Live Review: KOOL A.D. - 51
Hey
first why are you doing so many of these these days?
Because
they’re fun, and I seem to enjoy/focus on the music most when I do
them.
But
you never say anything good in them
I
never say anything good anyways.
So
yeah:
Live
Review: KOOL A.D. - 51
1
51 (Amaze 88 Intro)
Cool “lightworks” sorta
sounds here, samples from Victor presumably knows where. Semiboasting
sure. This has a legit beat feel now I wonder if someone’s gonna
start rapping. “From the Golden State” cool. I don’t really
know Amaze 88 but he seems like a cool dude. This all seems very
legit compared to other Kool A.D. Mixtapes. This is more of his Nehru
Jackets than another
Palm Wine Drinkard I
guess. I like him in both modes really though, so this variety is
nice. Cool sounds going on here, I can’t tell what is a sample and
what is Amaze 88 having a really cool synth. Now some brass noodling
sorta sounds, I like it, I have been all over the marching band/jazz
synthesis since Quakers. Lol the intro is the longest track tho I
think Big Baby Gandhi has to learn what a real “Long Ass Intro”
is. But whatever I’m enjoying it, this is fun, “groovy”,
Greedhead going for all sorts of aesthetics it hasn’t been cool to
unironically like in awhile, bring them back. I love it. Outro of
intro cool too, exact sorta synthesis I was talking about.
2
Electrum
The
news samples plus this beat both seem MF DOOMish. Flow not that off
DOOM either. “Rock and roll highschool, better yet the navy”,
this beat basically too cool, demands a flow at least this cool. Even
calls himself Mr. Clean, is Victor the next DOOM? Anyhow this is
damned cool, lots of great lines I gotta get down after a few more
listens.
3
La Pinata
Back
on that Amaze 88 production. Mr. Rodgers sample, has that been done
before? Wow this flow is like classic DOOM. Lots of great
self-titling. Good sample integration. Few good reference raps “Every
wall a window, every window a wall, tho, I’m Waldo, come find me”,
lots of other great stuff. Can the whole tape be this cool? A few
throwbacks as far back as “Who’s that Broooown”, cool. “I’m
Drake vs. Common, who cares?” INDEED. Good lifestyle shoutouts.
Beat TOO COOL.
4
Oooh
I think I had heard this one
before. Main Attrakionz is cool, I like the amount of interaction in
the building, not just chunked into verse appearance. Wow am I crazy
or does this really really sound like a lost DOOM album circa around
King Geedorah? But he namedrops ASAP so I know it ain’t. Great
flow, great vocal sound, beat ice cold but I feel like that goes
without saying at this point. The sort of thing that you just “vibe
to”, y’know what I mean about bring this sort of feeling back?
Second verse a bit intenser, good production. Hip hop started at the
park, yeah yeah, that good sort of nostalgia. Victor’s verse now,
pretty smooth, nice esoteric flow, lifestyles rap, slept through a
session yesterday, hilarious. Magnificent, so significant, I like the
sounds of these words. KOOL A.D. Is back again, that’s cool.
5
Arrested Development
I
think I heard this one before too maybe? Kassa Overall is cool, I
like him alright. Beat is cool, check. Feels like this an the
previous track could have been combined, dunno if this good or bad.
Sung sorta hook here, Girls v. Women dichotomy seems a major
Greedhead theme these days. Yeah I did hear this before unless he did
this verse before. OH WAIT “RECYCLE LIKE HALF A VERSE BUT THAT’S
ART MAN”, that’s funny. Lots of other hilarious lines right after
too. The little developments in the beats are a nice touch. Seems
like this settled into the outro pretty fast but that’s okay, this
beat deserves a nice “ride out”. Sorta jagged aburpt sounding
beats that are still really jazzy are very cool.
6
Ticky Tacky
Maybe
I am just in one of those moods where I think I recognize anything,
but KOOL A.D. Has been dropping a lot of songs on Youtube and maybe
these are them, I dunno. This beat is a lot different than the
previous ones but there’s a sense that we were heading in this
direction. Really cool though in a totally different. Hyper spartan
flow good contrast between guest and host. Lots of contrast amongst
guests too for that matter, some of these guys have crazy vocal
stylings. Somewhere between ASAP Rocky and Danny Brown if that makes
any sense whatsoever you oughta know how cool that is.
7
Manny Pacquiao
Wow
I love that intro. I love this beat too. Really solid. Victor at his
most swagged out, most marinated. “Sting heavy still float like a
featherweight”, that’s clever. Now we’re more in the mode of
patternrap than tradrap, can I call the former “Philipglassrap”?
Or is that dumb? Vocal tricks WOAH flow switchup, now hyper fast
hyper flower, then back to reference burst style, I like it. Back to
first style, I like this structuring, seems vaguely ritualistic.
“Bitch I’m Thom Yorke” oh indeed, “Tryin’ t’act like they
know a dude, but dude?” “Cigarette in the mouth, take it out” a
common line, I like it. “Let’s see how the hook sounds right
here”, and then he does the hook, that’s funny. SYNETHESIS OF
HYPHY AND LIL B, too bad Lil B himself did that first, but this is
great too. “Dumb dumb dumb etc”, the hybrid of unironic and
reflexive, what a cool intersection. And it feels so natural too,
never tryhard or whatever.
8
California Music Channel
Trackademic
now raps on this one. Good transition. Really cool vocal effect, I
like this “level 2 of the previous beat” feel, lots of good
soundrap here. “Tattoo triage”, I like doing these little two
word funnies but here is the master. Flow getting even crazier, is
this vocal effect an “ironic phoning it in”? Lots of jokes, I
gotta dissect these further later. Acronym rap, internet going crazy.
Guest comes in fashionably late, cool flow, tic-tac-toe rap is neat.
Trackademics earning his name. Outro pretty cool, I am feeling the
low bass fuzziness.
9
Power/Refinement Knowledge
This
beat is crazy, is this even a beat? Industrial hip hopping machine
language sorta stuff. Instrumental? Drum beats hit deep, shout
samples, I like all of this. Tape just keeps getting weirder and
weirder, where are we going, is it “area 51”? Sure then let’s
go, alien communication rap. Woah ending hyper mode version, say
“dystopia robot rave”.
10
Donda
Beat
SO COOL, sorta Quakers thing I keep harping on. Flow cool, Marc
Antony flow. I know my roman histories now. Wowahwaha what was that
Eminem line, that was mad cool. I love that flute thing in the
background. Too short! Too short man! So much cool stuff happening
near the end here, this is like the druggiest track ever. What is
that cutoff?!?!
11
Biz vs. Nudge
LOL
WHAT, this is some serious anticon stuff man.
12
Damien Hirst
WOAH
THAT INTRO, woah this flow, wowhaw, the things he is saying, I cannot
BELIEVE the THINGS he is making me HEAR. He’s done this sorta vocal
effect before, I like it, woah sudden change, sudden change back,
this is really sorta Reaching Quiet stuff but some bizarro world
version of it. “I do what I want, it’s a fuckin’ movie” etc,
this is definitely an interesting viewpoint. Now they bring in a
guest and he does a verse that I think he thinks he’s on a Paul
Wall track, sounds really crazy with the effects. Next verse a whole
different thing too. This beat like “brutally hypnotic” if that
makes sense. Flow at the end here really bananas, feels like a weird
parody of something but I can’t tell exactly what. Laughing, that’s
jokes, this is legit sort of scary too you know? I don’t think
things can get much heavier than this.
13
Town Business
There
was another song of this name with a similar beat? Or was it the same
song? I can’t keep up with all this stuff. Good flow here though.
Yeah I’ve definitely heard this “Turn this shit up” hook
before, I love it. KOOL A.D.’s verse really cool, hecka is such a
hecka cool word. Brown Brian Wilson, did I hear that right? Flow
really good, really eclectic, he is really rapping hard on this tape
at times. Hook catchy as all hell. Is this MondreM.A.N. Now at like
2:30? He sounds cool, again a whole new sorta flow. Still seems like
>50% of DR guests will make a “now that’s racist” joke
somewhere in their verse, NO LIE, I THINK I’D PROBABLY TRY TO TOO.
Outro cool, this beat really cool. Brown disco flows.
14
Leverage
Man
that intro and stuff, I can’t get my head around it, but it sounds
exactly like something else I can’t recall right now. Really cool
though, I like the flow with a lot of pitch change. Boots Riley
pretty good, lots of fourth wall breaking (that being that glass wall
in studios), love these exhaustive shoutouts, Heems did a good one
now Victor does a good one that’s like half a spoof that’s like
a, pseudonaive homage. I don’t really know what I mean by that.
Title drop at the end cool.
