Mr Mechaly's review spectacular

Reviews of albums that I listened to either now or in the past. Mostly covering rock, hip hop and rnb, but other genres can appear from time to time! New reviews every week starting 21/12/14! Independant artist who would like my opinion on one of your tracks, feel free to contact me!

[jesuschristonameltdown]

Chief Keef - Nobody (Album Review)

Chief Keef is a polarizing figure to say the least.

Some people treat him like a virus that needs to be incenirated before he can spread. Most “hip Hop heads” think his music is the epitome of trash, packaged and sold to the lowest IQ level, a common fear being that his music sets back a music genre that always had trouble being taken seriously. Parents fear this 18 year old from Chicago, believing that the idolization of gang life will encourage their children into similar footsteps.

Others love him for his no holds barred, gritty description of gang life in the slums of Chicago (which he lovingly refers to as “Chiraq”). Chief Keef doesn’t censor himself, look no futher than the video for “I Don’t Like” where guns are being flashed at the camera for the proof of that.

I fall into the second camp of people, I love this dude.

It really comes down to intensity. Rappers before Chief Keef have done all the subject matter he tackles, it’s nothing new. NWA and Ice T are some of the first that come to mind. In some odd way however, Chief Keef made it feel new again. At this point in time, rappers causing controversy for lyrics and behavior is something we expect. News stations that had previously covered rap music and its “negative effects” non-stop had stopped paying attention. Thats why the media storm that followed Chief Keefs arrival on the scene was glorious.

Suddenly all eyes were on the drill scene, opening the eyes of mainstream to the gang violence that had engulfed the inner cities of Chicago. It had always been talked about, artist like Lupe Fiasco, Common and even Kanye West had mentioned in their lyrics how Chicago was slowly losing itself to violence. An extreme slap in the face was needed to really make everyone listen and pay attention. Chief Keef slapped so hard that everyone woke up.

Which makes it all the more heart breaking that his second studio album, “Nobody”, is horrible.

The execution of this album on the most basic level is pretty horrendous. The production is all over the place with beats that sound muddy and unpolished. Bass, treble and mids just seem to blend together into an unappealling mess. The beats sound about a soccer pitchs lenght behind the vocals, leaving it practically impossible to catch on to any texture or details of the instrumentation. Chief Keef’s vocals usually consist of three different vocal takes, two of them overdubbed over each other and one of them just to repeat the last line he said. It’s a pattern that repeats throughout the album, and if it sounds redundant it’s because it is. Also wrapping the vocals on most tracks is a heavy coating of autotune that twist and mangles Keefs voice into a robotic grind. Although robotic is a term I use ironicly because the autotune is the only thing that gives the vocals any emotion or feeling. Keef insist on performing each song in mumbles and slurs and you can practically hear him thinking “I really don’t want to be here right now” on each track. It’s really quite spectacular. This is the musical embodiment of “no fucks given”, a sentiment proven on the track “Almost”. This song was the first song on the album that I was actually enjoying and it just stopped all of a sudden. No really, the song cuts off half way through the chrous and just skips to the next track. I checked on YouTube to see if maybe it was just the file I got that was corrupted…nope, the one on YouTube was like that too! See what I mean? No fucks given.

The entire album runs at a slugs pace, it never picks up to any level of energy or intensity. It makes Chief Keef’s lack of skill completely visable. I never thought he was a “good” rapper in the traditional sense of the term, but he had charisma and he was real and that was good enough for me. Now that all passion is gone, there’s no reason to listen. He rhymes whenever he feels like it, and when he does only about half of the words he uses actually rhyme. He uses the same flow almost the entire album, which makes the the similarities between everything even more glaring. All the songs sound the same which is depressing seeing as some songs are so half-baked that they don’t even reach two minutes long. Honestly, there’s nothing really more I can say. Everything is so samey on this album that this review risk getting the same way, if it hasn’t already.

I guess I should talk about some positive points now. The title track features a sample that I first heard on “Ra-Tat-Tat” on Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic”, so that brought back good memories I suppose. Keef also manages to sound somewhat interested in what he’s doing too. The last track “Yeah Now” has instrumention thats a little more polished, so even though Keef insisit on once again mumbling through the chorus, atleast it’s complimented well enough. Although even this track cuts off abruptly at the end.

