Vinyl Me Please Rap & Hip Hop

Clint Howard said:
Maybe I've just been paying attention lately due to his spamming of Lil Kim/Mariah and now this. It's ok to be super positive and I have no issue with that.. but when you call literally everything amazing, it makes nothing amazing. Because everything is. Have a little fucking nuance I guess?
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Hey, I'm a logical, cynical bastard most of the time too, so I get where you're coming from, but I'll let him have his positivity and hyperbole. I honestly wish a little of it came more naturally to me. 🤷‍♂️ Just a little 😂
 
dhodo said:
Hey, I'm a logical, cynical bastard most of the time too, so I get where you're coming from, but I'll let him have his positivity and hyperbole. I honestly wish a little of it came more naturally to me. 🤷‍♂️ Just a little 😂
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I mean, not that I really have to say it because you all already know it, but I'm exactly the same way. I also wish I could be a bit more positive in general but I think because of this, when I say something is damn good it has weight to it.. because I don't just say everything is good. Again, nuance helps in these situations.
 
There are literally a million albums I want before this one. The hype train has left the station. I like the Isleys and there are other nice looking presses for Sleater Kinney available for cheaper (from an international perspective). I wish Mariah was AOTM, I might even sub for it. However i’m All in for Khemmis. N&G threads are the new way.
 
NathanRicaud said:
Looks like VMP will continue its amazing Rap & Hip-Hop ROTM streak since Handsome Boy School Modelling....if we get Knxwledge!!! 🙏

I think Hud Dreams is an incredible beat-tape/instrumental album. It’s instrumentally rich because you have flutes, pianos, trumpets, saxophones, drums, vibraphones, harps - just so many different instruments across the tracklisting. And you notice these instruments because Knxwledge does a great job at making them shine, yet not so obviously. The samples are very well executed because they help make the abstract beats/rhythms feel more accessible without compromising the art. The music blends effortlessly and you can tell the production and loops have been carefully constructed, but it doesn’t feel calculated.

Overall, Hud Dreams is really woozy, yet funky and colourful and soulful. I love the heavy jazzy undertones and I love the clever sampling. It really is does feel a Madvillainy instrumentals kind of release, without having that medieval, mysterious sound!

I’ll be very happy if we do end up getting Hud Dreams as our next Rap & Hip-Hop ROTM! I’m super excited for it! 😁❤🔥💃🕺🙋‍♂️

PS - This is an album I can imagine so many café’s and alternative hip shops playing because it’s a bit easy on the ear, yet has that abstract, edgy, playful sound!
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Clint Howard said:
I don't understand this response? Isn't this album widely available for much cheaper than VMP is offering it? If you loved this tape so much, why don't you own it already?
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At least they can check off Westcoast and instrumental, finally. It's been too long since a westcoast album dropped. It's mostly NYC and so much Southern rap, with the occasional conscious lady emcee. It's definitely right in their comfort zone, but would objectively, still add a little dimension to what they've been doing. I'd rather see Me Against The World, or Vince Staples for Westcoast, if they don't want to get too grimy with it.

Availability isn't really a deal breaker, but I do get a little confused by their choices -- or, rather, I'm not confused enough, because it's too expected. To do Lil Wayne, Juvenie, and TI in back to back to back months, feels like they really don't have anyone with any real knowledge or depth behind this track. If they want to introduce members to knew things, the Paid In Fulls and such should be the R&HH selections. If they want to pull out the essentials of R&HH, they should be dropping stuff more along the lines of Endtroducing, as far as instrumental releases. From the beginning they went way left field with the 420 Chalice and Erykah Badu early, doing things rap/hip hop adjacent, at best. If they want to continue to go that route, Music By Cavelight would be a top choice for me. Also for instrumental, Dead Ringer is a classic, even though people would trip, because it's so easy to get so cheap. It's still something a lot of folks should own. If they want to go even further off script and hit a lot of people with something they don't know, Sixtoo's Chewing On Glass And Other Miracle Cures would hit most people by surprise and be a sleeper that they'd likely warm up to and be surprised by.

