Photo by Trevor Sage-El

The Bompton artist is clearly feeling some type of way after not being placed in the ‘Best Rap Album’ category at the Grammys this year. The release of YG’s project: My Krazy Life undoubtedly kept the streets locked, so it’s actually quite surprising that he missed out on the line-up.
YG vented his frustration in a recent interview with Power 106, seeing no alternative than to Blame It On The Streets.

The Bicken Back Being Bool trapper explained:

“My album is better than them albums. I feel like, I already knew I wasn’t gonna win a Grammy but they gon’ nominate me for sure. I didn’t get it. I really feel some type of way. I know it got something to do with me being from the streets and representing what I represent and talking about what I talk about on these records.”

If this wasn’t enough, YG continued to rep’ his movement in the game, adding:

“I really had the best rap album of 2014, all these rappers gon’ tell you that, I should’ve got a nomination for the Grammys. I feel like the Grammy people gotta know. I’m the people’s champ. They be rocking with me. I got a foundation, a non-profit, I do like five to eight events every year.”

The post YG Talks Grammys: “Blame It On The Streets” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

This video is different from YG’s regular style of videos but still has some twang to it. YG is seen wearing a red hat rapping the lyrics to the camera with a red checker backdrop in a dimmed out environment giving the video a flavourful boost. Watch the clip for DJ Mustard-produced track below.

The post Watch YG’s Latest Video For “Flow 2015” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

A Compton classic. An unlikely rapper/producer pairing. Two long-awaited projects from veteran members of hip-hop’s hottest crew, and a strong debut from their eager label mate. While Kendrick Lamar crafts his anticipated sophomore LP, Kanye West fraternizes with major clothing lines, and Jay Z travels the world with some groupie, a series of celebrated up-and-coming artists have taken over the first half of 2014, keeping fans’ interests afloat with quality, ambitious releases. Picking favorites from crop of phenomenal productions from diverse young artists and seasoned veterans alike wasn’t easy, but after putting it to a vote amongst the RESPECT. staff, here are our top ten albums–in no particular order–of 2014 so far:

YG – My Krazy Life

In the music industry, you get one chance and one chance only to debut your voice, your flow, your sound. Once that chance is taken, there is no going back. Most artists believe that they are able to bounce back from a bad first impression, but rapper YG is smarter than that. And, not to mention, much more strategic. YG’s debut album, My Krazy Life, left very little to the imagination and gave all listeners the inside scoop to his life. The good, the bad and the ugly all found a home in My Krazy Life.  The honesty drew fans in and they couldn’t get enough of YG and his ability to craft an amazing story based off of his life experiences. Between the production from DJ Mustard and the lyrics, YG created one of the hottest albums of 2014.

Best Tracks: “Sorry Momma”, “Me and My Bitch”

– Jasmina T. Cuevas

Mac Miller – Faces

The man of many personalities, Mac Miller, dropped his latest mixtape, Faces, on Mother’s Day. Last year Mac impressed critics with his studio LP Watching Movies With the Sound Off, and this tape did not fail to follow suit. Although Faces is nearly 90-minutes long, Mac takes you on an enjoyable journey full of tales of love, depression, drugs, and self-reflection. There are also fun tracks, such as “Thumbalina” and “Insomniak.” Hell, he even surprised the world with a Mike Jones feature. Mac is getting better with every new release, proving to doubters that he isn’t just a fun, cheesy rapper who only makes party music. 

Best Tracks: “Insomniak” ft. Rick Ross, “Inside Outside”

– Jesse Lyles

Ab-Soul – These Days…

Ab-Soul took his lyric-driven hip-hop eccentricities to new levels with his third studio LP These Days…, which blends catchy melodies, dense bars, and gleeful spontaneity in a way that keeps listeners on their toes throughout its nearly 90-minute runtime. The density of Soulo‘s lyrics–which touch on everything from race and religion to sex and “THC through TSA”–are matched by intricate, layered production from a variety of skilled producers. And, like the ambitiously scattered production, These Days… features a variety of guests from all walks of the hip-hop world, including Lupe Fiasco, Action Bronson, Danny Brown and a virtual who’s who of the ever-intriguing TDE collective. Whether or not fans can discuss These Days…with the same reverence as Soulo‘s excellent 2012 LP Control System remains in question, but there is certainly no doubt Ab-Soul is one of hip-hop’s best and brightest young talents.

