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"Any love less than unconditional is so under-Christian, it's unrepentant." Dots and Lines has many of the deepest lyrics.

 
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You did ad the RosterPlayer #99 review

Roster Player #99;7910312 said:
Interludes

Liked em. All were relevant. Creative and masterfully performed and written. The nigga had a gotdamn string section for Christ sake. The detail, etc. I can go on. Tens

Mural- shit was crazy on the first listen. I was 8 songs in and was still shakin my head in disbelief at this song. Do we even have to question this? Tens.

Blur my hands - the weakest point on the album.B But I like the fact that it came as early as it did. A lot of simile/references lines. Lyrics-10, hook-9, beat-7.

Dots and Lines- banjo threw me off at first. But I figured there was some significance. Never know with this nigga. Whoever it was played the shit out of it. As a lover of STEM and music I really liked the references on this one. The hook is catchy too and the beat is tight. A lot of textures that didn't collide, I can appreciate that (808s, violins and synths). The fact that he can package life lessons in the manner he did reaffirms his status amongst the great writers in hip hop. If not the greatest (yea nigga I said it). Tens.

Prisoner 1&2- I thought it was an ode to Chilly. But I saw it was deeper than that. There's a nod tho which I can appreciate, beside the fact Chill's arrest affected me personally. His imagery and storytelling ability was vivid as shit. You'd think the nigga been to jail before. Or had written a treatment for OZ or some shit. Then the second part. Mad energy. Liked the hook. Shit is just clever and well put together as far what he wanted to convey. Tens.

Body of work- this shit so dope. The hook. The beat. The lyrics and that GOTDAMN SAX SOLO. Y'all niggas already broke down the references and wordplay so I won't go into that. But shit is too cold. Tens nigga.

Little death- aiight. So it took a while for me to like this. Because the three different subjects didn't coincide with the hook at first. And didn't understand what she was sayin when she said le petit mort until a friend a mine understood it. I likes the verses. Especially how he opened it. Shit was smooth. Plus i have debates like this at work all the time which summarizes in a couple bars. One thing that stood out was the use of sfx. I heard it more prominently as it faded out at the end. And it tied it all together for me. Idk if he did that or what but the shit is genius. It's a recurring thing throughout the album too. Tens.

No scratches- I hate the beat the most. But what kept me listening were the bars. It was a personal record. I thought it was geared more towards his situation with the label. With the weekend at Bernie's lines and the walk thru echo park shit and the "I know you're in the seat but let's get outta that before injuries" line, amongst other shit but idk. The hook is tight too. And the sfx tie a lot of his metaphors and similes together. 9.5/10 tho.

Chopper- I get it. I really do. Plus i thought it kinda alludes to subject matter behind "deliver". But fam-lay kinda fucked this up for me, badly. And I used to like that nigga too. But his verse sounded like what I'd imagine Steve Francis would look like if played in the nba right now. Beat knock tho. I think my favorite verses outside Lu's are Billy's and Trouble. But everybody else did they thing too. 9.9/10

Deliver- dope concept/play on words and apparently homophone use with the piece of man/pizza man shit. But this nigga flow from beginning to end is flawless dog. And ever worse he double times it at the end with some dope cartoon references. Beat is tight, you know the hook. Tens my guy.

Madonna- maybe my favorite on the album. Idk. Hard to choose. But this shit is just hard. Really like how he opened it. The hook is dope as hell and the beat is tight. I like the story of the song and how he coupled it with a paralleled scenario in the video. 10.

Adoration of Magi- to me this one has the da Vinci level of sophistication that "Madonna's" coarse storyline didn't. It's like a timeline/synopsis of his childhood and coming of age story. Flow is tight. Imagery, duh. Hook is dope. Beat is dope. Tenzo.

TRON- nigga. Blackout is an understatement. Word play for days. Flow is retarded. I used to skip this shit. But I listened closer. It's crazy. And ab solidified a new fan with this verse and few others I've heard from him. Beat is insane man. Ten/10.

Like I said. The attention to detail on this album made me appreciate it a lot more as an artist and as one that covets gems. Finding meaning in things that aren't necessarily there or valued at a surface made me appreciate the depth of this album. Always been a fan of lupe. Granted I've never heard FL2 and Lasers. They don't exist to me. But this nigga is retarded good. Like heralded writing good. In most cases unparalleled.

