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Ah you knew it was going to happen! Knowing little of the Clown (and not much more about ICP!) I propose to do a review-off between them. I'll listen to an album from each, in order, and decide which is better. Obviously, my opinion means about as much as Bill Clinton at the RNC, but perhaps a fresh pair of ears might make some difference? Feel free to correct me, laugh at me, load up a shotgun and book flights to Dublin, roll your eyes, shake your head or any part of your anatomy you wish.
As per usual, if nothing else it will be some form of entertainment hopefully, but perhaps I'll get a better understanding of both artists. Note: despite the vitriolic comments used by at least one of the artists, I will be ignoring any such media posts and judging these albums based purely on their own musical merits.
Oh, and go easy on me if I make stupid comments or don't seem to understand things I should: remember, I'm a relatively new interloper in the jungle of hip-hop, so help me avoid the snares, and tell the natives I'm basically friendly. Comment/debate/education welcome as always.
First up then:
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V
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lmao I love this, looking forward to reading ur reviews. how much kanye have you heard? it would be hilarious if you did life of pablo next without context of the rest of his discog.
I'm doing everything without references, other than track listings. You know me: usually I go on a six-month journey to the birthplace of the artist and live in their house before I write anything about them. This time, not doing that. I think I may have heard one Kanye album (though I could be mixing him up with Kendrick? Damn) and if so it's probably the first one, as it sounds familiar. I thought I did ICP partially in my Great Discography Project, but I need to find the keys to the vault and load up the tranquiliser gun before I can descend into the stygian depths (depths have to be stygian, otherwise what's the point?) and go searching for it. That dog hasn't been fed for a while, and he is MEAN! :laughing: Don't be fooled by appearances: he'll tear your throat out quick as look at you!
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I'm going to do this "Love or Hate?" style, which basically means, as you'll see if you check the ICP thread, I don't do an intro as such, go track-by-track and just say briefly what I think of each, rating each track as below:
True Love: bloody perfect
Love; self-explanatory. Great but not perfect.
Like; very good but has some flaws
Meh
Hate
Off we go then!
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Carnival of Carnage Insane Clown Posse (1992)First into the ring, and in the blue corner, it's ICP with their debut album
Caravan of Courage. Ah, no, that was the Ewoks from
Star Wars, wasn't it? Much more annoying. So then,
Carnival of Carnage. Much better.
Intro: Clever as the idea of the Dark Carnival is, it can't be ignored that basically we're talking here about Bradbury's Mister Dark and his travelling horror circus in
Something Wicked This Way Comes. In fact, they all but say the title in the intro, which is, to be fair, very well done: conveys a sense of a prologue, the narrating of an event which is to bring death and horror and fear to this unnamed town, almost like the opening of a novel by King or Koontz, or any other horror writer you care to mention. The vocal, unaccompanied, is joined in the final seconds of the short piece by the confused sounds of laughing, bells, carnival music and the approach of something, well, not too nice.
Carnival of Carnage: This seems to be mostly laughter and the title repeated against heavy drumbeats and a sort of whistling keyboard. It's short, but as the first track proper I would have hoped for more substance. Very limited.
The Juggla: Very upbeat and sort of breezy, with some decent horror imagery, much better. Love the circus theme and the announcement, as from a barker outside of the tent. Setting their stall out here early when they spit "Fuck the South!" You don't fuck with Texas. Mind you, you don't fuck with the Clown, either. Like the line "The Devil took my brain and motherfuck I want it back!"
First Day Out: Slowing down in a doomy, menacing beat, ICP's version of a first date. Very misogynist and also sizeist, but hell it's funny. I think the title might also refer to first day released from jail?
Red Neck Hoe: Love the way they make a country tune here, taking the piss out of the genre to the max. The sample (?) of a Jew's harp is funny. Setting out their anti-racist manifesto here in the midsection, basically declaring war on the South.