It really seems like they are only comfortable with a very narrow aspect of the genre. This includes things that semi-recently came out and seem positive, while the more hardcore stuff has to be well established, widely accepted radio hits like Doggystyle, Ready to Die, etc. I liked MM.. Food as a selection, because it ticks a few different boxes, even if it's still kind of safe. I mean... it is what it is. I live in Seattle. KEXP is going to play what they're going to play and, for the mainstream audience, they get VERY adventurous, even though you can pretty much tell exactly what's going to be on the airwaves and who they are going to promote. You're not really going to get much super experimental or underground stuff, just the "indie" artists that everyone on here already knows about. That's the VMP version of rap, but they have less of a grasp on it, overall. It's hit and miss.

I don't think Hud Dreams is a terrible pick. Newer collectors and fans of hip hop will be happy. It's a lot of dipping your toes in the water with much of VMP's membership, so I get it. I'd still like some deeper shit, but they haven't really gone there like they might with essentials or classics. They could do Kool Keith's Black Elvis -- I have an OG, so it doesn't make much difference to me, but at least it doesn't have any profanity or pissing on women, it's original, and there's no way they'd ever do Sex Styles. Honestly, they should just do an 8 Ball and MJG or Tommy Wright III album, already, but I won't hold my breath on that one either. We'll likely see another cash money or dungeon family album before that ever happens.
 
Dead C said:
At least they can check off Westcoast and instrumental, finally. It's been too long since a westcoast album dropped. It's mostly NYC and so much Southern rap, with the occasional conscious lady emcee. It's definitely right in their comfort zone, but would objectively, still add a little dimension to what they've been doing. I'd rather see Me Against The World, or Vince Staples for Westcoast, if they don't want to get too grimy with it.

Availability isn't really a deal breaker, but I do get a little confused by their choices -- or, rather, I'm not confused enough, because it's too expected. To do Lil Wayne, Juvenie, and TI in back to back to back months, feels like they really don't have anyone with any real knowledge or depth behind this track. If they want to introduce members to knew things, the Paid In Fulls and such should be the R&HH selections. If they want to pull out the essentials of R&HH, they should be dropping stuff more along the lines of Endtroducing, as far as instrumental releases. From the beginning they went way left field with the 420 Chalice and Erykah Badu early, doing things rap/hip hop adjacent, at best. If they want to continue to go that route, Music By Cavelight would be a top choice for me. Also for instrumental, Dead Ringer is a classic, even though people would trip, because it's so easy to get so cheap. It's still something a lot of folks should own. If they want to go even further off script and hit a lot of people with something they don't know, Sixtoo's Chewing On Glass And Other Miracle Cures would hit most people by surprise and be a sleeper that they'd likely warm up to and be surprised by.

It really seems like they are only comfortable with a very narrow aspect of the genre. This includes things that semi-recently came out and seem positive, while the more hardcore stuff has to be well established, widely accepted radio hits like Doggystyle, Ready to Die, etc. I liked MM.. Food as a selection, because it ticks a few different boxes, even if it's still kind of safe. I mean... it is what it is. I live in Seattle. KEXP is going to play what they're going to play and, for the mainstream audience, they get VERY adventurous, even though you can pretty much tell exactly what's going to be on the airwaves and who they are going to promote. You're not really going to get much super experimental or underground stuff, just the "indie" artists that everyone on here already knows about. That's the VMP version of rap, but they have less of a grasp on it, overall. It's hit and miss.

I don't think Hud Dreams is a terrible pick. Newer collectors and fans of hip hop will be happy. It's a lot of dipping your toes in the water with much of VMP's membership, so I get it. I'd still like some deeper shit, but they haven't really gone there like they might with essentials or classics. They could do Kool Keith's Black Elvis -- I have an OG, so it doesn't make much difference to me, but at least it doesn't have any profanity or pissing on women, it's original, and there's no way they'd ever do Sex Styles. Honestly, they should just do an 8 Ball and MJG or Tommy Wright III album, already, but I won't hold my breath on that one either. We'll likely see another cash money or dungeon family album before that ever happens.
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Spot fucking on my man. Sadly though, I think we're just going to see a majority of exclusive color pressings from existing plates for this track.
 
Murfocakes said:
There are literally a million albums I want before this one. The hype train has left the station. I like the Isleys and there are other nice looking presses for Sleater Kinney available for cheaper (from an international perspective). I wish Mariah was AOTM, I might even sub for it. However i’m All in for Khemmis. N&G threads are the new way.
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That’s what I thought straight away! VMP should have made Mariah Carey’s “Daydream” an Essentials ROTM! I think from the perspective of VMP, it would have been a polarising pick for its subscribers. VMP were too scared to make Mariah Carey an Essentials ROTM! That’s what I think! But, it’s the first official reissue and it’s a classic album, so it makes perfect sense for it to be an Essentials ROTM!
 
