Melt My Eyez See Your Future

Melt My Eyez See Your Future is one of my favorite albums of 2022. "Melt Session #1" and "Walkin" are highlights, but the rest of the album is great too. A lot of variation in styles and tempo, but everything sounds like it is created with one live band in a studio (what is not the case). His raps are more controlled compared to his earlier album and right on the spot.

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Walkin, Worst comes to worst, John Wayne, The last, X-wing, Sanjuro

I’m only familiar with him because of his cover of rage against the machine, which he absolutely killed! I loved this album from the opening song and I will listen again and check out more of his discography. Fantastic rapper!

Really liked this one. Who would have thought that rapping over video game loading screen music could work so well. ..Alright just listened to this two more times in the span of a day. This is some ethereal shit. I love it, probably my favorite hip hop album I've heard on the user list. 5/5.

uuuu this is damnd good 5

Very good very modern hip-hop

Solid stuff worth exploring more

One of my favourites of his

This was a vibe and I dig it. 4.5 stars.

If you look at the original 1001 list, you might notice how sorely lacking it is with hip-hop albums beyond the 2000s. Aside from Kanye, Kendrick, Skepta, and Little Simz, there doesn't seem to be much interest in exploring key developments in the genre that has continued to innovate. So, allow me to help with filling in the gaps: Death Grips pushed the genre in bold new directions with their experimental approach to production, particularly with the Money Store. Meanwhile, Odd Future members Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt brought a young and fresh perspective to the genre with their off-kilter humor and lyricism. A$AP Rocky helped inspire a wave of soundcloud rap with LiveLoveA$AP, and drill rose to mainstream prominence thanks to Chief Keef's Finally Rich. Rappers like Young Thug, Future, and Travis Scott popularized trap by the mid-2010s with their unique energies. XXXTENTACION easily defined the emo rap wave, punctuated by his death in 2018. Lastly, I would be remiss not to mention alternative hip hop from JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown, who successfully established themselves both as solo artists (see LP! and Atrocity Exhibition) and as a duo on Scaring the Hoes. Okay, I think that covers things. Robert Dimery, if you're reading this: contact me. I will write for the next edition for free despite my lack of credentials. Where does Denzel Curry fit into all this? He got his start on soundcloud like most rappers in the 2010s. Hailing from Florida, Curry was initially influenced by the southern hip hop of yesteryear. It wasn't until his breakout hit Ultimate (prod. by Ronny J) that Curry started shifting gears to fit the then-current trap sound. His sophomore album Imperial cemented his position in the current rap canon, legitimized by his inclusion in the XXL freshman class of 2016. Curry continued to gain praise from his 2018 album TA13OO and 2020 EP Unlocked (the latter of which was produced by Kenny Beats, real ones know The Cave episode), which brings us to Melt My Eyez. By this point in his rap career, Curry has seemingly moved on from his usual trap and hardcore approach in order to better synthesize his newest influences. His Wikipedia cites "traditional hip-hop, drum and bass, trap, poetry, and jazz," which all seem to signal a new sound for Curry. How did it all play out? Really well! Hard not to recognize Curry's distinct delivery to rap while also successfully bringing together a confluence of influences for a more distinct production style. It's good! You can take that home to the bank too, it's top-to-bottom quality with no skips. All gas no breaks. Winner winner chicken dinner. Buy me lunch. I neglected to mention earlier that Denzel Curry hit a homerun on Triple J's internet series Like A Version with his cover of Bulls On Parade. This catapulted his status beyond the usual hiphopheads to garner respect for the average music fan who is only somewhat familiar with hip hop. I would classify this as more of a footnote than anything because it doesn't actually reflect his artistry on the whole. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Too early to say but my gut instinct is no. Despite the high level of quality, there are much more deserving hip hop albums that need recognition (see above) and, if we really wanted to, TA13OO would be a better pick for Curry and hip hop as a whole.

Spittin fire. Love it.

Hey ChatGPT write me a nice inoffensive 2020s hiphop album

Uhm yeah, hip hop / rap

Decent modern hip/hop rap album.

Going from the Eric B. and Rakim selection to this is interesting - 35 years of hip hop in one step. And generally I'd conclude that hip hop is doing all right. This has a certain musical monotony that I found myself a little less willing to absolve than the classic scratch and beats of the prior selection. Lyrically very smart though again without all the features I think the delivery of the main artist might get a little stale. Overall I liked it.

Hip hop. Ni fu ni fa.

Yeah, that one was quite a surprising leftfield turn for Denzel Curry, who seems to aim for a more laid-back form of lounge jazz hip hop with *Melt My Eyez See Your Future*, one that certainly recalls the golden age of "conscious rap" while keeping some of the current features of the genre intact. It's a quite pleasant listen, and I don't doubt the man and his team's sincerity for one second. But if I should be fully sold on paper, I also have to admit I prefer the rapper's earlier LPs, oddly enough. Probably because their energy was more contagious than in here. There's indeed something a little generic in both the production and rap flows displayed throughout this album. Good for Denzel that he wants to grow as an artist, but I'm still considering this record as a transitory effort. Maybe one yielding to better things in the future? Hope I can see it with my eyes, at least if they don't melt before. ---- 3/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums... 8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 55 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 72 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 131 (including this one) --- Émile. Ça y est, j'ai *enfin* répondu (en deux temps). Tu trouveras ça sous les reviews des disques de Blackalicious et Alexisonfire au dessus.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I will admit to not being entirely sure what I thought of it, as I listened Friday and then the weekend happened. but I'd rate it a 3 generously, probably a 2.

Denzel Curry is one of the best modern rappers. He has an eclectic high energy style that makes it hard not to bop along with his songs. Lyrically he has depth and is able to layer some complex styles in an album. Melt my eyez isn’t my favorite Denzel album. I tend to lean towards taboo or Zuu as they’re a bit more raw but still lore refined than imperial. This album was solid though. Plenty of good features and overall worth revisiting for some good modern rap. 7.3/10

Not my go-to genre, and it got a little repetitive to my ears and dragged a bit, but seemed good and did have some nice touches like the piano on “The Ills.”

Hip hop.

Hip hop. Ni fu ni fa.

I know who this guy is but never heard him before. Not really in a rap mood but here we go. Nah, this sucked. It has that lazy tranquilizer flow thing going on and the beats were nothing. Bin. 2/5.

Doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from similar projects and feels pretty bland as a whole due to minimalist, boring beats. There are 1-2 tracks that piqued my interest, but the LP is let down by uninspired instrumentals and repetitive bars that don’t say much of anything new.

Not my thing. It had a lot of elements I don’t enjoy in rap / hip hop in it.

I started listening, went to take a shower, came back and wasn’t sure if the teach had moved on or not. Doesn’t speak to me in the same way as some other rap albums.

The beats in this are monotonous. The flows in this are monotonous. Sure - the flow is where we should be looking to in this, because the samples are pedestrian. While monotonous, the flows are indeed competent. Shit on me, though, it's dull. Is there any hint of fun in this? No. Is there any hint of anger in this? No. Is there any hint of love in this? No. It seems almost entirely devoid of personality. What, exactly, is it that I'm supposed to be hearing, other than a snarky, detached commentary on modern America? OK, so it does get a bit better towards the end - Zatoichi is actually pretty good - but it's not enough to rescue it.

Even with my limited knowledge/experience with Rap (let alone recent stuff) this doesn't sound too unique- I can spot Drake(?) tunes and others in there? The rapping is coarse and monotone- I'm not sure if that's bad thing but it's difficult to concentrate on the lyrics as a result. Distinctive.

No.