Ok so I’m going to London for vidcon in about 3 hours so I don’t really have time
to Script and edit a super funny joke at the start here, so I’m just gonna throw in a
random meme to replace that.
So yes, I’ve seen a lot of YouTube videos on Unpopular opinions come out recently, so
I thought I’d give it a go and make a list of my own unpopular rap opinions.
Now for most of these entries, I could honestly make a whole video explaining them individually,
so I’m gonna try my best to summarise them in a relatively quick way so we don’t end
up with a 30-40 minute video.
So with that being said, let’s not waste anymore time cause I really don’t wanna
miss my train to London, this is CDTVProductions and let’s get right into the video.
10 - Playboi Carti’s Self Titled Project > Die Lit
I’d rather listen to neither, but given the choice self titled gets the W. In all
fairness, there’s probably only like 5 albums I’ve heard that I wanna listen to less than
Die Lit, so it’s no surprise that I think Carti’s self titled project is easily better.
Firstly, it’s not nearly an entire 60 minutes long, which is 57 minutes longer than I can
tolerate Carti’s style for.
Instead, it’s only 44 minutes too long.
Ill take it.
I think the overall vibe is something I enjoy much more too, upbeat Carti is way more appealing
to me than dark, minimalistic Carti, which just sounds completely void.
I got around 5 tracks from self titled, those being Location, Wokeuplikethis*, New Choppa,
Dothatshit!
& Flex.
From Die Lit, I got Shoota, Old Money and Choppa Won’t Miss and even then I don’t
think those last 2 are particularly great.
Maybe one day it’ll hit me, but I just don’t see what many other people see in Die Lit.
9 - J. Cole’s Concept Of kiLL edward Is Cool, But His Vocals Suck
So on J. Cole’s newest album KOD, he introduced a new alter ego or character in his music
named kiLL edward.
His presence on the album instantly started discussions, with people wondering what this
character was meant to represent and the significance of him.
It’s not been confirmed yet, but I’ll link a couple theories below that I think
sound pretty convincing.
The problem is, I feel he ruins the two tracks he’s featured on in KOD, those tracks being
The Cut Off and Friends.
Cole has brilliant verses, but the way his vocals are oddly pitched during the kiLL edward
segments sounds so awkward and off key, and it throws off the tracks for me a lot, to
the point where I just don’t revisit them anymore.
As you can imagine, I’m not very enthusiastic about the fact that Cole is releasing a whole
album based on this character, but at least it’ll be cool to get some more backstory
or information on kiLL edward through that album.
Overall I’m not a fan though.
8 - A$AP Ferg Is Significantly Better Than A$AP Rocky
If I’m being honest, A$AP Rocky is an artist who, for the most part, I just feel like is
okay, but none of his albums have ever actually engaged me the whole way through.
The way I’d describe his music is that it almost feels pretty grey in a way, he’s
talented and I respect that he likes to try different things but I struggle to be interested
by his delivery or overall presence on a song.
Whereas Ferg, Ferg is the complete opposite of that for me.
As soon as you turn on one of his projects, it’s gonna slap from the very first track,
and he just has such a naturally charismatic and high energy sound to his music.
There’s not many songs out there that get me more hyped up than Trap & A Dream or Work.
Whereas Rocky’s presence on a song doesn’t do much for me, Ferg’s presence instantly
has an electric feeling to it.
Despite being from the same collective, they have fairly different sounds that they go
for, and I just happen to be a much bigger fan of Fergs.
7 - My Favourite Rapper Of the 90’s Is Neither Biggie Or Pac...
If you look at the majority of lists people make for their top rapper of the 90’s, 9
times out of 10 you’re gonna see that list topped by Biggie or Pac, with some maybe opting
for Nas.
But for me, it’s none of those guys.
My personal favourite is Big L. He’s nowhere near as well known to mainstream audiences,
and doesn’t receive the same recognition as Pac or Biggie do in the current day, but
I think he should.
When he does full on storytelling tracks they’re always incredibly engaging, such as Casualties
Of A Dice Game and The Heist, plus his technical skills are astoundingly solid from multisyllable
rhymes to creative wordplay.
98 Freestyle is a track that has me smiling every second it runs for due to his bars.
Every single time I listen to his music I’m impressed, and while I do love Pac & Biggie,
L takes that number 1 spot for me.
If you love that gritty and hungry sound in rap music, I’d highly recommend his Lifestyles
Ov Da Poor & Dangerous album.
6 - Big Sean Is Nowhere Near Bad/Big Sean Is Much Better Than “Okay”
Big Sean really does get a lot of criticism from the hip hop community, he’s always
referred to as the most passable or non essential rapper in the rap game, however personally
I think his last 2 solo albums were pretty damn great, especially I Decided.
They honestly made me a fan of his music.
Dark Sky Paradise has a lot of bangers I revisit often, and I Decided cemented my enjoyment
of his music as we got to see a much more personal side of Sean whether it was uplifting
songs about his childhood and how he got past hard times, tracks about his past relationships,
or him expressing his love for his family.
He really has become a rapper I heavily enjoy after that album.
And to be honest, I’ve always really enjoyed that recognisable run on flow he often uses.
Some people say it sounds corny but I think it has a really nice sound to it, especially
when Sean is just casually rattling off lines as if it’s nothing.
He may still have some of the cringiest bars in rap and isn’t the most unique artist
ever, but I think he gets talked down on too much for what he does.
