Opinions.
They’re what my channel is based on, and most importantly; they can change over time.
Originally I was gonna talk about 10 rap songs I disliked that grew on me, but Isaiah beat
me to that one before I could even record it.
Damn it Isaiah.
So instead, I used my super massive IQ to shift the concept slightly into 10 albums
that grew on me over time.
And I’m also including mixtapes just so you know.
I will still do the video on songs eventually, but I thought I’d start with this.
So with that being said this is CDTV, follow me on twitter and Instagram to stay updated
with my uploads because that’s legit the most reliable way to do it, and let’s get
into the video.
10 - Earl Sweatshirt “Doris”
I discredited this album for the dumbest reason back when it came out.
I was about 15 when this was released and I wasn’t nearly as open back then to giving
artists I hadn’t heard before a chance, so when I heard that goddamn verse from SK
La’Flare on the opening song Pre, I gave up and assumed I’d hate the whole album.
It wasn’t even an Earl verse, I wrote off this album cause I didn’t like a feature
that only appeared for less than 2 minutes.
That’s why this is at number 10, I didn’t even give the album a chance, didn’t listen
to any other songs, yet somehow I still decided that I disliked it at the time.
Now don’t get me wrong, I personally still hate the opening verse on the project, I talk
about it more in this video if you wanna check that out, but when I decided to properly give
it a chance around 2 or so years ago, I absolutely loved it.
In fact, Earl quickly became one of my favourite rappers and it makes me mind blown that I
ignored the quality this album showcases.
9 - Lil Uzi Vert “Lil Uzi Vert Vs.
The World”
Looking back, I’m surprised I did have such a dislike for this project initially.
That’s not even to say I love it now, rather I feel like I appreciate it and the vibe it
gives off more now.
I hear this tape and I just picture Uzi in the recording booth doing that shoulder roll
thing with a big smile on his face.
When I made my worst Rappers in the Game?
video on Uzi, I said this.
Now I don’t know what I was on then, because Grab the Wheel is currently my least favourite
on the mixtape, it’s so needlessly long and drawn out.
And as I’m sure you know by me putting it on this list, there’s definitely more than
2 tracks I enjoy now.
Hi Roller, Ps & Qs and Team Rocket have such a happy aura around them which is something
I’ve always enjoyed, making me even more puzzled as to why I didn’t feel that upbeat
energy as much at first.
8 - Rae Sremmurd “SremmLife”
I did not start feeling this album until one of my friends, who did like it, sat me down
while we were at school in the library and made me listen to the whole thing with him
from start to finish.
Before that moment, I really judged this one unfairly from the singles which I hated at
the time, I found tracks like No Flex Zone and Up Like Trump so irritating, and refused
to properly listen to them.
Like Doris, I never gave this album a fair shot.
However, when I was forced to sit down and actually give it a chance, I ended up enjoying
it quite a lot.
The more and more I listened, the more I liked it, eventually leading to Rae Sremmurd becoming
my guilty pleasure, then getting to now where I have no problem saying I love their music.
I could actually credit this album as being one that got me more into mainstream hip hop
as well and made me broaden my music-listening horizons.
To this day, me and that friend who introduced me to this bump these tracks whenever we’re
together, and it never gets old.
7 - Young Thug “JEFFERY”
Young Thug’s sound is something that’s probably best described as completely insane.
If there’s one rapper that’s an acquired taste, it’s this man.
Just listen to the track Harambe, it’s one of the most vocally unconventional tracks
I’ve ever heard.
Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I’ll let you be the judge.
He’s the musical equivalent of a Picasso painting, and that’s definitely a sound
that might be hard to get into and it was for me.
The more I listen to him though, the more I enjoy him and this is easily his best produced
project in my opinion.
It’s probably also his most vocally wild one, and it’s just so ludicrous that I can’t
help but enjoy it.
There’s a very strange art to what he does with JEFFERY, and it’s kinda beautiful.
6 - Big Sean “Dark Sky Paradise”
I didn’t really realise that I actually quite enjoy Sean’s music until after he
dropped I Decided.
I loved that album, and it encouraged me to come back to this one which I originally disliked
so much that it landed Big Sean on my 10 Worst XXL Freshman Of All Time list, which is a
list I definitely disagree with nowadays and need to re-do.
This album isn’t perfect, and it contains some peak Big Sean brand corn... but it’s
mostly worth it for highlights such as the intro track, Deep with Lil Wayne or Paradise
which in my opinion is the best track on here, Mike Will’s rougher industrial production
actually fits Sean’s flow perfectly.
Also, this album has One Man Can Change the World which is just beautiful and actually
has really heartfelt verses from Sean.
It’s definitely better than I used to think it was.
5 - Drake “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late”
I’m gonna be straight up here, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a big ol’ Drake
hater in 2015.