Wizard of the Hood: Hah, think they're using
The Wizard of Oz as their theme here. This is brilliant! Yeah, they sample "We're Off to See the Wizard", just in case there was any doubt. Hi-fucking-larious.
The Wiz this is not! "I ain't seen one motherfuckin' rainbow!" Sped up version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" cut short by a machine-gun blast.
Guts on the Ceiling: Might be a problem for Lionel Ritchie and his friends, slipping all over the place as they try to dance! I like the backing track here, very laid-back, considering the subject matter. Sounds like there's scratching on this too. Very weird track. Graphic to the max for sure.
Is That You?: Sounds like Waits at his most manic, not a lot in it though, mostly sexual boasting. Meh.
Night of the Axe: Like the squelchy bass on this, bounces along nicely. "Just don't look in the trunk!" Almost as funny as Cave's "O'Malley's Bar" as Violent J goes on a murderous rampage.
Psychopathic: Well honestly it sounds very similar lyricwise to the previous track, though the beat is slower, a little anyway.
Blackin' Your Eyes: Sort of descending into a tirade of abuse against women now,
sans the humour. Hmm. Yeah there's not much imagination or creativity put into this. It is kind of catchy though.
Never Had it Made: Violent J meets God (or at least Saint Peter) and pleads his case to be let into Heaven. This is better. Good sense of doom and ominous warning about this.
Your Rebel Flag: Stars with the doleful bell peals from "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and sort of nods to the talkbox guitar on Bon Jovi's "It's My Life". I'm sure they'd hate being compared to the Jersey band, but that's what I hear. Sirens and drums meant surely to be cannon, and "Fuck Your Rebel Flag!" The busy, bouncing bassline is great. Again, very catchy. Starting to pick the quality back up now after flagging (sorry) a bit.
Ghetto Freak Show: Has a more laid-back feel to it with a sort of almost lounge-style keyboard or digital piano or something and a kind of wail that keeps coming and going. Mostly the same tune all the way through.
Taste: This is very funky indeed. Not sure George Benson ever wrote lyrics like these though!
Note: I'm not rating these albums, just comparing one against the other. So I'll do Kanye's debut next and then decide which I prefer, and then the same with each of the other albums. I'll keep a running score so we can see who is doing better, strictly in my own opinion of course.
The concept of the album us taking the violence of Detroit into the wealthier neighborhoods where the governors stay at.
The album was mostly produced by this guy who took advantage of their inexperience to milk them for as much money as they could by slowly showing them each drum or instrument and having them pick it where as Mike E Clark who became their main producer would just take a direction and create. The production on this album did not age as well as Mike's work on the other albums. Mike E Clark is a fantastic producer and is basically a member of ICP through out the 90s.
Also, it's good to note that this is when they had a 3rd rapper named Johnny Kikchazz who was Shaggy 2 Dope's older brother. He left the group shortly before they released that album to spend more time with his girl friend. Ended up becoming the biggest mistake of his life.
Is That You? features a young Kid Rock. He's the guy saying the N-word on that song. ICP hate him because he said some racist shit to them back then.
Taste features Jumpsteady, who is Violent J's badass older brother, Capital E who was a local rapper that never blew up & Esham who is a legend in Detroit, considered the first horrorcore rapper and is kind of like a less talented Kanye himself.
In the red corner (appropriately, given his current state of mind and views), the first album from only the second person I know whose surname is a direction on the compass, and whose debut was released twelve years after that of ICP. In other words, by the time Kanye's first album dropped, the Clowns had had SEVEN albums out, and not only that, but whereas their debut was put together in a matter of a year, Kanye took over FOUR to get his shit together. Just sayin'.
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The College Dropout - Kanye West (2004)
Intro (skit): Don't expect much in the way of comments on skits from me. I don't like them, don't see the point of them and, most often, don't understand them.
We Don't Care: Nice sort of sense of soul and summer about this
Graduation Day: Very annoying. I'll say no more. Fucking autotune as well, into the bargain!
