Dec 4, 2016

So this might get buried, but I'm hoping to get some discussion going here. 2016 has had a crazy amount of releases from big artists. While I think many of the releases has been underwhelming (almost the majority), can't we (I) thinking that, be a result of the amount of releases? I think some albums might actually have been more respected and publicly & critically acclaimed if the pool of releases was smaller. Some of artists I've grown to be very fond either many years ago, or recently, have dropped albums which have just slipped out of my mind as new music just keeps coming.

Would you agree with this? Have projects of 2016 just generally been disappointing? Or have the amount of new music partially given us a ''play and toss'' mentality where we don't sit well enough with new projects, and too quickly return to recent great drops we found better, or stay too hyped for upcoming releases? Or should I do a Feel No Wayz and KMS?
Discuss my fam.

I've put some releases from this year that are relevant to this in the spiler below. Don't get caught up in this, it's just to add some context. They're not in order, it looks messy, and some havent dropped.

Spoiler

Hotel Paranoia, The Life of Pablo, Views, 3001: A Laced Odyssey, Always Strive and Prosper, Cozy Tapes Vol 1: Friends, Malibu, Yes Lawd, All-American Trash, American Boyfriend, Coloring Book, ''Awaken, My Love'', MONDA, Big Baby D.R.A.M., Atrocity Exhibition, Bottomless Pit, Imperial, New English, Blonde, EVOL, Purple Reign, Free Bricks EP, Project E.T., Streets of Compton, 1992, The Sun's Tirade, Blonde, The Colour In Everything, A Moon Shaped Pool, The Impossible Kid, Untitled Unmastered, Lil Boat, Summer Songs 2, Bobby Tarantino, The Divine Feminine, The Persona Tape, DC4, The Healing Component, Telefone, P3, August 26, Sremmlife 2, Waking at Dawn, DVSN, Bucket List Project, Blank Face LP, Us Or Else, I Told You, Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight, We Got It From Here Thank You 4 Your Service, Campaign, It Happened In Flatbush, There's A Lot Going On, Prima Donna EP, Starboy, Still Brazy, Red Friday, I'm Up, Jeffery, Slime Season 3, Free 6Lack, Savage Mode, More Life, 4 Your Eyez Only, Passion Pain & Demon Slayin....

Not saying eveyone would care or know about all of these, but these are all projects from artists I'm interested in, and this is a lot of f---ing projects.

 

Dec 4, 2016

I feel like 2016 was mostly quantity over quality. There have been a ton of good and even great projects released this year, but not a lot that I think will really stick with me.

 

Dec 4, 2016

looking forward to the new XX album on January 13th

 

Dec 4, 2016

I feel like many artists are beginning to go the route of shoving music down our throats constantly mainly because of how fast-paced our society is.

 

Dec 4, 2016

Didn't we wish though for this huge amount of album releases to happen ever since 2015 was slightly underwhelming?

 

Dec 4, 2016

Oh yeah, I'm definitely happy. I don't sit and think ''oh f--- sake, another album''. But I think it might hurt the artists, as some might give their projects the attention they usually would. And even the listener, as I think some also might have ''missed out'' on projects they have listened to, due to again, not giving it enough attention. It could potentially be a project they'd love, or even just like a little more than they did like it or hate it.

 

Dec 4, 2016

This is a tough one. I love music, I love discovering new artists, and also love hearing what artists I follow have to offer next. BUT, I may have a slight ''problem'' that I think some might recognize themselves in (partly why I made TT) - trying to keep up with everything. I have favourte arists, artists I like way more than others, but I'll be just as quick to grab their project as I grab an up-and-comer that dropped two hot singles on soundcloud. Me following so many artists definitely affects this, but I also think that's a problem overall. I want to listen, but as you say, I may also feel slightly obliged as I don't want to fall behind. (Though I'd say that starts another topic)

But - 2016 hasn't been your usual year. Many big artists that hiphop enthusiasts know and love, that have taken years of breaks or are moving onto their debuts, have dropped this year. My music interest is probably at my highest, but I can't think back to the last year where there was just so much dropping.
f---ing A Tribe Called Quest dropped an album this year.

 

Dec 4, 2016

I kind of agree, the projects which I've enjoyed the most this year were the ones which felt special and weren't simply thrown into the big pool of album releases (e.g. Blonde and smaller releases in general). That doesn't necessarily mean that the huge releases weren't great, but they've been -- as whole projects -- quickly replaced with new (better?) stuff quickly during the daily rotation. The good songs however then stayed for longer time.

In the end, 2016 rather feels like the year of (partly extremely) great songs than the year of dozens of A1 albums.