[baystateoftheart]

Play-In 7A:


Metanoia by The Moon And The Nightspirit

Nominated By: Lowkey
Genres [RYM]: Dark Folk, Neo-Medieval Folk

Play-In 7B:


Cold Devil by Drakeo The Ruler

Nominated By: Skinny
Genres [RYM]: Trap Rap, West Coast Hip Hop

Instructions:

Please listen to both albums in full before voting. Share your thoughts and/or your vote in this thread. This poll will be tallied in no less than twelve days. See Tournament Spreadsheet for the full bracket.
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[Luigii]

Over halfway done with Cold Devil and even though I do find some of these instrumentals are good, Drakeo to me has some issues to me. Not a bad lyricists but somewhat boring performer. Though I do have to shout out the Nintendo Switch bar on Out The Slums.

[mickilennial]

I seemed to have more mileage with Metanoia.

[Skinny]

Didn't really expect Drakeo to do particularly well in a tournament like this, especially as an artist who truly rewards repeat listens, but for my money the Los Angeles native is the most unique, intriguing and inventive gangsta rapper to emerge in years. He has a tendency to start rapping before the beat drops, which gives his songs the impression that the instrumental - usually a fairly skeletal beat made up of a heavily reverbed, moody piano refrain and some unintrusive trap percussion, albeit with a nod to hyphy - is actually attempting to match his flow, which itself is conversational, asymmetrical, and practically hiccuped, though decidedly technical in its multisyllabic rhyme schemes. Much like his closest stylistic forebears (and underappreciated West Coast legends) Suga Free and E-40, his relationship with instrumentals is strained at best, but whereas those two tend to fight against beats, performing vocal acrobatics in the process, Drakeo mutters antagonistically across them, as though the very concept of a beat is somehow beneath him. Cadence-wise, he raps in a nonchalant sneer, barely raising his voice above a whisper, which simply makes his threats of violence and tales of cold-blooded, remorseless criminality all the more sinister, and is also reminiscent of how corner boys make their language deliberately opaque when speaking in front of police. Then, in addition to the strange, off-kilter sonic aspect of his rapping, there are his lyrics, which are fucking absurd. He has created his own little universe, a corner of LA where gangsters mud-walk, big banc uchies swell pockets and populate dashboards, Luke Skywalker flu flamms enemies, where you ain't shit if Neiman & Marcus don't know you, clowns simply provide ammo for new songs, tombstones have pictures on, and little wannabes might sound good but make no money. And then something something Pippi Longstocking. I'm not going to pretend I have a fucking clue what he's talking about most of the time, but in a world where rap verses get pulled apart on Genius in an increasingly strange and desperate attempt to destroy ambiguity, it's refreshing for a rapper to speak in tongues, each song a series of inscrutable non-sequiturs, calling to mind the genius slang labyrinths of Rae and Ghost circa Cuban Linx. I must admit, it took me a while to get what Drakeo was doing, as my ears simply weren't attuned to his angular, nonsensical mutterings, but I soon realised that I was returning to this record on a daily basis, and often multiple times, totally transfixed by this strange, one-of-a-kind style. I still can't tell if he's a genius or an idiot, or perhaps both, but Cold Devil is without doubt the most fresh and fascinating rap album of 2017.
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2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

[Puncture Repair]

Honestly, I found Metanoia to be all drivel.

Drakeo gets my vote, no question.

[Purplepash]

I thought Metanoia was very good. Great music to paint to according to my wife who claimed it influenced what she was painting at the time, and was very happy with the end result. Easily gets my vote here (and a spot in my 2017 chart - the 5th album from these play-in games to do so) over the confusing Pippi Longstocking meets Benjamin Franklin stories that just went right over my head.

[baystateoftheart]

I love some good trap rap, so I went into Drakeo's album with high hopes. Sadly, I found it very mediocre. The production isn't particularly inventive, but it is solid, and it gave Drakeo a lot of chances to take the momentum and run with it. But every time I started feeling it, he'd sap the energy with a corny line or a wack hook. Due to the lack of standout tracks or stylistic switch-ups, the mixtape also felt a lot longer than its 43 minute runtime. My least favorite of the play-in games. Btw when he says Pippi Longstocking it's slang he invented for an extended clip.

I had never heard a dark folk or neo-medieval folk album before, and was pleasantly surprised by the results. Beautiful textures and atmospheres. I was giving my sister a ride while I listened to Metanoia, and she said it was repetitive and boring. I see where she's coming from, but to me the album felt worthwhile. So, an easy vote in this round.
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[dihansse]

I don’t really like hiphop in general but the Drakeo album was one of the worst I heard recentst; also the Metanoia album was not completely my thing but it really wins here

[Skinny]

[baystateoftheart]