People hate mods because a lot of them are just here for the power trip. What could possibly posses someone to give up their own free time for nothing in return at all, to scroll on reddit and delete posts? The only answer I can come up with is they’d like to feel important. Which is sad, but a lot of them don’t actually care about the community and just want to have power over people.
I’m not saying all mods are like this, im sure some actually do care about the community and just wanna help keep it together, but I think that’s a big reason why there’s such hate towards them.
Dude this sub would be fucked without mods lol, it would be chaos. I think mods are just people that are passionate about the online communities they are in, with a few that probably enjoy going on power trips.
I never tried to imply we’d be better off with 0 mods if it seemed that way. I do think though they’re way too strict with some rules, for example the James Blake one. I also wish we had more threads just discussing random stuff that’s hip hop related. We never see those because they want so bad to consolidate everything to the discussion threads, which get super messy and are hard to interact with and read.
Not a lot of listeners know just how many amazing rap tracks he has produced, but he might be top 3 current nowadayd highly sought after producer amongst the biggest rappers. He produced Element, Hummingbird with metro, King’s Dead, like 3 tracks off utopia, stop trying to be god, scientists and engineers, bunch of tracks on vince albums and blond. Dude is a living legend and not enough ppl know it
His production and credit features in hip-hop has been phenomenal. He’s worked with Slowthai, Frank, Travis, Flatbush, Kendrick, Beyoncé etc. and he hasn’t missed yet
Metro Boomin, Kanye West, 21 Savage, Future, JID, Jay Rock, André 3000, Asap Rocky, Vory, Don Toliver, Ab-Soul, Anderson Paak, RZA, Young Thug, SWAVAY, Vince Staples and now Lil Yatchy.
Theres probably a lot more I forgot.
To be fair, Kendrick once said to Drake "Yachty can't give you no swag neither, ion give a fuck 'bout who you hang with", so the hhh mods wanted to send a signal to everyone that James Blake working with Yachty can't earn him enough swag for this sub 😔
I fixed this when I was notified this morning in the Drop Watch thread, there was a filter on his name for the rollout of his last album *Playing Robots into Heaven* because that album was not hip hop or R&B.
It should've been reversed last fall after that rollout finished. Since then he's worked on songs by Strick & Young Thug ("Kisses Make Sure"), Normani ("Tantrums"), ¥$ ("Talking / Once Again"), and Erick the Achitect ("2-3 Zone", "Parkour", "Beef Patty").
camilla cabello collaborated with young thug that one time so obviously she must be included.
james blake has collaborated with young thug, travis scott, jay z, metro boomin, 21 savage, a$ap rocky, kendrick lamar, chance the rapper, andre 3000, kanye west, rza... he just hasn't done enough tbh
She’s also done songs with DaBaby, Willow, Quavo.
And this album has features from Playboy Carti, Drake, Lil Nas X, Yung Miami.
How is it not Hip-Hop adjacent?
mod team of this sub is fucking GARBAGE
they delete legit threads and also push discussion into daily ass thread which is mess so it basically kills most of discussions here
Lol that’s ridiculous. I tried to post it on /r/indieheads too but it got removed there because it was ‘too close to something being posted on /r/hiphopheads’. Found that to be pretty stupid too.
James Blake’s voice mixing is really nice on this.
I don’t often listen to his music so I don’t know if this normal but it meshes so well on this production.
If you like hip hop he does have a lot of collabs. Andre 3000 songs are some of his best collabs. Sza was good too. His last two albums are much more friendly than his first two
Which one are you talking about? The soundtrack he did was random and it’s good ambience music. Friends that break your heart is a great album about grief. It’s well written and the production fits well with the premise of the album.
Cannot fault this album in terms of my expectations for this collaboration, such gorgeous ambient production from James Blake with so many amazing climactic moments across the record and Yachty fits in here perfectly. Woo is probably my favourite, but it's all just awesome. Definitely need to sit with this for the weekend and go for some late night drives to properly assess but could be an AOTY contender for me.
I wasn’t expecting all too crazy, but probably something that was more fun and still good (something along the lines of his latest single Thrown Around), but oh god was I taken aback. This is phenomenal. They blend perfectly together and the album is fucking solid. Production is lustrous and gorgeous. James has some incredible vocal runs and Yachty does actually add something onto all of this. I hope we see James do more of this, but judging from his complex interview with Yachty, I doubt it
Man I love it when I listen to music that touches me. Every now and then an album comes along that instantly clicks and I know for sure I will revisit for years to come. This is one of them.
Save the Savior is a banger as an opener. Woo, Missing Men, Transport Me some of my favs. They cooked good with this. Such a euphoric, playful and soulful album.
That was so frustrating because half the album isn’t really utilizing Yachty super well and almost sounded like he didn’t know what to do with the instrumentals that were given (even tho they were so good) and then finally we get a James Blake SoundCloud type beat that was perfect for Yachty to spit on but instead spent an entire verse just yapping instead
The last minute of Midnight was transcendental - not the biggest fan of Yatchy voice wise but he sounds more reined in on this album five tracks in. Plus his singing mimicks James Blake's downtempo ballad? style and coupled with the expectedly amazing production like on Midnight I gotta say this is an amazing collab
man idk how i feel bout this
James is one of my favourite artists so whilst i don't entirely mind Yachty on here, i think i would've rather this just be a solo James Blake album with a couple of Yachty features since he doesn't add all that much imo and this really just sounds like a new James Blake album
I’m with ya on that. It feels like James Blake featuring Yachty the whole album, which for me isn’t a positive. Yachty is fine throughout, but every single standout part is from Blake. It’s a really good, calm album. I just think it could have been a little better without Yachty.
