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Kanye West 2005 Late Registration
GOZ rating: 4/5
In preparation for my listening to Graduation, I decided to stop being comatose on Kanye West and revisited his last two albums. Lemme just get into the Late Registration state of mind, and I'll get into the review. With the success and the acclaim of The College Dropout, Kanye West became the media darling. But shit ain't all peaches and cream. His arrogance and childish behavior about not winning tripe awards like Grammys or American Music Awards did lead to the creation of the "fuck Kanye" club. Other members of that club included hardcore hip-hop elitists that feels that hip-hop is only good if it's done in a certain, paint-by-numbers way. I'll bet that some heads found it strange hearing somebody's middle-aged mother reciting rhymes from "All Falls Down" or the pop-rock fans/loyal MTV viewers at school constantly complaining that Kanye is the only rapper that doesn't talk about guns, bitches, etc. Kanye in 2004/2005 was the not the same as Snoop Dogg in 1993 or Nas in 1994. He was the type of rapper that got uptight middle-aged white folks into hip-hop. This, along with the fact that Kanye never shut up about anything, split music fans in half. The "fuck Kanye" club has just as many members as the "Kanye is God" club. After a lot of media attention and some scrutiny, Mr. West is ready to follow up his large debut. Of course, the "fuck Kanye" club wants Mr. West to flop and run to his mama's basement, eating Ben & Jerry's crying "No..no..no one loves me anymore...*sniff*". Naturally, the "Kanye is God" club wants Mr. West to part the ocean yet again. What would the highly-anticipated sophomore effort Late Registration bring us? This effort wouldn't change anyone's mind about Kanye West. As elgringocolombiano says, let the haters hate and the stanners stan. With all of that explained, here's my review of Late Registration (DISCLAIMER: I'm a Kanye West fan). Let's start with the production. If there is one thing about Kanye that should be admired by everyone, it's his work ethic. LISTEN TO THESE BEATS!!!!!!!! On Late Registration, Kanye evolves his sound by making it more lush and orchestral. With everything going on in a single track, there's a high possibility that the beats could've been overproduced. But Kanye does it just right. From the soulful piano on "Wake Up Mr. West" on to "Late", the production is quite pleasant and a joy to listen to. Despite the ill beats that Kanye gave Common in '05, he still saved the best beats for himself. How are Kanye's rhymes? Is he still that producer that raps better than most rappers? Not quite. With his stepping up with the beats, his raps dumbed down a little bit. He's not terrible, but some of the witty lines we heard on The College Dropout are noticably absent here. On the lyrical side, that "look at me, I'm the greatest thing since thong underwear" attitude that Mr. West is oh so infamous for doesn't creep its way into the lyrics. Although he showed a little more personality on The College Dropout, Kanye still likes to have fun ("Gold Digger"), can be deep ("Diamonds From Sierra Leone"), introspective ("Roses"), and down-to-earth ("Heard 'Em Say"). I'm gonna tell the truth about Kanye. Honestly, I think Kanye's public arrogance and questionable behavior is just for self-promotional purposes. If you actually listen to the stuff he says on his albums, you see how Kanye West really is. And for those that think his deeper subject matter is just gimmicky conscious rap, negro PLEASE. Kanye is smart enough to know there are a bunch of people that hate his "holier than thou" attitude. Yet, he still acts the fool at the Grammys. That's how little he cares about the "fuck Kanye" club. To quote him on "Bring Me Down": "Everybody feel a way about K, but at least y'all feel something". The guests on this album aren't as cool as those on the last album, but they're cool. No doubt that Adam Levine and Paul Wall were thrown in to appeal to Kanye's "white bread" fanbase (no offense to y'all), Common, Jigga, GLC and Consequence are back, without his lame omitted G-Unot verse, the Game doesn't really bring anything, Really Doe does a weird hook, Brandy sings her heart out, Nas works quite well with Kanye, and in a goofy way Cam'ron killed it. That's right; I said Cam'ron killed it! So what's the problem with this album? Besides Kanye's dumbed down rhymes, mostly the same problems with The College Dropout. There's some filler here (the skits are funnier this time around) with include the cute, out of place jingles like "Gold Digger". Again, this album is recommended to music fans with no anti-Kanye bias whatsoever. Late Registration won't convert Kanye haters nor will it disappoint Kanye fans. Even with all his arrogence, Kanye West can still show and prove. So just like Chino XL, Kanye's earned his bragging rights.
Song Quality: 9/10 (great followup)
Beats: 10/10 (he's growing as a producer)
Lyrics: 8.5/10 (not his best, but still good)
Favorites:
Heard 'Em Say
Touch the Sky
Drive Slow (smooth)
My Way Home (Soulful Common song)
Crack Music (Game should've had a verse, though)
Roses (down-to-earth)
Bring Me Down
Diamonds From Sierra Leone [Remix]
We Major
Gone (Cam'ron is retarded)
Diamonds From Sierra Leone
Least Favorites:
Gold Digger (not bad, but.....ehhhhh)
Addiction (filler)
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50 Cent 2005 The Massacre
GOZ rating: 2.5/5
"50 Cent sucks! He is the worst artist on the face of the earth! 50 Cent is the devil!!! He represents everything wrong with music!!! He should get shot in his ass and die!! FUCK 50 CENT!!!"