Best Tracks: “Tree of Life”, “Stigmata” ft. Action Bronson & Asaad

– Sam Griffen

ScHoolboy Q – Oxymoron

Oxymoron is in fact just that–an oxymoron–and in more ways than one. In one aspect, it isn’t the hype, club-banging, radio-heavy album most assumed ScHoolboy Q would debut to the mainstream world with. Instead, TDE teased us with a clever, oh-so-gangster album which just so happened to gain attention in the club with singles such as “Man Of The Year” and “What They Want” featuring club-single “gawd” 2 Chainz. Earlier releases like “Collard Greens” and “Break The Bank” can still be heard in midday radio mixes and seen on video streams on VH1 and MTV. Now, we’re grooving with the gangster Q to his “Studio” single which features BJ The Chicago Kid and has started getting played everywhere. Take a walk in ScHoolboy’s shoes as he does everything “bad” all for the good of his beloved Joy.

Best Tracks: “Studio” ft. BJ The Chicago Kid, “Collard Greens” ft. Kendrick Lamar

– Atiera J.

Future – Honest

After the surprising success of his debut album, Pluto, Future went from regional champion to national commodity– appearing on tracks with everyone from Miley Cyrus to Young Thug over the last two years, and popping up on every out-of-this-world hook on the warmer side of Mars. But as anticipation grew for the follow-up, so did the concerns. As the singles leaked out, none seemed to truly stick. Then came the exact release date, almost exactly two years from the day Pluto dropped into orbit, and, finally, “Move That Dope” and “I Won.”

With two certified bangers – and hits – on the airwaves, Honest hit stores and all tension was released. The album is concise, with a run time under an hour, and star-studded (guests include: Kanye, Andre 3000, Drake, Pharrell, and, of course, producer Mike Will Made It) but at the core we’re left with one, multifaceted central character – Future. And we get to see every side of him here. There’s the street hustler in “Move That Dope,” plus the loverman guiding us through the “Turn on the Lights Pt. 2”-ish feel of “I Won” (which includes Kanye at his most frat-bro-in-love moment, probably ever), but there’s also there’s also the pillow talk promising on “I Be You” and the two different forms of brashness of “My Momma” and the title track. Once you add in the fade-in, fade-out Drake appearance on “Never Satisfied” and, arguably the best song of 2014, “Benz Friendz” what you have is proof of this: Future’s a bonafide rap star and here to stay.

Best Tracks: “Benz Friendz” ft. Andre 3000, “I Won” ft. Kanye West

– Justin Rockhold

Vince Staples – Shyne Coldchain II

As astoundingly good as he is, it’s hard to blame you if you’ve been sleeping on Vince Staples. His drawling, almost drooling sneer of a voice and his bulky, if sometimes unstructured, flow fly below many radars on the first go around. Almost lazy-sounding at a first glimpse, Staples‘ music reaps huge rewards if you just give him a moment more of your time and attention. The Long Beach shooter has a golden gift for bleak, brutal storytelling and stunning, dead-eyed shit talk. His best project to date, Shyne Coldchain II is stuffed full of vivid, harrowing vignettes of Vince’s upbringing that rival any and all storytellers and poets in hip-hop.

The ten song tape begins with a piercing, storm-forboding sample from the legendary No I.D., being battered around by a dazed Vince, who drops dozens of haymaker nihilist gems. “Shells they burning long as hell is burning, I’ll murder God / If he was tryna fuck up my paper, nigga that’s all I got,” he raps on the first verse. “Seen blacks ain’t crack, so they gave us that / give us hope, then take us back,” he spits in the second. On the chorus, he just hums like a kid dragging a twig across a fence—“dun da dun, dun da dun.” He’s numb to the pain, and further, the morbid cycle has become the only institution to which he pledges allegiance, and so he does so with murderous abandon.

