audio review : Moon ( song ) … Kid Cudi ( featuring Don Toliver + Kanye West )

This, a sky-gazer’s hymn, is the best cut from Kanye West’s Donda album, but it would’ve been even better than it is if it had a more appropriate song structure. It barely qualifies as a song. There should be not one but two Kid Cudi verses with a Kanye West chorus break in-between.

That chorus, which has West conjuring the melodic chops he showcased on the demo/SNL version of Teyana Taylor’s We Got Love, doesn’t come till near the end. It’s a five-star bit though as he outsings both Cudi, who should also be praised for his wailing ad-libs, and Don Toliver.

my rating : 4 of 5

2021

audio review : Donda ( album ) ... Kanye West

audio review : Survival ( song ) … Eminem ( featuring Liz Rodrigues )

Songstress Liz Rodrigues sounds hacky on the hook. Not that the song would be good without her. Eminem is still rapping with the angry yell he’s been using since his (2009) Drop The World verse and still not really saying anything clever or interesting in the process.

“The skill was there,” he reminds us, taking it back to when he first blew up, but that’s an understatement. He was the best rapper to ever do that. Now it’s debatable if he even cracks the top five as he insists he does. A song like this only makes his fight that much harder.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013

audio review : The Marshall Mathers LP 2 ( album ) ... Eminem