"West Coast".
I thought that with these two words, the game was over. For everyone. End.
Instead, to my surprise, the game continued. Two years after taking that slap on his own track, Sean Anderson releases his third studio album. Production is provided by around twenty different producers, including Kanye West, Boi-1da, DJ Dahi, DJ Mustard, KeY Wane, Metro Boomin, Mike Will Made It, Nashiem Myrick, T-Minus and Vinylz. The guests of the album are some of the most acclaimed artists of the mainstream rap scene of the period: Drake, Kanye West, E-40, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla Sign and Lil Wayne, in addition to the singers Jhené Aiko and John Legend.
The first cut features an accessible trap rhythm provided by RobGotBeats, distant drum, great dark samples, Big Sean delivers the first verse almost speaking, while the second one with a syncopated style on snare drum. The second track, "Blessings", is a classic: vibrating dark sample, intro, verse by Sean, confident, determined, clear, then dirty and slow drum machine, he spits bars with an echoing flow, followed by a hook-killer by Drake; then his smoothness verse, at the time he was at the height of his career, the MC of Detroit returns with another verse, slow, then accelerates, closes Kanye West, uncredited, kills the track. The Chicago artist stays as a guest for the third song, "All Your Fault": boom bap midtempo made by West with the help of four other producers, slow and skinny drum machine, banger for the club with pop chorus. Unfortunately, it's done really well, I can't say anything. The two rappers flow well on this carpet with pop sample and closing in back and forth.
It's the prelude to another classic, "I Don't Fuck With You". The production is divided between DJ Mustard and Kanye West, assisted by three other producers: I don't know what the role of the additional producers is, but the parts of the two main beatmakers behind the keyboards can be guessed. The song is wonderfully joined by a music video that pays homage to Beamen and "Any Given Sunday" (1999), a masterpiece movie. Wonderful chipmunk soul sample slowed down, then the pop rhythm starts, cinematic boom bap provided by DJ Mustard, with trap drum and that sample in the background; Sean's pre-hook and killer-hook, spitting bars with a smooth, crisp, clean, spectacular style.
Lyrically, at the third word of the first verse he has already contradicted himself with respect to his own chorus: about 0.3 seconds have passed. But if we stop and read to the lyrics, we never get out of them. Hook, then E-40's flowing and eclectic performance, killing the piece with a dope flow. There could be hundreds of feats that would probably have worked equally or better here, however, no one feels in the best place at the best time like this of E-40. Big Sean returns for the final verse, after the chorus: beat switch, with samples highlighted, an extraordinary choice of producer Kanye, the MC delivers these bars with a sublime, flawless style. It's probably one of his best cuts ever. The video gives it unlimited replay value, and in addition to the giveaways to the movie, it offers us other notable passages: Kanye West as Sean's team coach, and another super slo-mo from the sample chipmunk soul just before the E-40 verse.
"Play No Games" could mark the end of the best period of the album, but not: brilliant pop rap production by duo Key Wane & Jay John Henry, eclectic drum, Sean Anderson's sublime delivery, Chris Brown provides a discreet chorus and Ty Dolla Sign a great powerful vocal in the finale, while the music video reconstructs the TV show "Martin". Almost twenty minutes of LP, and the MC didn't do anything wrong. The miracle continues. "Paradise" is another easy classic. I don't know where Mike Will Made It got the beat from, but it's an absolute banger; whatever Sean said, the tune would become an automatic hit.
Over this dark and practically perfect boom bap trap, with downtempo drum pounding, he brings out something actually, it's not much, but it's something. Chorus, post-hook, both slow, then he accelerates madly on the unique verse, smooth, dragging, magnificent. The song is originally a single that the rapper decides to bring to the album by extending it with a second verse: Bigs Sean walks away and greets the rest of the whole scene, performing with an impressive and unstoppable flow, he disintegrates the rhythm.
With 6 songs and just under 23 minutes, it's one of the best trap and pop rap sections of the period. This part is Sean Don's classic, there are several bangers and some of the best moments of his career: boasts his best rapping and is blessed with a simply stunning production, which excellently conveys the gloomy mood and soul that's inherent in trap, everything works beautifully. In these few songs, he has shown he can be one of the best artists in the trap / pop rap scene, here he's concentrated, clean, dominant. This first section is very strong, too strong, even for himself, because he cannot hold up to this very high level for more than twenty minutes.
After another five minutes of autonomy, the record collapses incredibly in its second fraction, bending entirely on rnb fillers: there are still many guests, Jhené Aiko (uncredited in "Win Some, Lose Some"), Kanye West (uncredited in "Stay Down"), Lil Wayne and John Legend, nevertheless, the songs lose energy and constantly emit rnb vibes, sung hooks and bland rapping arrive, production slows down excessively, and the drum never hits as before, culminating in the ballad "One Man Can Change the World", a song that even at its release was foreign to the ears of listeners compared to the previous singles ("I Don't Fuck With You", "Blessings", "Paradise").
Released by GOOD Music and Def Jam, the album comes first on the pop and rap charts, and is certified double platinum by the RIAA: this effort is treated badly by the retrospective [reviewers], I personally feel that those few songs and that period of Big Sean's career should be properly celebrated.
Rating: 8/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment