FreeDoom wrote:15.Toybox,Glorybox:This track is back to the high level again. Great verses and just a overall enjoyable track. Wondering when Kez is dropping again!!
Very
very soon. I have a project of 20 tracks finished. I'm posting a single soon.
Anyway this feed is a bit overdue but it's because I don't want to leave fickle feed. I've been listening to this on my mp3 and I have deduced my favourite tracks and least favourites just from that, as a music fan, not as someone analysing shit to pad his posts out. So let's get into it. And I apologise if people will no doubt claim i'm biased for obvious reasons, but fuck yall this is my honest opinion. It doesn't matter that we work together all the time, if I don't like somethin I will tell him and vice versa.
A foreword first, i'm not going to go into detail about the production on each individual song; the production as always is fucking stunning on here. You make such great beats it's not even funny, your style is unbelievably unique. It's your creativity that inspires me when I listen to your albums, it's the reason we were able to make TMA2 in like a month, that was purely because I was sparked by your creativity. It makes me truly greatful I have you to help produce my next album. You bring out the best in me, no homo.
King's Speech is very chilled out, a pretty nice way to start it. I like the way the beat drops and comes back in on the "lost my mind" line, first of many instances where, as Killa said, you build your beats around your thoughts. I thought the beat worked pretty perfect. I like how you continued on from Die a King from the very first line, keeping it focused. That's something you do throughout. I like how you talk about why the project exists, your duty as the "King" you died to become.
Where Are You Now is not one of my favourites. That hook is nearly unintelligible, I can barely understand it without several listens and originally had no clue what you were saying. I like what you did with the song though, it follows the first song quite well. Talking about where you are, and the town you rule over, and the people. It'd normally be a stale concept for you to just rap about Mexico or anything, but with this context it works great. Recreate me line was awesome.
Take Me Higher is great. When it starts off and that beat kicks in it's just..head-nodding shit. And the lyrics are awesome. All the treason shit. "I live this life how I always intended to/with a big middle finger screaming 'fuck you!'" Just, ahh. This song was my favourite so far.
Loving the lyrics. And your flow on the 0:47 spot is liquid. The hook is just majestic, like most of your hooks. Definately my favourite one so far. Again liking how you keep the theme of DAK with the references to how you couldn't die "yesterday."
Cross The Line. When this beat starts, you just have to love it. I love the intro. These aren't my kind of tracks by any stretch, but this is a good song. Kama Sutra line was dope, and the misogynist one. This one kinda slips at times into the old songs you used to do, but there is more depth here. The "you aint gotta like me, but you're gonna like this" is good. One thing I think we both make an effort to do is incorporate references to our old shit, like you did here with Get Nasty. It's enjoyable for those who actually bother to listen to albums in full, it helps to build up an artist backstory. The hook I don't need to comment on because you are basically the 50 Cent of TR when it comes to this shit. I like how you extended it quite far too. Switches things up a bit, that's another good thing about you, you aren't restricted, and every song doesn't just follow the pattern of "16, chorus, 16, chorus" etc. I have listened to this several times, which is an achievement since songs about fucking aren't my kinda thing.
Evolution is reminiscent of what your music has always been, you have always made "bangers" for lack of a better word to announce your albums, but as time went on they went from being a bit vapid and simply catchy to the point that even I, who hates most things that are just designed to be catchy on principle, can enjoy it. And that's not ass-kissing, cause I have listened to this one quite a bit too. The "Get it" always gets me. I like the vibe of this song still, as I said in the thread for it. I'll just leave it at that.
Quiet Nights. Quiet Nights! I fucking love this song. This is one of my top favourites. It's just awesome. It's the first song that is familiar territory, and perhaps that's why I enjoyed it because it's a territory I always go to. "In August I might cry, I got September on my mind"

Great. I love this. This is just my shit. The hook is perfect, amount of times i've sang along to that is crazed. And the bridge is sweet as well. I cannot fault this song, i've listened to it a fuckload of times, and it's in the top few favourites (though others further down beat it.)
Without You is decent. The beat is nice when it kicks in. The hook is quite relaxing and works great with the beat. The start of the second verse is awesome, the way you flowed the distance figures. But this is a song I just didn't get into too much just because it's foreign territory to me. But it still listens well.
Villian was one of the most intriguing titles I recall when I first saw the back cover. This is a great song. Hook works perfect, about how they don't wanna die tonight. I can hear in your delivery that you tried to make it sound a bit villianous too, which is an appreciated effort. Again I love how you vary your production and add in the little solos and riffs, it really spices things up and makes it listenable. Another reference to Get Nasty lmao. That song seems to have some real relevance to you doesn't it? Never seemed anything out of the ordinary to me, but who knows maybe I don't know the backstory. Maybe it's cause you did it live? Loving how you ended the song. The singing of "villian" and then the piano coming over the guitar, just..ahh. You make awesome beats.
Retaliation follows on from Villian nicely. I like the "it has all come down to this" and the hook in general. It gives the feel of the people starting to attempt to revolt against you. And the lyrics sound like you are complaining to your subjects for their ungreatfulness. You're talking to them. I dunno if i'm over-analysing, but this is what I take from it and it sounds good. "The antagonist again", makes me think i'm on the right track. And the bridge seems to certainly follow this idea. Like the reference to the hook that you put into the end of the second verse.
