It's been a busy week in the world of hip hop and R&B. Billboard Unfiltered Drake's 100 Gigs Dump, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign's Vulture 2 And Rat's status in the female rap world.
Fans have been dissecting every one of Drake's chess moves since his feud with Kendrick Lamar ended, with VP of editorial Damien Scott praising Drake's smart decision to leak the three songs and archival footage, comparing it to what Ye did with “Good Friday.”
“We know he's a guy who not only thinks about his own career, but the market as a whole, his opponents,” Scott said. “I think this is very refreshing. It's really creative. The best compliment I can give is that I feel like this is something Ye did when he was still in his prime. Back when he was doing his Good Friday Release.”
But he still thinks the move has put his feud with Lamar on his mind: “I don't think it's crazy to think, 'OK, let's just reset for a second.'
But staff writer Kyle Dennis thinks Drake is nervous about the reaction to his next single and found a loophole to see how it goes: “I honestly think this is awful,” he said, “because I don't think these are the three songs in all, three songs and 10 hours of archival footage. If we believe in this new song, why are we reminiscing fondly at the same time?”
Up Vulture 2Panel members felt the original version of the project was poorly crafted and acknowledged that fans naturally expected more from Ye and Tai. “It feels like Ye doesn't care. If Ye doesn't care, why should we care?” Scott asked.
Senior chart and data analyst Trevor Anderson is surprised that none of the songs are on track to knock off the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
“No matter where you want to start from 2015 onwards, Vulture 1 “'Carnival' is an exception… I think that was the bigger surprise for people,” he said. “I feel like it's a little lower down. It's weird that the songs aren't all over the place… Every song has been No. 1 since 'The College Dropout.' I don't want to make too much of a big deal out of it, but when you look at the record books, you're like, 'Oh man, that's where it really started to drop.'”
Having witnessed Kanye's illustrious discography, Associate Director of Hip Hop/R&B Carl Lamarr is frustrated because he knows what kind of talent Kanye has when it comes to music. V2The final product.
“Kendrick is someone I still believe in. I could put him on the same level as releasing five classic albums in a row, knowing what he's done creatively and not worrying about this kind of decline. One of my favorite songs is '530,' and I could see that moment, but it went downhill from there at the end,” Lamar said. “So it's hard to dismiss him and say, 'I'm done.'”
Listen now, Dennis is a rat Sugar Honey Iced Tea She believes the album has the potential to catapult her into the big three of female rap alongside Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj.
“One of them [big three] “Spots is a bit shaky right now, for obvious reasons. I think this album is better than any female rap album that's come out this year. I'm confident about this album. I'm very happy with this album.”
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