This week’s round-up is headlined by Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo, so far the best album I’ve heard all year, but I also give my two cents on BONES’ USELESS and Wiz Khalifa’s Khalifa.

Kanye West – The Life Of Pablo

After countless delays, another Taylor Swift controversy and last minute album cover and track listing changes, Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo is finally here, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Now firmly established as a creative genius without filter, TLOP is peak Kanye, with the Chicago producer/rapper turned fashion mogul at his egotistical best. Taking inspiration from his entire career to date, TLOP is a collection of songs that don’t really mesh, but somehow fit together as an overall project. Album opener Ultralight Beam adheres to West’s claim this is a gospel album, with a soaring choir and Chance The Rapper proving once again why he should be a household name. From then on TLOP swerves through a multitude of genres and styles. Metro Boomin adds elements of trap to soul sampled Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1 & 2 and Yeezus (Feedback) and The College Dropout (Real Friends) inspired numbers appear alongside 70’s sampling No More Parties In L.A. and personal favourite 30 Hours.

Lyrically, West is at his humorous best, be it claiming he and Ray J could have been friends if not for Kim or the satirical I Love Kanye, where he claims “And I love you like Kanye loves Kanye.” Unfortunately it’s not all fun and games, as West continues his recent streak of misogyny that’s not always an easy listen, making me wonder if he really believes what he’s saying or if it’s all for show.

The roll call of producers, writers and guest is the biggest yet for a West album. Rihanna and Swizz Beatz show up for the hook on Famous, Young Thug makes no sense on Highlights, Kendrick Lamar kills it on No More Parties In L.A. while next big thing Post Malone’s auto-tuned drawl steals the show on the House sampling closer Fade.

Verdict: Until Drake drops Views From The Six, this is the best major label hip-hop album you will hear all year.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/246700455″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=’450′ iframe=”true” /]

BONES – USELESS

BONES, like his contemporary Yung Lean, is one of the few Internet rap stars who’ve managed to not only cultivate a world wide fan base off the back of an endless stream of Soundcloud mixtapes, albums and Youtube videos, but also make bank. Along with the mysterious TeamSESH (a group of producers and artists all involved with BONES and other related projects) BONES has sold out show all across the States without support from radio or having a single song on iTunes.

USELESS is the 21 one year olds best work to date, a hazy myriad of BONES lo-fi beats and goth-rap style that shows a maturity in his ever evolving sound. His change in genres is evident from the get go. The self-titled opener finds the Californian native singing over a creepy guitar lick and sedated production before taking things next level on RestInPeace, rapping over heavy distorted beats that descends into screaming chaos. His singing voice is more defined on USELESS, especially on the snare stinging RightOnSchedule, while his rapping is at its best on KeepTellingYourselfThat and GladWeHaveAnUnderstanding.

Verdict: USELESS is not only a tremendous album but the biggest step in BONES career towards breakout success.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/241545846″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=’450′ iframe=”true” /]

Wiz Khalifa – Khalifa 

I’m not a Wiz Khalifa fan. It might seem strange that I’m reviewing his latest effort, Khalifa, but as someone who writes about music on the daily, you quickly discover you’re not always going to like what you  hear. Now there’s nothing wrong with Khalifa’s stoner rap persona, and hey, I bumped Black & Yellow when it dropped, but I don’t find him interesting enough to give my full attention. Khalifa hasn’t done anything to change my opinion.

This album is everything you’d expect from a Wiz. The beats are tight, bouncy  and trap-heavy  while his lyrics are concerned with weed, girls, weed, his home town of Pittsburgh, weed, his hip-hop lifestyle and, you guessed, weed. That’s not to say there aren’t a few head turners. Khalifa gets reflective on the Metro Boomin opener BTS and displays his somewhat charming singing voice on Call Waiting, but it’s when his contemporaries show up that Khalifa excels. Travi$ Scott makes his presence felt on first single Bake Sale (basically a rip-off of his own hit Antidote), one of the albums strongest cuts, Juicy J comes through on iSay and the slept on Chevy Woods shows up Khalifa on the spacey No Permission.