Beautiful Tonight is probably the song I least enjoy on the album. Not for any reason on your part, songs like this just are not me at all. But for what it's worth, it's well-done just like the rest.
Now Caesar, OMG. This is hands down one of your best songs you have ever made. I have listened to this so many times i've had visons of a possible music video for it, which ends with you in a bloody throne room with your enemies' heads hanging outside. I think this song sums up the album perfectly. The beat is brilliant. Your lyrics are absolutely perfect here, I get exactly what you're saying. The hook is just..wow. The reference to Caesar alone would be considered enough by most artists to be in theme with the album without bothering to stick to it, but not you. And I love the "sit down and listen to this shit" ending of the verse. Argh! Perfect. Honestly. This is tie for my favourite song on the whole album, and it remains one of the few songs i've heard from you that finally battles with Learn to Forget. I love this fucking song.
One Sunshine has grown on me. Originally I didn't think i'd like it, the title was kinda misleading and I thought it might be another song about the females. But I was pleasantly surprised. This song is right up my street. The beat sounds like it might be a bit awkward at the start, but as always you build around it and eliminate that risk. I love the lyrics for this. Infact the whole song does continue to work in placement on the album. Talking about being a bit jaded, "it feels like it's been long since I saw it/the sun rising up in the morning"; makes me picture a lonely king who has won everything and now feels empty. This is aided by your lyrics about feeling abandoned by your friends and not actually having any fans. Your "calling to arms", suggests you want to end the state of boredom. Damn I may have read a bit too deep into this album. But meh. The hook I
adore. "Well now i'm fucking dope, so why the fuck you don't,
play my shit everywhere you go if you're my fucking dog?"

This is so fuckin true. Awesome.
Reality Check there isn't much I need to say, you know my opinion already because we did it ages ago and if I didn't like it I wouldn't have jumped on it. Same goes for Toybox, Glorybox, i'll just put that out there now to save time. Both dope tracks though. Chambers brought his as well, glad to see he added the little adlibs in like I did, at least keeps it consistent.
Trust You is an odd one. The beat sounds rather abstract. It's a pretty weird melody. The hook itself also drags a bit. But even though it's another song about girls (not that they have been overdone, it's balanced out perfectly on this album) I enjoy it a lot. I can feel where it fits in the album story. Casting away your close ones because you forgot how to trust em, you can't trust anybody when you're in that position. It's a rather strange sounding song, but it fits. He's losing his mind a bit.
This is something I kept in mind when recording my verse for Track 15, and why I had lyrics about the castle being burnt and the world falling down. You've conquered everything, and now it's inevitably falling down. Even though we still declare that we'll "end them." And then we get to Unforgettable.
I had a fangasm when I played this and you started the verse from Learn to Forget. Fucking epic. But this is more than just a remix song of that one, it builds on it and turns it into a completely different song halfway through. Which is incredibly rare for hip hop songs, let alone for amateur ones on Internet forums. For the record, it shows your improvement because you sound so much better. Your voice is clearer, and the beat is more clearly produced. Like how you added the "aaahs" in the background faintly. "I was searching the wasteland, 'Kill Big Ax-D!'" I still love that.
I like how the beat in the second part sounds kinda like Where Are You Now. Dunno if that was intentional. I like how the verse switches from sounding kinda hopeless like LTF to a bit hopeful, and you're explaining everything. Even though the castle was apparently burnt down in the last track ("only falls to stand up again") you won't be forgotten. Hook as always is hypnotic. And as always I fucking love how you switch up the production inbetween the hook and the second verse and just in general. It really is so refreshing. Then you bring it back to the Learn to Forget riff, and it's like you're in two minds. "If and if I die", that's a great line. I hope I got that right anyway.
The message to the listener near the end was perfectly placed too. The whole ending of this song's just fucking perfect. The speech. The riffing that you added over it. The reference to the album, the actual words "die a king." And when the beat drops and you say "signing off, Ax-D, don't forget about me..", I actually got chills first time. Fuckin perfect.
So in conclusion, just brilliant. There is only one or two tracks I don't re-listen to much, and those are Trust You and Beautiful Tonight. Quiet Nights, Caesar, Unforgettable and One Sunshine triumph over your previous work and give my former all-time favourite song Learn to Forget a run for it's money. I absolutely love the ethos you put into this album, and I don't care if people think I have over-analysed, because this is what I took from the album and, knowing you, I understand that you would actually put this much thought into it. Which is what makes your shit worth listening to in the first place. I have no complaints on flow or anything, the production of this album is pro level and makes me devoutly thankful that I have your help with my shit. The lyrics were on-point throughout, everywhere there are little references, whether it's to your past material or to the King theme you followed on Die a King. And that shows the time and effort you have put into the album, and it's why you deserve people to give it this much thought and attention when they listen to it.
Anyway, I loved it man. Sorry it's taken me a while, I wanted to do this right.