What Do You Want From An Album?

[XL Middleton]

Yeah that's right I have officially started a general discussion topic although I'm not gonna lie I'm also asking this question because I wanna hear from THE PEOPLE on what could possibly make my next project better to your ears...but in general, what is it that YOU want out of an album? What qualities...replay value? original concepts? innovative production?

Im NOT tryin 2 discuss what you think SHOULD go into an album...in other words I'm not thinking about "commercial viability" or "radio/club friendly" or "you gotta make girls like it" as answers here...i'm talking about what you personally want out of an album to make it a great listening experience. think about some of your all time favorite albums from the past and what qualities they had that made you love those records so much...

I try my best to be an artist of the people so I wanna make an album for the people.

 

[WestWest]

First off it shouldnt be too long(Double Disc) cuz people dont wanna have to go back and forth between cds to hear the songs they like on each. Then start the cd out with one of the better songs on the cd, like at track 2 or 3 and thenb have your "best" track(usually the best produced) later on in the cd, also have your bigger name features around the middle, this will make listeners wanna play it all the way through rather than skip through it. And yes be innovative, you always wanna keep upgrading your sound, but dontget too flashy wit it cuz you could lose sum fans like that. Im not expert at perfect album layout but i am and engineer and i know what my favorite albums did to catch my attention. Hope this helps.

 

[Loko Jamz]

I wanna be able to get hypnotized by the beat when Im high.

 

[50cal]

I read this thread on *******...but i agree that too many albums have too many producers wich loses the cohesion between track to track.....limit features

 

[Sicc Dawg]

limit features

^^^

 

[iseeilikeibuyit]

I'd like to hear about realness. something i can fucking relate to in some way.

 

[caff]

less samples, less feat, upcoming producers ( i want to hear new beat-makers)......

* i would like for you to continue representing the city of roses to the fullest.

 

[M.V.W.]

I'd like a strong, cohesive sound and feel throughout an album, so it that doesn't seem like just a collection of songs.

 

[Gas One]

if i told people what to do with their album than that would totally fucking defeat the purpose of the diversity in music.

i want people to do what theyre good at, or whats fun to them, and i'll decide for myself if it makes a good listening experience.

theres enough people out there for a few people to get it right. but im not a psychic, i cant really tell someone how to drop an album. it should come from their heart, not mine.

if i say that i need creativity, then im forgetting the fact that i listen to alot of uncreative rap as well..and im forgetting that creativity flows in alot of different ways.. i think different age groups might want different things.

i dont want anything..in the age of mp3s, why should i be picky?
if i actually had to shell out my hard earned money to hear music, (which i dont) then i might have some standards that i think music would have to follow.

alot of samples, no samples, instruments, no instruments, features or none, creativity or not i think its all part of what we call rap and if you dont do it, someone else will do it...i dont think anyone will ever be able to encompass every single style, want or need in one album. most people think they can pinpoint what the game needs but the game changes quicker than that.... bieng an outsider looking in is like walking versus a car...artists need to do what they want to do and listeners need to listen...we need less critics and more openmindedness and chances taken in music.

 

[Freeway Rich]

1. The album should have a concept. It should have an idea behind the project. The album should EXPRESS something. If an album is called GET MONEY and track 1 is called GET HYPHY too, track 2 is a skit, track 3 is called WE GHOST RYDEN, thats garbage, this is not worth listening to. Your project should have a MESSAGE!

2. Limit features. Because having 2 solo songs on a album while there are 15 feat. songs is not a solo album. (if its gonna be a solo)

3. FUCK HYPHY. this is bullshit. (Should sound traditional gangsta if it is supposed to be a gangsta rap album)

4. rap about REAL SHIT!

PEACE

 

[XL Middleton]

* i would like for you to continue representing the city of roses to the fullest.

haha man u already know that!!!!

but yeah what im loving the most is that its really starting to feel like theres a big backlash against shallow/unoriginal music growing which is perfect because i got so many unusual concepts as far as the music i been recording. the music game is so saturated, its getting so easy to record and release music now, maybe it will get to a point where the only way to stand out is by having quality music and not gimmicks.

 

[synical dj]

yo.. first off .. fuck critics hatin ass sideline pedestrians.......

sometimes the world needs shallow unoriginal music because it sounds good. fuck making a point all the time.

thats why the world loves jump up jungle/drum n bass, hyphy music, german techno, crunk music, and screwed music: simple repetitive catchy guilty pleasures. pop for the un poppy..

the west coast (southern california, im meanin) needs to cater to those guilty pleasures. give us some disposable club hits and keep it moving. get some cake right quick like the south is doing. fuck an album concentrate on some good singles and go from there. take over the charts like its 1996. we got rappers who can spit, everyone realizes that. we just need some marketable shit to get us some capital to work with. dancefloor fodder.

W.W.2.D?
(what would 2pac do?)

 

[The Evil Genius]

1. Less features

2. Break down the program. No need in having a CD that iz 70 minutes long but only 45 minutes iz actually worth listening to.

3. Less producers

4. Get better features. I hate listening to a rapper I love but he has a bunch of wack features or just use the same features on every album.