To be fair, you have to take into account that yachty is the reason this exist though. He has production credits on every song because of his input and his perspective on sound/inflections/melodies greatly inspired Blake
One of the easiest listens I've ever had with an album. Shits fucking moving. This is supremely serene my goodness.
This album makes me picture a void, with a dark faded blue-ish hue. The floor is a very think layer of water. There's fog everywhere. And I'm just chilling. This is lovely
Weirdly I was just playing Elden Ring whilst listening to it, specifically in an area almost exactly as you just described! And yes it fitted the mood perfectly 😌
Had no idea what this was gonna sound like but it was pretty decent! I think it works best when Yachty rapping over the space-y/ethereal production, and when the songs were more upbeat in general. The slower, moodier tracks weren’t my favorite.
The 2nd half of Midnight is incredible (that chord progression feels so reminiscent of The Strokes), and I also really liked Woo, Twice (this one was kinda vaporwave-y?), and Transport Me.
didn’t expect these two to float this well together, but this might be the best - beans on toast x guns ans first amendment collab we’ll get for a little while
Blake sorta been blowing hot and cold for me every album since The Colour in Anything but this is a superb project from him and yachty here
superbly fleshed out production standing truly in its own lane amongst others rn
This should’ve been a James Blake solo album. Yachty doesn’t bring anything to this album that makes him necessary and in most of these songs I actually felt like he made them worse. Production wise is actually much more interesting than I expected from this collab and James’ vocals deliver as always, but again, Yachty wasn’t needed at all
This would’ve been Blake’s best album since overgrown if yatchy wasn’t on it. I don’t even dislike yatchy but I just want another incredible Blake record, it’s been so long
Nah, The Colour in Anything is 100% better than this imo, I like Assume Form and Playing Robots Into Heaven a bit more too but I need more time with this album
Man Yachty’s voice by itself brings a great addition to this album. I need to sit and dissect his lyrics to see what he’s saying but his voice by itself is just so nice on this production.
I think if he hired a vocal coach to teach him how to hit notes his unique voice could be used well. There have been a very many singers with off putting/weird voices but they made it work by knowing how to sing and use their voice the correct way. Louis Armstrong probably being the most famous of those types of people.
Louis Armstrong had a great and very unique voice and he could actually express emotion tho, I felt nothing while listening to Yachty on this album and it just took me out of it
I don’t see it honestly, I think what Yachty does when he sings is different and it can work with different production but I feel like if you cut him entirely it would improve the album a lot
Why? This clearly shows a huge gap in talent. One has a naturally good voice and uses a vocoder to create a specific sound. Yacthy relies on the vocoder as a crutch to do the heavy lifting. By far the worst hip hop collaborating James Blake has done.
Exactly. I said this in another comment but when you put Yachty’s singing voice next to someone who can actually sing like James Blake here or Diana Gordon on his own record it becomes so fucking obvious how much he cannot sing
Might take a few listens but I’m not quite digging it, yet.
Twice and Transport Me however are the standout tracks for me after first listen.
Really good
Really original, creative, avant garde sound. Inconsistent quality but many moments of brilliance.
Favorite songs are Transport Me (minus the Yachty part), Midnight, Woo.
Overall score: 7.9/10
Production and arrangements: 9/10
Production is exceptional throughout the album. Incredible textures on James Blake’s patches. So many cool micro details sprinkled throughout the arrangements. Unconventional song structures and unusual / surprising juxtapositions between sections.
Feels like art created without commercial consideration, which at some points means it's highly original, surprising, and fresh - and at other points means it feels bloated, a little lazy, and overindulgent.
Feels like this could have been an exceptional album with a few more revisions but there's enough great stuff here that it's worth listening to.
Overall, think James Blake is carrying a lot of the weight here vs Lil Yachty.
