A great progressive pop album from the 80s. The production on this album is fantastic, and the songs are consistently great. The one thing that I will say against this album is that it didn't have the push over the edge to make it an all-time great album. I still enjoyed it, but it just didn't have the power to be a great album. Will most definitely make a decade and year list, though. 4/5.
I noticed you didn't have a 50s list so I thought I'd recommend an all-time great jazz album. Five giants of jazz came together for this astounding date that is probably the greatest live jazz album ever. Hope you enjoy! _________________ Don't get work up over my posts. I'm an idiot.
Rantings on my Top 100 My podcast
First of all, Luigii, I want to say I like you, I respect you, and you have great taste. And this album does not change those feelings I have. Just wanted to be clear about that beforehand, because I need to speak my mind about this album. This was one of the worst albums I have ever heard in my life.
First, the positives. There is one, at most: the production. Some of the beats were above average, many were average, and some were below average. It wasn't stellar production taken as a whole, but it was a solid foundation to build upon.
Now, the negatives. Throughout listening to the album I thought one of them was rapping and one was producing. Reading about the group now, it seems they both do both (correct me if I'm wrong). Because of my inability to differentiate between them as emcees, this criticism to follow apparently applies to both. The rapping on this album consisted of bad flow, poor vocal styles, nonexistent charisma, and absolute rock-bottom lyrics. Oh God, the lyrics! Partway through the first track, I started making a mental list of bad lyrics so I could use them in my review. Not far into the hour-long run-time, the list became far too long to keep track of. By the end as I pushed myself to get through the album, it easily would have been over one hundred items long. Most of them have since faded from my mind, perhaps a subconscious mental self-defense mechanism. I can say that as a whole they were the wackest, corniest, most cringeworthy, conceptually worst batch of lyrics I have ever encountered. And as far as bars and wordplay, what's found here was not anywhere near the standard in this style of rap. I honestly cannot even fathom how people put some of these words to paper in the first place, let alone thought they were good enough to record and sell. Perhaps the most mindboggling thing is this. In rap, there are many good uses of lyrics. For instance, you can use lyrics to boast of your prowess. You can also use lyrics in a personal, confessional way to depict your struggles. What you never ever hear a decent rapper utter is, in internet slang, a self-own. I can count on one hand the number of hip-hop self-owns I have heard in my life before this album. And there were as many as ten brutal self-owns on this album alone! They reminded me of Biggie's mad rapper skit come to life, but somehow worse. And the hypocritical fake-woke "real hip-hop" backpacker bullshit is taken to absolutely new levels on this album, because usually people who go that route at least have some decent bars to back up their big talk. Making matters worse, there are zero features to provide lyrical or stylistic diversity and help this go down easier. I would guess this is because they have bought into the inane idea that peppering an album with features makes it less impressive. One of the most challenging slogs through a piece of music in my life. If I had to pick the three most dire songs on the album for those interested, there's so much competition, but I might choose "Beer", "DQMOT", and "Creepshow". But then again, you won't get the full aural torture experience unless you hear it start to finish. I'm so sorry Luigii, I hate to trash one of your favorites like this, but I had to get this off my chest. 1.5/5
~~~~~
For brun027:
I made this rec much earlier, but the person it was intended for hasn't posted:
First of all, Luigii, I want to say I like you, I respect you, and you have great taste. And this album does not change those feelings I have. Just wanted to be clear about that beforehand, because I need to speak my mind about this album. This was one of the worst albums I have ever heard in my life.
First, the positives. There is one, at most: the production. Some of the beats were above average, many were average, and some were below average. It wasn't stellar production taken as a whole, but it was a solid foundation to build upon.