Verdict: If you a Khalifa fan you’ll be all over this, for everyone else, go listen to the new Kanye.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR095BoMl_8]

Sometimes, the universe works in mysterious ways and gifts us with great things. Great music, great people, and great beefs for us to follow with baited breath. The best beefs, of course, happen on Twitter amongst celebrities; where they respond to each other and seem to forget (or maybe they don’t) that literally millions of fans are watching the back and forth. There have been a few beefs in recent times, but none quite like what unfolded last night.

Yesterday, Kanye West changed this album name for the third time, prompting an expected flurry of tweets with every man and his dog expressing their support – or lack thereof – for the change to Waves from SWISH. One particularly vocal commentator was none other than Wiz Khalifa, who practically begged ‘Ye not to change the name to Waves out of respect for Max B.

Okay, so he was a bit upset. But he seemed to have moved on a couple of tweets later, and all seemed to be resolved… Until he tweeted this:

And it was ON.

Kanye responded immediately, taking the “kk” Wiz was referring to as the initials of Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s wife.

In a series of tweets which have now been deleted, Kanye went in on Khalifa, not holding back for even a second:

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.23.30 am

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.23.39 am

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.23.53 am

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.24.04 am

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.24.15 am

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.24.29 am

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 7.24.45 am

 

It wasn’t until Wiz cleared up the fact that “kk” is actually weed did Kanye stop the tirade, apologise and delete the series of tweets – but not before Wiz lost two million followers who are clearly loyal to their god, Yeezus.

As petty as it all may seem, we should also note the actual winner of the beef – Amber Rose. Once again, Kanye brought her up unnecessarily due to the fact that he once dated Rose for two years, after which Wiz married her. They also have a son together, but have since divorced. Being dragged by your famous ex-boyfriend is one thing, but being thrown into the mix in something so petty – that’s a whole other. Rose wins for being the sassiest, and quickest, replier ever, tweeting this bad boy to ‘Ye not long after his onslaught:

Yas. Kween.

Kanye West screenshots via Spin. Main image via Run The Trap.

There’s plenty of ways to spend your money when you become a massive global star. There’s the inevitable routes of mineral water, alcohol and of course property investments to plough your millions into. But those didn’t appeal to these five rappers who invested their hard earned in the legal marijuana business.

Freddie Gibbs

Talking recently to the Smokebox, the Indiana rapper spoke of his plans to bust into the weed business with his own strain called Freddie Kane OG. Freddie Gibbs has a history of being involved in the drug business and it looks as if he hasn’t just phoned it in with his own brand of weed. The 33 year old worked closely with Loompa Farms in California, where they grew and cultivated the product before selling it. Gibbs’ plans went beyond the small scale operation; he has detailed plans to set up his own business in California in the near future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23O2U41p6cY

Wiz Khalifa

The See You Again rapper has had a long history with marijuana, from the release of his mixtape Kush and Orange Juice, to his 2011 debut studio album titled Rolling Papers and beyond. Almost everything he’s released has been weed related, in fact. His strain is called Khalifa Kush, but is currently unavailable to the public.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk7lTiDNi2A

Kurupt

The rapper and former executive Vice President of Death Row Records has apparently cultivated one of the most potent strains around. Called Moonrock, Kurupt’s strain combines hash oil with kief, making it extra heady. Namechecked as one of Kendrick Lamar’s top three favourite rappers, Kurupt can now proudly also lay claim to being the supplier of one of the strongest strains of marijuana in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6xky5ybPmY

B-Real

The Cypress Hill main man has long since been connected to weed. The 90’s rap icon has had his own strain for years now, but its popularity has brought him deeper into the weed business, and he now runs his own dispensary in California, affectionately titled Dr Green Thumb, after the 1998 Cypress Hill track of the same name. B-Real is now near the top of the legal marijuana business, with his strain almost winning the prestigious Cannabis Cup last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj9FVlEtknU

Snoop Dogg

Who else but the king of weed himself? Snoop Dogg is rarely seen without a joint lodged in his mouth and a thick cloud of smoke around him. Arguably the rapper brought marijuana into the mainstream focus with his features on Dr Dre’s extraordinary solo debut The Chronic in 1992, where the smooth beats of G-Funk was mixed with anecdotes about gangster life and weed. His debut album Doggystyle was released just a year later and since then he has remained at the forefront of the rap world. The godfather of all things weed related, his own strain is called Snoop Dogg OG and is a highly popular one, even though the man himself may be contributing to most of the sales of it.