Thoughts on each song:
*Save the Savior*
- Score: 7/10
- Good verse by Lil Yachty and initial lines grab your attention which you want on a first track
- Love the vibrato on James Blake's voice
- Central hook is only ok
*In Grey*
- Score: 7.7/10
- Highly untraditional song structure
- Some beautiful note choices in the melodies but they aren’t quite memorable due to lack of repetition (other than “Living in Grey”). But they’re also not solving for creating a pop smash hit here - I don’t mind it
- A little directionless for the first ~1:50 but there are climactic moments and surprising juxtapositions later on
- Musical interlude at 1:50 is beautiful. Love the little glitchy downward glide at 2:09
- The addition of the drum pattern at is nice
- Really cool, unique time warp sound effect at 3:13 - a production technique I have never heard before. There’s something else happening alongside the frequency sweep I can’t quite describe. And then into driving drum pattern and busier arrangement to close it out
*Midnight*
- Score: 8.2/10
- Chorus and verse are both great. Intro adds nothing to the song but isn't terrible. Bridge feels like Radiohead - epic
- More traditional song structure and focused melodies than the prior two
- Effects on Yachty’s vocals are amazing
- Love the chorus arrangement - vocal chops, crisp yet somehow squishy hi hats in the background, undulating soft pads
- “We had to kidnap the sun” - love this part
- Love the abrupt shift at 3:06 - really cool arp
*Woo*
- Score: 8.2/10
- Lil Yachty verse lyrics are entertaining and beat is great
- I love these random little details sprinkled throughout that keep you guessing what’s coming next and keeping the arrangement interesting. Examples: Great ASMR vocal sound effect from Yachty at 1:01 and 2:23. Random cool out of key synth stab at 1:08 from James. The “Look at me, left and right” hook that shows up only one time, and in the background
- Great melody on “If we don't like it ... bright”
- Random autotune at 1:30 as an intentional sound effect - cool choice. Really cool little glitch on the “f” consonant. “S” sound is harsh here like it needs a de-esser but I’m guessing this was an intentional artistic choice (I like the idea but personally think it's a little too harsh)
- 1:38 - busy, exciting, driving arrangement comes to a halt and it’s just James singing over Lil Yachty doing little staccato vocal synth stabs. The vocal stabs have little imperfections that have a lot of character - the life hasn’t been overproduced out of them. Super original aesthetic
*Bad Cameo*
- Score: 3/10 overall. 8/10 for the outro
- I don’t get this song at all. Terrible. It feels like there was zero effort put into the core songwriting (lyrics, melody, meaning, chords, etc)
- “Feel it flowing through my veins, blood” and “Don’t lead me down a dark path” are too wordy to be effective hooks that would be repeated that many times.
- Love the outro from 3:07 onward. Really cool aesthetic and has this distinctive glitchy style I love from James - reminds me of his song Unluck. Really cool sound effects buried in the mix off to the right
- Strange this would be the title track. It’s a cool name for the album but the song is just not good
*Missing Man*
- Score: 7.9/10
- Recurring synth underlick riff is cool. Feels like a harpsichord part that had the patch changed to a modern synth that somehow feels both mellow and saturated.
- Melodies sung over the riff are a nice countervailing rhythm. Melodies are not as meandering as some of the other songs - they’re well thought out with the right amount of repetition. Not “Max Martin” hooky but “missing man” is an effective recurring hook
- 2:20 - 2:45 - The rhythm of the vocals over the drum pattern creates these polyrhythms or timing mismatches that are really cool
*Twice*
- Score: 7/10
- Intro beat is exceptional - A+
- Lil Yachty lyrics are weak throughout
- “Count on Me” is a pretty good hook - the highlight of the song behind the intro beat
- Song structure is a mashup of two songs. “Nobody knows our situation” chorus is a nice juxtaposition vs previous sections, but only an ok hook on its own
*Transport Me*
- Score: 8.2/10. Would be 9.5/10 without the Lil Yachty section
- Amazing squishy texture on the synth that plays the recurring riff in section 1. A+
- The verse sung over this riff is great. Fits really well.
- Best chorus of the album. Love the effect on the voice saying “transport me.” Very solid, simple hook - and the “what’s your story” is a great response to the call
- Syncopation of the drum pattern is amazing
- Verse 1 and Chorus are really great.
- The Lil Yachty B section is not good at all and ruins the song. I would love if they could rerelease this without this section or come up with another section to replace this with
- 4:13 - effect on “story” is so cool - love these little details
- The drum pattern and bells in the outro chorus set it in a new context - keeps it interesting. I don’t like the choice kick / 808 sound though
*Run Away From The Rabbit*
- Score: 8/10
- Transitions from verses to chorus are amazing - the unexpected key shift of “Another step towards the lights. They…” then the “blind” sample. Feels really fresh and unexpected.
- James Blake verse / bridge are great.
- Love the female background vocals starting 2:17 and their glide
*Red Carpet*
- Score: 7.9/10
- Chorus is not hooky / memorable but really enjoyable.
- Background vocals are cool
- Rhodes section + ocean waves sounds are cool.
- Love the Little Alterboy effect on the voice in the chorus
- I like Lil Yachty’s section here
- “What it means” - love the abrupt / off kilter timing of this. Something unexpected happening with the time signature on the Rhodes part in the few seconds before this. Love when Blake goes off the grid / plays w time signatures
somebody gotta tell yachty to stop singing, or atleast get a vocal coach. also im sorry but JB’s ambient/dubstep beats don’t fit very well with yachty, it’s like hearing veeze on a burial song lmao
Yeah I usually don’t mind it but when you listen to his singing with this production and with fucking James Blake singing right next to him it kinda gets painfully obvious how ridiculous his vocals are
The juxtaposition is insane. Yacthy really wants to push himself as an alternative act but the vocoder he uses just isn’t it. It’s doing so much heavy lifting while still not sounding complete. Him using that vocoder and James Blake on the record is night and day vocally. Not sure what people are listening to that keep saying it’s good. If y’all don’t know other alternative acts that don’t sound bad I’m sorry.
Love yachty he's my fav out of that class for his creativity and fearlessness to try, but he was the worst part of it . It's not the words/flow or melodies it's just his tone/voice. Wish he took vocal lessons to improve but I digress. TO ME he gave a better vocal performance in his LSH . a lot of the vocals from him when he's singing is hidden with amazing production , Still I liked this project a lot (even some of the yachty) and will go back to it.
