AAVV — Cruel Summer

After releasing the album of the decade and a collaboration with his friend Jay-Z, Kanye West reminds us that he actually has his own label, on which he hasn't released any solo LPs to date. Established in 2004, the GOOD Music label has released four John Legend albums to date (one in collaboration with The Roots), three Common albums, two Kid Cudi albums, one Consequence album, one Mr. Hudson album, one Big Sean album, and one WZRD album, plus one Pusha T EP, one Malik Yusef mixtape, and one mixtape by Tony Williams. As of the release of this compilation album, the label boasts around ten artists on their roster, excluding producers. In autumn 2012, after several delays, the album is released by Good Music and Def Jam.

The album, also known as "Kanye West Presents: Good Music - Cruel Summer", features guest appearances from Kanye West (the product is believed to be sometimes part of West's discography, sometimes not: but fans consider it a Kanye West album, even if it's not), and label artists Teyana Taylor (newcomer), Big Sean (who will ultimately remain the most in GOOD Music, leaving controversially and amid West's insults in 2021 after 14 years), Pusha T, Kid Cudi, D'banj, John Legend, Malik Yusef (among label veterans, along with John Legend, Big Sean, Pusha T, Mr Hudson and Teyana Taylor), former label member Common, who left a few years ago, GOOD Music affiliates Cyhi the Prince and Travis Scott (credited among the label's producers), plus guests R. Kelly, Jay-Z, 2 Chainz, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, The-Dream, Mase, Cocaine 80s (group by label's in-house producer No ID, formed alongside Common and Jhené Aiko, among others), DJ Khaled, Marsha Ambrosius, Chief Keef and Jadakiss. In addition to the aforementioned, Aude Cardona, Travis Jones, Andrea Martin, DJ Pharris and Noah Goldstein are not credited. The album's production is done by many in-house beatmakers at GOOD Music such as Kanye West, Anthony Kilhoffer, Hudson Mohawke, Boogz & Tapez, Lifted, Noah Goldstein, Travis Scott and Jeff Bhasker as well as Pop Wansel, Oakwud, Ken Lewis, Mano, Hit-Boy, Illmind, Mike Dean, Tommy Brown, The Twilite Tone, Mannie Fresh, Dan Black and Young Chop.

Second on the Billboard 200, first among hip-hop albums, fourth in Canada and the UK, seventh in Australia, almost ignored in Europe, it's one of the best-selling rap records of the year. Nonetheless, the critical response is more bitter than the cold numbers say, because little works in this erratic, not cohesive and messy album. From the very first tracks, the product is very heavy, experimental, commercial and boring, still not as bad as West's worst records, but it's mediocre, weak and flat, exceedingly incoherent, with no direction or meaning of its own. It steal the ambition from West's latest solo CD, which "Watch the Throne" already did, and blends rhythms and rhymes that feel like offshoots from sessions for these guys' different records and feel out of place, half-finished. The music tends to be the anchor that drags this ship to the bottom, the lyricism is unfortunately not superior to the production chosen by the boys. Jay-Z, Common, Jadakiss and the Wu-Tang guys do a remarkable job —  Raekwon's contribution is tight but he can't save his own track, whose beat is unbearable; as Ghostface destroys his cut along with one of West's few good stanzas — while the others flounder in this sludge that is difficult to understand and digest, with the singers overwhelmed by the autotune.

The record gives way after about twenty minutes undermined to its foundations, a stuttering production that ends up being bland and generic, and poor lyricism, among the worst ever exhibited on a West record: the writing of the lyrics is devoid of any inspiration between braggadocio, bluster, arrogance, stupidity and wealth, most of the GOOD Music roster disappoints, interesting is the return of pastor Ma$e in an official album seven years after taking part in the G-Unit compilation (it's not considered that Young Buck featured him on his 2007 CD), although he's out of place, while Big Sean is among the worst — "Clique" has a decent rhythm, but for some reason Big Sean repeats the title twenty times in the hook — beaten only by Kid Cudi who has in "Creepers" one of the few solo pieces on the disc (the other is "Cold.1" by Kanye West), and he manages to land one of the year's ugliest verses in rap with a sleazy delivery, even bragging about writing it sober.

This is Kanye West's third victory lap in a row after the album of life ("See Me Now" bonus track from that album, "Watch the Throne" and this thing, whatever it is), he celebrated enough and everyone saw it and that's fine, but now that he goes back to the pits and gets ready for the next challenge.