[baystateoftheart]

Seed #14:

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Guns by Quelle Chris

Nominated by: LebowskiRams
Genres [RYM]: Conscious Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Jazz Rap

Seed #17:

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There Existed An Addiction To Blood by clipping.

Nominated by: Luigii
Genres [RYM]: Industrial Hip Hop, Horrorcore

Instructions:

If you have not already, 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 fewer than twenty-eight days. See Tournament Spreadsheet for the full bracket.
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[LedZep]

While I love Quelle Chris' thought-provoking, conscious lyricism and mostly catchy (but sometimes a bit repetitive) hooks on Guns, which by the way may be his best work, I gotta give my vote to clipping. Diggs' inventive, harsh gangsta rapping style mixed with horror stories and experimental and ambient soundscapes makes for a truly one-of-a-kind experience. From literal harsh noise part in the end of La Mala Ordina, to the dark, low key beats on He Dead and drone/dark ambient background in Club Down, to the incredible instrumental closer Piano Burning which is actually a real drone track, this is truly one of the best hip hop records of the year. It's also clipping's best and most unique output imo. The highlights on a very consistent album are Nothing Is Safe, Club Down, All in Your Head, Blood of the Fang, Attunement and Piano Burning. In fact I have to move it up my chart after a relisten, it's even better than I remember.
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Overall chart
Fake overall chart

2020s

[Purplepash]

clipping. has higher highs (Nothing Is Safe is one of my favourite hip hop songs of 2019), and a great overall theme, but Guns is the more consistent album, and overall slightly more enjoyable. Like a few of these matchups another close call but I'm voting for Quelle Chris.

[mickilennial]

I will never understand what people see in clipping. Always felt like they were the worst applicators of noise in their brand of industrial hip hop and nothing about them was impressive or frankly, good.

[Skinny]

I actually thought Guns was far from Quelle at his best, and found him too constrained by its concept, ever so slightly preachy, and altogether too samey. Too many of its beats felt overworked and weren't conducive to helping him get his funny, conversational, everyman persona across, and it was the first time I've heard a Quelle album drag. I found it less fun and freewheeling than efforts from much earlier in his career (Niggas Is Men; Innocent Country; and particularly the sorely overlooked Shotgun & Sleek Rifle), and less interesting and inventive than his other recent concept albums (Everything's Fine; and particularly Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often, which is one of the best rap albums of the last five years). The album still has some really great moments, but they're surrounded by more forgettable filler or failed experiments than I'm used to from Quelle. It's probably not even the huge drop-off in quality I'm making out, to be honest, but rather a minor disappointment. Also, Innocent Country 2 is great, so it's not as though he's fallen off or anything. He just made this one record that I liked less than his usual, madly prolific output. It's not a bad album, but it is a bad Quelle album.

Still, a bad Quelle album is better than any clipping. album, so a vote for Guns it is.
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2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

[RoundTheBend]

[RoundTheBend]

[baystateoftheart]

I'm not a fan of horror movies, and I have the same distaste for most horrorcore. So that's my underlying bias going into this matchup. I actually found There Existed An Addiction To Blood (my first experience with clipping.) to be a very good album in spite of this. The production and rapping are both great, and there are enough tracks that aren't super macabre to keep it listenable for me. The downside, in addition to the tracks that are super macabre, is Piano Burning. It feels tacked on instead of being a natural fit, and it's also not very interesting musically.

Guns is my favorite Quelle Chris album so far (haven't heard his new one yet). It is, however, rather inconsistent. But the standout tracks, mostly toward the latter half of the album, have great beats, flows, and lyricism. I also appreciate the loose concept that ties the album together. Guns gets my vote.
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[guzguzgarbit]

Didn't expect to hear some The Rita in this tournament... Oh, well, clipping for me.

[cestuneblague]

I'm a newcomer to Quelle Chris, I found this album strong in concept but only half-interesting in execution, however def has enough interesting ideas for a few more go-rounds. Clipping I got nothing from but, while apologies for being a friggin' broken record in these matches, I also have the feeling I'm just too old for that album regardless. So Quelle Chris.