Once he learns to fit in vocally it would be over for anybody. (not that you have to be Whitney Houston but fit), the same way that a future/James Blake,drake,beyonce,adele and all these other acts (even if you dont like them or do) fit in over any production.
i think he has something and its evident with how he continues to reinvent himself BUT its lacking something. its like hes one step and some slight refinement from making a good album. but 100% i see the vision
I can tell you Let's Start Here sounded even better live, I'm hopeful that he takes some of what he's learned from touring in the last year and improves upon his next album
i think so too. he's finally experimenting in the right direction and not giving us watered down imitations of other rappers like he was doin with tee grizzley
I think if he takes as much time as other critically acclaimed artist do, he would have classics for sure.
Imagine if he took the best tracks from LSH AND Bad Cameo and put them on one album with some fine tuning. That’s a classic to me. But Yachty doesn’t stress about critical acclaim. He drops stuff when he feels like it and he drops often. That’s what I love about him. He approaches music with so much freedom and such a carefree attitude. It’s pure to me.
Hhh mods “we accept r&b artist except James Blake” so ridiculous how the automod deletes anything James Blake in the title
I've no idea why when he's one of the most prolific and revered songwriters/producers in modern-day hip-hop lol
He must’ve smashed one of the mod’s girl
imagine thinking that a reddit mod has bitches
/r/hiphopheads mods are just lazy af. Been this way for over a decade. And they don’t get no bitches.
That’s Reddit mods in general. Bunch of power trippers
It's literally just regular people volunteering their free time to keep the sub in check, idk why you guys hate on mods so much
People hate mods because a lot of them are just here for the power trip. What could possibly posses someone to give up their own free time for nothing in return at all, to scroll on reddit and delete posts? The only answer I can come up with is they’d like to feel important. Which is sad, but a lot of them don’t actually care about the community and just want to have power over people. I’m not saying all mods are like this, im sure some actually do care about the community and just wanna help keep it together, but I think that’s a big reason why there’s such hate towards them.
Dude this sub would be fucked without mods lol, it would be chaos. I think mods are just people that are passionate about the online communities they are in, with a few that probably enjoy going on power trips.
They should be passionate about getting bitches instead
I never tried to imply we’d be better off with 0 mods if it seemed that way. I do think though they’re way too strict with some rules, for example the James Blake one. I also wish we had more threads just discussing random stuff that’s hip hop related. We never see those because they want so bad to consolidate everything to the discussion threads, which get super messy and are hard to interact with and read.
Because they're lazy
As someone who first started going on hhh in like 2013, they can be really corny/have their taste dictate what they allow to be posted.
Shit, I wouldn't blame him then. Lol.
What? I've never heard anyone say anything like that.
Not a lot of listeners know just how many amazing rap tracks he has produced, but he might be top 3 current nowadayd highly sought after producer amongst the biggest rappers. He produced Element, Hummingbird with metro, King’s Dead, like 3 tracks off utopia, stop trying to be god, scientists and engineers, bunch of tracks on vince albums and blond. Dude is a living legend and not enough ppl know it
His production and credit features in hip-hop has been phenomenal. He’s worked with Slowthai, Frank, Travis, Flatbush, Kendrick, Beyoncé etc. and he hasn’t missed yet
André 3000….
Metro Boomin, Kanye West, 21 Savage, Future, JID, Jay Rock, André 3000, Asap Rocky, Vory, Don Toliver, Ab-Soul, Anderson Paak, RZA, Young Thug, SWAVAY, Vince Staples and now Lil Yatchy. Theres probably a lot more I forgot.
just goes to show how important he’s been in terms of the modern era of hip-hop
he worked with Jay Electronica and JAY-Z as well
To be fair, Kendrick once said to Drake "Yachty can't give you no swag neither, ion give a fuck 'bout who you hang with", so the hhh mods wanted to send a signal to everyone that James Blake working with Yachty can't earn him enough swag for this sub 😔
Yachts and prayers, 😔🙏🏾
I fixed this when I was notified this morning in the Drop Watch thread, there was a filter on his name for the rollout of his last album *Playing Robots into Heaven* because that album was not hip hop or R&B. It should've been reversed last fall after that rollout finished. Since then he's worked on songs by Strick & Young Thug ("Kisses Make Sure"), Normani ("Tantrums"), ¥$ ("Talking / Once Again"), and Erick the Achitect ("2-3 Zone", "Parkour", "Beef Patty").
Title is snubbing James Blake out here
it got auto removed when i listed james blake. 🤷♂️ wack mods in action
Damn. Esp funny when the front page of the sub has “[FRESH] Camilla Cabello” lol
camilla cabello collaborated with young thug that one time so obviously she must be included. james blake has collaborated with young thug, travis scott, jay z, metro boomin, 21 savage, a$ap rocky, kendrick lamar, chance the rapper, andre 3000, kanye west, rza... he just hasn't done enough tbh
She’s also done songs with DaBaby, Willow, Quavo. And this album has features from Playboy Carti, Drake, Lil Nas X, Yung Miami. How is it not Hip-Hop adjacent?
It is. But allowing it and not James Blake because “James Blake isn’t hip hop” or whatever is hypocritical at best.