All Falls Down: Catchy I guess, and the lyric is relatively reflective, which I'm sure made a difference after all the gangsta rappers going on about how great they were.
I'll Fly Away: Sounds a hymn or gospel tune to be honest. Probably the best so far. A cover?
Spaceship: Again it's all right but it doesn't do much for me. The female vocals are nice. I think the song is too long for what it is.
Jesus Walks: The sort of military chant is interesting, certainly the first track I would consider heavy or even dark. The solo female vocal does not, for me, work, in this instance. I see from the video it references the KKK.
Never Let Me Down: Again a decent song, but nothing moving me.
Get Em High: The repetitive beat is good, but I'm just bored with the rest.
Workout Plan (skit): Sigh.
The New Workout Plan: I assume this is not meant to be taken seriously, and is a satire on those lose weight quick/workout videos, but damn it's annoying. Like listening to Five or the Backstreet Boys or something.
Slow Jamz: First ballad, if hip-hop has ballads? Don't know. But it's a slow one with some nice handclaps. Again though I don't find it anything particularly special. The rapid-fire rap is good, in fairness.
Breathe In Breathe Out: I don't think it's possible for me to be less interested. This is just becoming a chore now.
School Spirit (skit 1): Pass
School Spirit: Great. Now we have that high-pitched sped-up voice. As if this wasn't torture enough for me already. Actually, if it wasn't for that fucking squeaky voice this wouldn't be a bad track. Might be one of the better ones. Fuck it: I'll Green it.
School Spirit (skit 2): Another rant at college
Lil Jimmy (skit): And another. Don't these get old?
Two Words: This one isn't bad. It has a memorable melody at least, though whether that's down to him or the sample I don't know. It is good though.
Through the Wire: Sounds like Earth, Wind & Fire on speed. Meh.
Family Business: The fragmented vocal on this is almost as annoying as the high-speed one. The song is all right but I've just lost any interest I had in doing this now. Just getting to the end is proving an ordeal.
Last Call: It worries me that this is twelve fucking minutes long. I mean, I'm a proghead, I like my long epic tracks, but on an album I haven't enjoyed a twelve-minute song is not particularly welcome. On the upside, it is the last one. Thank Yeezus!
Yeah, look this was a bad idea. Trollheart of 5 years ago might have struggled grimly on, determined to finish a project he had started, but this year's Trollheart realises there's no point forcing yourself to do something you have no interest in. Nobody will thank you for it and nobody will appreciate it, to say nothing of the fact that it will come across as something I'm forcing myself to do.
I really have probably no business reviewing hip-hop albums; I don't know enough about the genre to properly appreciate them, and quite honestly, I'm not that interested. I certainly would not have the slightest inclination to listen to a Kanye album again.
So chalk it up as a bad idea, and I'm bailing. Better things to do.
In future, think I'll stick to what I know.
This one might upset a lot of people.
The only Kanye album that is entirely self produced.
I'd personally take it over Carnival of Carnage, it aged much better.
It's a completely different Kanye from what we have now who was a lot more socially conscious in his music.
Kanye being an upper middle class kid who went to private school he couldn't relate to the dominant gangster rap at the time and wanted to make music more relatable to him. So we got verses about being a slave to consumerism thinking he needs all the best clothes for his ego, a song about working a job you hate & song about Jesus.
This was a much more relatable kind of rapper to the average consumer.
The problem is both Ringmaster (if you skip the EPs) & Late Registration are such huge leaps forward for each artist.
Ringmaster is when ICP basically indoctrinated Mike E Clark as their official producer and really created their unique sound.
Late Registration when the label put full support into Kanye as a rapper after he proved he was more than just a producer and he worked with an orchestra. While most people consider My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye's Magnum Opus, I think fans of the older conscious Kanye prefer this album. It has so many hits; Touch The Sky, Gold Digger, Diamonds & Heard Em Say. It also has so many underrated gems; Roses, Crack Music, Addiction, Gone & Drive Slow.
1 more round! Not for us, for yourself!