Album: Cruel Summer
Artist: Many, many, many artists
Genre: Hip-hop
6.2/10
G.O.O.D Music? More like O.K.A.Y. music amirite?
I’m so sorry.
In all seriousness, this collaborative album from the members of Kanye
West’s G.O.O.D. (Getting Out Our Dreams) Music label has been highly
anticipated, treating us to some fantastic singles. With a whopping 20 producers and over 20 artists appearing
on the 54 minute record, one would think it would be too big to fail, but
that’s exactly where this album falls short. With some standout tracks, some mediocre tracks, and one
disgustingly awful track, Cruel Summer reveals
its greatest weakness, cohesiveness.
The album starts out with the grandiose and triumphant “To the World”
featuring famous urinator R. Kelly on a fantastic hook and verse. The production is powerful, with booming
drums and symphonic tones throughout.
Kanye West busts out some rhymes about his wealth: “I’m just trying to
protect my stacks/Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax/MITT ROMNEY DON’T PAY NO TAX”. The song acts as a pretty great intro
to an album that is essentially just a celebration of success. Up next is the jam of the fucking
summer, “Clique”. Hit-Boy takes on
production, keeping the bass high and the synths dark. Big Sean busts out the best work of his
entire career, writing the hook and first verse. His rhymes and flows fluctuate and is filled with
humor. Jay-Z and Kanye kill it as
well. The third track is the one
we all know and love: “Mercy”.
With a cryptic intro and staggering amount of verses, “Mercy” stands out
by highlighting each rapper’s unique style. Big Sean has puns galore: “Make that ass drop/That’s an
ass-quake”. 2 Chainz lazily busts
out rhymes about being crossed.
And Kanye underwhelms, probably choosing to take the back seat in order
to not embarrass his apprentices.
“New God Flow” features Pusha T is aggressive and powerful: “I believe
there’s a God above me/I’m just the god of everything else”. GHOSTFACE FUCKING KILLAH is on the
track: “I got soccer moms paying for cock/Asians get it from behind while they
cleanin’ they wok”. The hook
leaves something to be desired though, and Kanye breaks out a military
chant. At this point in the album,
the tracks drop in quality considerably.
“The Morning” suffers from some sloppy production and some out-of-place
vocoder. “Cold” utilizes a club-beat
and some more DJ Khaled dance-rap bullshit. “Higher” [icks up a little with some great syncopated hits
and soulful hooks. “Sin City“ is
hugely dissonant, coming together only for Cyhi’s verse. “The One” rehashes the same type of
hook used throughout this album.
The pop-soul aesthetic gets old fast, and especially on this track the
hooks and verses are just too different.
Trap rap like Big Sean and 2 Chainz shouldn’t be backed up by an
sorrowful hook. “Bliss” goes into
half-time and John Legend gets a chance to show off his crazy vocal chops. “Don’t Like” is forgettable due to its
dirty production, frequent drop-outs, and lack of memorable lines or flows.
And then there’s “Creepers”.
Jesus fucking Christ Kid Cudi what the fuck are you doing? Kanye gave Kid Cudi a track all by
himself, and it does not pay off at all.
The drums are much much too loud and his flow is messy. The lyrics sound like they were made up
on the spot by a guy who can’t freestyle: “If I had one wish it would be for
more wishes/Fuck trying to make it rhyme”. Wow.
Overall this album started off strong. Great hooks, glossy production, some interesting flows, but
it soon got old. The same type of
hook, the same string backup, the hit-or-miss verses all hurt the album. There were just too many people with
too much say in how this album was to be executed. I would listen to everything except Creepers and Don’t Like,
because every other song has certain redeeming qualities and different people
may appreciate it more than I can. 6.2 cruel summers out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment