independent artists and how he doesn't sell his mixtapes (he actually did sell Coloring Book). I would've liked more independent/ underground artists on Coloring Book then instead of a feature list with some of the biggest names in the world. And he needs to stop caring about this whole Grammy thing. No one cares about the Grammy's anymore. Not even the Grammy's care about the Grammy's anymore. It just seems immature for him to be so crazy about it. And then I look at Frank Ocean who literally didn't even care enough to submit Blonde in.

I realize this turned into a rant a bit but I do enjoy Coloring Book in places but I probably won't be returning to it much, if at all in the future. I'm just trying to see what's the whole hype about it.

submitted by /u/cjgalvin
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Kirk Knight feat. Mick Jenkins - I Know

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[FRESH] Lil Bibby - You Ain't Gang (Remix) (Feat. Kevin Gates, Lil Durk, & DeJ Loaf)

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Devin The Dude - Doobie Ashtray

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[FRESH] Ugly God - Lil Bitch

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Album of the Year 2016 #8: Anderson .Paak - Malibu - HipHop

Album of the Year 2016 #8: Anderson .Paak - Malibu - HipHop

Album of the Year 2016 #8: Anderson .Paak - Malibu

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 06:38 PM PST

Artist: Anderson .Paak
Album: Malibu

Listen:
iTunes
Spotify
Google Play
Tidal
Soundcloud

Album Background:
It seems that Anderson .Paak suddenly sprung out of nowhere and landed into hip-hop stardom, but if you examine his career closely, that's far from the case. Starting his career out under the moniker Breezy Lovejoy, he released two albums as well as other assorted projects that had minimal commercial success and critical acclaim among the few people that had listened to him. I want to take a moment in particular to reference his all-covers EP, Cover Art: a project dedicated to the black artists of the 1950's that had their songs taken by white artists and given little-to-no credit after the fact. On this EP, he takes several well-known songs, such as The Beatles' "Blackbird" and The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and offers his own unique subdued soulful interpretation that delivers in spades, and in some cases, overtakes the quality of the original. After the release of his two albums, he went under the radar for a moment, surrounding himself with artists such as American Idol alum Haley Reinhart (peep him drumming in the back), Watsky (he produced Watsky's third album, All You Can Do, and was featured on multiple tracks of the album), and DJ Premier. In 2014, however, he decided to begin to break from his prior sound and releases under the name "Anderson .Paak", and drop his third album, Venice, where he blends what most people would recognize as his current, soulful sound with trap drums and blaring 808's to great success. Ranging from the pulsing, indignant "Drugs" to the smooth, vibrant "Miss Right, .Paak made it clear that he could switch up his style and stay consistently great, proving that he had what it takes to reach the higher echelons of the hip-hop hierarchy.
At least, that's what I would think that Dr. Dre thinks, considering he took .Paak under his wing after hearing "Suede", one of the many tracks from the group NxWorries, consisting of .Paak and Knxwledge. Anderson had been a significant part of the making of Dre's last album, Compton. And his presence was duly noted, as he was a highlight of this potential album of 2015, overcoming rising stars such as Kendrick Lamar and Jon Connor as well as veterans like Ice Cube, The Game, and Xzibit. He would later use this newfound spotlight to have several high profile features with artists like The Game, Chance the Rapper, and A Tribe Called Quest, while simultaneously working on his next album, and his first under Dr. Dre's label, Aftermath. With Dre's influential status and .Paak's gifted songwriting and singing, Malibu would end up being the final push for .Paak to finally bask in stardom.

