Speaking of Black Milk...

[ghost bazz]

Springwater mentioned Black Milk, and it got me to posting this up.

I'm curious to hear what cats have to say about the Random Axe album... ?

Personally, I'm feelin it... but so far I'd have to say it fell a bit short of my expectations. I don't think that the combined effort is greater than albums put forth by each of these cats individually. Not Black Milk's best beats... and Sean P and Guilty both occupy similar space as emcees. Thoughts?

[tyrone_biggums]

i bought my copy a few days ago. i like it for sure, its a solid album but idk if its as good as i thought itd be. i like monkey barz by sean price way more but that record is insane, not fair to compare random axe to it. black milk's drums are off the hook on random axe. deff A dope album!

[niq names]

it's cool for the most part... i think that pete rock smiff n wessun joint is doper... but i plan on buying both... chewbacca is the dopest shit on there

[tyrone_biggums]

^

yeah yo, i cant wait for my copy of that pete and smif n wessun record. got the wax on fatbeats website.

i like monster babies.

[niq names]

yep yep that track is nasty! yeah i want to get both on vinyl... may just opt for cd's if my local diggin spot has em... either way i think they both worth the purchase...

[tyrone_biggums]

yeah no doubt...

grab the new kool g record too, i copped that last week...its ILL

[elhuana]

Black milk definitely developed his technique ( especially the drum programming ) but in my opinion his most recent beats aside from being technically perfect, they lack the soul he put in the older ones like for example "losing out", "sound the alarm", "the matrix" or "deadly medley(this one is relatively "new" though)"
still, hes one of the best of course, thats just my opinion.
Music-wise I dont really feel the new random axe stuff... I love the "P" part on it though

[ghost bazz]

^ word.

I was really feelin the beats on Album of the Year, and felt that there was a clear progression from his other albums (which also displayed a clear progression from one another). I thought he killed it lyrically on that album too. I just don't hear the progression on the Random Axe album.

Don't get me wrong... it's definitely grimey. I might just need to give it more spins to pick-up on the subtleties. And of course, this is just one man's opinion.

[KOMSAT]

I'm still waiting to get mine in the mail but I'm trying to go into it with low expectations despite what it looks like on paper (HARD ASS SUPERGROUP)

Guilty's always solid (though I was somewhat disappointed with the Madlib collab) and Sean Price was a legend when I was still in High School. Tronic was one of my favorite albums, Album of the Year is undeniably a banger but still lacks some of the verve that Tronic had for some reason. I'm expecting the same meticulous and crisp beatmaking as AotY but without the je ne sais quoi of Tronic + earlier.

Sometimes I fear we're all doomed to suck as we get older. Sick Boy nihilism theory applies: "Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever." In Black Milk's case it might be a case of him getting TOO GOOD, if there is such a thing.

All that said I'm secretly hoping it's going to knock me on my ass with it's awesomeness. I'ma mug the postman for my cd soon as I see him.

[KOMSAT]

From a Pitchfork interview:

Pitchfork: When you're doing all the beats for an album like this, do you ever put them together differently than you would for one of your own projects?

BM: Yeah, man. Not just because it's different artists. For one, I like to take a different approach to the album just because I don't like anything to sound the same as the last thing I put out. So this album isn't going to sound like my solo album Tronic. Tronic didn't sound like [2008 mix] Caltroit, you know? I try to keep everything in its own lane. Random Axe is gonna have some dirty, straight-up hard lyrics, but it's going to be a different type of dirt, I guess you could say. It ain't gonna be the same dirty griminess as [2007 album] Popular Demand or Caltroit. It's gonna be another frequency, but it's still gonna be dope. That's how I approach it. I like to change it up and switch it up and keep people guessing. Nobody likes to do the same thing. Well, some people do, but I'm not a person who likes to keep the same format every project.

So I guess props to the dude for keeping it forever changing, and my bad for expecting more of the same from an artist.

[ghost bazz]

Yeah... it is what it is. Props for making the music he wants to make. You can tell he was going for a really raw vibe on this record. Probably has a gang of sick beats on file for his next project.

Thanks for sharing that quote.