Curren$y Vs. Wiz Khalifa: Friendly Competition

Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y, everyone's favorite rapping stoners. That is in the new era. We can't forget about Snoop, Red, and Meth. I'm not really talking about who's better in this, it's more of a comparison of their strengths and weaknesses and how they compliment each other on tracks.

Curren$y is more of a rapper than Wiz. He focuses on always having some nice lines and wordplay in his verses. He also has a more unpredictable flow, which is a good thing. He's sort of like Wayne how he can effortlessly switch up his flow mid verse and not lose you. He raps with a little more aggression than Wiz too. He attacks the beat. Curren$y has a lot of songs that are one verse and may or may not contain a hook but somehow they still feel like complete songs.

Wiz is more of an artist. He focuses on hooks and concepts but by no means is he weak as a rapper. He has a very versatile flow and can go from singing to laid back rapping to a more aggressive flow similar to Curren$y's. He usually raps with a more laid back approach, though.  The one area where Wiz and Curren$y are miles apart is hook writing. Curren$y isn't bad but he isn't nearly as consistent or as versatile as Wiz when it comes to hooks.

It seems that Wiz has the bigger fan base and he is now on a major label but listening to Curren$y you can tell he's right where he wants to be career-wise. I heard that Atlantic wouldn't allow Wiz to be on Pilot Talk 2 and I sincerely hope that's not true. It would be terrible if there could be no more Wiz x Curren$y collaborations. I really need How Fly 2 right about now. Hopefully Atlantic let Wiz put Curren$y on his album which is due out in March. Spitta has a few different projects in the works and Wiz needs to appear on at least one if not all of them.

Kanye West: Dope Artist But Not That GOOD Of A RAPPER.

Hear me out here. Kanye West came in the game amazing us with his songs. They were genuine, down to earth, and they actually had subject matter. Meaningful subject matter that a lot people connected with. We all loved his music so much that we saw no flaws in his rapping ability. Some of us even proclaimed him as a lyricist. Now that we've heard him rap some meaningless verses I think it's very obvious that he isn't what we thought as far as being a rapper goes. On certain songs you can hear him run out of breath at the end of lines. It sounds very bad. Listen to Monster to understand what I'm talking about. He also has some very corny lines like "remember she had that bad hip like a fanny pack".

Kanye is still a great artist I just think he's too much of a Lil Wayne fan for his own good. Don't look at your computer like "How the hell do you know he's a huge Wayne fan?" because he's said it in numerous interviews. You can tell that he likes the freedom Wayne has to jump from subject to subject in his verses. He is also using punchlines more often and has been changing up his flow. That's fine for mixtapes and certain features but please don't do it on your album. That's where Wayne fucks up and that is the exact reason he has yet to make a good album.

Do yourself a favor. Listen to Kanye's first four albums then listen to his most recent. You will hear a huge drop off in the quality of the songs. Not the sound quality but the quality of the songs themselves. The actual lyrics, hooks, and subject matter of the songs. It is in these songs and a few recent features where you realize that Kanye isn't that great of a rapper. It is his artistry and emotion that make up for that but if those aren't present what exactly are we left with?

Jay-Z - Blueprint 2: The Perfect Tracklist

We've all heard the album which may contain some of Jay's best work lyrically.  Here is my list of the songs that would have made the album perfect. They are in no particular order.

Blueprint 2 - The final battle in his war with Nas. Perfect execution. The beat fit the lyrics and subject matter so well.

Diamond Is Forever - Jay went in on this. Representing his team and speaking some real shit.

A Dream - I love this song. That is all. Jay flipped the whole shit perfectly. The beat is insane.

Excuse Me Miss - Perfect chick cut for a 30 something year old rapper. Dope beat and hook. Verses on point.

Guns & Roses - Who the hell knew Heavy D could make a beat like this? LOL. Lenny Kravitz murdered the hook. Jay murdered the verses. Enough said.

