Sorry for the late reply man. This is the last week of the semester, so I'm rather busy since I'm an absolutely epic procrastinator who does everything at the last minute lol (but somehow I still find time to waste on RYM)

Anyway, I agree that DAMN. has the least interesting production out of his major albums, but TPAB? HELL NAH. Four songs using the same snare seems like a rather negligible complaint considering the album as a whole can be described as, how did I put it again... ah yes, "GOD DAMN FIREWORKS OF JAZZ AND FUNK". If DAMN. feels like a selection of what's currently popular, then TPAB is pretty much the antithesis to that. Of course, GKMC has amazing production too, but I'm not sure if I would call the beats more unique than TPAB's...

His yell-rapping did take me getting used to when I first started listening to Kendrick, but by now he has pretty much become my favourite rapper (bandwagon, I know), and his diverse vocal delivery is definitely a major reason why. For example, his (some would call it over-)acting on the second part of "u" totally works for me and makes the song so much more impactful IMO

simo, I'm thinking of clearing both my movie and anime ratings. help! I think I'm done doing that with music, since I'm satisfied with the way I rate things there. not sure if I am satisfied with the way I rate visual things yet. also, I plan on replying to your message soon. sorry about that, life has been a tornado--I'll tell you more about it in the message.

Gonna chop this up into two posts so I can gather my thoughts on Kendrick...

As for Koe no Katachi, I have a feeling you will like it less than me, but we'll see... I think it's definitely better than Your Name, at least. If you can still catch it in theatres, you're one lucky bastard. I would have absolutely loved to see it on the big screen (even though that wouldn't have resolved my issues with it), but I guess Switzerland's anime market is pretty much non-existent from most distributor's POV. >.>

And yeah, I've finished my assignments for now and have some time to chill and watch more anime again (exams are coming up in August though, so the real stress begins mid July). Currently struggling a bit through Tamako Market, but I want need to watch Tamako Love Story so I can get the full picture on Yamada. Also close to finishing Wolf's Rain, will post some thoughts in my diary later.

Oh and I have only seen the first season of Twin Peaks (which I really liked), so I still have some catching up to do before I can watch the new one. I should get back to this actually, cause I'm curious to see how a Lynch production looks and smells like in 2017.

(and yes, if you're wondering about your notification feed, this is the 4th time I'm posting this post, I keep deleting it to add new comments and correct typos and such cuz I'm just a mofo like that)

So, bout Kendrick. gkmc is one of my favourite albums, so I'm with you on that. Backseat Freestyle is one of the hardest and most addictive bangers ever and I don't trust people who don't like it lol. You're totally right about the minimalistic approach of that beat, blows me away every single time.

But on the other hand, I also love the jazz/funk stuff on TPAB. I listened to a lot of golden age jazz rap when I grew up (Gang Starr was one of my favourite bands for years), and I love how Kendrick brought back that mentality out of nowhere, completely reinvented and updated to modern production standards. So it's certainly not a case of message over music for me.

I don't have a problem with hip hop that features more conventional instrumentation either. In fact, one of the best hip hop concerts I've ever been to was a performance by The Roots. There are not many artists who successfully pull off hip hop with live instrumentation, but I definitely think Kendrick is one of them (I'm thinking of that stunning TPAB collage at one of his Colbert performances).

As for Kendrick's vocal delivery, I don't know what to tell you man. To me he's Kung Fu Kenny a.k.a. the man with the thousand voices, to you he sounds annoying. I guess it boils down to personal preference. You don't seem to have a problem with Danny Brown, a guy who's at least a dozen times more notorious for his yell-rapping. And on Backseat Freestyle's 3rd verse Kendrick's vocal cords also put out some utter madness.

I love the poppy single version of "i", but that second part from the live version is straight up magical. The way Kendrick regains control over the crowd and completely silences them by the end, damn. That's what I call a motherfucking Master of Ceremony.

Also, them charts updates. Hahaha... hang in there fam. :P

"About i, that's another case of not liking the thing Kendrick does with his voice. In this instance, the "and when you looking at mEEEEEE, tell me what do you sEEEEEEE". I really can't stand it."

lol that reminds me of a comment you made on the new Suiyoubi no Campanella album:

"I still think the scream/"wah!" on Aladdin all but ruins the song though"

I guess you really don't like these sorts of high-pitched screams, haha... (btw Aladdin is one of my favourite songs of the decade, it's so damn good).

And man, I didn't know "i" was staged! Talk about feeling like a fool lol. I still think it works wonderfully in the album though (since I'm also not bothered by the artificiality of Mortal Man), but I can see that it might come across as insincere to some people. And yes, the video for the single version is a thing of beauty. The part where he leans out of the car is one of my favourite Kendrick moments.

But I guess there's no point in continuing this. Kendrick is to you what Kanye is to me and vice versa. They are both very special artists, each in their own way.

It's fine man, don't watch Koe no Katachi just because of me, watch it when you're in the right mood for it. I've cooled down on the movie anyway, right now I'm just hyped for In this Corner of the World when it comes to anime movies (and Yuasa's shit of course!).

And you really are right though, the album version of "i" is staged according to Wikipedia. I just assumed it was live because people keep calling it the live version. And because I suck lol

i became a wageslave c*ck and the $ good

i dont care about consuming art anymore, i turned into a nigga that thinks about money and women like 24/7

Speaking of anime movies, day before yesterday The Guardian had this on their front page. New movies from the directors of Ergo Proxy and GitS:SAC coming soon. Very cool. Lots of big screen anime shit this year. No mention of Yuasa tho ;_;

RE: media abstinence... eh, it's going ok. I'm definitely a bit more productive than usual, but I still spend too much time just bumming around online. At least I haven't broken any of my rules yet. :P