Kanye West has set up an incredible team of talent on his G.O.O.D Music label. When word got out last year that a group album featuring the talents of Common, Pusha-T, Kid Cudi, and Mos Def would be making its way into stores, I was overly excited.
When the time finally came for me to listen to Cruel Summer, of which should have been one of the greatest group albums of all time, I was sadly and dreadfully disappointed.
We start off with a song called “To the World” that for some reason features R. Kelly. It is supposed to stand as the power anthem to get you amped up to hear what the rest of the tape has to offer, but it’s more of an eye-opening warning sign. The production sounds dull. It’s an example of this album’s first problem; the constant input of the now popular trap-music sound that every artist on the planet seems to be implementing.
A good example of this is “The One” featuring Kanye, Big Sean, 2 Chainz and Marsha Ambrosius. It starts off with a simplistic ballad, the distorted drums kick into overdrive, and then out of nowhere, we return to the same snare drums and 808’s that I could get on every urban radio station in the country. The label is filled with legendary rappers who have been active in the music industry since the early 90’s, and it forces them to sound very mainstream if put on beats such as this one.
The album’s second problem comes from the large amount of outside features from artists not on the G.O.O.D Music label such as R. Kelly, Raekwon and Ma$e. It’s actually to the point where we have absentees on the album, such as Q-Tip, Mos Def, and Mr. Hudson. Group album’s must have the entire group on the album, or it just seems like filler, which a lot of this does.
The third and major problem with this album is that there are way too many songs that have recently been released for free. It just sounds like we’re getting a side dish, when we pretty much already finished the meal.
The album does have some highlights. I found the song “Clique” featuring Jay-Z, Big Sean, and Kanye West to be an extremely refreshing change of pace from the rest of the songs. This could possibly be due to the fact that each individual person understood the beat structure, and carried their flow through it effortlessly. Another track I really thought broadened the sound of the tape was “Bliss” which features John Legend and Teyana Taylor. It sounds like 1980’s love ballad on steroids. The production is incredible, and definitely stands out from the rest of the tracks.
When it comes to Cruel Summer, I was expecting more than what I had received. Maybe it’s due to the fact this was supposed to be the album of the year, especially to hip-hop heads. The production had a lot of potential and some unnecessary features, but if you enjoy Mr. West’s catalog of work, it is honestly worth a listen at least once.