So it was no surprise that back then, I dismissed If You’re Reading This as Drake’s blandest
project yet due to the darker, brooding sound this tape has.
Fast forward to now, and I’d say it’s my second or third favourite Drake project,
with me realizing that this darker sound it had was more to reflect Drake’s p’d off
state of mind at the time.
He almost entirely put the hit making side of his music aside and was primarily focused
with straight up rapping and venting his frustrations.
As is the standard now, he was clearly having issues with the Young Money label & Birdman,
something he suggests a fair bit on here, and he makes it clear that even with the amount
of money & fame he has, there’s still frustrations that come with that.
It’s just one of his most interesting projects, with solid rapping and beat switches laced
throughout it that make the project feel like a very fulfilling listen.
I don’t think I’ll ever be a huge Drake fan or anything, but this is a great project.
4 - 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin “Without Warning”
Out of all the albums on this list, this one was the most recent to grow on me.
I’m actually mad looking back at how much I underrated this project when I first heard
it.
21 Savage was the main issue for me here, I just found him so unbearably boring but
as is the theme of this video, I feel differently now.
Now I feel like his stone cold delivery actually fits this very ghostly, almost horror themed
Metro Boomin production.
It came out just at the right time as well, with the album dropping on Halloween.
Offset was a highlight on pretty much every track that he played a part in, and I went
from only enjoying the first 3 tracks of this project, to caring for all the tracks except
two, those being Darth Vader & Disrespectful aka “Flooded Out”.
I would love a sequel, but Metro Boomin has pretty much said it’s not happening and
that this project was enough.
Honestly I can’t disagree with him, I’d like a sequel, but this is a fantastic project
the way it is.
3 - Chance the Rapper “Acid Rap”
Much like Young Thug, Chance has a wildness and eccentricity to his music that can take
a little time to acclimate to at first.
His voice has a purposely childish tone to it, and it took me a while to not find it
annoying.
I always loved the jovial sound most of this project exudes, but the voice was always that
main barrier for me.
As you might be able to tell from this video, if you have an unconventional voice im gonna
need more than one listen to come around to it.
And I’m so happy I came around to this one, because it’s one of those mixtapes I can
play cover to cover and enjoy nearly every track so much.
Chance is pretty damn unique, and I can’t even imagine how mesmerising this album would
be under the influence.
The tape even manages to hit a lot of emotional beats with Chance still staying consistent
with his delivery and scattered writing style.
This is my favourite Chance project so far, and it’s gonna be a tough one to top.
2 - GZA “Liquid Swords”
Being a very lyrically focused 90’s hip hop album, this one is entirely different
to every other album on this list.
It just goes to show that even legendary albums might not always hit on that introductory
listen, hell they might never hit.
At first, I found this one hard to get into because of GZA’s monotone delivery among
other things, but luckily, this really did grow on me and is my favourite Wu Tang member
solo album from what I’ve heard.
GZA is an incredibly talented writer, painting vivid pictures about street life and crime
on tracks like Gold with his expansive vocabulary.
I think one thing that makes me like it so much is it’s one of the Wu Tang solo albums
that feels really in line with Enter the 36 Chambers, using sizeable samples from the
film Shogun Assassin and utilising a very similar production style from RZA.
His monotone delivery doesn’t bother me at all now, because when you focus in on his
lyrics his delivery style becomes much more methodical and calculated than slow paced.
This album is considered by many as the greatest hip hop album of all time, and while I don’t
love it quite to that degree, it’s certainly up there.
1 - Kendrick Lamar “good kid, m.A.A.d city”
My opinion has shifted on this album so drastically that I’m struggling to understand why I
wasn’t feeling it back in 2012.
This went from an album that I genuinely did not like at all
to one of my favourite hip hop projects ever.
It took me at least 2 years before it hit me that this was a phenomenal album and I
realised that I’d been sleeping on an exceptional artist.
As mentioned, when I was younger, I had a habit of not accepting an artist if their
voice could even remotely be described as annoying, I know it’s ironic cause a lot
of people dislike my videos for the same reason, and with Kendrick’s various vocal inflections
he definitely fit that description.
On top of that, I didn’t really think about how the songs fit into the concept of the
album, so I just took songs like Backseat Freestyle to be very typical lyrically and
this kinda put me off as well.
Remember I listened to Hopsin a lot as a kid, so if you so much as mentioned money, women
or anything like that in your raps then you weren’t a real MC.
Yes, I was a “real hip hop” kinda kid.
Thank god I kept giving this album re-listens, because one day it just clicked for me and
all the songs connected, falling perfectly into the concept and telling Kendrick’s
childhood story with haunting detail.
Thinking about it now, this was probably THE album that made me consider being more open
minded towards rappers outside of my, at the time, very small comfort zone, and that makes
this one all the more special to me.
It’s easily the album on here that grew on me the most, by a mile, and that is why
Good Kid Maad City is number 1 on this list.
(Outro)