Last video I talked about rappers ruining great instrumentals, so I decided in this
one I want to spread some love and talk about some things in hip hop that I really like.
That’s right, it’s the sequel to my Rap Albums With No Skips video baby, numero dos,
deux, ithnan... that’s the only languages I know the number 2 in that I can think of
right now.
Last time I covered 4 albums, and this time I'm adding in an extra one to make it 5.
Any guesses for what they are? Pause the video right now and drop a comment down below and
we'll see if you get any of them right.
If you’re feeling extra nice drop a like too, it really helps me every time you guys
do that.
As stated in the last video, these aren’t necessarily my favourite albums of all time,
like just because it's a no skip album doesn't mean it's absolutely perfect, but these are
just albums where every track is pretty good or better to the point that when I'm listening
to the album, I don’t need to skip any tracks to enjoy it more.
Ready to go?
Let’s get it.
This is CDTVProductions, shoutout to all of my Patreon supporters who got to see this
very video early and some extra, exclusive Patreon-only content I have on there, you
can check that out if you want to, and let’s get right into this video.
BROCKHAMPTON “SATURATION II” (Song: BROCKHAMPTON "SWEET")
So guys, I finally did it...
I finally listened to BROCKHAMPTON properly for the very first time this year, in January.
I know, I'm very late to the party but I am enjoying the experience with their music so
much right now, so I don't even care that I'm late to it.
Some of you are gonna be very happy that I did it and clearly I liked what I heard, but
some of you will probably be mad that I didn’t react to any of it.
RIP CDTVthaG, hopefully you awaken from your slumber and rise back up again when something
big drops that you have the opportunity to react to.
At this point, I've listened to every single album that BROCKHAMPTON has out so far, and
that includes the SATURATION trilogy, and the first one had a few great moments, but
didn’t really sell me on the music of Brock or the music of Hampton.
I’m sorry, Brockhampton stans probably hate that stupid overused joke, I couldn’t help
myself.
But the second one?
That is my favourite in the trilogy and that was the one that finally had me rocking with
Brockhampton!!
Oh my god this is good.
There’s so many highlights I don’t even know where to start.
JUNKY?
Where everyone was rapping their asses off over this eerie ass beat?
Perfection.
JELLO, which is catchy to the level that it’s almost annoying because the hook plays in
my head every 5 seconds for a full day after listening to it once?
Amazing.
The random Merlyn Wood lines that just get stuck in my head because of his standout energetic
delivery?
“First off f*** Dolce & Gabana”, “don’t call me, stupid, that ain’t the way my name
pronounced”, "don't call me, cupid, I got too many h*** right now".
I swear every single week a different Merlyn line is stuck in my head, he's so good at
making things sound catchy.
His verses are so damn memorable man.
All the bearface contributions have the power to impregnate me, Joba gave some really smooth
vocals contributions although his best work with the group would come on later projects
in my opinion, and every member in general just kills it.
Much like Wu-Tang with 36 Chambers from the first Rap Albums With No Skips video, BROCKHAMPTON
benefits hugely from being a group with multiple talented members.
If, for whatever reason, one of the member’s contributions on a song isn’t really clicking
with me, then I know at least there’s gonna be 1 or 2 other great performances on the
song that really make it worth listening to for me.
And it’s rare that there even is a verse or chorus that I don’t like on any of these
songs, everyone was in top form on this album.
The only things I would ever maybe consider skipping on this album are the SCENEs, which
are the skits of the album, but they’re not musical tracks so that doesn’t really
count.
And if I’m listening to the album the whole way through I’ll just let them play anyway.
An excellent album from start to finish.
Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats “UNLOCKED 1.5” (Song: Denzel Curry "Pyro (Sango Leak)"
What’s that I hear you say?
“CDTV what about the original version of UNLOCKED?”
That’s a beautiful little album with no skips too, but I am here to push the UNLOCKED
1.5 agenda.
To me, this is a worthy remix album to the original UNLOCKED and to be honest- I don’t
know which one I enjoy more.
2 remixes of my favourite song from the original project?
Yes please.
The Charlie Heat version is the greatest thing to come from this project, I love that rising
bass-line during the hook that acts as the transition into the second beat on the track
in such utterly butterly smooth fashion AND that second beat is just such a beautiful
mix with Denzel’s pitched rapping (Song Clip: "Take_it_Back_V2 (Charlie Heat Version)")
and the Game666 produced GODMODE version is a drum and bass remix of the song which was
unexpected to say the least.
But I think it sounds great, and it’s cool to see some variety like that on this album.
DIET_1.5 with Benny the Butcher?
Don’t mind if I do.
That beats the original for me, something about that switch from Benny’s almost casual,
self-assured sounding rapping into Denzel’s really aggressive, growling hook just makes
the great vocal control on Denzel's chorus stand out even more.