15
Gentry
More
samples, really really MF DOOM sorta feel on this sample and this
beat. Maybe a bit more pointed than DOOM’d do, but that’s cool,
and by cool I mean these samples always depress me in a really acute
way, like, the nature of the sample being sample itself sort of
suggests a “lost voice” quality to them. I feel like there’s
something to this idea maybe but I don’t really know where I’m
going to it. Sample raising interesting ideas of colonizations and
such, Victor seems interested by this stuff see: Malcolm X samples
etc too. Beat really cool too. If there is a overarching thematic
message to this tape it is currently lost on me but I am at least
very interested in the idea of one.
16
TV Eye
Amaze
88 production, cool beat, back to earlier in the tape sort of feel
but like a weirder version. Flow almost in direct conflict with the
beat, speaking on ideas in the last track, I like it. Lol shout out
to Youtube, breaks down halfway, take two, all funny, 24 hours/minute
is one of my favorite internet trivias and it is mindboggling. I like
knowing my mind is boggled by other stuff. I think I’m Del, Ice
Cube, rap like haikus, buy my albums, lots of good subjects here.
Lots of crazy connections. Some of these like yoga stretches like
yoga inferno like that bad one I just did there now. Laughs himself
off his verse and the outro is smooth and it’s all naturally cool.
17
No
This
intro cool, I feel like I should know the sample. Beat REALLY COOL,
all-no flow COOL. He is Thom Yorke. Really solid rapping now, lots of
good lines. “Dumb shine” seeing a whole lot of usage lately, I
like it. Wow Triptopham/cryptogram, can’t even be assed to spell
that first one, but so many cool lines. This verse is like super
sustained, then back into the NOs, now with a please mashup, echoes,
cool. Next verse cool, supports his producer for president. Wow so
many references, makes himself laugh, that’s legitimate. Outro
intensifies hook, this beat is maybe my favorite yet, so simple, so
effective.
18
The Robbery
Seriously
this is so like a classic MF DOOM thing that is screwing with me, his
flow is classic Victor though. “97% of the human body is energy,
nah just playing though”, now he’s screwing with his own stats
rap, I like it. New dance, something like this, horn breaks. “I
sell drugs, like literally”, is this true? I never know anymore.
Sample integration a cool thing. Minimalist outro, very neat.
19
A Milli
Lol
I am hype for this. Wait I see no resemblance to anything. This is
really cool though. Is it cool to hate Lil Wayne or not? I have never
been clear on this. Am I being ironic when I ask if things are cool?
I have never been clear on that. I know for sure I have never been
cool at least. Two languages, one in each ear. That’s deep yo.
20
A Different World
Woah
this beat is crazy, “They all jokes like Dane Cook, my jokes
funnier”, SHOTS FIRED. “So fly, eat bird seed”, “Larry Hoover
Rick Ross”, lolwat. So many good lines in here I cannot hope to get
them all. All verse sorta track, Meyhem Lauren sounds like he
listened to the Wu Tang Clan a lot growing up. So did I and I can’t
rap like that at all. “I still rasp well”, indeed. I like how
Victor and Hima are getting like really different personas, like,
their own crews and stuff, I dunno how to describe this well. The end
of his verse is hilarious and Heems’ start of his is a good
contrast. Fiji greed water, my new thing is I’m called Herman. This
is all coolweird. “One thing for certain, Herman’s a G”. “80s
baby was a teen in the 90s”, “Back a blunderbuss, word to
Zuckerberg”. Wow this different world thing, like, is that actually
thing I was just talking about? I have no idea.
21
Al Green
These
abrupt transitions are pretty DOOM-ish too. Yayayaya. Being your own
thing, good message. He doesn’t wanna edit, that’s fair. Race
list, “blow the Indo out the window see where they go”, this is
getting deep. Beat is like subtly cool, like, the more I focus on it
the crazier it seems. “Jim Carrey but more hairy”, sure. So many
cool assonance stuffs. What’s a stickster? Going for some next
level flows, pretty successful. “Kick a few bars and then I ghost”,
sure, good exit.
22
Island High Cypher (Amaze 88 Outro)
And then instrumental outro. Very
nice. Name well chosen. This tape overall was very good, very solid.
Much more focused than most KOOL A.D. Tapes but still weirder than
99% of mixtapes out there. Some pretty experimental beats and flows
that worked really well but nothing so mindblowing that I feel like
I’m gonna go back a dozen times. Lots of interesting sounding
verses I want to hear a few more times though. Amaze 88 really cool
producer, definitely has a niche in this new stable of production,
want to hear more. “Wildin’ on an island”.
So yeah very cool, good fun hour
of music, worth 2500 words or whatever. I’d give it an A.
Sometimes felt like MF DOOM, sometimes felt like anticon, always felt
like KOOL A.D. and thus dang interesting.
1 comment:
sweet review
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