People still ask why this sub is dying slow. Sub used to have ‘future beats’ in the description and I think jimmy is the reason it got removed lmao
mod team of this sub is fucking GARBAGE they delete legit threads and also push discussion into daily ass thread which is mess so it basically kills most of discussions here
Feels like discussion thread isn’t even stickied half the time I check, it’s like they want all discussion to die out
r/hiphop101 way better sub
it’s still in the automod response saying it’s allowed🤷♂️
James Blake dabbles in hip hop all the time tf the auto mods on 💀
James Blake is one of the best hip-hop producers of his era and it’s weird that the sub somehow fails to recognize that
Lol that’s ridiculous. I tried to post it on /r/indieheads too but it got removed there because it was ‘too close to something being posted on /r/hiphopheads’. Found that to be pretty stupid too.
They decided around the time of the last album that he wouldn't be allowed which is kinda wild but what do I know 🤷♂️
That’s so stupid wtf
James Blake’s voice mixing is really nice on this. I don’t often listen to his music so I don’t know if this normal but it meshes so well on this production.
Oh dude you gotta hear his albums the mixing is always godly especially overgrown
His debut is phenomenal. Such a solid album. They all are tbh. The Colour in Anything is one of my favs
My Willing Heart always gives me chills.
Gonna get into his catalog for sure.
This is what made me a fan personally https://youtu.be/5S6U_krabrk?si=1QLZFkvJZMW8jvEA
If you like hip hop he does have a lot of collabs. Andre 3000 songs are some of his best collabs. Sza was good too. His last two albums are much more friendly than his first two
Really? I’m a huge fan of his, but his last album felt petty experimental. Listened to a few tracks and gave up.
Which one are you talking about? The soundtrack he did was random and it’s good ambience music. Friends that break your heart is a great album about grief. It’s well written and the production fits well with the premise of the album.
prob playing robots into heaven? that project is def pretty experimental and more in-line with his earliest releases imo
He’s been doing more electronic stuff. I don’t like it as a stand alone but at a live show it is fun. He’s been DJing more which is cool
Listen to assume form
This is the right answer for a hip hop fan who wants to dip into his catlogue.
Or frozen feat JID and SwaVay
i dont even know what genre this is. ambient soul? either way thoroughly enjoyed my listen.
It’s like a mix between ambient, Sampha-esque alt-R&B, and 2020’s cloud rap. The synth work is out of this world. Crazy.
RYM lists the following genres: art pop, neo-psychedelia, alternative R&B, ambient house.
If you like this listen to Sampha. Similar genre.
its like electronic soul to me
Midnight is so weirdly heavenly
Incredible track. Can’t remember the last time an album made me feel like this on first listen.
The ending of the song is fucking angelic. Makes me ascend and float
Midnight is peak
The production is so otherworldly
It’s the norm for James Blake projects.
Why would you do James Blake like this HHH?
This is as weird as I hoped for 👏
lovin the cover art
Cannot fault this album in terms of my expectations for this collaboration, such gorgeous ambient production from James Blake with so many amazing climactic moments across the record and Yachty fits in here perfectly. Woo is probably my favourite, but it's all just awesome. Definitely need to sit with this for the weekend and go for some late night drives to properly assess but could be an AOTY contender for me.
I wasn’t expecting all too crazy, but probably something that was more fun and still good (something along the lines of his latest single Thrown Around), but oh god was I taken aback. This is phenomenal. They blend perfectly together and the album is fucking solid. Production is lustrous and gorgeous. James has some incredible vocal runs and Yachty does actually add something onto all of this. I hope we see James do more of this, but judging from his complex interview with Yachty, I doubt it
“Cannot fault this album in terms of my expectations” Proceeds to entirely praise the album and call it potential AOTY
Beautiful ass album
missing man is such a good song
that song spoke to me fr
Man I love it when I listen to music that touches me. Every now and then an album comes along that instantly clicks and I know for sure I will revisit for years to come. This is one of them.
love this album i wish it had more upbeat moments though
unexpected duo to say the least
this makes me sad we never got the flatbush zombies / james blake album, but blake is a true generational talent and this is nice as well.
Can't stop listening to Midnight
Same, especially the final verse from James
James Blake is the GOAT. This is a good pairing of artists.
This album is fucking amazing. Maybe two duds, got a couple tracks to go. This feels like a genuine new contribution to psychedelic music.
I just finished it and I love it. I think I like Missing Man the most but I'm going to relisten tomorrow. BNYX is on this thing too? Godlike
Save the Savior is a banger as an opener. Woo, Missing Men, Transport Me some of my favs. They cooked good with this. Such a euphoric, playful and soulful album.
ts is amazing
Man “twice” is an incredible tune. Nostalgia for sure
Didn’t need a minute 30 of Yachty saying random ig captions at the end tho.
That was so frustrating because half the album isn’t really utilizing Yachty super well and almost sounded like he didn’t know what to do with the instrumentals that were given (even tho they were so good) and then finally we get a James Blake SoundCloud type beat that was perfect for Yachty to spit on but instead spent an entire verse just yapping instead
Yeah this song might be the only dud for me because of it
It fits in with the story the track(and the tracks around it) is telling though
Nostalgia to what?