- one of the .5 star reviewers
I'm sorry, I just had to laugh. I know the above quote is exaggeration, but some of the anti-50 Cent comments I've read here are so over the top, it's hilarious!! And I thought Snakes On a Plane was ridiculous!! Look, I understand that a lot of people don't like 50 Cent, and the dude is pretty wack but people act like he's the motherfucking anti-Christ and shit lol. In a world with Prussian Blue, 50 Cent definitely ain't the worst artist in the world. He ain't even the worst rapper in the world. Curtis Jackson is automatically better than any rapper that has ever said "A Bay Bay", "This Is Why I'm Hot", "Lean widdit, rock widdit", "Shake yo' laffy taffy", "MIKE JOOOOONES!!!", "CRACK CRACK CRACK!!", or "MUUURRRRRDDDDDAAAA!!!". Shit I won't be surprised if none of these 106 half star reviews actually listened to this album in its entirety (especially thunderheed, but fuck what he thinks). But anyway, let's get to the review. These half-star raters are partly right. 50 Cent's sophomore effort The Massacre isn't an abomination to music, but shit's still pretty wack. This album, along with the Game's shit-talking, would lead to the downfall of G-Unit. Did Get Rich or Die Tryin' convince you that 50 Cent is a real gangsta? After The Massacre, the only people that are still convinced that 50's the "superthug" that he makes himself out to be are upper-middle class suburban white kids that listen to "rebel music" like this, Marilyn Manson or Eminem just to piss their tightwad parents off. You know why 50 Cent isn't gangsta anymore? Besides the fact that he moved to Vermont (yet he talks about being in the hood all the time), he modeled this album after a Ja Rule album. He didn't bite the faux-Tupac Shakur swagger from Ja Fool, but he bit everything else. As for his skills on a technical level, 50 still trades ill verbals for charisma and swagger. This method is stil effective on the better songs of this album. As far as lyrics, c'mon man; it's 50 Cent we're talking about. Who wouldn't expect lyrics about being in the hood, guns and more guns, anticipating his murder, killing said murderers first along with other people for no reason, dissing other rappers (Fat Ho, Jadakiss, and Nas in this case), girl chasing, and refering to women as bitches? That's all I have to say about his lyrics. As far as production goes, I think the beats here are quite good. Definitely better than the beats on Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Okay, okay. From what I've stated, The Massacre is just 50 Cent being 50 Cent over some good beats. What makes this album wack exactly? First of all, the singles for this album ("Disco Inferno", "Candy Shop", "Just a Lil' Bit") suuuuucked. These three along with a couple of other songs like "Build You Up" and "So Amazing" are corny club/girl-targeted songs that are completely devoid of any soul. These are the "Ja Rule" songs on this album. Also, on an album that just shy of 80 minutes, there's bound to be filler right? What's the filler here? DAMN NEAR ALL OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE ALBUM!!! The first half of this album is generally pretty good, but the second half is filled with most of the Ja Rule joints and the other songs pathetically try to make up for it by being hollow and incredibly boring hardcore tracks full of recycled lyrics and rhymes. Not to mention the production gets lazier with most of these songs. There are only a couple of good songs on the second half of this album. I only recommend this album to 50 Cent/G-Unit/latter-day Eminem fans. Everyone else will hate this. The Massacre proves that 50 Cent is another novelty rapper that's finally on his fifteenth minute of fame. Obviously, I ain't lookin' forward to his next album. If I even listen to it, it won't be rated any higher than 2 stars.
(P.S. Hey TheOwl, you're the jackass. Why the fuck do people like you take a shitty artist from a particular genre and make illogical generalizations?! Does rock 'n' roll suck because My Chemical Romance sucks? Hell no, so stop being a closeminded waste of sperm)
Song Quality: 5/10 (unimpressive)
Lyrics: 6.5/10 (He can do better)
Beats: 8/10 (minus .5 for the second half)
Favorites:
In My Hood
This Is 50
Piggy Bank
Gatman and Robin
Get In My Car (shameless and misogynistic, but funny)
Ski Mask Way
A Baltimore Love Thing (interesting concept)
Ryder Music (smooth beat)
Position of Power
God Gave Me Style
Hate It or Love It [G-Unit Remix]
Least favorites:
Candy Shop (this shit set the stage for "Laffy Taffy")
Disco Inferno
Just a Lil Bit
Gunz Come Out
My Toy Soldier
Build You Up
So Amazing
I Don't Need 'Em
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