SCVII sees Vince growing up a scarred and warped young mind, with present-day Vince capturing his past ache and confusion with gut-checking crispness. “As a kid, all I wanted was to kill a man,” he raps on album highlight “Nate,” a song of trauma so painfully rendered that it alone is worth essays. While what that line tells us about Vince as a kid is shocking, what we learn (from the surrounding songs) about that wish’s ripple-effect is perhaps the tape’s true centerpiece. “My mama cried the day I got put on the hood / Never wished for better days, only wished a nigga would,” Vince says, staring down a Southern California-sized gun barrel without blinking. Nothing about Vince Staples or Shyne Coldchain reaches—every bar and beat, even at their grimmest moments, come as easy as breathing, as calmly as Vince reaches for his pistol. Teddy Roosevelt famously said to “walk softly and carry a big stick,” and Vince Staples has mastered each end of that advice to a chilling degree.

Best Tracks: “Nate”

– Ben Sherak

Kid Cudi – Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon

Take a ride in a space ship to the moon and beyond with Kid Cudi‘s Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. With soft and sultry singles such as “Balmain Jeans” featuring the smooth vocals of Raphael Saadiq as well as party-potential songs like the title track, “Satellite Flight”, Cudi gives us versatility and a whirl of emotions per usual. “Too Bad I Have To Destroy You Now” and “Internal Bleeding” keep us in space as Cudi draws us even further into his emotional world, all the while displaying his brilliant production skills. Satellite Flight is the long awaited journey of a release that Kid Cudi fans have been needing since 2013’s Indicud.

Best Tracks: “Balmain Jeans” ft. Raphael Saadiq, “Too Bad I Have To Destroy You Now”

– Atiera J.

The Roots – …and then you shoot your cousin

The Roots have pulled off quite a feat. While becoming more recognizable than ever thanks to their Jimmy Fallon gig, they’ve managed to go the complete opposite direction with their music. The normal route would be to capitalize on their newfound mainstream visibility and begin making more accessible, radio-friendly music, but the Roots are far from normal. Instead of going after the charts, ?uestlove et. al began crafting shorter, darker, bleaker projects. …and then you shoot your cousin follows up their “concept” album Undun, and takes the structure to its maximal point. Where Undun maintained a fairly straight-forward structure, &TYSYC turns it on its head.

We have sparse lyrics, more melodies, and some jarring, industrial instrumentals. Even though the album clocks in at a brief 30 minutes, the listener does not feel cheated. The music is dense and the lyric-driven songs on the album require attention. “Never” and “When the People Cheer” are paranoid, frightened records that introduce the theme of overarching darkness the band has been playing with more and more since How I Got Over. “The Dark” is aggressive, with an absolutely killer verse from Dice Raw, as he spits, “Crossed that bitch, then I got that bitch/Now all I want from her’s an abortion/My mind filled with distortion, my eyelids say caution/Yeah I sold crack to get my soul back, they say it’s gonna cost a fortune.” Not one to be outdone, though, Black Thought delivers his most graphic and poignant verse as the album reaches its bleakest point on “The Unraveling.” “What did the thief say unto the hanging man?/‘Here come the hounds, lay your burdens down in advance.’”

The Roots seem to have no interest in returning to fuller, longer albums, and there is no need for them to even attempt to do so. Where Undun tripped up with its ambitious concept, &TYSYC delivers in spades with focus and economical execution. It’s dark, it’s short, but it’s spectacular.

Best Tracks: “Never”, “When the People Cheer”

– Kevin Ahmadi

 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Pinata

In what is certainly hip-hop’s oddest success story of the year, gruff-voiced Indiana MC Freddie Gibbs linked up with everyone’s favorite sample wizard Madlib for Pinata, a 17-track gauntlet of street rhymes and spastic production. Madlib uses the same jarring beat changes and ADHD-infused sample selection that made Madvillainy, his oft-celebrated collaboration with MF Doom, such a masterpiece. Gangsta Gibbs’ raw, gritty lyrics are delivered with an intensity that can keep up the pace with the production. Fashioned as “a gangster Blacksploitation film on wax,” Pinata is Madlib and Gibbs wearing their hearts on their sleeves–pure, unadulterated samples layered over raw, unabridged lyrics describing a life of crime, thrills and pain. Now let’s get these two working together more often.

