Albums I truly love

THIS IS FUCKING IT. ONE OF THE ONE. PEAK MUSIC. THIS IS A CERTIFIED JOE CLASSIC.

Tell me how you, Jacob, and Jaden all independently but simultaneously came upon this niche ass album. I didn't even first discover the Kanye sample. It was I think I'm in love with you. And just with that song I KNEWWW I had to peep the album. But never in my life would I have expected to love what was going to flood my ears as much as I did.

And then your lil ritual of listening to this when the plane takes off? Oh man I love it. It's so good. It fits so right. They must have known what they were doing with this fucking amazing ass classic of classics of aaaaaaaaa wow I love it.

If I get this on vinyl it will be one of the happiest days of my life.

When this album came out, west coast music had me in a choke hold. You remember your first listening experiene? Cause I sure do.

I remember closing the door to my room and getting ready to give it that full Mr Morale experience. Then what happened? How on earth could I keep myself lying down in that bed? Impossible. Kept going from dancing like crazy to sitting down on the bed focusing hard as hell on every word I heard. I listened the fuck out of that album that day. Fully inhaled it.

Then the second time when I was going to the library. Holyyyyy. Or was that part of the first time? I don't remember. I just remember dancing my ass off on the street. And then the epiphane of Gloria at the library. I was like damn I love hip hop music so much and this album is one of my biggest reminders.

BOPS.

HAHA FUCK YEAH FUCK UP THE CLASSICAL SHIT AND FUCK UP THE JAZZ SHIT AND FUCK UP THE FUNKY SHIT AND JUST AHHHHH SPRAY THAT ALL INTO A POT WITH A FIRE HOSE.

I first heard Edge from that one TF2 montage video. It fucking hooked me. I NEEDED to know what album it came from. Boy was I pleasantly surprised to find what else was on it.

The creative minds that went behind the making of all these crazy songs and strange musical ideas are truly on another level. I could have never thought of some of those melodies or transitions or whatever. Ah. Feels like looking up at giants.

Ahhhhhh. The masterpiece. The orchestra that did it all for you. The ultimate mashup of hip hop and classical. This concert is magical. Unlocked a part of you you didn't know was there. And I've been searching so hard for something like it since that first listen, but nah. You likely won't find it. This is one of a kind.

This might be the most conflicted I've ever felt about music up until this point. I had never really thought about the actual Voodoo stuff until Prof Skye broke it down. And after learning about it, I know it's a beautiful work of art. But damn, how does that fit in with my life now that I'm Christian?

This album has so much fucking groove. So much feel. So much soul. So much goosebumps energy. Whenever I'm listening I can easily imagine the musicians in that studio feeling so fucking good while playing.

And D'Angelo got them fucking vocal choooooords oneem. Ah it sends me. I don't need to know what he's saying. Although that's certainly an aspect of the album I need to dig deeper into. But damn does he ever have a unique style.

So yeah. I love this album. It sucks that I have this conflict now. Someday I hope I'll figure it out.

How long will this album stay as my #1? Man. It just has so much to love about it.

To start, the way the album introduces itself and closes is absolutely impeccable. Makes the whole thing feel complete as fuck. Like when you finish it you feel like you just watched an emotional 3h movie that had your attention captive the whole time.

Then all throughout you have these amazing vocals and some of the cleanest dirtiest grooviest production you can find. Boogieman was a fucking hard left turn which somehow fits the rest of the album so well.

And then finding out the comparisons with Maggot Brain was so trippy. I don't know if it detracts from this or makes it more endearing. To this day it feels like mixed emotions. Maybe finding that out made it worse for me. But I do remember how excited I was when I started making connections and how much I wanted to share it with people.

Dawg I can't even describe how good I felt listening to this when it came out. Did I feel heard? Or like I was in on the inside jokes? I don't know. But it's such a satisfying mix of genres and specific nostalgia that I feel tied to this album in some way.

This album has a lot to do with why I love discovering more brazilian music. Where the hell are you finding soul orchestras like this. I don't even understand the language, yet the musical storytelling is taaaaking me places. Goosebumps straaangs all the way.

I wanted this to win rap album of the year so bad. Wow was I so pleasantly surprised. This album was not afraid to just fuck shit up and play with the formula. I was bumping this shit so much omg.

Don't forget that time you first watched the Lost Times music video. Holyyyyyy, it reinvented that song for you.

This album sits in such a weird space for me. I think I've started to like some of the songs from here less as time goes on. Touch the sky feels different now. I'm not sure why.

But even with that being said, this album has a special place in my heart. The orchestral experimentation hits so right for me, and lowkey was a big forshadow for the music I would discover later on.

And to contrast that first paragraph. Some of these songs I've come to weirdly love more and more. Drive slow, addiction. Man they scratch an itch now.

But Late obviously takes the cake. You remember that car ride with Jacob. You know this song hits.

And I like being different by having this as my favourite Kanye album. Not just for the sake of being different, but because when I first heard it I experienced something from this album that many others didn't. I remember it being the most perfect album I had heard up until that point.

I cannot identify a single album which has music that sounds the way this album sounds. The harmonies in portuguese, which I completely did not expect, along with interesting rhythmic and melodic movements like dammmnnn. It's such a vibe. Instantly sets your mood to yeahhhhh things gon be ok.

Maybe I'm just thinking about Ponta de Areia. But if that song had such an impact on me then it's not for nothing.

I remember the first time listening to this at the table doing homework and I could hardly focus at all cause wowowow this shit was so captivating.

Sir Duke was a fun as hell song to learn on bass. So was I wish. And contusion was such an unexpected turn that made it impossible to expect what would come next.

I feel like every song on this has a little story with it associated with my life. But Love's in Need of Love today will surely stick with me for the rest of my life. What a way to start an album.

And remember that it was originally supposed to end with Another Star, which makes a lot of sense as an ending honestly, but those bonus tracks do hit too.