Hovi Baby - This may be Jay's best work, lyrically, on a song. Just Blaze absolutely destroyed the beat. Jay went IN! The second verse is pure genius. Listen closely.

I Did It My Way - This song is just some real shit. The whole setup of the song is dope. Ill production.

Meet The Parents - Maybe the best story in Hip-Hop. The actual story telling is vivid as hell and there's also a really important message that goes with the whole song. Just Blaze on the beat again.

Poppin Tags - An All-Star line up, crazy beat, and a dope hook. Everyone went in but on the low I think Killer Mike took it on this one. This is that original kanye soul bounce shit.

Show You How - We all loved this song since we first heard it about a year before the album dropped. It's still dope to this day.

Some People Hate - One of my favorite Kanye beats ever. Jay went in as he did so often on this album.

03 Bonnie & Clyde - Yeah yeah yeah, it was a commercial single but it was still a good song. It didn't take away from the album at all.

Honorable Mentions___________________________________________________

All Around The World - This beat always annoyed the shit out of me. I never really cared for the hook either.

Bitches & Sisters - It's dope to listen to a few times but once you know the lyrics there's no need to listen anymore. The beat isn't all that and there's no hook really.

The Bounce - Not a bad song at all but it's nothing lyrically. It shouldn't have been on the album.

Nigga Please - This is basically the same as The Bounce. Cool song but it's not worthy of being on the album.

Some How Some Way - Dope song but it's so damn sad that it doesn't really fit the feel of the album.

U Don't Know (Remix) - Jay went in but let's be serious this could've been a mixtape track since its basically the same exact beat. Besides, MOP is pure garbage.

Any songs I didn't mention had no business being recorded AT ALL!

That is all.

Lil Wayne: The Carter Catch 22

 Vs 

Depending on your age you may or may not be familiar with the old (young) Lil Wayne. The Lil Wayne who couldn't curse. If you aren't familiar the Wayne of today and the Wayne of the mid to late 90s are two entirely different rappers.  As a youngster Wayne was more of a story teller. He stayed on topic and painted pictures with the words. Now he's basically a punchline rapper who just so happens to make hit singles from time to time. 

The Carter 3 is his best album to date and, to me, it still sucks. It has a few nice singles but aside from those it sounds like another Wayne mixtape except it has original beats. They could have left that "You Ain't Got Nuthin" in the past where it originally was. Songs like "Let The Beat Build" don't move me at all. It's like he's just looking for an excuse to rap about nothing. I want to hear Wayne spit more stuff from the heart. Lyrics with actual meaning like he did on this.

That is the Wayne I want to hear. I know he used the verse on the album but it's not the same. He just threw some shit together. 

We all love mixtape Wayne but when is enough, enough? Everything cannot be a random number of bars being spit with simple punchlines about nothing. I believe Wayne knows that but he continues to just rap because his fans are so pleased with it. The same fans that quote his most simple lines like they're golden. I don't get it. You can see other rappers like Kanye West following this trend. Wayne needs to find a balance between who he is currently and his old self. I think that would give us the best possible music out of him. 

I'm anticipating The Carter 4 but if 6 Foot 7 Foot is any indication of what's to come then I am not pleased. It's like they said "Hey, let's try to remake A Milli without actually recreating the same song." I honestly doubt it will make the album, though. I'm sure Birdman just wanted to put something out and get some money. It was also a good look for Wayne's newest artist, Cory Gunz. Can't judge too much since it's his first track since his release but I'm hoping it was just a warm up.

Eminem ft. Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, & Cashis - Syllables

This song is terrible. I don't even get it. Eminem is complaining about bad rapping and bragging then Jay-Z brags before Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and Cashis rap horrible verses. The beat sounds like an NES video game soundtrack. It's just overall bad. Listen if you want but I wouldn't advise it.

Lupe Does 180 On 360 Deal. The Show Goes On

You may want to watch this video to help you better understand the situation.