Best Tracks: “Deeper”, “High” ft. Danny Brown

– Sam Griffen

Isaiah Rashad – Cilvia Demo

When thinking about Top Dawg Entertainment, it’s easy to focus on the headliners like Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and nothing else. However, bubbling underneath the surface are artists like SZA — hell, even TDE co-president Punch spits sometimes. Another artist teetering on the verge of stardom is Isaiah Rashad. His Cilvia Demo was quietly released in January and quickly became a fan favorite.

At times, Isaiah has a delivery reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar but with more of a southern flair and perhaps‎ a chip on his shoulder. His songs run the gamut of crunk trunk-rattlers to introspective thought provokers and everywhere in between.

Isaiah Rashad and the aforementioned SZA make a formidable duo and it’s no coincidence that Cilvia Demo‘s standout songs pair the artists together. “West Savannah” is a slow-rolling ode to young-but-misunderstood love and “Heavenly Father”  is a somber look at both the world around him and in the mirror. The closing “Shot You Down” assures us that Isaiah can hold his own alongside the bigger dawgs of TDE‎. All in all, the future appears to be bright for Rashad and if he keeps dropping stellar projects like Cilvia Demo, he won’t have to be “Modest” for much longer.

Best Tracks: “West Savannah” ft. SZA, “Heavenly Father”

– Emanuel Wallace

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Ask anyone to give a vivid description of Compton, California and you may be referred to Boyz n the Hood or Menace II Society. Musically, options may include N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton or Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.D. City. Once you add My Krazy Life to the list, the visualization becomes pretty accurate. My Krazy Life is the newest addition to the West Coast’s lineage of inner-city stories that give a raw, uncensored look into a day in the life of a Compton kid. This one is Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson, or YG. Featuring co-signs from some of the industry’s biggest names (Drake, Kendrick Lamar), My Krazy Life is a cohesive record with a strong story line that has even tentatively been compared to achievements as tall as Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’.

RESPECT. recently spoke with YG about My Krazy Life, his current tour, and some advice the OGs have given him. Not only did we speak with him, but we also got a chance to visit the My Krazy Life Tour on its Atlanta stop. The tour, much like the album, is cinematic. YG retells his story, live, with props and accompanying skits. He takes you on a tour of L.A. It is a staggering twist of events–from being forewarned by his mother of the consequences of gang banging, to party anthems, to a robbery–which ultimately lead to a real life jail sentence. My Krazy Life and its corresponding show prove that YG is a real rapper from Compton with a real story to tell.

On your record, “I Just Wanna Party” with Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock, you’re putting your conflicting gang affiliations aside to just have fun. How did this song come about?

Ah, man, that record came about because when we come to a club or a party, there don’t need to be no issues, that’s why the song starts off, “I just wanna party, I don’t want to hurt nobody.” When I was making that [particular] record, I was really trying to make that an L.A. anthem. It’s very West Coast. That’s why I decided to put Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock on there.

“Bickin Back Being Bool” is becoming a fan favorite. It has people switching up their lingo. Why did you choose that title for the song?

“Bickin Back Being Bool” is slang that me and the homies use all the time, so, when I’m just going about my everyday life and when I was going into the album, that was one of the first things that came to my mind for song content. The album is based on reality and everyday life, so with that I had to have everyday life situations and content on my album. That was the main thing that stood out that I could talk about real good. That’s where that came from.

“Meet the Flockers” is definitely one of the hardest and most descriptive of a robbery. What do the homies think about that record?

They love that record! I’m talking about what we came up doing. Me and most of my homies…that’s what we were doing when we were like 16,17,18…breaking in houses. I caught a case for that and it was something important I had to let be known. I had to write a record about it and let people know that’s how it goes down.

Has your mom heard the track dedicated to her, “Sorry Momma” ?

