"ACIDRAP - Chance the rapper"

'ACIDRAP' - Chance The Rapper

    Another Chitown native, Chance The Rapper dropped his first mixtape entitled '10Day' after being suspend from school for 10 days. Suspended for allegedly "smoking bud" on his way to school, which Chance plainly denies the outrageous actuation. Being suspended seemed to really inspire this rapper to take his rap carrier seriously, after his '10Day' mixtape Chance dropped 'AcidRap', which in our opinion is in a Genre of its own. Mixing musical type samples with and upbeat almost reggae type feel. Throwing in his Chicago slang makes every single track on this mixtape extremely unique, one of the most artistic mix tapes we have ever heard.
      'AcidRap' in so many ways has changed the rap game, there are many artists now that are either rapping on acid or rapping about their acid trips, but Chance takes it to the next level with 'AcidRap' by allowing his previous trips to effect his whole flow and style of music. This mixtape is nowhere near traditional hip-hop, rap, or R&B yet he is able to tell a story behind every single song.
      Songs like 'Pusha Man' , and 'Chain Smoker' and not usually the "Go To" songs on this mixtape but they are, in our opinion two of the most influential songs on this mixtape. 'Pusha Man' starts off with a smooth almost jazzy feeling beat, while Chance comes in with his spastic upbeat flow that never gets old. What makes this track so amazing and unique is two minutes deep into the song when it seems to end. Maybe there are some of you that change the song at this point, you should really just wait for the song to continue it is truly the best part of the song. As the beat changes so does the flow and feel of this track with metaphors like "They merking kids, they murder kids here, Why you think they don't talk about it? They deserted us here, Where the fuck is Matt Lauer at? Somebody get Katie Couric in here, Probably scared of all the refugees, look like we had a fucking hurricane here." he's able to through in his political view without being offensive yet vulgar enough to get his point across. He is saying that the media isn't showing just how much violence is happening in Chicago and what little is being done. He is able to relate hurricane Katrina to Chiraq and how the government disappears when they are needed. Chance's music is imaginative, but holds a purpose. Acid Rap is a must have in your collection and Chance The Rapper will be one of the Chicago Greats.

Released April 30 2013

YGHMusic

'Graduation'- Kanye West

Graduation - Kanye West Review

      Third album deep, already making drastic changes in the hip-hop industry. Some people, at this point in his career, haven't had the chance to enjoy that truly amazing album. This is the type of album that will always have a revered spot on our iPhones playlist's. For those of you that don't know who the great Kanye West is, a Chitown native, raised by a single mother who West attributed most of his work; Kanye started rapping in the third grade dreaming of someday aspiring to become a rapper. Early in his career he was taken more seriously as a hip-hop producer catching the eyes of already established artist like Jay-z and getting signed to Roc-A-Fella in 2002 West was able to release his first album 'The College Dropout' in 2004. West has progressed through his career in the small but significant changes in each album thus far, bringing us Graduation. The third album in his solo artist career as a rapper, Kanye composes an array of instrumentals and samples to make an upbeat production with a soulful feel, West really shows his producing talent in this Album along with his vocals and use of auto tune.
     Being Kanye West fans we really enjoy the whole Yeezus following and his devoted fans. Kanye does truly make wonderful music, but to get to this point he had to break down many barriers many of which he did in this album, for example the single 'Stronger' one of his well known tracks, he brings in electronic production synths that are in many Baroque type songs. He then collabs it with his own drum beat making a drastically changed "hip-hop" beat, moving hip-hop into far new genres and dialogs.
     Working with other artist such a John Mayer on the track "BitterSweet Poetry" you can really see how Kanye is reaching to brighten the dark world of hip-hop. We can leave out the great radio singles that this album brought along with it, such as Good Life (Ft T-Pain) hitting it really hard with auto-tune starting to be used more and more in the industry this song was extremely popular on the radio. With all these changes that he put together artistically he was still able to come hard with his rapping talent especially on the track "Barry Bonds" where Yeezy and Wayne both go in on a rather classic rap beat which is still just as enjoyable as his attempts to change the stereotype songs of this creative album.
     Graduation is with out a doubt one of our favorite albums with such a vast variety of samples and collabs it is pure art. Completely deserved all the awards Graduation won, but then again Kanye is one of the greats of this era and this type of album quality cements him even deeper into the Rap Hall of Fame secure his spot of Legendary.

INNANETAPE

Vic Mensa, this Chicago native started out in an indie band called 'Kids These Days' which spilt up just this last May of 2013. Vic is now part of the Save Money crew, dropping his debut mixtape INNANETAPE 9.30.13. INNANETAPE having an amazing collaboration of many notable Chicago rappers such as Chance The Rapper (a close friend of Vic's), Rockie Fresh, and BJ the Chicago Kid. With features from other astonishing artists like Ab-Soul and Eliza Doolittle. This is the first of Vic's work that we have heard, besides the track 'Coco Butter Kisses' from Chance The Rapper's mix tape/album 'Acid Rap'. It is obvious that they share some of the same rapping characteristics, they use this to their advantage on the track 'Tweakin' ' (Ft. Chance The Rapper) Where both Vic and Chance mix and match random metaphors and tongue tying phrase that seem to mesh perfectly when delivered with their Chicago slang. Micheal Uzowuru Produced this track with an odd but feelable composition of synth cords underlying a looped synth riff with sporadic pauses of relaxing background sounds. Can't wait for more work from Mensa, INNANETAPE is a must have in our collection.

"INNANETAPE"- Vic Mensa released 9.30.13
YGH

Nostalgia/Ultra

For our first official review on YGHMusic we decided "Nostalgia/ Ultra" is with out a shadow of a doubt our first choice. This mixtape/album, to Frank is how "So Far Gone" was to Drake, first released to the public as a mixtape then later recognized for its greatness and sold as an album. This is not the first of Frank Oceans work, but it is his first mixtape released as "Frank Ocean". This mix-tape, is also unique due to the way it was released, from Frank Oceans 'Tumblr' account. He has later released many singles and even allowed the public to stream his 'Channel Orange' album from his tumblr.

Frank Ocean, born Christopher Breaux from New Orleans Louisiana. This singer/songwriter was a ghost writer for many artists including Justin Bieber and John Legend. In 2010, Ocean joined the rap group  OFWGKTA "Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All". With members like Tyler The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, and Domo Genesis. It can be difficult to see how an R&B/Soul artist like Frank Ocean  fits in with such an outcasted, in your face, type of rap group. Until you hear his soulful love songs and moving metaphors in his mix-tape "Nostalgia/ Ultra" it is impossible to see how intricate a position he plays in the Odd Future family.

"Nostalgia/ Ultra"- To sum up this entire mix-tape in one word. Art. Frank Ocean was inspired to make this mix-tape after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, listening to the lyrics of 'Strawberry Swing' makes the listener feel the pain he must have been feeling through the tragic natural disaster. Many songs are reminisces of past loves and lost, the track 'There Will Be Tears' Speaks of Frank's father, who left when Ocean was only 6 years old. Throughout this track you can feel the pain that must still be strong in his life from growing up without his father being at home. Every single track on this mix-tape is magical and amazing work especially for a debut mix-tape.

Frank Oceans 'Nostalgia/ Ultra" released Feb 16 2011
Author - YGH