Break It Down For Me Fellas

Yesterday, about 56.8% of the other blogs I read were talking about Kanye West's upcoming effort, Late Registration. The album is getting relatively good reviews thus far, with even some of the most hateful concurring that the material isn't nearly as horrible as they'd originally hoped.

For those of you who've been paying attention, you may have already ascertained that I'm not much into critiquing musical projects by utilizing an arrangement of incomprehensible words to flex my supreme familiarity with Webster's Dictionary. It's really fairly simple--I either like some shit or I don't. Now don't misunderstand me---I have much respect for music critics who masterfully use the art of language to assist the reader in conceptualizing the quality and sound of a particular recording. More often than not, however, music reviews are composed by complete knuckleheads who use the construct as a forum for their mental masturbation. When you break down the semantics, you still don't know whether or not to buy the fucking thing.

In the real world, people probably rely more on the word of their family and friends than anything a pompous-ass reviewer has to say. These are the people who let you know, in no uncertain terms, if something sucks or not. So here's the deal---let's just say we're friends, and I'll give it to you as straight as I possibly can. From what I've heard, Kanye's album sounds pretty damn good. However, my guess is that those who hated College Dropout, probably won't have much love for this effort either. I happen to be a fan of his, but I do consider him a bit of a guilty pleasure. Sometimes I can see his career from a very Diddyesque perspective, and can therefore envision him becoming somewhat of a parody of himself in years to come. Only time will tell. In the meantime, here are a few spots where you can preview/download some of the tracks from Late Registration:

We Eat So Many Shrimp has the full version of "We Major", which is the song that features Nas as a guest star. There was another version that was being posted on various sites earlier in the week, but it was an edit that sounded like it was recorded in the deepest part of the ocean. Thankfully, Scrimp is now offering the real deal: http://www.somanyshrimp.com/.

Razorblade Runner posted "Drive Slow" w/ Paul Wall and GLC. This one wins the award for "most likely to succeed", although it's not my personal favorite. Link to the right for this joint.

Spine Magazine is featuring "Touch the Sky" w/ Lupe Fiasco: http://www.spinemagazine.com/index.php?task=.

Finally, Checkerboard Chimes has two mp3s for free download---"Gone" w/ Cam'ron and Consequence, as well as "Heard 'Em Say", featuring Adam Levine: http://checkerboardchimes.blogspot.com/

Enjoy---and just try to listen without being overly critical....