Hi, everyone! Every once in a while, I’d like to take a break from music reviewing and see what people think about certain things. Sure, they can be about music, but I’m down to see some hot takes, unpopular opinions, debates on anything. I decided to post something on social media and see what responses I got back. Let me tell you, I did get some good stuff to talk about. If this seems to be a success, I’ll keep doing it in the future! Thank you to all those who submitted this time around!
“What are your thoughts on Lil Uzi Vert and Rex Orange County?”
I enjoy both artists! Though I haven’t heard much of Uzi, I like what I’ve heard so far. Standout track of his is probably “The Way Life Goes”. I also enjoy “Do What I Want”, as well as his features on Playboi Carti’s songs “#wokeuplikethis” and “Shoota”. My only criticism of him is that he overdoes it on the Auto-Tune quite often… production for the most part is solid and he has some good verses here and there. Rex Orange County is one of my favorite new artists from the last few years. He’s kind of an unassuming guy, and makes a lot of great songs. He’s definitely an artist to check out if you wanna get some ladies, he’s really popular with a lot of them! Though most of his discography is about love, I like how his songs are not the really cheesy, top-40 style love songs you hear a lot of the time. Hell, I actually enjoy a lot of his tunes because of the way he writes about love. Top tracks from him are “Loving is Easy”, “Paradise”, and “Belly (The Grass Stains).”
“Thutmose will blow up in 2019.”
I listened to his most popular tracks on Spotify and I liked some of the stuff I heard. Thutmose currently has under 1,000,000 monthly listeners, so if he got maybe… 5 to 10 million listeners… would it be a “blow-up”? Anyways, I cannot predict the future, but from what I heard, I could see him coming into relevance next year. He’s got an OK voice and might snag a couple features with some popular artists.
“Hillary Clinton did Pizzagate”
Top 10 reasons why Hillary screwed over the Democrats in 2016… you hate to see it.
“Frank Ocean is the great lyricists of all time.”
See, this is a really hard question. I definitely would not say he’s the best of all time. Of our generation, you could say he’s one of the best. But I think you’re overlooking such great people like John Lennon and Pal McCartney, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Prince, David Bowie, or Leonard Cohen. Frank Ocean is a visionary, no doubt, and I love the way he writes. His elegant, yet reflective lyrics detail instances of unrequited love, self-discovery, and nostalgia. This, I think, makes him stand out from many of today’s modern artists. Channel Orange and Blond are some of my favorite records of the decade (hell, maybe even of all time), and I hope he puts out another studio album soon. No, Endless does not count as a studio album, as us Spotify users did not get to experience that goodness… I’m not bitter!
“What is the best MF DOOM album?”
I love DOOM, and it’s so hard to rank so many of his projects. They’re all so great! However, My shoe-in choice for the best would be Madvillainy. It is one of the most important rap albums in rap history, and one of my favorites of all time. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan on first or second listen. But, the third time was indeed the charm. I came to realize that DOOM is underground hip-hop’s version of Kanye West, so influential and game-changing. He’s got some of the sickest rhymes and flows of any rapper I’ve ever heard. Not to mention, almost every song on that album is so well-produced and sampled by the incomparable Madlib. Fun fact: The majority of the album’s beats were produced while Madlib was on vacation in Brazil! I digress... However, I cannot forget to nominate his other standout records like, MM… FOOD, or The Mouse and the Mask. Lot of great songs that I find myself listening to a lot of the time. All in all, DOOM’s a really cool rapper, though a lot of people tend to overlook him when they’re searching for new rap artists to check out. I urge you, please support him and his awesomeness.
“Will LeBron James win a championship in Los Angeles?”
I’m not exactly sure how well the King will fare in his new home. LeBron James is now 34 years old. He’s been playing basketball professionally for 16 years now. I could only imagine how tired he is. He just left a team he built for himself in Cleveland, and look at them now: The tanks are revved up and they show no sign of improving. This past offseason, he (predictably) signed a hefty paycheck and joined a younger team in a lockdown Western Conference. They’re now hungry to go after that overpowered team you’ve dreamed of putting together in 2K; that team is the Golden State Warriors. I think he needs to realize that he’s entering the end of his unmatchable 13-year prime, and he needs to reduce his workload. A perk of joining LA is that he’s got promising young guys like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma that are stepping up and developing nicely in LeBron’s presence. Plus, signing veterans like JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and Tyson Chandler added experience and depth to the rotation. Yes, the Lakers’ chemistry seems to be in question now, but that’s because a lot of new faces are joining this team. I think LeBron will build the team up, but it will take a year or two. Give them that time, and maybe you could see them giving the Warriors a run for their money. I beg you, don’t quote me on this…
“Is G-Easy washed?”
Never been much of a G-Easy fan myself, but based on what’s been happening to him in recent times, I think a lot of people are starting to turn away from him. I just think he hasn’t found consistency in his last couple of outings, and I think his fanbase are beginning to break away and listen to other artists. So, maybe if he puts out a good record or a couple of singles to keep himself relevant, we’ll see.
“Drake’s last three albums were bad.”
I almost agree with that statement. The majority of the albums are filled with songs that fell very flat and did not really make a musical impact on me. Most of Drake’s albums are way too long (Scorpion was a whopping 90 minutes, need I remind you), and there’s usually about two or three songs per album that I will bother to listen to more than once. Songs like, “Hotline Bling”, “Hold On, We’re Going Home”, “Passionfruit” (off his mixtape More Life), and “God’s Plan” are all songs that stand out to me as “good” Drake songs. However, that’s only 3 songs out of the combined 58 songs across three records that I would listen to again. I sincerely hope Drake will put out a record that will do a little bit more than just rack up streams on his Spotify account. Yes, this man has 30 million followers and some of his songs have over one billion streams? All for a bunch of Auto-Tuned sing-rapping or even worse- mumble rapping? SMH.
“Thoughts on Yung Gravy?”
He’s bad and most of his songs are low-quality. What more can I say?
“Kanye is overrated.”
Now THIS is a real a hot take. I am going to be very biased, because I love Kanye, but I don’t really know what makes him overrated… is it because he’s become more pretentious in recent years? Maybe. His return to social media with all these Twitter quips are quite amusing. His recent beef with Drake, I think that’s great. He just likes to say what he wants, and that’s perfectly okay. He’s not as blunt or as offensive as he used to be (i.e. “George Bush hates black people”), but he still just spits out a bunch of random shit half the time. I just think that this proves that he can do anything (i.e. make a song with one of the worst rappers in modern times, get on stage in a water bottle costume on Saturday Night Live and single-handedly leave a large blemish on your career…), and the world will pay attention to him. He’s just that powerful. I also think he is the kind of person that doesn’t want to be doubted or disrespected. If you listen to him in earlier interviews, you can see him getting very egotistic and defensive. That’s because he wants to be the best, and he is one of the best. He’s proved that on almost every one of his releases. He gets the praise he deserves, and proves all of his haters wrong. He’s had such an influence on how rap music is made today, so I can’t really find many ways that he’s “overrated”.
Thanks for checking this article out, more great content is coming your way soon!
