Phonte - Pacific Time EP (Discussion Thread)

[Zero]

It's not the fact that he's singing.. this just isn't holding me after a couple of spins.

Give the 'Can We' song to Tiffany Gouché and let her play with the beat and sing and it goes but it doesn't quite work with/for Phonte.

'Heard This One Before' sounds like a real FE+ teaser, though. So the title is appropriate

Keeping it a buck, he's just not that good enough of a singer to do an entire album's worth of it. Never has been really. He's AIIGHT, but people keep buying it so what do I know

 

[Preach Jackson]

I’ll peep this New Tigallo later

 

[N.J.stan]

Nice project, but too damn short

 

[Big Mel]

anyone have a link?

 

[iamduval]

Nice project, but too damn short

It’s an EP.


I’m fukkin wit it so far

 

[Pinyapplesuckas]

when was Rakim ever singing on any of his albums..

Phontes been singing since LB days, and majority of his output has been R&B/Soul.. so, you clearly havent been a fan of him for a very long time..

Rakim doesnt sing. i was just making a point that just because you are a good rapper doesnt mean i wanna hear you sing...and Ive been a fan since The Listening...i liked when he just sang sparingly...i love the first Foreign Exchange where it was a happy medium between the two but after that FE became like 99% singing albums and i completely lost interest.

 

[steadyrighteous]

Rakim doesnt sing. i was just making a point that just because you are a good rapper doesnt mean i wanna hear you sing...and Ive been a fan since The Listening...i liked when he just sang sparingly...i love the first Foreign Exchange where it was a happy medium between the two but after that FE became like 99% singing albums and i completely lost interest.

I don't mind either Phonte, in fact I really really like FE more than most seem to, but I did like it when it felt like Phonte was the rapper and Phonte Coleman was the singer. At one point in time it felt like we'd be getting an equal dose of both. But based on interviews he's done and podcasts I've heard, this version of himself is the version he's more inclined to give us. It feels like Phone the Rapper is something he does out of necessity or to appease us "LB fans" That's my only problem.

It feels like getting rap projects out of him is pulling teeth, even though as a rapper he's a solid 5 times better than he is as a singer.

But I don't wanna sound like I'm complaining. I'm just happy he's still around, still active and still eating. A lot of nikkas from the early 00s ain't make it to 2019 in terms of output.

 

[Pinyapplesuckas]

I don't mind either Phonte, in fact I really really like FE more than most seem to, but I did like it when it felt like Phonte was the rapper and Phonte Coleman was the singer. At one point in time it felt like we'd be getting an equal dose of both. But based on interviews he's done and podcasts I've heard, this version of himself is the version he's more inclined to give us. It feels like Phone the Rapper is something he does out of necessity or to appease us "LB fans" That's my only problem.

It feels like getting rap projects out of him is pulling teeth, even though as a rapper he's a solid 5 times better than he is as a singer.

But I don't wanna sound like I'm complaining. I'm just happy he's still around, still active and still eating. A lot of nikkas from the early 00s ain't make it to 2019 in terms of output.

yeah im not mad at him. i always collect all of his music because i feel like i'll be in a better position to listen to it later. Sometimes you gotta grow to let something grow on you

 

[Heafcliffe]

Listened and I like. Refreshing. Surprised no Nicolay tho.

Good shyt!

 

[Surreal]

Bruhs

Ego vs To Be Yours??

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Man get this gay ass ep outta here, nikka singing on every track sounding like miguel

The funny thing is Phonte and the dude in your avatar are each other's biggest fans and I believe are trying to work on something together.

I don't mind either Phonte, in fact I really really like FE more than most seem to, but I did like it when it felt like Phonte was the rapper and Phonte Coleman was the singer. At one point in time it felt like we'd be getting an equal dose of both. But based on interviews he's done and podcasts I've heard, this version of himself is the version he's more inclined to give us. It feels like Phone the Rapper is something he does out of necessity or to appease us "LB fans" That's my only problem.