Now, the negatives. Throughout listening to the album I thought one of them was rapping and one was producing. Reading about the group now, it seems they both do both (correct me if I'm wrong). Because of my inability to differentiate between them as emcees, this criticism to follow apparently applies to both. The rapping on this album consisted of bad flow, poor vocal styles, nonexistent charisma, and absolute rock-bottom lyrics. Oh God, the lyrics! Partway through the first track, I started making a mental list of bad lyrics so I could use them in my review. Not far into the hour-long run-time, the list became far too long to keep track of. By the end as I pushed myself to get through the album, it easily would have been over one hundred items long. Most of them have since faded from my mind, perhaps a subconscious mental self-defense mechanism. I can say that as a whole they were the wackest, corniest, most cringeworthy, conceptually worst batch of lyrics I have ever encountered. And as far as bars and wordplay, what's found here was not anywhere near the standard in this style of rap. I honestly cannot even fathom how people put some of these words to paper in the first place, let alone thought they were good enough to record and sell. Perhaps the most mindboggling thing is this. In rap, there are many good uses of lyrics. For instance, you can use lyrics to boast of your prowess. You can also use lyrics in a personal, confessional way to depict your struggles. What you never ever hear a decent rapper utter is, in internet slang, a self-own. I can count on one hand the number of hip-hop self-owns I have heard in my life before this album. And there were as many as ten brutal self-owns on this album alone! They reminded me of Biggie's mad rapper skit come to life, but somehow worse. And the hypocritical fake-woke "real hip-hop" backpacker bullshit is taken to absolutely new levels on this album, because usually people who go that route at least have some decent bars to back up their big talk. Making matters worse, there are zero features to provide lyrical or stylistic diversity and help this go down easier. I would guess this is because they have bought into the inane idea that peppering an album with features makes it less impressive. One of the most challenging slogs through a piece of music in my life. If I had to pick the three most dire songs on the album for those interested, there's so much competition, but I might choose "Beer", "DQMOT", and "Creepshow". But then again, you won't get the full aural torture experience unless you hear it start to finish. I'm so sorry Luigii, I hate to trash one of your favorites like this, but I had to get this off my chest. 1.5/5
Wow! This is the first time where I got someone to despise on one of my favorites. And you know what? That is perfectly fine. I disagree with this. Like a lot. But not every album is gonna be a winner.
Now let me see if I could flesh out my thoughts. For one I will correct you that thought both mc's do produce, the person that is mostly under the helm is The Ones or by his actual name Christopher Portugal. Two I completely disagree on the fake woke backpacker bullshit. I think the main reason for this disagreement comes down to how the duo doesn't take themselves that seriously. Throughout there entire careers, the duo never had this mantra of being the best. When I listen to the band, I could tell that they have this aura of not giving a fuck and want to hang out, have fun being part of the normal day to day life. Hell throughout the album, they are realistically being clowns with songs like Teeth or Chicken Kebap. Hell the latter kinda reminds me of the stuff you see on Eric Andre. I could point out that the flow of the duo realistically reminds me of Biz Markie. Another individual that you would probably hate the hell out of since he share the same "problems" that you don't like. Especially with Just A Friend. But that brings me to other details that you mentioned. Like really no charisma? No, I will say Double K or as his main name Michael Turner has this flow that is both smooth but also has an demeanor from a person that you would want to hang with but you cause a shit show, he would kick your ass in a heartbeat. While The Ones would have a more geeky persona though does share a sense of being serious. Now there are other things I could mention however, I want to see if Tha1ChiefRocka could maybe elaborate on this. Because I feel like this can be a legitimate discussion and argument that could maybe change your thoughts of the album. Though I'm not expecting you to love it immediately after or get anymore enjoyment. So don't worry if that doesn't happen. We won't like everything we hear. And that's fine.
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Yeah I'm not the biggest fan of Eric Andre or Biz Markie, but I also haven't hated what I've seen/heard (although I've never checked out a full Markie LP, to be fair). But if People Under The Stairs are going the comedy route like you suggest, I would argue they haven't fully committed to it, or fine-tuned their music so that it's actually funny.
I was definitely overly harsh on this album. It may deserve a 2/5 instead of a 1.5/5. Perhaps I was in a poor mind state for listening to it. Perhaps the low rating was as a result of being let down, because I thought I might really like it. But either way, I know that it's unlikely I will flip from hating it to being a fan, and listening again to see if I go from hating it to simply disliking it doesn't seem worth the time to me. I can tell you that I certainly would have had a better opinion of this in high school, when I used to listen to several artists in their general orbit within aughts underground American hip-hop.
I've only listened to their debut and OST, which is generally considered to be their best album. Also, I wouldn't say they aren't that serious. Thes One in particular is a guy that's about keeping it real, and he is a hip hop purist.
What can I say? This shit was funky. Goes without saying but this would’ve been a great fit for my Japanese Week. I really liked the cool little instrumental quirks and idiosyncrasies here and there, plus even though I can’t understand them, I’m sure the lyricism is something special too. Brilliant pick on your part Chief, don’t know whether I’ll dive any deeper into his catalog by I was sure glad I got to check this one out. Probably a light sitting on a light 7 right now. Still hats off to you mate. And fair call Luig for calling him a smart ass.
Well hello, look who it is again! I guess this one’s for you;
Wasps' Nests by The 6ths _________________ Some RYM paraphernalia:
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