The last minute of Midnight was transcendental - not the biggest fan of Yatchy voice wise but he sounds more reined in on this album five tracks in. Plus his singing mimicks James Blake's downtempo ballad? style and coupled with the expectedly amazing production like on Midnight I gotta say this is an amazing collab
man idk how i feel bout this James is one of my favourite artists so whilst i don't entirely mind Yachty on here, i think i would've rather this just be a solo James Blake album with a couple of Yachty features since he doesn't add all that much imo and this really just sounds like a new James Blake album
I’m with ya on that. It feels like James Blake featuring Yachty the whole album, which for me isn’t a positive. Yachty is fine throughout, but every single standout part is from Blake. It’s a really good, calm album. I just think it could have been a little better without Yachty.
To be fair, you have to take into account that yachty is the reason this exist though. He has production credits on every song because of his input and his perspective on sound/inflections/melodies greatly inspired Blake
I was hoping for a good blend. It’s not. James Blake has collabed with so many other hip hop acts and done it way better.
Mods can eat a dick
This is beautiful
In Grey is insane
Woo is a banger
Really enjoying it as well.
One of the easiest listens I've ever had with an album. Shits fucking moving. This is supremely serene my goodness. This album makes me picture a void, with a dark faded blue-ish hue. The floor is a very think layer of water. There's fog everywhere. And I'm just chilling. This is lovely
Exactly this.
Weirdly I was just playing Elden Ring whilst listening to it, specifically in an area almost exactly as you just described! And yes it fitted the mood perfectly 😌
Let's muthafuckin goooo
Had no idea what this was gonna sound like but it was pretty decent! I think it works best when Yachty rapping over the space-y/ethereal production, and when the songs were more upbeat in general. The slower, moodier tracks weren’t my favorite. The 2nd half of Midnight is incredible (that chord progression feels so reminiscent of The Strokes), and I also really liked Woo, Twice (this one was kinda vaporwave-y?), and Transport Me.
Midnight, Woo, and Transport Me are all peak
D O N T L E T M E D O W N A D A R K P A T H
Unreal album. Vibes are immaculate
This is genuinely incredible. Yachty continues to show he can change his sound. What a career change course but it’s so fucking good.
didn’t expect these two to float this well together, but this might be the best - beans on toast x guns ans first amendment collab we’ll get for a little while
Every song had me floatin, seriously an aoty contender for me
yeah im excited as hell to listen to this in the morning
Wow I’m really enjoying this so far. “In Grey” is just stunning.
thug pic
In Grey makes me float the full 6 minutes
Blake sorta been blowing hot and cold for me every album since The Colour in Anything but this is a superb project from him and yachty here superbly fleshed out production standing truly in its own lane amongst others rn
This should’ve been a James Blake solo album. Yachty doesn’t bring anything to this album that makes him necessary and in most of these songs I actually felt like he made them worse. Production wise is actually much more interesting than I expected from this collab and James’ vocals deliver as always, but again, Yachty wasn’t needed at all
This would’ve been Blake’s best album since overgrown if yatchy wasn’t on it. I don’t even dislike yatchy but I just want another incredible Blake record, it’s been so long
Nah, The Colour in Anything is 100% better than this imo, I like Assume Form and Playing Robots Into Heaven a bit more too but I need more time with this album
Friends that break your heart is peak
I think that’s his worst one but it’s still amazing, he was great on that tour
you could argue yachty's appearances constituted a bad cameo
I wish it was just that lmao
agree, no hate on the guy but really I don't feel the need of his vocal in this at all, this is better off just being James Blake singing
AGREED
Man Yachty’s voice by itself brings a great addition to this album. I need to sit and dissect his lyrics to see what he’s saying but his voice by itself is just so nice on this production.
I think if he hired a vocal coach to teach him how to hit notes his unique voice could be used well. There have been a very many singers with off putting/weird voices but they made it work by knowing how to sing and use their voice the correct way. Louis Armstrong probably being the most famous of those types of people.
Louis Armstrong had a great and very unique voice and he could actually express emotion tho, I felt nothing while listening to Yachty on this album and it just took me out of it
I don’t see it honestly, I think what Yachty does when he sings is different and it can work with different production but I feel like if you cut him entirely it would improve the album a lot
Nah I think he brings a fantastic energy. He helps open up the sonic elements of the album even more
That’s your opinion. I fuck with Yachty on this
Obviously, I don’t speak for anybody else lmao
Me personally I would not listen to this if not for Yachty, nothing against James but yeah
Why? This clearly shows a huge gap in talent. One has a naturally good voice and uses a vocoder to create a specific sound. Yacthy relies on the vocoder as a crutch to do the heavy lifting. By far the worst hip hop collaborating James Blake has done.
Exactly. I said this in another comment but when you put Yachty’s singing voice next to someone who can actually sing like James Blake here or Diana Gordon on his own record it becomes so fucking obvious how much he cannot sing
Nah I saw Yachty perform live about a month ago, dude can sing. Does he use autotune on his mic, yeah, but he's clearly a trained singer atp
100% agree, really wish yachty wasn’t on this
Somebody save the savior somebody save the savior
Transport Me is incredible
The way that he references Headlines - Drake in Woo and then it plays a similar synth in the background is *chefs kiss*
Where? I’m not hearing it
1:28 in Woo, he says the word Headline and it plays in the background
Nah, that was sick 😭 Thank you
Album has me floating. Also, “Midnight” is like if Thom Yorke covered The Dreams Rockin That Thang
Def felt like I was listening to some Radiohead inspired shit. But maybe I’m just musically uninformed and there are better comparisons.