She told me she couldn’t listen to it because she would start cryin’.

My Krazy Life has been compared to The Chronic, Get Rich or Die Tryin’  and Snoop is calling you and DJ Mustard the new Dre and Snoop. What’s some really good advice that some of the OGs have given you?

They told me to keep my foot on these niggas necks. Me and Snoop always be having conversations about what he’s gone through and giving me advice on all that because he went through all that when he was coming up; telling me what to avoid so that I won’t go through the same stuff, you know, typical conversations from the older homies.

Jeezy on the left, YG on the right.

You’ve worked with quite a lot of people already, but, specifically, name some artists coming out of the West that you haven’t worked with, but would like to?

I think I [pretty much] worked with everybody out the West Coast who I really, like, fuck with. I got Schoolboy Q on the album, I got Jay Rock on that, Kendrick, Ty Dolla $ign, DJ Mustard produced it….Terrace Martin.

You’re performing at Summer Jam this year. What kind of pressure does that add to you knowing that you’re going to be sharing the stage with Nas and 50 Cent?

There ain’t no pressure. That’s all there is to it. I gotta put on a show.

The My Krazy Life Tour is going on right now, what can people expect from you and Mustard?

Ah, man, the show is gone to be crazy. People are gone walk into the show and get the whole feel, you feel me? You’re gone feel like you’re in LA. I’m gone come out and turn up. So, I just want everybody to check it out. I know after the first show, muthafuckas gone see the show and probably gone start talkin’ about it and it’s gone get around, so that’s what’s gone happen.

Besides Summer Jam and touring, what’s next for YG?

Me, DJ Mustard and Ty Dolla $ign, we partnered up on the Pu$haz Ink Label [that we own]. We got some artists we workin’ on, we got deals on the table, ya dig? So, that’s gone be the next step after my album. We gone come back and get right. I have some other shit, too, I’m working on, but I don’t want to speak on it.  So tell everybody, be at the show, ya feel me? And get the album if you ain’t got it.

Purchase My Krazy Life via iTunes.

Photos by Robin M. Johnson.

The post Interview: YG and The Art of Storytelling appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

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Photo by Trevor Sage-El

It’s official: YG’s debut studio album, My Krazy Life, is one of the best rap releases of the year thus far and a major statement from the West Coast. Now, the nation knows there’s potential for a superstar not named Kendrick Lamar or ScHoolboy Q from the warmer half of the country. Riding the hype of “My Nigga” radio domination and star-studded remix, YG’s primed to become a fixture in the bigger picture of rap. My Krazy Life is an album that jostles back and forth from mid-90’s G-Funk to modern-day rap, stopping almost everywhere in between. While YG does show a surprisingly deft storytelling touch, and a effortless versatility to bounce between soft-hearted tales (well, YG’s version of soft) to club banging tracks, he’s still just a co-star. DJ Mustard’s outstanding production–along with beats from Ty Dolla $ign, Mikely Adam and Atlanta wunderkind Metro Boomin’–creates a thrilling soundscape that is both timeless and so moment-defining that YG can’t do very much to mess it up. Together, YG and Mustard have created a modern West Coast classic. But for all its successes, though, it lacks surprises. But that’s not necessarily a problem.

As Spin’s Brandon Soderberg notes here, YG and Mustard created the perfect ratchet album to culminate a movement that’s both artists have led from underground to mainstream over the last few years. With that in mind, it can be argued that this album could have, and should have, been made two years ago.

