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Kanye West presents Cruel Summer: with my question being, is this an album or a compilation album disguised as an over-hyped mixtape? Some are on the fence about this highly anticipated album, and I think part of the reason many people believe that this is more a compilation album than anything is the mere fact that the album doesn’t have a consensus or a main thought, its just a group of artists making “GOOD” music, in a genre where originality is sometimes not wanted or welcomed.
The 12 track LP opens with “To the World” featuring Kanye and the always re-inventive R. Kelly, where Kanye ‘spits braggadocios, yet at the same time conscious lines’ like:
Said I’d be all up in Goldman Sachs
Like, “These niggas tryna hold me back
These niggas tryna hold me back”, I’m just trying to protect my stacks
Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax, Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax
There are true winners off of the G.O.O.D. music team, Big Sean is NOW a superstar and not even close to scratching the surface of what lies ahead of his career, 2 Chainz, exact same sentiment. The biggest winner though is the underrated Pusha – T who trades bars with Kanye on “NEW GOD FLOW” as if Pusha was Lil Wayne back in 07′ murdering every feature in sight. Kanye does have his moment to truly shine spitting bars that are consistently heard multiples times through the album:
Cars, money, girls and the clothes
Aww man, you sold your soul
Naww man, mad people was frontin’
Aww man, made something from nothing
Pusha proved with his verses that his time to properly craft a timeless album is HERE, and I truly hope he can acquire Kanye to oversee the process of said album. He definitely showed he’s more than ready for his time to shine in the spotlight.
Teyana Taylor, Teyana, Teyana, Teyana! Her smooth voice is heard on 3 tracks and it does what Christmas in Harlem did for all of us; her voice gets you lost in the melodies, and leaves you craving more. Kudos! to her for the John Legend duet! Sonically, this is a really well put together album with guest spots, that are unexpected and head splitting at times. Examples: Ghostface Killah’s seemingly out of nowhere verse at the end of New God Flow! Or The-Dream’s hook that saves the HIGHER from being a weak track on the album.
The album has at least ONE track that music lovers will fall in love with, my advice if you’re iffy about a Kanye West production, stream the album on Spotify and form your own opinion on the LP, but to me, “It’s a solid contender for a slot in the “top 10 albums of 2012.”‘
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