It feels like getting rap projects out of him is pulling teeth, even though as a rapper he's a solid 5 times better than he is as a singer.

I agree but I can also shed a little light on why it seems that way. He never wanted to do any solo rapping, ever. So I do think it's sort of like pulling teeth.
With Charity Starts at Home he was going through a divorce and felt like he had a lot to say that would be more appropriate to rapping, where he could get more aggressive and angry thoughts out, because that's what he was feeling at the time. .

And even back in the LB days we all wanted him to drop a solo LP like Pooh did with Sleepers but Phonte insisted he didn't think he had enough to talk about as a solo emcee. He said he never wanted to be an emcee that just dropped songs with bars for the sake of bars.

Now, that may sound goofy because he's got crazy bars, and most of his features are bars on bars, but most of his solo rap songs do have some sort of bigger theme or topic. And he's said he usually needs at least a couple of years of life experience after any rap project before he feels like he has something else worth rapping about.

I think he does most of his rap features for friends he genuinely likes working with or for a check.It's hard to pay for and get a rap feature if he doesn't fukk with you heavily as an artist.

Also, he doesn't use a pen and paper and writes in his head for raps, but he does write with a pen and paper for singing.

All of that may sound weird but you're right. Rapping definitely isn't where is heart is most of the time.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Rakim doesnt sing. i was just making a point that just because you are a good rapper doesnt mean i wanna hear you sing...and Ive been a fan since The Listening...i liked when he just sang sparingly...i love the first Foreign Exchange where it was a happy medium between the two but after that FE became like 99% singing albums and i completely lost interest.

Yeah, the first FE album is really it's own thing. It was a collaboration between two people that had never met. It was part Phonte solo, part LB album over Nicolay beats, part producer album with solo joints without Phonte even on them, and part what FE would eventually become. It's an awesome album and I totally understand why some people could never get down with what FE turned into.

Phontes been singing since LB days

No doubt. In fact the first song LB ever recorded had Phonte singing all over it.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Phonte have any producer credits before?

I don't think officially, but low key he's been producing (not beat making) in the true sense of the word since even back in the earlier LB days. If he wanted to hop on an MPC I think he could be really good at that too, but on all the early LB and FE albums he'd do vocal coaching, changing and arranging parts of songs, adding melodies to things, getting others to play certain bass lines or drum patterns, etc. A lot of hooks and entire songs for artists on the FE label at various times have been written and produced by him. He doesn't thump his chest about it though. IMO one of the reasons Phonte got frustrated with 9th is that he knew 9th played like 7 musical instruments but wouldn't ever want to play keys or do anything other than just chop samples and do drums. And he'd been working with Nicolay and knew that there was so much that could be done musically...combined with 9th giving some of his best beats to people outside of LB, and we got what we got on Getback...which was LB reaching out for new sounds from cats like Nottz, Hi-Tek, Illmind, Mr. Porter, etc.

This was right when I moved from the area so I don't know if this rumor is 100% true but I always heard that Phonte and Pooh were set that if the Lil Wayne guest feature fell through that they were going to cut that 9th Wonder beat off the Getback album...but the Wayne feature came through so they left it on there as the only 9th beat on that album.

 

[Pinyapplesuckas]

Yeah, the first FE album is really it's own thing. It was a collaboration between two people that had never met. It was part Phonte solo, part LB album over Nicolay beats, part producer album with solo joints without Phonte even on them, and part what FE would eventually become. It's an awesome album and I totally understand why some people could never get down with what FE turned into.



No doubt. In fact the first song LB ever recorded had Phonte singing all over it.

i didnt even know that was Phonte singing until Minstrel Show. i was pretty young when those dropped so i just didnt notice the similarities in the voice...kinda like on Dead Prez albums i didnt realize that was Stic.Man singing til much later.

 

[Preach Jackson]

Cause it's my last night in Beverly Hills