I wonder what Kanye's thinking listening to this-I guess that came to mind because the last time I was so unsure about what I was hearing was when I first heard Yeezus. by Rahki & Tommy Black)įirst instinct is that this sounds very Erykah Badu-ish, which for me is a very good thing. Whether that turns out to be genius-genius or misguided genius only time will tell.Īlso, I still don't really know what's the yams, but I've been saying it all weekend and now that the album's out it's only going to get worse.Ĥ. This album doesn't sound even remotely like what anyone could have anticipated after GKMC (so far), which is frankly a sign of genius on Kendrick's part. I remember reading a quote from a producer (Sounwave?) saying all these producers were sending in beats for the album and he would just laugh because they weren't even in the same universe as the sound they were going for. It's funk-infused sound fits in perfectly with what we've heard so far. At the time I felt like it was the kind of song that had to be heard in the context of the album to be understood-turns out I was right. by Sounwave)įull disclosure, I heard this song when it leaked on Friday so I'm a little more familiar with it. It means there are levels to be uncovered, things to be learned at future listens (hopefully). I won't front, I'm mostly just confused at this exact moment, but confusion can so often be a good thing. And.now we're getting some rap/jazz scatting about non-free dick, some of that pimp talk. They should have gotten the girls from the "Kim & Cookie" Outkast shit to do the voiceovers here. by Terrace Martin)įuck yeah instrumental jazz breakdowns. Moving on though, if this first track's any indication the album's going to be the chronicle of an artist who's made it and is now facing all the usual "rapper who finally made it" pitfalls, and won't be particularly "hip-hop" in the usual sense. Dre clip is kind of disappointing, feels forced-audio version of how the Beats Pill has to appear in every Interscope video. I may feel different about this later, but this Dr. The instrumental's got about 47 billion layers, and I'm hearing references to everything from fucking secretaries to CIA conspiracies on the lyrics. And here comes the rappin-my brain's melting, there's just no way I can come up with a coherent analysis of this song on one listen. It's some of that cosmic funk, with Kendrick doing some of the most straight-up singing I've ever heard from him. There was no way a song with Flying Lotus and George Clinton was going to be anything but mind-bending, and sure enough, I'm not really sure what I'm listening to now. Ah, the ol' sound of a vinyl playing track, it's supposed to make us think about quality, timelessness, and it always works.