5 - Takeoff Is Not Underrated
While we’re talking about Migos, can we just quickly mention how hilarious Offset’s
album announcement trailer is?
(Play clip).
I have so many questions, but that’s irrelevant because this is about Takeoff.
Everyone constantly talks about how Takeoff is the underrated Migo or the under-appreciated
one, but in my opinion his solo album proves that wrong.
It’s not a bad album necessarily, but what it is, is kinda boring.
He just does not have a voice or style that is dynamic or compelling enough to make a
whole solo album interesting.
He works much better when he’s just providing a single verse to a track, that’s when he
can really kill it, but someone isn’t underrated to me if they can’t make great solo songs.
Sure, maybe for a time he didn’t get enough credit for some of his great verses on Migos
songs, but now it’s that thing where so many people are saying he’s underrated that
he can’t even really be considered underrated anymore.
4 - DAMN.
Is My least Favourite Studio Album From Kendrick
I remember after my very first listen to DAMN., I thought to myself that it might genuinely
be the best album he’d ever released, but the way things are now, I actually think I
prefer his other 3 studio albums, those being Section.80, Good Kid Maad City, and To Pimp
A Butterfly.
It’s not even a case of me disliking DAMN., that isn’t it at all, I just like his other
3 albums so much.
Good Kid Maad City is his best so far, being an autobiographical look at Kendrick’s life
and the lessons he learned throughout it.
To Pimp A Butterfly, while not the easiest album to listen to in a casual setting, is
so nuanced and well crafted that id honestly refer to it as a masterpiece.
That leaves us with Section.80, and again this is another conceptually strong project
that does go little under appreciated sometimes.
Kendrick’s storytelling was as solid as ever on there.
So like I said, this one isn’t a case of me disliking DAMN. or thinking it’s bad,
it’s a case of me thinking his other 3 studio albums are better.
DAMN. was good, but not as good as them.
3 - Ski Mask Hasn’t Released A Truly Great Project Since Slaps For My Drop Top Minivan
Ski Mask’s first 3 projects were excellent, Slaps For My Droptop Minivan is one of the
most entertaining projects I’ve ever listened to... but Ski hasn’t really put out anything
that can match it since.
Now this is an opinion I feel most Ski fans will disagree with due to his most recent
album Stokeley, which was received pretty well and is generally considered to be great.
But personally, I think it’s just fairly good, nothing amazing though, there’s only
like 7 tracks that I come back to the album for and the other 6 literally never get played.
Then before that we had The Book Of Eli, which was just not a good album at all.
It sounded like something Ski put out for the sake of it, and the numerous release issues
didn’t help it out either.
Then there’s You Will Regret, which was probably the closest we got to great without
hitting that mark in my opinion.
Again, it’s fairly good, but I think it’s dragged down by the second half.
And that’s everything we’ve received since the Droptop Minivan EP, and none of them are
great to me.
I don’t think he’s fallen off or anything, but I’m definitely a bigger fan of Ski’s
old stuff than his more recent output.
2 - Wolf > Flowerboy
Now I know this one is unpopular, because every time I tweet it out on my twitter account
that you should definitely follow, I get bombarded with L’s and disagreements.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Flowerboy is an outstanding album, I love the warm,
lush sound the production has and it’s easily Tyler’s most mature project, but Wolf still
takes the cake for me.
One of the main things that really makes me fond of it is how it fits into the whole storyline
of Tyler’s first 3 albums.
He’s never went on record as saying it, but the theory that Wolf is a prequel to B******
makes so much sense, and the way the seemingly simple story is told throughout the album
is great.
Not to mention, a lot of my favourite Tyler tracks are on here.
Rusty has one of the best Verses he’s ever put out, Answer is an emotional highlight
of his career, and 48 is a song with a really powerful message.
Also I should mention one of the reasons might just be the fact that it’s the first Tyler
album that really got me into his music, it kinda has a special place in my heart as the
first full project I heard from him.
This may not be his most polished album in terms of the production or maturity, but I
still love it to death and see it as the album where Tyler was really starting to unlock
his talents.
1 - The Quality Of 90’s Hip Hop Is Overstated/Hip Hop Is Just As Good, If Not BETTER Nowadays
Now this is one I really could do a full in depth video on, and I might actually do that,
but I really do enjoy modern day hip hop more than old school hip hop.
That’s not me saying I don’t respect 90’s rap or that I’m ignoring it’s influence,
because I do love hip hop from that era, but I’d rather listen to albums that came out
in the last 10 years the majority of the time.
And the reason why is I think there’s something for absolutely everyone in modern day hip
hop, with multiple different styles of rap being innovated since the old days of it.
You still want that 90’s influenced sound with some great lyricism?
Joey Bada$$, Big K.R.I.T.
Freddie Gibbs, and Action Bronson all exist.
But if that’s not your thing, you’ve got a bunch of other sub genres to look into,
there’s so much variety now and much more in terms of different sounds than there used
to be.
Hip hop is more diverse than ever, and sure you could say lyricism has had a huge downfall,
but only if you’re looking in the wrong places.
Some of the best lyricists ever are currently alive and relevant in the hip hop scene, I
feel like sometimes people purely point to mainstream rap and say “that’s the reason
why rap is dead”, but we can’t act like the 90’s didn’t have its fair share of
awful radio music too.
If you prefer 90’s rap and you’re 100% set on it being better than modern day rap,
of course that’s fine and I’m not saying it’s a wrong opinion, but the way I personally
feel, hip hop is
even better nowadays.
(Outro)