Review:
With the all-star ensemble surrounding Malibu, it might make one wonder if the hype around Anderson .Paak is due to the people he surrounds himself with, but if anything, his presence makes their features that would be album highlights on other artists' records feel lesser. Thanks to stand-out vocals emphasized by stellar instrumental backings and strong lyricism, .Paak never seems to fall into the fallings of most modern rhythm and blues artists that dabble into hip-hop: he flows strongly with each beat without seeming inauthentic, his emotions don't feel shoehorned as a narrative and seem genuine, he doesn't need to venture into unnatural poppy beats, and he's diverse without inconsistency. He's passionate without seeming whiny, he's subtle without feeling silenced, and he's a gifted storyteller that doesn't dwell into long-windedness. And most importantly, he knows when to let the beat breathe.
When I said that his collaborators felt lesser when he takes back control after their parts, instrumentally or vocally, I meant it: he has such a charming, commanding presence that can't be explained, only heard. However, that isn't meant to put them down for trying, as every collaborator's moments on the album feel intentional, well-placed, and well-crafted, from The Game's roughness and Sonyae Elise's gentle, soothing vocals acting as two extreme ends of .Paak's raspy tenderness on "Room in Here", to his break from singing as he lets the Timan Family Choir and Talib Kweli provide youthful innocence and experienced tales of hardship to emphasize .Paak's struggles in life leading to his current standing on the cusp of fame on "The Dreamer". The self-awareness that .Paak shows regarding his surroundings throughout the album is breathtaking in a musical environment that emphasizes self-worth in independence and appearing tough, sometimes to the point of arrogance, selfishness, and making boring albums about you, yourself, and how you did everything by yourself. Meanwhile, .Paak makes a song about a woman's self-worth while calling himself out as a condescending, sex-driven asshat via a skit in the middle of the song in "Silicon Valley". He made a self-aware song about plastic surgery that has his lover disgruntled towards his comments about her breasts while blurting out a "Can you fuck me already?!" when she decides of being sick of his shit, and still makes one of the sexiest songs of the year out of it by acknowledging he's being ridiculous and giving one of the most strangely-passionate vocal performances of the year on the song, particularly in that final chorus.
Like I said, he's a vocally gifted artist, but sometimes, he has to let the song breathe without his physical presence on the track. Take "Celebrate" and the gentle breakdown before the final hook: he knows that he needs to let this mellow, quiet track about celebrating life make the point that life is worth living all on its own by allowing the listener to take in its background and not having .Paak at the forefront of the sound. Or better yet, take "The Bird" and its instrumentation: a slow guitar riff that leads into lyrical beauty by .Paak, and a lovely piano, drum, bass, and horn section in the middle of the song. .Paak's familiarity with song structure, backed by Madlib, Kaytranada, 9th Wonder, and .Paak himself, among others, allows him to strength each song by removing himself at the right time, unlike artists that either allow themselves too much time on each song and not let the song show its strength as a whole without the artist or allow the instrumentals to overpower them, resulting in drowned out vocals with borderline incomprehensible lyrics that don't show an artist's lyrical depth. .Paak stands out in an already talent wave of R&B artists rising to the mainstream due to how fresh and reserved he is, among other reasons. Anderson .Paak is a once in a generation artist, and I know he will only get better, as he has shown even more growth as a vocalist between this album and the other album he had a significant hand in this year, Yes Lawd!. Is Yes Lawd! a better album? I'll leave that up to you when you get a chance, but in my opinion, no. Yes Lawd! is even more focused than Malibu is in comparison to .Paak's older work, but that also leaves less time for .Paak to grow as an artist on the album. I believe that he will be known to the general public one day, because there is no way an artist of his caliber will be nothing less than a memorable contributor to music history, but for now, I'll just hope that his rise to the mainstream will happen sooner rather than later thanks to cosigns from major awards shows and acting as a front-man to artists like Bruno Mars.

Favorite Lyrics:

Why the hell would you run this game?
Both my hands are tied
Afraid of thinking I dug my own grave
Fuck around with this
Strange and elusive, too afraid to lose it
I don't mind this pain

Anderson .Paak – Put Me Thru

A bird with a word came to me
The sweetness of a honeycomb tree
And now I look, what's taking over me
Couldn't fake it if I wanted to

Anderson .Paak – The Bird

You know you wrong, shit you out of pocket
Remember you was couch surfin', you ain't have a casa
And mi casa, I would buy you shoes from out the locker
And even though I heard around the town from all the gossip
Between they legs, and slidin' limousines in garages
Heard your mama cheated on ya daddy, you just like her
Come-a-come around, remember what happened to Tiger

Rapsody – Without You

My job as an artist is making miracles
To show you how to struggle poetic and make it lyrical
Crystallize the thought to make it clear to you
And make the revolution irresistible

Talib Kweli – The Dreamer

They say the heart is underneath
Underneath the guarded insecurities
I finally found the key
Underneath the garments that's the double D's

Anderson .Paak – Silicon Valley

Discussion Questions:

  1. Anderson .Paak seems to have settled on a soulful/funky sound since his albums prior to Malibu. Would you like to see .Paak develop this particular sound further, or would you rather him experiment more with his work?

  2. It can't be understated that Dr. Dre had a major impact on .Paak's career trajectory. How do you think his sound and stardom would've resulted if he had never met with Dre?

  3. With all of the producers on the album, .Paak included, who would you like to see .Paak continue collaborating further with? Would you be interested in an Anderson .Paak album with only his production?