Ok, i’m done now. If this review ended off sounding rushed towards the end, it’s because it’s not fair. It’s not fair that I have to put in more effort to this review than he put into his entire album

2/10

Favourite Track: Nobody, Yeah Now

Least Favourite Track: Everything else

[jesuschristonameltdown]

Reasonable Doubt - Jay-Z (A Modern Review)

There is a feeling that I live for.

The moment an album closes when the last note is played, and I salavate while I press the first track so I can listen to the entire album over again.

When you have an intense feeling in the pit of your stomach, and you realize that you just listened to a masterpiece.

Reasonable Doubt gave me that feeling.

What makes this album so memorable is how tight the concept is. While I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a concept album, Jay-Z’s character remains constant throughout. It’s a character role that he has mastered, a high ranking cocaine dealer with all the smooth mafiaso talk that comes with it. A album that manages to thrive on excess and luxury, yet never makes it seem like something we should strive for. Jay-Z always sounds like he’s watching over his shoulder while saying each line, an technique that becomes complete on the song “Can I Live”. On this song Jay-Z brags about the lifestyle he has earned through dealing cocaine, he proudly boast how he gambles at the high rollers table away from the low ranking dealers who use their re-up money to gamble. These flashes of high status are sandwiched between mentions of him having to keep “one eye opened like CBS”, people are always trying to get him. Paranoia eventually consumes him, and he becomes more brutal and heartless. The track “D’evils” has a second verse where he breaks into a childhood friends house and ties up his wife, trying to get information on where he is. Jay-Z being the wordsmith he is, makes sure to pepper on flashback memories of his childhood friend “staying up all night at slumber parties” with him, and describes the tears in the wife’s as showing him that she wishes they were still close. It’s brutal on a distrubing level.

Then of course, the album is flawless on technical level. Jay-Z doesn’t get enough credit for his impeccable flow. A master of the pause and being able to switch between simple and complex rhythms, Jay-Z shows skills way beyond most rappers. Buttery smooth, doing backflips over the instrumentation that furthers the mafiaso mood. Mostly based on piano and horns, the beats practically drip gold and throw money through my headphones. They sound expensive, they sound high class and they feel like they can fit in the best crime films. Lyrically, Jay-Z shines on this album as well. On “22 Two’s”, Jay-Z simply massacres bar after bar with slick rhymes (Administer pain/ next to ministers screaming your name/ at your wake as I peak in/ look in your casket/ feeling sarcastic/ look at him/ still sleeping). Jay-Z also goes toe to toe with Biggie Smalls on the track “Brooklyn’s Finest”, a match up of “rookie vs veteran” where Jay-Z holds his own and proves he can rock with the big boys. “Coming of Age” has Jay-Z and his protege Memphis Bleak tell a story, Memphis sees Jay-Z make money while selling drugs and wants the same status. Jay-Z sees his potential and takes Memphis under his wing. It’s a story thats been done before but the details that make it beautiful, specfically Jay-Z showing Memphis the ropes and telling him how to stay low and not call attention to himself.

Of course like every album, there is a song that I would skip. “Ain’t No Nigga” is an utterly pointless track with Foxy Brown deliviering an equally pointless appearance. Jay-Z talking about how he’s such a pimp and how he buys Foxy lots of nice things so she shouldn’t worry if he cheats. Foxy saying how he wouldn’t be shit without her blah blah blah…SKIP!

But that is the only flaw I can find. And it doesn’t ruin anything. The last verse on the album on a track called “Regrets”….just wow. Jay-Z is talking out loud to a friend who has passed away, talking about a mutual friend who he is now fueding with. The only thing that stops violence from happening is the knowledge and wisdom that the dead friend had passed to Jay-Z (you were right/niggas want you to be misrable with them). It all comes together with a heart breaking ending line for the verse (I think im touched/this whole verse I’ve been talking to your spirit/… a little too much). It’s the bow on a perfectly wrapped album.