Shit is real. Labels are losing money because artists aren't selling as much as they used to. Instead of trying to increase sales by putting out quality product they try to enslave artists into what are known as 360 deals. In 360 deals your label receives a percentage of EVERYTHING you do. If you land a movie role they're getting some of that money. They're getting some of your tour money. They basically own you. They don't even have to set something up to get a percentage. You could go land a movie role without help from anyone. When it comes time for you to get paid your record label will be getting a cut.

Lupe's last album The Cool went Gold. Apparently that is not enough for Atlantic so they told Lupe that his album would not release if he did not sign a 360 deal. He refused to sign the deal. He said that he would build a buzz for his album independently but Atlantic said they would sabotage any attempts to do so. He lashed out against Atlantic and once his fans caught wind of what was going on they started to take action. They first started an online petition that received over 28,000 signatures. Then the fans got together for a protest outside of the Atlantic Records office building on October 15th, 2010. After this the label had a meeting with Lupe and they came to the agreement of no 360 deal. They also announced a release date of March 8th, 2011 for his album Lasers. They have released a single produced by Kane Beatz entitled "The Show Goes On".

Lupe's fans may have saved his career from going into limbo but there are many other artists facing this same issue. Artists have to understand that they are the ones with the real power. Don't sign the first deal thrown on the table. Your best bet is ALWAYS to have multiple options. The more in demand you are as an artist the more leverage you have when negotiating your contract. Artists have to refuse 360 deals no matter what. It will never be worth it. If they don't refuse them the labels will just keep offering them and the industry will eventually self destruct. Artists and fans have to take the power back from the labels. DEATH TO 360 DEALS!

Drake: So Far On

Fast forward past the beginning and we have Drake arriving on the scene in 2009 with a hit single (Double Platinum) in "Best I Ever Had" which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top 100. The song, which was originally featured on a free mixtape, became so popular that they decided to release the original songs from the mixtape as an EP. The So Far Gone EP went on to achieve Gold status with the RIAA, bringing in over 500,000 sales.

From there Drake began to pop up on hooks for everyone from Birdman to Jay-Z. He quickly made it known that he a commodity when it came to song writing. Along with Alicia Keys and his producer Noah "40" Shebib, Drake wrote what would become one of his biggest songs to date. Un-thinkable was a hit and stayed at #1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart for 12 consecutive weeks. The song helped push Alicia's  The Element Of Freedom to Platinum status.

In March of 2010 Drake released the first single from his debut album. The song "Over" peaked at 14 on the Hot 100. It was a cool song but got old pretty fast. I haven't listened to it since April. The 2nd single was the Kanye West produced "Find Your Love". I never really felt the song. It sounded like a throwaway track from 808s & Heartbreak. It received higher recognition than "Over" and the Billboard charts prove it. It was actually his biggest song since "Best I Ever Had". The album Thank Me Later released on June 15th, 2010 and didn't take long to achieve Platinum status. They went on to release two more singles from the album with "Miss Me" and "Fancy".

A lot of people seem to hate Drake and his music. Some of them are early fans who say he sold out. Others say he isn't good enough as a rapper. I have seen countless people compare him to J. Cole which baffles me. Their music isn't close to being similar. J. Cole's singing isn't comparable to Drake's singing. I have never heard him sing a full song. J. Cole may have a little more depth with his lyrics and subject matter but his music is boring. Drake is entertaining and that's exactly what music is supposed to be. Drake isn't the greatest rapper but he touches on topics most people can relate to and he understands what a song is.

People say he's going to have a short career but I'm going to have to disagree with that. He understands music. He understands how to structure songs and how to convey emotion. The only thing he doesn't understand is that you can't use the same flow on every song. He also needs to understand that he looks silly doing those little dances and hand waves. All in all I hope Drake is around for awhile. He does him and he doesn't rap about selling drugs, which is always a plus. He just has to continue to grow as an artist and he'll be alright.

On a completely unrelated note. I need to hear a collaboration between these two. IT MUST HAPPEN!