In 2010, Tyga was a YMCB bench-warmer at best, withering away while Lil Wayne contemplated leaving the game for skating. But Tyga was a resilient studio hound like his boss and mentor. Tyga may not have been doing much of note, but he was releasing a steady stream of music and helping craft a sound out West that combined Bay-area hyphy music and the sparseness of Atlanta snap music that ultimately morphed into the unique sound that is ratchet. Eventually, he found a kindred spirit of sound in Mustard’s beats and their unique chemistry helped give both rapper and producer their first major tastes of the mainstream. Tyga’s love for party tracks and penchant for simple, earworm hooks melded well with Mustard’s simple, exacting beats, ultimately creating the monster that was “Rack City.” The track was originally part of the mixtape Well Done 2, but it gained so much traction over the course of nearly a year and a half that it ended up being re-released as an actual single that reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped Tyga garner enough hype that his 2^nd studio album was, to the surprise of many, a fairly anticipated release. In the lead up to the album, Tyga dropped his #BitchImTheShit mixtape, which was full of sparse beats and catchy, memeorable hooks. (Sound familiar, YG fans?) The tape included songs like the “Rack City”-lookalike, “Make It Nasty” and the West-Coast-meets-Future ‘”Fuck With You.” In retrospect, #BitchImTheShit sounds eerily similar to My Krazy Life, only set apart by a Swizz Beat track and a lot less emotional depth, neither of which are necessarily good things.

Photo by Trevor Sage-El

When Careless World: Rise of the Last King hit stores and speakers, fans were expecting something along the lines of what Tyga’s mixtapes sounded like leading up to the release, but what they got was an artist unfocused and unsure of what he wanted to be. “Rack City,” and the club-banging “Faded,” were there, but they were lost and uncomfortable in the company of songs like the tragic-turned-forgettable “Lay You Down,” and the Robin Thicke-assisted “This is Like.” Tyga also found himself trading bars with the likes of Wale, J. Cole and Busta Rhymes; artists known for their lyrical prowess, something Tyga is not and will never be. Careless World  faired OK critically and has sold over 340,000 copies to date. But instead of making a memorable, possibly genr-defining album, pushing a fledgling movement to the forefront, Tyga gave us something that ultimately was just another rap album that “faded” into ephemerality.

It’s not like Tyga is the only artist guilty of this offense. Maybach Music prodigy Meek Mill’s major label debut came and went with little fanfare due to its lack of direction. Instead of giving us an album full of high-energy tracks like “I’mma Boss” and “House Party,” Meek gave us the rather un-memorable Dreams and Nightmares, where he attempted to be “lyrical” and sacrificed the exact style that earned him his record deal with MMG. The album lacks that passion-filled, filthy Philly flow, until the bonus track “Burn” with Big Sean. (Meek even had a Mustard-Tyga type relationship with the producer in his back pocket, Roc Nation producer Jahlil Beats, who produced “I’mma Boss” and “Burn”.)

Photo by Trevor Sage-El

Identity issues abounded on J. Cole’s Roc Nation debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story as well. Cole, maybe for fear of early Kanye comparisons, moved away from the heart-felt flow and soul-sample style that laced all of his mixtapes for a more polished, pop-friendly sound, and the results were mixed. Even this past year, Big Sean struggled to find his identity on Hall of Fame, and this is all not to mention Cudi‘s rock and roll phase.

This isn’t to discourage artists from branching out to different sounds, styles, flows, or even genres. Some artists have done it to devastatingly beautiful effects (see: Future, Kanye, Drake, A$AP Rocky, etc). But when you’ve built your whole persona and career on a certain type of music, it’s shocking to take a different turn in once that momentum culminates in an album.

Some people will applaud the courage of those artists that chose to risk trying something new on their albums, and there’s courage in that for sure. There will be those that complain that YG’s album isn’t diverse enough, that it’s unsurprising, or, at worst, tiresome compared to his other catalog. For now, though, YG’s riding high as the co-king of the coast; the homegrown product putting his city, and it’s signature sound, on the map. To get there, it was simple. He followed a tried and true business plan that’s been around for centuries. Sometimes, you just have to give the people what they want.

Photo by Trevor Sage-El

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YG‘s debut album My Krazy Life hit stores yesterday, but if you didn’t get yours from Best Buy we have an exclusive bonus joint for you. “459” is perfect for cruising in your low rider with the sun shining and wind blowing. It’s a bit ironic that the track is so smooth because 459 is actually the California penal code for burglary, and that’s exactly what YG spits about in his verses. It’s West Coast music at its finest so check it out below.

The post New Music: YG feat. Natasha Mosley – “459” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.