 

It may come as a surprise given just how successful his year has been, but Wiz Khalifa actually didn’t release an album this year. He did become the first hip-hop artist ever to hit 1 billion views on YouTube with his track See You Again which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard charts and saw him receive a Golden Globe nomination, but there was no actual album from the rapper. It’s okay though because it seems he’s making up for it, and has just announced new music is on the way – and it’s dropping next month.

In a video to his fans, Wiz thanked everyone for their support over the past 12 months. In between giving shout outs to just about everyone in the world and plugging his new mixtape, Cabin Fever 3, the rapper also surprised everyone by announcing a new project called Project Khalifa.

“This is just now being known, nobody really knows this. I plan on putting out a project with some unreleased music that nobody’s ever heard before and I’m going to call it Project Khalifa,” he said, in between blunt hits. This news comes after his already announced forthcoming album, Rolling Papers 2, which he kind of skimmed over in this video. It’s not confirmed when that will be out, but it’s safe to say that after touring for the majority of 2015, Wiz is now focussing pretty heavily on pumping out new material. It’s now just a question of when!

Following on from his performance two weeks ago at Luna Park’s Big Top alongside Peking Duk and Raury, Wiz Khalifa has today officially become the first rapper to hit a billion views with one video on Youtube.

See You Again, featuring New Jersey singer Charlie Puth, debuted on Youtube on April 6 of this year, meaning that in the six months it’s been online, it’s racked up about 160m views a month – oof. You might know it as that song that gets played whenever something sad happens in a Vine, or you might know it as a tribute to the late Paul Walker, and lead single for Fast & Furious 7’s soundtrack. The video is cut to a whole bunch of shots from all seven of the films, with focus on Walker and his co-stars Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson and Michelle Rodriguez. Walker’s death was understandably hugely upsetting and shocking to fans of the series, and so it makes sense that the video has racked up so many views as a tribute. Though the song itself isn’t particularly impressive, it’s heartwarming to know that the fans of the late actor have spread the influence of the video so far.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk]

For comparison, here’s a list of the top 10 most watched Youtube videos of all time, as of the 7th of October:

  1. PSY– ‘Gangnam Style’ 2,426,500,822
    2. Justin Bieber – ‘Baby’ 1,219,883,321
    3. Taylor Swift – ‘Blank Space’ 1,188,147,147
    4. Katy Perry – ‘Dark Horse’ 1,121,919,001
    5. Katy Perry – ‘Roar’ 1,085,316,510
    6. Taylor Swift – ‘Shake It Off’ 1,073,453,852
    7. Enrique Iglesias – ‘Bailando’ 1,070,883,424
    8. Meghan Trainor – ‘All About That Bass’ 1,046,823,436
    9. Mark Ronson – ‘Uptown Funk’ 1,045,536,246
    10. Wiz Khalifa – ‘See You Again’ 1,004,350,672

And for further comparison, here’s how some rappers are going with their biggest videos on Youtube:

Kendrick Lamar – ‘Alright’ – 28,592,094
A$AP Rocky – ‘L$D’ – 25,123,473
Kanye West – ‘Bound 2’ – 51,748,311

Pretty huge difference. Either way, congrats to Wiz for this absolutely massive achievement, let’s hope that more hip-hop starts getting into that top 10.

In what sounds like a scene from the Back To The Future II/Die Hard 2 (Die Harder) ultimate sequel mash-up film we never got to see, rapper Wiz Khalifa was thrown to the ground and cuffed by US Customs and Border Patrol officers at LAX after riding around the airport on a hoverboard.

You really can’t make shit like this up. There doesn’t appear to be any footage of him actually riding around on it but there is this photo which shows the offending board to be a gold-plated reminder that your life is pathetic.

See, when I saw the headlines I assumed that he was zooming around LAX wreaking havoc in a country that will just about full body cavity search you for breathing the wrong way in an airport. He kind of just looks to be going for a chilled out hover in that photo and not bothering a soul, so pinning him to the ground for the heinous crime of a half-assed Marty McFly impersonation seems more than a bit excessive. Wiz thought so too, taking to Twitter to do a little venting.

 

 

Just another day in the life of someone with too much money. Happy Monday.