5. Better song titles. Im tired of listening to songs with titles like "Ride With Me", "Haters", "You can't see me" etc.

6. Talk about making their money without sounding commercial

7. Better beats

 

[J-FUNKTION]

haha man u already know that!!!!

but yeah what im loving the most is that its really starting to feel like theres a big backlash against shallow/unoriginal music growing which is perfect because i got so many unusual concepts as far as the music i been recording. the music game is so saturated, its getting so easy to record and release music now, maybe it will get to a point where the only way to stand out is by having quality music and not gimmicks.

Took the words right out of my mouth!
I gotta agree with nas for the most when he says hip hop is dead...but i dont think he ever heard no xl middleton. Pure quality beats, lyrics, concpets, etc..with a west coast twist. Whcih leads me to simply say, what we need is more shit like yours. Im not sayin people should bite, thats a no-no, but they might learn somethin in checkin your shit out. Get inspired and get your game up suckas.

 

[XL Middleton]

5. Better song titles. Im tired of listening to songs with titles like "Ride With Me", "Haters", "You can't see me" etc.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! i think about this shit all the time too. i mean, not every song you make is gonna have the most original title and that's cool but if every song title on your album "In Da Club" and "Get Paid" etc. well......

 

[XL Middleton]

Took the words right out of my mouth!
I gotta agree with nas for the most when he says hip hop is dead...but i dont think he ever heard no xl middleton. Pure quality beats, lyrics, concpets, etc..with a west coast twist. Whcih leads me to simply say, what we need is more shit like yours. Im not sayin people should bite, thats a no-no, but they might learn somethin in checkin your shit out. Get inspired and get your game up suckas.

much appreciated....

ok well like synical said not everything needs to be super deep and conceptual i agree with that...but i think the super lack of records on that level is whats killed hip hop. as long as we sit here trying to make commercial hits the music as an artform is gonna be dead in the water. like i was saying somewhere even if we get that big check from these corporate dudes at these labels they still own us so whats the ultimate benefit??? music isn't profitable like it used to be but i think we can all eat off it if we cut out the middleman and bring it directly to the people, posting up on forums like this one is just one way of doing that.

 

[King Spadez]

Good music.

 

[BOOBOO619]

I would like to hear some good WestCoast beats, incorporating a lot of piano usage such as Chords, some guitar/bass guitar usage as well, bouncy/bubbley synth bass with that fat moogish quality, lead synth keyboard sounds, background strings/pads as well, also some fat percussion with hard clap/snares. I want to hear a lot more actual playing, rather than any repetitive samples. So more of a dark tone, with the occasional up tempo song here and there. Nothing hyphy, nothing crunk sounding, their too fast and don't have enough musical qualities for my taste. It would be nice to hear actual instruments like the piano, guitar and bass guitar again, seems producers been getting away from real instrument sounds and going more with synthetic sounds such as that overused Sawtooth trance lead. I personally like a combination of both, real instruments and some synth sounds. I believe proper lyrics will come along if the beats are good enough. A silly sounding beat will usually bring on some silly lyrics,etc..

Albums that come to mind:
-Dr. Dre - Cronic 2001 (My favorite beat is "Big Ego's")
-Warren G- Regulate... G-Funk Era

 

[INCHEZ]

Shit.... XL, just keep doin what u do. The only thing i can add, is maybe to tighten up the mastering a bit....(I know that shit cost a gang of $$$$...)
Your beats are clean as hell, and "West the Fuck Out"
Few producers these days are makin real G-Funk music....besides U, Glaze, 2 High, T- Nasty, Jamin James, I-Rocc, Cigar Lee...and some others

-Definatley U NEED SOME TALKBOX....your music is taylormade for that sound.
-I'd also like to hear you do a laid back weed track.

Is the homie Reed (Mil's boy) still doin that interview...?

 

[XL Middleton]

I would like to hear some good WestCoast beats, incorporating a lot of piano usage such as Chords, some guitar/bass guitar usage as well, bouncy/bubbley synth bass with that fat moogish quality, lead synth keyboard sounds, background strings/pads as well, also some fat percussion with hard clap/snares. I want to hear a lot more actual playing, rather than any repetitive samples. So more of a dark tone, with the occasional up tempo song here and there. Nothing hyphy, nothing crunk sounding, their too fast and don't have enough musical qualities for my taste. It would be nice to hear actual instruments like the piano, guitar and bass guitar again, seems producers been getting away from real instrument sounds and going more with synthetic sounds such as that overused Sawtooth trance lead. I personally like a combination of both, real instruments and some synth sounds. I believe proper lyrics will come along if the beats are good enough. A silly sounding beat will usually bring on some silly lyrics,etc..

Albums that come to mind:
-Dr. Dre - Cronic 2001 (My favorite beat is "Big Ego's")
-Warren G- Regulate... G-Funk Era

thank you homie u said it...we need real instruments and chords. ain't nothing wrong with synths and shit, but damn look at the 80's how they used the synths back then...they used them to play CHORDS!!! if you step back and think about it, it's really crazy that nowadays producers can make beats that everybody wants and yet that dude has no musical background, he just programmed some cool drums and played 3 or 4 keys on top of it. having those great, well arranged, melodic musical backdrops are what allowed us to enjoy so many songs by artists who didn't necessarily have great lyrics. a lot of them at least had good taste in beats and knew how to write good songs even if their rhyme structures were basic.