Man I kinda remember when the talks started circulating that Jay and Ye were making a CD together. It seemed to happen pretty fast from inception to completion. Then the revealed marketing plan made retailers very upset and perked the interests of other music industry. I understand the retailers who feel like they are getting slighted by the deal but you have to look at it this way. EVERYTHING IS DIGITAL NOW! I understand that the digital copy being available on a separate day interrupts sales but there are lots of
ppl that still want physical copies so Best Buy/Target/
Wal-Mart chill out! Evolve and move on. Jay and
Kanye avoided the album being leaked probably the first high profile rap album not to be leaked in about 10 years.
No Church In The Wild --- Frank Ocean delivers a killer hook and perfect opening for the CD. Jay-Z paints a vivid picture of chaos and death then the Dream auto tunes it up for a great bridge and Seal does some wild background vocals chanting.
Kanye talks about misadventures with women, love and lust. (Great)
Lift Off --- I hated this song at first. It was too much
Beyonce not enough Ye & HOV. Then it grew on me. Just knowing all the elements that make that song is pretty impressive. Q-Tip/The
Neptunes/
Beyonce. 5 4 3 2 we need fuel. (Production Quality makes this Great)
Niggas In Paris --- This has got to be a single. The energy on the record is just crazy! Jay kills it and Ye goes crazy. "You gotta crawl
before you
balllll." And the sampling of Jay saying "Ball so hard" within the song itself as the line is actually in his verse. That takes care and attention. If you make music you know that's a added little sparkle that you notice and say to yourself that was a genius moment. (Ultra Great)
Otis --- I still say the version where Funk Master Flex premiered on his show is the best. But Otis is a great song that keeps the energy moving and the bravado as well. Cataloging their achievements in their verses Jay and Ye have a lot of fun on this and it shows in the
video as well. Plus, nobody has ever used that Otis
Redding sample in that way before. (Great)
Gotta Have It ---
Neptunes and others on the beat (that
SYNTH is
CRAZZZY) Jay and
Ye's word play on this is just immaculate. The back and forth rapping is incredible. It's short and sweet. "Planking on a Million"!!!! (Awesome)
New Day ----
RZA on the production flipping a sample that he has flipped a thousand times but this one seems the most important. Ye spits real verses about if he had a child, the things he would shield the kid away from. He touches on losing his Mother, the "George Bush Hates Black People," thing and a little Amber Rose. Jay expresses to his unborn child values and morals and apologizes in advance for the life that the child would be born into. Very deep song. (Great)
That's My Bitch --- This sounds like an
OutKast song.
Laroux and Connie from Sneaky Sound System on the background
vox!!!!! Which is awesome. The break beat in the song is so driving and energetic. Jay questions America's icons. "Why all the pretty Icon's always all White?" He throws in
Halle Berry, Selma
Hayek and Penelope Cruz for a discussion of beautiful woman. (Excellent)
Welcome To The Jungle --- SWIZZ on the beat! More Social commentary. Jay and Ye go back and forth trading bars about how things are messed up and how people cope. "Where the fuck is the press? Where the Fuck is the Pres? Either they know or don't care I'm fucking depressed." DEEP!! Jay kills this! (REAL SHIT)
Who
Gon Stop Me --- More social commentary mixed with bravado. Beat is CRAZY RIDICULOUS. "This is something like the Holocaust, millions of our
ppl lost." Then the beat changes and Jay goes nuts! (Incredible)
Murder To Excellence --- Great Song! MORE SOCIAL COMMENTARY! This song details the countless deaths that occur in America. More so black on black crime.
Kanye makes a numerical stat that states more
ppl died in Chicago than US soldiers in Iraq. The crazy thing is if White people were dying/killing each other at the rate that black
ppl do everything would change within a matter of 2 to 3 years. This is
actually two songs Murder and Excellence. On Excellence the 2 display the greatness that can come from the people that make it out of these situations and go on to make great success. (Beyond Great)
Made In America --- This reminds me of a beat that I would make and nobody would rap to and look and me crazy. And the crazy thing is Ye has a few lines that basically say he rapped over his beats that people were supposed to buy. Thus making hits to his music that other people were supposed to have. Frank Ocean doesn't do it for me on this one. The "Sweet Baby Jesus" part is too funny! I don't know how he did this without cracking up. This might sound audibly like a misstep on the album be its a guaranteed hit and probably we be a single. Although Frank's runs (when he is singing none words) are pretty good. (HIT)
Why I Love You --- I thought Mr. Hudson was a sample. That's what I'm saying though to the attention to detail they put in this album. It really is a musical masterpiece. This is basically Jay addressing everyone that has taken shots at him from the old
ROC days. Ye and Jay trade a few bars on this one too. (Put together Well)
Illest MF'er Alive ---
SYNTH IS CRAZY!
Kanye goes in on this. This one is all about balling out of control. Bragging on accomplishments. Nothing wrong with that! "The
ROC is in the building you
shoulda stayed in the house." "This is what the ending of Scarface should feel like." I agree I never liked Scarface. It was too bullshit for me. Them Indian
ppl would been chopped Tony's ass up in that bathroom and the movie
woulda been over. Plus the movie was too damn long and the first 40 minutes of the movie was like a documentary on immigrants.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Plus he got shot the fuck to pieces . No Thanks! (DOPE)
H.A.M. --- This was the first indication that these two were putting out a collaborative effort. Bottom line Ye shouldn't rap fast. Jay kills this. Ye says some stuff but Jay kills it. But! The extras that Ye adds at the end are amazing. The choir!! Oh man. Just great. (Museum Quality)
Primetime --- If No I.D. isn't in your top ten for producers you suck! This is currently my favorite beat on the album. This is just a crazy. I wasn't that excited with this song at first, but it grew on me. It just has that rap from the essence feel to it. (Classic)
The Joy --- Pete Rock kills the beat. This actually sounds like something from
Kanye's second album. Jay talks about growing up in Brooklyn and Ye is talking about h ow some black
ppl name their kids and other black related things such as Egyptians and what have you. (Boom Bap)
To me this is definitely ALBUM OF THE YEAR. I don't even remember what else came out this year rap wise. It has as much bravado as it does social commentary. I love that no one else is rapping on the album only these two. Great! This album is about Black excellence, opulence, greatness, sorrow, over coming the odds, loss and gain. Some people love it, some people don't. Some people plain just don't get it. To me it seems like some people just don't want to like this album for whatever crazy reason they can think up. It's the only album I have been playing for a week! And that is saying a lot coming from me. And the art work is by
Givenchy. High quality, high class. The bar has been raised.
I Invented Swag
DRAG
Tom Cruise is the man. That being said this film plays out just like an episode of the now defunct show Under Covers that came on NBC for about 12 episodes. And oddly enough both are/were produced by JJ Abrams. The action was fast paced and good chase scenes. A few corny parts. Nice gadgets. But even after all of that it still seemed like the movie was missing something. Something that I still can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it was the whole "Russian Launch Codes" thing. I don't know. I'm just glad that the twist that I thought was going to happen didn't. Ving Rhames shows up at the end for nostalgic reasons I guess. 
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