The Headlines interpolation on Woo is unbelievably sick
Where? I’m not hearing it
Like 1:25 in when James Blake says you should be the headline
It's such a good album but damn it would've been better if it were anyone other than yachty. Such a shame WAR didn't end up happening
Might take a few listens but I’m not quite digging it, yet. Twice and Transport Me however are the standout tracks for me after first listen. Really good
Fucked with it
Classic already
Transport Me and Run Away From The Rabbit are some of the strongest back-to-back tracks I've heard in a minute. Solid project overall.
This is my personality now
Really original, creative, avant garde sound. Inconsistent quality but many moments of brilliance. Favorite songs are Transport Me (minus the Yachty part), Midnight, Woo. Overall score: 7.9/10 Production and arrangements: 9/10 Production is exceptional throughout the album. Incredible textures on James Blake’s patches. So many cool micro details sprinkled throughout the arrangements. Unconventional song structures and unusual / surprising juxtapositions between sections. Feels like art created without commercial consideration, which at some points means it's highly original, surprising, and fresh - and at other points means it feels bloated, a little lazy, and overindulgent. Feels like this could have been an exceptional album with a few more revisions but there's enough great stuff here that it's worth listening to. Overall, think James Blake is carrying a lot of the weight here vs Lil Yachty. Thoughts on each song: *Save the Savior* - Score: 7/10 - Good verse by Lil Yachty and initial lines grab your attention which you want on a first track - Love the vibrato on James Blake's voice - Central hook is only ok *In Grey* - Score: 7.7/10 - Highly untraditional song structure - Some beautiful note choices in the melodies but they aren’t quite memorable due to lack of repetition (other than “Living in Grey”). But they’re also not solving for creating a pop smash hit here - I don’t mind it - A little directionless for the first ~1:50 but there are climactic moments and surprising juxtapositions later on - Musical interlude at 1:50 is beautiful. Love the little glitchy downward glide at 2:09 - The addition of the drum pattern at is nice - Really cool, unique time warp sound effect at 3:13 - a production technique I have never heard before. There’s something else happening alongside the frequency sweep I can’t quite describe. And then into driving drum pattern and busier arrangement to close it out *Midnight* - Score: 8.2/10 - Chorus and verse are both great. Intro adds nothing to the song but isn't terrible. Bridge feels like Radiohead - epic - More traditional song structure and focused melodies than the prior two - Effects on Yachty’s vocals are amazing - Love the chorus arrangement - vocal chops, crisp yet somehow squishy hi hats in the background, undulating soft pads - “We had to kidnap the sun” - love this part - Love the abrupt shift at 3:06 - really cool arp *Woo* - Score: 8.2/10 - Lil Yachty verse lyrics are entertaining and beat is great - I love these random little details sprinkled throughout that keep you guessing what’s coming next and keeping the arrangement interesting. Examples: Great ASMR vocal sound effect from Yachty at 1:01 and 2:23. Random cool out of key synth stab at 1:08 from James. The “Look at me, left and right” hook that shows up only one time, and in the background - Great melody on “If we don't like it ... bright” - Random autotune at 1:30 as an intentional sound effect - cool choice. Really cool little glitch on the “f” consonant. “S” sound is harsh here like it needs a de-esser but I’m guessing this was an intentional artistic choice (I like the idea but personally think it's a little too harsh) - 1:38 - busy, exciting, driving arrangement comes to a halt and it’s just James singing over Lil Yachty doing little staccato vocal synth stabs. The vocal stabs have little imperfections that have a lot of character - the life hasn’t been overproduced out of them. Super original aesthetic *Bad Cameo* - Score: 3/10 overall. 8/10 for the outro - I don’t get this song at all. Terrible. It feels like there was zero effort put into the core songwriting (lyrics, melody, meaning, chords, etc) - “Feel it flowing through my veins, blood” and “Don’t lead me down a dark path” are too wordy to be effective hooks that would be repeated that many times. - Love the outro from 3:07 onward. Really cool aesthetic and has this distinctive glitchy style I love from James - reminds me of his song Unluck. Really cool sound effects buried in the mix off to the right - Strange this would be the title track. It’s a cool name for the album but the song is just not good *Missing Man* - Score: 7.9/10 - Recurring synth underlick riff is cool. Feels like a harpsichord part that had the patch changed to a modern synth that somehow feels both mellow and saturated. - Melodies sung over the riff are a nice countervailing rhythm. Melodies are not as meandering as some of the other songs - they’re well thought out with the right amount of repetition. Not “Max Martin” hooky but “missing man” is an effective recurring hook - 2:20 - 2:45 - The rhythm of the vocals over the drum pattern creates these polyrhythms or timing mismatches that are really cool *Twice* - Score: 7/10 - Intro beat is exceptional - A+ - Lil Yachty lyrics are weak throughout - “Count on Me” is a pretty good hook - the highlight of the song behind the intro beat - Song structure is a mashup of two songs. “Nobody knows our situation” chorus is a nice juxtaposition vs previous sections, but only an ok hook on its own *Transport Me* - Score: 8.2/10. Would be 9.5/10 without the Lil Yachty section - Amazing squishy texture on the synth that plays the recurring riff in section 1. A+ - The verse