Clint Howard said:
Spot fucking on my man. Sadly though, I think we're just going to see a majority of exclusive color pressings from existing plates for this track.
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So do I, but enough people were excited about Phoenix, that I don't even think it matters to them.

I'm as cynical as the rest of you. It took me a while to warm up to Khruangbin, because I thought they were little more than a gateway for people who have no experience with music beyond pop and US artists. Then I realized that I was just hating on a group that was genuinely influenced by sounds that I'm equally a fan of. They aren't acting as if they invented anything, even if a lot of their fans might believe they have. They are still offering a door into that stuff for a lot of people that would never enter through one, and they're acting with humility. My immediate pull back is that of a cynic, but I like them now. Plus, they have a solid live show. I was just being jaded.

I think that's all this Hud Dreams pick or most of the RHH track is aiming to do, if not VMP at large. They have their demographic and they've released some solid stuff over the years. If they didn't, then none of us ever would have fucked with them from the jump. The Rap & Hip Hop track isn't really there to appease hardcore heads, to make up for whatever might be lacking elsewhere, though, like I hoped it might be. It's just another version of VMP and, unfortunately, it's not something they are particularly strong at. I mean... before they shut the forum down, Storf tried to check me about something I said regarding their one black writer, which feels like it's their "one black friend" and when I responded to Storf's claims/"points," it was all crickets. It always is. They could use some diversity in taste, especially. As a brown man in Seattle, it's easy to be the most ethnic person in the room, but I don't represent everyone, even if it's easy to exploit and claim that voice, at will. Some white dude from the most segregated state in the US trying to explain cultural racism to me... I mean... This basically feels like the demographic that others have mentioned on the forum, where it's a specific type of white dude trying to sell to people like themselves. They try and step out of that and, I believe, have done some smart things to achieve that -- the Egon and Mr Bongo connections, among them; outright stealing credit from The Stoned Ape, being at the shadier end of a "smart" move -- but, overall, if they acknowledged particular blind spots, other areas could be even stronger for them. This sub being one in particular.

Another thing that might actually wound them is that they actually do recognize these blind spots and are scared/don't know what to do about them -- they've over corrected problems in the wrong way, plenty of times before. For example, a lot of people weren't too stoked on the way that they dealt with pride month by putting vague not-quite-rainbows on their own logo. Then, there are others that it really did please. They can be somewhat tone deaf across the board, hence this forum's entire existence and the selling of anoraks. Diversity means inclusion. I don't know the staff, but they really need people on the staff that are legitimately involved and embedded/invested in the cultures that they want to represent, or it's too easy to come across as appropriators. You are from Canada, if I remember correctly, but you are still clearly invested in this culture. You actually know your shit and what you're talking about. You don't just dabble in it on an incredibly superficial level. It's real to you and I'm excited about the possibility of you putting together a club, because I trust your taste and what you'd release. VMP... they've never really been people I'd think to come to for this, even if they can come through now and then.

I live in the town of Macklemore. We went to the same college at the same time. Dude sells out the Key Arena 3 nights back to back. The first RTJ show here was at a 1,100 capacity space and they had to close some of it off because of under attendance. I saw GZA do Liquid Swords with a live band at the Neptune Theatre and they shut the entire balcony down for the same reason. Macklemore has openly blamed Lil Wayne for influencing him to drink lean and get addicted at the age of 25. He's kind of co-opted gay marriage and taken credit for helping its legalization here in Washington, even though the first line is essentially him saying "no homo." He's been viewed as the great white moral hype, when he's essentially demonizing people who rap about shit that he's never had to deal with, because his family is rich, white, and from Seattle. He's also been hailed for being independent, when the truth is that he could afford to hire Warner Bros to promote him; he wasn't struggling like so many others that have to sign with him. That being said, I gave him credit when he finally wrote a song -- I think it might be "White Privilege 2" -- where he addresses all of these issues that I've had. People hated that song, and I'm not a huge fan of it either, from a musical standpoint, but I still have to be honest and consistent. I was pissed that he didn't acknowledge any of that other shit, and in that song he mentions how so many people come up and thank him for not being like that other "ignorant" rap made by impoverished minorities, and he notes all of the privilege and opportunities he's had along with the fact that he loves those others rappers and only has any space to do anything, because of them. Yeah, I'd never listen to it, but st least he tried to finally say something, so I have to give him props on that move, if nothing else.