His presentation is cold and off putting on the outside. Because I think a lot of people think he's an asshole. But that's thought of most intellects. The fact that he can fit his level of intellect in a rap or album cover or then me is most impressive about dude. Fact is: You can't remember rap better than this nigga. He can actually get on a track with Jay and not look foolish. Not many can do that. And he could do it when his career was in it's infancy. So respect him.

10/10

AOTY bruh.

if not then it's tied with Kdot shit for it.

Until Ye shit drop, hopefully it ain't wack but I got good hopes for it.

 
Only halfway done, Ill finish the rest later.

TPAB

Wesley's Theory- The "Intro" set the tone for the whole album. Which was basically letting the listener know the album was going to be a fusion of many different styles and genres. Alot of people arent going to be familiar with some of the influences within the album and is going to call it weird and too left field and also miss the reference within the message.

Back to song. I loved the production. Outside of HipHop, Funk is my favorite musical genre and everybody knows funk begins and ends with George Clinton and Parliment, who added a perfect touch to the song. Even the jewels Clinton dropped with reference to the butterfly at the beginning was dope.

10/10

For Free?

Mannn. This shit was incredible. This is the Last Poets on cocaine.

Fuck your sources, all distortion, if you fuck it's more abortion

More divorce courts and portion

My check with less endorsement left me dormant

Dusted, doomed, disgusted, forced with

Fuck you think is in more shit?

Porcelain pipes pressure, bust 'em twice

Choice is devastated, decapitated the horseman

Oh America, you bad bitch, I picked cotton that made you rich

Now my dick ain't free

Crazy

His flow on the "interlude" outshines 99% of the games best rhymes period.

10/10

King Kunta

Wasnt crazy about this joint. The beat was aight, and verses were on point , but I wasnt really feeling the hook tho. The song's not terrible but they shouldve replaced this song with "Untitled".

7/10

Institutionalized

This has Erykah Badu written all over it. From the production , to the hook, to the beat switch mid track, to "Shit dont change till you wash ur ass , nigga!" lol , thats some Budu shit. Very Neo-Soul. The Snoop feature wasnt forced, perfect artist to use as a narrator. Great content, production, flow,hook, overall dope.

10/10

These Walls

This is HipHop meets Neo-Soul meets Funk. Bilal and Anna killed this shit. Dope. euphemism track.

9/10

Ill complete the rest of the tracks later. My overall score is a 9.5/10.
 
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I listened to the whole album when it first dropped, the review was taking longer to write than I thought it would lol

Ima finish it up later, I think I already wrote more than the minimum amount required tho.
 
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Anyone have requests for single reviews? Single-game has been weak lately.

And looks like we'll re-visit the B4.DA.$$ review for the next one since that's winning the poll.
 
The album makes more sense when u listen to it in reverse order. Its not a coincidence why the theme of TRON and Adoration of The Maji both use video game references.

Body of Work is pretty much today's society and the Cool 2. Its a really deep song and really depressing if you listen to what he is trying to say, speaking on the anatomy and "make up" of the current time . The way Terrace Martin ended it left a emotional and really sad tone to the song, it was like he was weeping and was in pain. I could really feel what they were trying to do. I took me a lot of listens to really "feel" where he was trying to do. I think the fireworks in the beginning represents celebration of the "cool" not in a good way if that's possible, but in a way were we all adore the evils that will "be the death of us".

In reverse order the song actually speaks on many stories, birth, peer pressure, evils, ultimately death, prison (physically, mentally) loving yourself, and ultimately a eulogy of the Lupe Fiasco life on his Murals. His swan song imo.

The album can be viewed plenty of ways from the life/death, video game, music industry evils, etc. This album is veeeeeery diverse. Probably the most diverse hip hop album I ever encountered.

Quick review, but honestly i think this album is soo diverse that the songs can affect and be perceived from different viewpoints. I can see years from now people will see something new with the overall "body of work" and find a different element to take.

Based on the production, lyrics, depth, and overall art i give this album a 9.2/10

I would give it a 10/10, but i can see this actually growing down the road and affecting me even more.
 
Review schedule

Albums

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly: March 18 - April 8

Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth: Match 26 - April 8

Wale - The Album About Nothing: March 31 - April 20


Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$: April 8 - April 26

Singles

TBD
 
^ I know, I been slacking myself. Been tryna find time to put together this Kendrick review but I work so much at work, then when I'm off I'm either at the gym or don't feel like doing shit but play my game lol.
 

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