Substance over Hype

If I were a girl, I would be writing about Beyonce being pregnant. But I'm not, so you can read about that elsewhere. Since Tha Carter IV is officially out people have been telling me their opinions on it and frankly, I'm not convinced.

The best album out right now is Watch the Throne, period. Sure it's not a classic and I feel it should be, but there is no album out that can truly compete. And to compare Tha Carter IV to Watch The Throne is really a waste of time. Now a better comparison would be to compare the R.E.D. album by Game to the Carter IV. Most of you, probably haven't even heard Game's new album and really shame on you. So until you feel the need to try and disagree with me, go listen to it first.

Listening to Tha Carter IV(which is not better than Tha Carter III) is like listening to a glorified mixtape. It has some dope beats, Lil Wayne has some hot punchlines and that's about it. Their is not too much substance. Really, had I not saw the How to Love video, I would say there is no substance at all. Game, on the other hand, has delivered an album that's reminiscent of the albums that were dropped in the early 2000s. Game gave you stories in relation to his life, fictional scenarios, and even went so far as to make a song that took a stance on domestic violence. In short Game made an actual project that flows and was arranged properly and it came out as a good album(definitely better than LAX, which was his ultimate goal).

But because Weezy's album was so hyped up, and Game's wasn't people will automatically say Wayne's album is better. On top of that, as big as an artist that Game is he might simply get overlooked. The downfall of both of their albums is the plethora of features. In this aspect, Game has way more, but Lil Wayne has an "Interlude" and "Outro" that he doesn't even show up. How, as an artist, do you let anyone else close out your own album, and yet you opened it? Needless to say, the best albums out are in this order: Watch The Throne,  The R.E.D. Album, and Tha Carter IV.

The Throne

I should have known my next piece was going to be on Watch The Throne. 

Listening to this album has been a struggle. I am constantly pulled in two different directions. It's a good album, but not great. And with the two biggest hip-hop artists collaborating for an actual album, I expected something groundbreaking. Was I wrong? Obviously, I was.

Nothing about this album was groundbreaking, minus the production. When delving into "real" hip-hop, one thinks of stories, wordplay, and substance. Only wordplay was displayed. Even the heavyweights have forgotten what hip-hop is about. And what really sucks, is that they truly worked hard on this project and thought that this is what hip-hop was missing.

Unfortunately they were wrong. True hip-hop doesn't care about how much money you have or have made, it's about the art. It's about who is the best. And granted these two MC's are by far considered the best, being the best and standing out as such, was not demonstrated. Lackluster lyrics were provided. Why, might you ask, was I pulled in two different directions? Well, to be perfectly honest, it's not a bad album. But it's not a great album. And it should be great. And what troubles me the most is that since it's not bad, and with the artists involved, the general public will consider what they made as great. It truly hurts my heart that the hip-hop that I grew up with and believed in, is truly dead. As a Jay-Z fan I really hate to say Nas was right, but he was.