Rick Ross - Mastermind ethered AGAIN by another review, this time by Needle Drop

[OG Talk]

Are we assuming that all street dudes are producing complex rhymes and creative production?
My point was that there are certain things about hip-hop that do not require a full and complete understanding of the streets.
I have no idea about Fantano's qualifications or his background, if any, as a musician in any genre. From the few reviews that I've seen, it seems that he takes a critical, thoughtful approach to what he's reviewing and studies up on the artist that he's reviewing (if he hasn't already been following them). Check out his review of hte last Ghostface album (which he liked) where he goes into detail about Ghost's previous work. Again - from very limited views of his reviews - he doesn't seem like the most knowledgeable person on hip-hop, but he seems to know enough to justify doing the reviews. Check out the list he provided in his "I hate hip-hop?" video of classic hip hop albums he loves. A lot of good stuff on there.

A white guy giving glowing reviews of a Wu Tang project isn't exactly ground breaking...But I'll check more of his critiques out and try to be open minded..The problem is in the past I've just fundementally disagreed with his opinion on certain projects...

Even some of his glowing reviews on albums I've agreed with (like R.A.P. Music and Run The Jewels) he's seemed to like them for totally different reasons than I did..

 

[Ronnie Lott]

i knew my country comparison would fly over some of yalls heads

 

[RTF]

What doesn't he understand?

Check my posts up above and below.

 

[Big Mel]

my opinion on mafia movies is somewhat worthless compared to the people who actually grew up in that shyt.

Your opinion, fom what I've seen displayed here is worthless on most everything. If I was looking to put on 20 quick pounds of muscle I may heed your advice. Other than that you're a dumb jock that seems slow.

You can't just view art in a vacuum..Thats where these city slicker cac reviewers lose me most of the time...Even if you do digest it in high volume ....Empathy, enviornment and life experiences help mold your level of expertise...It's the same reason why me as a Southerner that grew up in the late 90's is less likely to take the opinions of a Black New Yorker that came up on 80's Golden Era rap seriously on Southern hood shyt...

I mean I can watch Goodfellas and think its the greatest film ever.. But a real Italian Mob guy that lived the life in Bensonhurst in the 70's might be able to point holes in it and point out all of the flaws...The authenticity and little nuance that I might not recognize might be glairing strengths or weaknesses to one of them..

Unless you were in a Jook Joint in Southern Tennessee back in '96 soaking up the enviornment and spending quality time with the people you might not be able to truely recognize the greatness of Kingpin Skinny Pimp... Your ear isn't as trained as you think it is.. Because you don't really know exactly what you're listening to, so its easy for you to just dismiss it..

This guy obviously isn't Ross' target audience...He's obviously not a fan (even of his hood approved classic work) So he's gonna attack him from a much more academic perspective and be more cold and detached than someone Ross is TRYING to reach....

I would much rather hear J. Prince's or Big Meech's opinion on a Ross album (or even my cousin that just came home from a 4 year bid).. Even though they wouldn't be able to articulate it with all the limousine liberal comic book geek hipster snark as an Anthony Fantano...At least I would know that THOSE are the type of people that Ross is trying to impress.. If he failed them, THEN I'd be interested in hearing why..But not from this cat....

But Ross is "trap/hood lite" and aims for the fans of Drake, Kendrick, Cirren$y & Mac Miller as much as he does the Gucci, Migos, Jeezy lane.

 

[Ricky Church]

nikka please

fukk up fakkit.

 

[Big Mel]

i knew my country comparison would fly over some of yalls heads

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[RTF]

Go to a GFK concert or Wu concert today, it will be full of people like Fantano. I've been to Kendrick, Ross, Montana & Wu concerts in recent years. Ross crowd was much more Montana than Kendrick.. or Wu (which was cac dominated)


Does he have a positive review of anything by Guwop? Scooter? Flocka? Reece? Keef? Durk?