(Song Clip: "DIET_1.5").
Just the way it switches into it, it sounds so amazing.
The laidback remix of Pyro is just as good as the original for me, it’s just a bit
of a different vibe, and those few tracks that I’ve just mentioned are only the main
highlights for me.
The closest thing to a skip here honestly is the Jay Versace reworking of Lay_Up because
I swear every beat I’ve heard from him is pretty predictable and composed in the exact
same way pretty much, BUT it’s still pretty smooth and I think it fits with the slightly
more reverby mixing of Denzel’s vocals.
Closer to a skip than the rest, but not a skip.
Also am I the only one that thinks Logic would really fit as a feature on So Incredible?
That sounds like an Incredible True Story beat right there that he would glide over.
(Song Clip: "So.Incredible.pkg (Robert Glasper Version)").
And Denzel said the line about Logic on DIET_ wasn’t a diss so hey, if Logic ever fully
comes out of retirement officially and there’s an Unlocked 1.75, let’s hear him on this
So Incredible beat.
With the addition of features, new producers, and even a different overall vibe to the OG
Unlocked with this one being like the chill, laidback cousin of Unlocked from outer space,
it makes it stand on it's own from that album and as a result, it means I can switch between
them depending on whether I’m in the mood for something more gritty or something more
smoother.
You already had a great framework with brilliant, charismatic verses from Denzel on the first
one, and the features and the producers really came through on the second one.
Amazing stuff.
Honestly this whole segment was kind of advocating for both the UNLOCKED twins, just count them
both for this segment, they both have no skips anyway.
Shoutout to Kenny Beats & Denzel Curry for putting these perfect little packages of songs
together.
Pusha T “DAYTONA” (Song: Pusha T "If You Know You Know")
UNLOCKED isn’t the only perfect little package of songs on this list, because here we have
the 7 track long DAYTONA by Pusha T. When you’re putting out a 7 track album, you
wanna make sure every single song packs a punch in some way.
And of course that is what Pusha did on this album that was executively produced by Kanye
West, with co-production on a few tracks by producers like the incredible Mike Dean and
popular producer Pierre Bourne, who I have mixed feelings on overall but the instrumental
he co-produced here sounds brilliant.
We’ll get to Pusha’s rapping in a bit, but the second that you click play on any
of these songs you can just tell that the instrumentals are some prime cut s*** right
from the start.
*me vibing to DAYTONA instrumentals for too long*.
Why has it become a regular segment in my videos to play clips of songs to you through
the microphone from my phone... when I could just, like, place them into the video like
I usually do?
I don't know, I just- I just like doing this now.
I don’t know if people will disagree with this or not, but I think this is THE best
7 track long Kanye produced album that dropped in 2018, from a production standpoint and
an overall quality standpoint.
I won’t repeat my Kids See Ghosts opinion here because I know that if I do, I’ll be
eaten alive for it in the comments.
*my imitation of Kanye on "Feel the Love"*.
I will confess this is the only Pusha T album that I have listened to in full so far, so
even if he’s rapped a whole lot about coke throughout his career, it’s still super
fresh to me on DAYTONA.
Look I know some people are gonna leave comments about that, but just because I run a rap channel
doesn’t mean I’ve heard everything, I’m only 22 years old and I should have plenty
of time left to hear more music.
His delivery is just excellent, Pusha T is a rapper that makes his words hit your ear
just right with his intense and focused delivery, and the same can be said for his lyricism.
He just oozes confidence on the mic.
If an album with a mere 7 tracks makes it to the top 3 of my best albums list for the
year it came out like Daytona did, then you can bet that there is 0 skips on that thing.
Run the Jewels “Run the Jewels 2” (Song: Run the Jewels "Lie, Cheat, Steal")
If you’re ever going for a run or lifting weights and you have to pick one album to
listen to while you do it, do yourself a favour and pick this one.
This is like a performance enhancing drug in musical form.
I’m not exaggerating when I say this album does not ONCE let the energy drop, even the
deeper tracks with more emotionally powerful lyrics have beats that double slap you right
across the face and El-P & Killer Mike do a stellar job of matching that intensity with
their vocals at all times.
I swear they were both in peak form on here, I love them both but Mike in particular had
me absolutely glued to his verses throughout the album.
The first 4 tracks on this album in particular just DO NOT give you a second to cool down.
Oh My Darling Don’t Cry right next to Blockbuster Night Part 1?
Just listening to those 2 back to back makes me sweat from the intensity.
The way the sample is chopped into the beat on Oh My Darling Don’t Cry plus the part
where the production just explodes out is beautiful and the building sound Blockbuster
Night has is so hard.