Now that feeling that I was talking about at the beginning of this review. It’s hard to explain. Have you ever felt pure bliss? For a period of time nothing matters. Its great throughout the album. Mind blowing, you can’t believe how good this all is and what you’re feeling and there’s the tension, you wonder if you’ll feel like this the entire album. When the last note or chord fades away, all the tension and build up explodes. Its enough to make you shake with excitement. You twist and shake and you press replay, and having memorized the lyrics, you sing along this time and it’s even better. That feeling…getting that feeling is how you know the album you just listened to is a classic.

There’s something beautiful about classic albums, everytime you listen to it again from top to bottom you remember how you felt the first time. Sometimes, you notice things you didn’t even notice before! Case in point, I had Reasonable Doubt playing while writing this, and I just now noticed how in “22 Twos”, when Jay-Z is pumping up the crowd before the freestyle, there is still some chords playing in the background. It’s small, but I never noticed that before. That’s the beauty of it all, I’ve heard this album so many times so I look deeper into it. It’s a great friend, it lets me discover it’s deeper layers, and it always welcomes me back after a long time apart.

10/10

Favourite Tracks: Can’t Knock The Hustle, Feeling It, Can I Live, Politics as Usual, Regrets, 22 Twos, D’Evils, Dead Presidents II, Coming of Age, Brooklyn’s Finest, Cashmere Thoughts

Least Favourite Track: Ain’t No Nigga

[jesuschristonameltdown]

The Weeknd - Kissland review (7 months after I first had my obsession with it)

The Weeknd’s first full length album (not counting the 3 compilation, Trilogy) finds him stepping up as a lyricist, but the sonics he usually soaks himself in are weak this time around, leading to some of the flattest material he’s ever released.

Following up a project like Trilogy would be hard for any artist. While the last disk in the compilation was the weakest of three, the first two were pure gold covered new born babies, without all the crying and diaper changes. Never too complex, they were enough to paint images of the party, the after party and the come down (respectively through each album). This time around, it seems like the fun is over because the Weeknd finds himself singing mostly love songs centred around two types of girls: the ones that dumped him because all he does is fuck strippers, and (of course) strippers. The first track on this album is a well crafted ode to the latter, a girl who’s a “professional” at loving, featuring some of his most potent lyrics (how’d you drain all the soul from your eyes?). Follow that with the insanely infectious “Belong To the World” and the heart breaking “Tears in the Rain” and the Weeknd's growth as a lyricist is clear.

Ok, so now that I got the good part out of the way.

The album is pretty fucking flat. Like really. No sonic build up whatever, remember that awesome drug inspired, floating in a cup of codeine style outro during "Loft Music”, nothing like that. How about that intense drop at the beginning of “Gone”, nope. Nothing sticks out and makes me say “YES! That’s awesome”. Even in his vocals, where before he would riff like Mariah Carey in her prime, now he sticks to simple melody lines. Where before the tracks would be spacious and deep, most of this album sounds shrill and compact, which is ironic since all tracks run over 4 minutes and a good portion run at over 6. The tracks don’t need to be this fucking long, there’s not enough ideas in these songs to merit that kind of length. Musically it’s just not as melodic or smooth as the other projects he’s released (see the horrible piano interlude in “The Town” for that crash course). It’s not even as dark as his stuff usually is. If he’s trying to go a new direction that’s fine, but at least make it interesting. There’s only one song that I think is one hundred percent perfect, and it’s Wanderlust. It’s not your typical Weeknd song, but it’s not trying to be either, it’s just infectious rnb, with a like bit of funk to it and the chorus is great. He waxes awesome lyrics (“tonight I’ll be right here, and tomorrow you won’t care”), and shows off his pipes for probably one of the few proper times on this album.

So overall, do I hate this album? Nah, but I don’t really like it either. When I first heard it when it came out, I was crazy over it, but it got boring fast. Now 7 months later, removed from the hype and the memories of Trilogy being the best thing since sliced bread (which it still is), I’m asking myself what I liked so much about it in the first place. Meh, I don’t really care, now I’m going to play Trilogy again and lip sync all day to it.

Since this is a retrospect review, I’m gonna give it two ratings

When I first heard it: 8/10 Now: 4/10

Best songs: Professional, Belong to the World, Wanderlust, Tears in the Rain

Worse track: The Town