 

[DosCadenaz]

Anthony Fagtano is a faq

 

[Ronnie Lott]

i remember the 1st time i heard screwed n chopped music. i absolutely hated that shyt I thought it was the worse form of hip hop.

but until i went to college and some texas
cats really put me up on the music, then i understood it. They took me to H town, i poured up a few cups of lean, i immersed myself in the music. i went to the hoods of h town, the clubs, posted in the parkin lot and saw with my own eyes all them candy coated slabs. i began to understand where and why screwed n chopped music came from.

i went to a few mom and pops music stores where they had all the shyt from swisha house, dj screw, michael 5000 watts etc. from then i had a better understanding of the music and now im one of the biggest screw heads in the world.

but my previous heavy dislike of chopped n screwed music came from pure ignorance and an apparent disconnect from the culture

 

[mobbinfms]

Check my posts up above and below.

I did. THey don't give any specific examples of what it is about street music that Fantano doesn't understand.

To my memory. No one has given a single specific example of what they think Fantano doesn't understand about street music.

 

[SunZoo]

It's not just about living the life of a drug dealer... It's about living the life of a fan of a particular kind of music and lifestyle..

We see it all the time on these boards.. Dudes that haven't been to a club since the Clinton era will say sh1t like "Migos and Future are trash" and just 'drop the mic'....There is two ways to view that statement...

1-He's right, because he knows hip hop and has crediblity because he's been listening since PE and Slick Rick were poppin...

2-This music isn't for him and he's out of touch with the core audience of who the music is MEANT to connect with...

#2 is the point that most people are making about Fantano...And of course they are doing it with harsh slurs and reckless race based talk becauses its the coli.. But they are 100% right...

It's like me sitting my daughter and her friends down and lecturing them about how Katy Perry and Miley Cirus ain't sh1t...And they are gonna be looking at me like "This music ain't for you anyway you old n1gga" and they would be right...

There is no generational, or even a genre gap between the majority of the people on this board and Fantano as a fans of RAP MUSIC. Not being a fan of a specific type of rap, especially seeing how diverse it is doesn't mean you don't UNDERSTAND it, it may mean you have a bias for/against a particular type of rap or sub genre, but Ross ain't spitting Rubix cubes.

If you don't like something, why would you spend the time and effort to really try to understand it?

Because you're a critic?

This has been the issue with white guys from outside of the street culture revviewing urban art for years...

Go back and read some of the mainstream media reviews on movies like Friday before it was released in theaters...The sh1t has a 56 metacritic score...And I'm certain that most of those critics really "know" film like Fantano "knows" music...The issue is, they don't know Black folk.. So why should I care?

You aren't obligated to care, I don't, for better or for worse.

I love Super Troopers but I wasn't expecting to Siskel and Ebert to give it rave reviews, they don't seem to be big on pothead comedy, I take their review on it with a grain of salt, if even that.

But lets be real, if he came out and had a favorable opinion of the album there would be no uproar, nobody would be discrediting him for LIKING the album, and if they did it would probably be centered around him being a CAC thus naturally gravitating toward music that promotes harmful stereotypes.

 

[Ronnie Lott]

I did. THey don't give any specific examples of what it is about street music that Fantano doesn't understand.

To my memory. No one has given a single specific example of what they think Fantano doesn't understand about street music.

fantano does not understand a song like drug dealers dream. he doesnt understand the magnitude of a line like " he wanted a degree, but got him a key"

 

[OG Talk]

But lets be real, if he came out and had a favorable opinion of the album there would be no uproar, nobody would be discrediting him for LIKING the album, and if they did it would probably be centered around him being a CAC thus naturally gravitating toward music that promotes harmful stereotypes.

I just don't think the guy knows wtf he's talking about for the most part... Like I've said he's even agreed with me on the quality of certain projects and sounded like a clueless voyeuristic cac fakkit

 

[Big Mel]

Lollollloololololol

 

[Big Mel]

I don't have a degree. I have had a ki. Ross is marginal at rapping.