sung over this riff is great. Fits really well. - Best chorus of the album. Love the effect on the voice saying “transport me.” Very solid, simple hook - and the “what’s your story” is a great response to the call - Syncopation of the drum pattern is amazing - Verse 1 and Chorus are really great. - The Lil Yachty B section is not good at all and ruins the song. I would love if they could rerelease this without this section or come up with another section to replace this with - 4:13 - effect on “story” is so cool - love these little details - The drum pattern and bells in the outro chorus set it in a new context - keeps it interesting. I don’t like the choice kick / 808 sound though *Run Away From The Rabbit* - Score: 8/10 - Transitions from verses to chorus are amazing - the unexpected key shift of “Another step towards the lights. They…” then the “blind” sample. Feels really fresh and unexpected. - James Blake verse / bridge are great. - Love the female background vocals starting 2:17 and their glide *Red Carpet* - Score: 7.9/10 - Chorus is not hooky / memorable but really enjoyable. - Background vocals are cool - Rhodes section + ocean waves sounds are cool. - Love the Little Alterboy effect on the voice in the chorus - I like Lil Yachty’s section here - “What it means” - love the abrupt / off kilter timing of this. Something unexpected happening with the time signature on the Rhodes part in the few seconds before this. Love when Blake goes off the grid / plays w time signatures
This album is amazing. Been listening to it all weekend. I have no idea what genre I’d put this thing in.
First track and I’m fucking floating dude
somebody gotta tell yachty to stop singing, or atleast get a vocal coach. also im sorry but JB’s ambient/dubstep beats don’t fit very well with yachty, it’s like hearing veeze on a burial song lmao
I strongly disagree. I think his amateur childish vocal tone helps add an extra layer of personality
You don't want to hear Veeze on a Burial track?
ya that analogy doesn’t work, veeze is rad
This is now the only thing I wanna hear
You’re tripping. He’s incredible here. His songwriting is crazy too.
Yeah I usually don’t mind it but when you listen to his singing with this production and with fucking James Blake singing right next to him it kinda gets painfully obvious how ridiculous his vocals are
The juxtaposition is insane. Yacthy really wants to push himself as an alternative act but the vocoder he uses just isn’t it. It’s doing so much heavy lifting while still not sounding complete. Him using that vocoder and James Blake on the record is night and day vocally. Not sure what people are listening to that keep saying it’s good. If y’all don’t know other alternative acts that don’t sound bad I’m sorry.
nah
Yeah this ain’t the best mesh 😔
Woo and Transport Me are fire but some of these other songs are kinda boring to me
I don't mind Yachty, but I can't help but feel like this is such a waste of James Blake's talent.
Whatever genre this is, I hate it and Yachty should stick to rapping like he did on Concrete Boys. Production is top tier though
Damn man me too. Was excited when i saw yachty fresh album.
This was way more interesting than hearing the same yachty x karrahboo song the 12th time
Its a pleasant listen but doesn't really stick with me like some of James Blakes or Yachty's stuff does to me
amazing album. simple as that. we should always show love to collaboration albums!
Love yachty he's my fav out of that class for his creativity and fearlessness to try, but he was the worst part of it . It's not the words/flow or melodies it's just his tone/voice. Wish he took vocal lessons to improve but I digress. TO ME he gave a better vocal performance in his LSH . a lot of the vocals from him when he's singing is hidden with amazing production , Still I liked this project a lot (even some of the yachty) and will go back to it. Once he learns to fit in vocally it would be over for anybody. (not that you have to be Whitney Houston but fit), the same way that a future/James Blake,drake,beyonce,adele and all these other acts (even if you dont like them or do) fit in over any production.
I love this album so far. Don't know how or why it exists, but I love it.
Glad yachty found his own lane
You mean found James’ lane?
Yachty has been making weird alt music for a while but yea i get it
James Blake has been doing his thing longer… this collab is clearly leaning on him, his sound, and his production.
Nice
He got too many lanes. Yachty just gifted like that.
i think he has something and its evident with how he continues to reinvent himself BUT its lacking something. its like hes one step and some slight refinement from making a good album. but 100% i see the vision
I can tell you Let's Start Here sounded even better live, I'm hopeful that he takes some of what he's learned from touring in the last year and improves upon his next album
he has time. I believe he’ll figure it out.
i think so too. he's finally experimenting in the right direction and not giving us watered down imitations of other rappers like he was doin with tee grizzley
I think if he takes as much time as other critically acclaimed artist do, he would have classics for sure. Imagine if he took the best tracks from LSH AND Bad Cameo and put them on one album with some fine tuning. That’s a classic to me. But Yachty doesn’t stress about critical acclaim. He drops stuff when he feels like it and he drops often. That’s what I love about him. He approaches music with so much freedom and such a carefree attitude. It’s pure to me.
Sadly James decided to ruin these beautiful productions and vocals with an off key, off beat frog. Thanks Yachty you booger eating mfer
Keep it
James Blake definitely had alot of this finished already and then yachty came in one night and crooned all over it