(Song Clip: Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies "You Can't Ever Come Down") (Song Clip: Oh My Darling
Don't Cry) (Song Clip: Blockbuster Night Part 1).
It’s pretty easy to explain why this is a no skip album for me, it’s simply constant,
consistent high quality music throughout the entire album.
And with it only being 11 tracks long, it really means each track gets it's own chance
to shine and it makes sure that the music doesn't completely exhaust you with it's hard-hitting
sound by the time that the album comes to a close, because, I don't feel like you could
make a 20 track long Run the Jewels album without it being completely exhausting by
the end because of how hard hitting their sound is.
11 tracks?
That's just right.
It is just the perfect length for this type of music.
Vince Staples “Big Fish Theory” (Song: Vince Staples "BagBak")
And finally, let’s talk about the rather large goldfish album.
When you take the sound of your album in a more experimental direction, it can be a risk
but if you nail the sound and that risk pays off, it‘s highly likely that it's gonna
result in something that I would consider to be a no skip album.
As you can tell, such is the case with Big Fish Theory by Vince Staples.
This to me is the best Vince Staples album out there at the moment because this style
of production, that he’s only ever fully utilised on this one album, is the perfect
match for his blunt, nihilistic lyricism and tone of voice.
As far as I’m concerned there is not a single other album where the instrumentals have enhanced
how Vince’s rapping comes across as much as Big Fish Theory.
It’s to the point that no other album by him hits as hard for me, this was his style
perfected right here.
FM! was great too, don’t get me wrong, but Big Fish is THE standout.
Don’t believe me?
Just listen to something like Yeah Right, a track that makes me lose my damn mind like
I’m Big Quint.
*Footage of Big Quint having an out of body experience*.
That song is disgustingly... brutally... unforgivingly hard.
There’s a random switch to something that sounds like it’s straight out of an old
school dance song in the middle of the track but it somehow works, which then transitions
into a mind blowing Kendrick Lamar verse.
It’s incredible.
(Song Clip: Yeah Right) Or how about Love Can Be... and BagBak?
Tell me you can listen to those without bopping your head and tapping your feet, YOU ARE LYING
BRO.
Talking about it has me energized like I’m listening to it.
Party People and Homage make me wanna jump right into the middle of a raging mosh pit,
and moshpits scare me man.
(Song Clip: Homage).
I am not exaggerating how much the style on this album goes off for me, I cannot get enough
of it.
The fast paced drums on most tracks mixed with the strong, bassy sounds and sharp industrial
elements is just excellent, and the way it’s composed gives it this really cold and almost
hollow sound that perfectly matches the often dark topics that Vince fills his verses with.
And hollow sounds like a negative way to describe production, but I really don’t mean it in
a bad way here, it provides to the way that this album sounds perfectly.
I don’t care what anyone else thinks about this album, I will praise it to death forever.
It might be a bit weird and unconventional for some people to get into it, and that’s
fine, I completely understand that, but I think it’s a stellar album and honestly
somewhat under-appreciated for how unique and great it is.
I’m not even the biggest Vince Staples fan to be honest, but he struck gold with this
album and the sound he decided to go for with it.
Well guys, that is gonna be it for the video today so thank you so much all for watching,
and I look forward to reading your comments and seeing if any of you guys guessed accurately
what albums I was gonna talk about in this video.
I would really appreciate you, as always, leaving a like if you enjoyed it and subscribing
if you haven't done so already and wanna see more videos similar to this one.
I've been making a little bit of a comeback lately so if you're an older viewer on my
channel and you don't know I've been dropping quite a lot of videos recently so, I'd really
appreciate you also checking those out if you haven't seen them- NOTHING BUT BANGERS
FROM CDTV, ONCE AGAIN.
We're back on that 2018/2019 CDTV vibe.
And yeah, I'm just really excited about making more videos so that's all my Patrons on screen
right there, big shout-out to all of them for supporting me, and of course a special
shoutout to my biggest supporters as always on there; cyrus formidoni, Caleb Peeples,
Raegen Burt, iAmRegent and Tyson.
Thank you so much for all of the support, it really means the world to me.
Thank you to everyone that's stuck around with my channel for this long, even if I've
been known to be very inconsistent with my videos, and taking a long time to make videos
that I say I'm gonna make.
I really plan on working on them but I appreciate all of you guys that have stuck with me throughout
it all because this is what I love to do and I really feel like I'm starting to get better
at it again.
Because there was a point where I was doubting my content but I really feel like I'm getting
to a place where I really enjoy how it turns out again, I really like making it.
And, um- yeah, it just feels really good so I wanted to share that with you guys, not
to get too personal at the end of this video or anything, but that's how I'm feeling.
So that's all I've got to say for today guys, thank you so much for watching, I will see
you all in the next one and this is your happy boy CDTVProductions signing out.