  4. Compare Anderson .Paak to other R&B artists: does he stand-out? How does he compare to older R&B artists still in the scene, like D'Angelo, Maxwell, and Erykah Badu?

  5. Do you prefer Malibu or Yes Lawd!? Why or why not?

Make sure you check out /u/ReconEG's Album of the Year breakdown of "BFF" Hosted by DJ Escrow by Babyfather tomorrow!

submitted by /u/snidelaughter
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Migos' 'Bad and Boujee,' Featuring Lil Uzi Vert, Tops Hot 100

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 01:06 PM PST

Flying Lotus and Anderson .Paak have a collab track on the way

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 02:22 PM PST

[FRESH] Mike Tyson - If You Show Up (Soulja Boy Diss Track)

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 04:35 PM PST

I go live on IG everyday at 2pm people

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 12:01 PM PST

😂😂😂😩

submitted by /u/YoungChop
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Kodak Black says Lil Wayne can "Eat His Ass"

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 12:10 PM PST

A Tribe Called Quest, Frank Ocean, Vince Staples and more performing at Panorama 2017.

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 06:28 AM PST

[FRESH] Lupe Fiasco - "Jump" feat. Gizzle

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 09:42 AM PST

[FRESH] Dave East-No Hook (ft. G Herbo & Don Q)

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 11:39 AM PST

Metro Boomin performing 'Bad & Boujee' in Sydney, Australia

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 07:29 PM PST

Daily Discussion Thread 01/09/2017

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 02:54 PM PST

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

Thread Guidelines

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

  • Please be helpful and friendly.

  • If a question has been asked many times before, provide a link to a thread that contains the answer.

Other ways to interact

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

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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SZA is Doing a Small Private Show in NY Tomorrow Performing Only New Music

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 04:08 PM PST

Young Thug - "The Blanguage" [prod. Metro Boomin]

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 05:01 AM PST

[FRESH] Alicia Keys - Sweet F'in Love (prod. KAYTRANADA)

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 08:16 PM PST

[FRESH VIDEO] RiFF RAFF - Steph Curry McFlurry

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 02:58 PM PST

MF DOOM - Kon Queso

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 09:04 AM PST

Denzel Curry's "Ultimate" | Check the Rhyme

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 12:20 PM PST

Z. Konketsuji's "The Patient Discovery" is now on Google Play Music (in addition to Apple Music, iTunes, and Spotify). Coming to Tidal and Pandora soon!!!

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 08:30 AM PST

What's poppin' hhh?!

Just wanted to make a post thanking everyone here in this sub who has supported my first album drop. The reception has been amazing, and it was crazy to be on the front page for days amidst posts about some of my idols. Fucking crazy. Doors are already opening because of the little buzz that I got within this community, and I don't take it for granted at all. About to start moving on new projects soon under a different name. I think everyone will be excited for what's to come. For anyone who isn't already familiar with me or my tunes, please feel free to check out my official /r/hiphopheads AMA from a few weeks back.

In regards to TPD, there are some amazing visuals on the way. What record(s) y'all think they're for? I'm curious lol

For all those seeing this post who have heard my music before and mess with it, the biggest way that you can help at this point is by continuing to share with friends and TWEETING AT YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC WRITERS ABOUT IT!!!

PLEASE come say "what's up" to me on social media! My Twitter is @ZKonketsuji. My Instagram is the same. My Facebook page is here.

The Patient Discovery on Google Play Music:

https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Z_Konketsuji_The_Patient_Discovery?id=Bufbnank6ihrvdj6lawlnqpz36y

Other places where you can find my new album:

iTunes & Apple Music - https://itun.es/us/cniHgb

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/094QWnVIFx58GHgmc7HaZt

YouTube - https://youtu.be/o8zHSYfndis

SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/zkonketsuji/sets/the-patient-discovery

For direct donations via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/zkonketsuji

submitted by /u/ZKonketsuji
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Travis Scott - Sweet Sweet

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 05:27 PM PST

Prhyme - Highs and Lows (feat. DOOM and Phonte)

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 07:15 AM PST

[FRESH] Juelz Santana - Drake Voice

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 07:26 PM PST

Joey bada$$ performs a couple new songs

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 10:15 PM PST

The Most Criminally Underrated Rappers of The Last Five Years

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 04:16 PM PST

Travis Scott Previews Dope New Track!

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 02:20 PM PST

Young Thug - Again ft. Gucci Mane

Posted: 09 Jan 2017 11:16 AM PST
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