I'm rambling, but I think VMP might be uncomfortable with knowing whether or not it's even okay for them to release some of the more hood shit. I have a friend whose brother is a shithead "let all poor people die" pro-Reagan conservative in Florida who was working for the Marco Rubio campaign a few years ago. He posted "Today Was A Good Day" on his Facebook page. That song literally mentions how Cube considers any day that he doesn't get murdered or have to kill someone a positive. This is the result of policies that this fuckhead supports and is hoping to pass more of. Him liking Ice Cube and playing it is all blackface. I dream of a parallel universe where people are still afraid of Snoop Dogg like they should be. I love it when he intermittently chimes in on some shit. I hope he bites somebody to remind them he's not the Ronald McDonald of Long Beach.

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dhodo said:
The link trick that I learned from @Wes C. Attle seems to have just started working for Knxwledge - Hud Dreems

Vinyl Me, Please

Vinyl Me, Please is a record of the month club. The best damn record club, in fact. Our goal is to be the greatest music company ever, and to make your life even more awesome than it already is. We do this by not only sending you great music, but by also offering an amazing experience every month.
app.vinylmeplease.com app.vinylmeplease.com
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it didn't work for me

just linked to tical
 
Clint Howard said:
Honestly Nathan, your posts lately have been reading like you are a VMP shill, no lie. The VMP pressing will not be better than the standard one at all. They're going to use the same plates like they did with Method Man.. so please stop, it's embarrassing.
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so is anyone who actually genuinely likes VMP or hasn't had horrible customer service experiences a shill now, i remember you called me that when i wasn't completely boycotting them when the forum died

i'm hopeful.. it will only be about 23 dollars for me (hell more like 12 since i have store credit), about the exact same price getting it from stone throw will cost (as WELL as on amazon). with a different color and free shipping that makes it worth a dollar more
 
tbh i dont think knxledge is doing anything for me (just way too much changes to the point i get confused on which song is what, it makes the album feel much longer than it is.. it felt like i was almost done with the album after song 8 but then just realized i was halfway through that song it just had another beat switch).. i'll probably either swap or use my credits to use on some exclusive sleater kinney or other artist they have
 
maybe im just a bit of an optimist who hopes VMP actually are improving as well as the fact that i blew a ton of steam yesterday arguing with people but i am for their choice and i think "hey this is fine, i'll try it, im not resubbing after this until i get a job again but hey i dont hate this company"
 
duke86fan said:
so is anyone who actually genuinely likes VMP or hasn't had horrible customer service experiences a shill now, i remember you called me that when i wasn't completely boycotting them when the forum died

i'm hopeful.. it will only be about 23 dollars for me (hell more like 12 since i have store credit), about the exact same price getting it from stone throw will cost (as WELL as on amazon). with a different color and free shipping that makes it worth a dollar more
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I'm not sure where you get the impression I hate VMP? I have been a subscriber this entire year. I also don't recall ever calling anyone a shill on the previous board so I think you're mis-remembering.. however, if I did.. it's probably because you were doing something like what I was calling Nathan out on. There is a difference between being positive about something and doing what he was doing..
 
Clint Howard said:
I'm not sure where you get the impression I hate VMP? I have been a subscriber this entire year. I also don't recall ever calling anyone a shill on the previous board so I think you're mis-remembering.. however, if I did.. it's probably because you were doing something like what I was calling Nathan out on. There is a difference between being positive about something and doing what he was doing..
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no.. i remember you calling me a VMP shill when i was getting angry at you because whatever they did you were angry at them

and you seem to always say bad things about VMP.. like i am surprised you have not unsubscribed and asked for a refund on any extra months
 
duke86fan said:
no.. i remember you calling me a VMP shill when i was getting angry at you because whatever they did you were angry at them

and you seem to always say bad things about VMP.. like i am surprised you have not unsubscribed and asked for a refund on any extra months
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Selective memory on both our parts I guess.. because I've said plenty of good things about VMP but call them out when I see bullshit.
 
Clint Howard said:
because I've said plenty of good things about VMP but call them out when I see bullshit.
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i guess i just never seen that

maybe it is selective memory.. i just remember the calling me a shill thing because i was super angry at the time due to the constant negativity... similarly i was kinda irritable rn for another negativity (i dont wanna explain because paranoia)
 
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