

Words by Big Ghost.

Ayo whattup you in the presence of the almighty Hands of Zeus aka Galaxy Knuckles aka Phantom Raviolis or the grand imperial Cocaine Biceps hisself nahmean. First off I jus wanna say whattup n thank you to the Okayplayer family for askin the god to come bless they shit witta review for this joint namsayin. The god mad humbled yo. Thats some remarkable shit right there b. So we gon get into this review for the Cruel Summer joint. But heed these words first… The views n shit in this muthafucka is all my owns…so that aint in no way a reflection of nobody other than myself n whatever whatever. No other man or woman or child represented heretofore n such hereby is sharin the opinion of the gentleman who be sayin the shit contained within namsayin. This muthafucka do be containin foul language n shit that might offend small children n old people n shit too. Bein that this is a family website n shit I jus wanted to put that out there nahmean. So without no further ado….

1. “To The World” – Kanye & R. Kelly: – This the first joint. I aint exactly mad at this shit but Imma be honest…this shit be soundin kinda like Ye was tryin to make All Of The Lights Part II n only Kellz showed up to the studio that day….n son had to sing Beyonce, Rihanna n Chris Brown parts on top of his own or some shit. The black Roman Polanski kinda need to chill tho cuz his singin is wild gay on this shit b. After 18 minutes or some shit of the nigga singin his heart out Yeezy finally spits some bars. But not to knock it or nothin…I could kinda live without this scented candles n milk baths shit.

2. “Clique” – Kanye, Jay-Z & Big Sean: – You take a song wit Jay n Kanye on it n you add Big Sean to that shit…thats like takin Wagyu steak witta side of truffles n you splash some A-1 sauce on that muthafucka namsayin. That nigga Big Sean is a condiment b. The nigga is ketchup nahmean. Son aint even on the menu namsayin. You dont go to ANY restaurant n see ketchup on the menu b. Not even cheap ass spots like Burger King got ketchup on the menu…that shit aint a item on the menu. At a nice restaurant they jus be throwin that shit there on the table sometimes like “yo…if you a uncultured lowlife muthafucka you can ga’head n splash summa this shit on ya expensive ass food or whatever son”. If its a real nice spot…like some place witta “Chez” in front of the name they probably aint even got no ketchup or steak sauce in the buildin at all yo… They jus be havin the grey poupon type joints or some shit nahmean. But yo Sean…stop callin yaself “B.I.G.” on tracks you degenerate medium ass muthafucka….thats jus disrespectful. How Jay allowin that shit? N why Jay usin Fat Joe’s flow for the first 4 bars of his shit? Gettin back to Sean tho…this might be the first halfway decent joint son ever been on. N its definitely the only song I ever heard son spit on where I aint feel like I wanted to punch a infant after hearin his corny ass rap. Of course dude had to insert some hoe shit in there tho talmbout “I need a spa day”………cmon son. I guarantee you this muthafucka likes gettin his toes sucked namsayin. But yo…outside of all that homophile shit…I fucks wit this shit kinda heavy. Hit-Boy did the damn thing on this beat too…no frontin.

3. “Mercy” – Kanye, Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz: This shit always been jus aiiiight to me. When 2 Chainz the one who spit the best verse on ANY joint wit one or more muthafuckas on it you kno it aint right… Thats like watchin a Clippers game n Lamar Odom come up off the bench n got it rainin 3s up in that muthafucka… Like how the fuck this shit happen? The other problem wit the song is the eurotrash dance changeup for Yeezys verse to that Scarface disco shit. That shit is like the suspect ass cousin of the switch up for the Biggie verse on The Benjamins joint or some shit…Nah I aint feelin it. But the song aight.

4. “New God Flow” – Kanye, Pusha T & Ghostface Killah: Yo this joint was already o.d. hardbody shit in its original form…but wit the verse from Pretty Tone hisself its like the cherry on top of the banana split got added to this shit. It was like you was sniffin raw before…nahmean…but now its like the crushed glass got added to that shit. We shavin wit rusty razors now b. This aint no smooth shit at all yo. It aint jussa sample from one of the gods greatest joints (“Mighty Healthy”)…its a collabo wit the author of that muthafuckin classic. Best part is they had to take out that corny ass boot camp chant that Ye was doin on the original to make room for it. Then the god comes in wit the deluxe intro remindin niggas of when he copped his Jesus piece before spittin a classic verse nahmean. The line “Dead a cow for his fuckin leather” alone is iller than ANYTHING Deini done spit since Fishscale b. Thats my word…

5. “The Morning” – Pusha T, Raekwon, Common, Cyhi Da Prynce, 2 Chainz, Kid Cudi & D’Banj: Chef goes in first n sets the bar WAY UP HERE n shit….talmbout “barbeque n blow in the back of the crib”. Shit is gully as fuck nahmean. But yo…how you gon have Common spit 7-1/2 bars on this whole album yo? Thats some fuckshit. Who I gotta punch in the throat for that shit son? Might gotta slap a nigga thru they own front door for that b. Might gotta collapse a niggas whole patio for that shit n widow his spouse for that shit son. Its whatever tho. Ey’body kinda do they thing n shit…except Cyhi. No offense yo. But Cyhi on a track is like anchovies on a pizza….shit is usually better without him on it b.

6. “Cold” – Kanye & DJ Khaled: Ayo son…the god still gotta wonder why Khaled on this muthafucka providin those usual struggle-libs in that “yooo helppppp meeee Im shrinkinnnnnng” voice he got all over the intro n shit. But this BEEN my joint. Niggas shoulda let Hit-Boy produce the entire album if you ask me. You gotta turn this shit up to eleven n let the whole block feel it. This aint no shit for the headphones namsayin. You gotta knock ignorant shit at ignorant levels b.

7. “Higher” – The-Dream, Pusha T, Mase & Cocaine 80s: Man Ion kno how many times Pastor Mase gon come back but son kinda went in…so I aint mad. But this the type a joint you gotta actually listen to turnt up on some “fuck it” shit to appreciate…otherwise it jus be soundin kinda mediocre n shit. This muthafucka got “stripper pole” written all over it tho. Play this for them broads wit low self esteem at ya crib n jus let it do what it do namsayin. This shit gon set the panties free nahmean.

8. “Sin City” – John Legend, Travis Scott, Teyana Taylor, Cyhi Da Prynce & Malik Yusef: On paper…this the shit I GOTTA skip nahmean. N whyyyyyyyyyyyy Cyhi gotta be back on this shit too yo? Wheres the love Kanye? Why you doin this to us yo? Did son save you from drownin b? He wrestle you outta the jaws of a grizzly bear son? Im sayin do you owe this man doe b? Im confused fam… Dude actually rapped the words “she rode the broom on the beach…thats a sandwich”….Im sayin cmon son. Its 2012 my nigga. This aint 1991 bruh. You comin wit some ol Phife Dawg shit in 2012 son? The fuck is that…a Sideline Story tribute bar? He snatch that outta Lil Wayne’s Carter 4 rhyme book? Fuckouttahere wit that too stupid to be clever shit b…we grown. Top it all off this dude Travis Scott sound like he been studyin under Cyhi or some shit…like he gon carry on that tradition of that yawn hop that Cyhi be makin. I aint feelin it b. The Malik Yusef spoken word shit is coo tho… The rest is jus unsalted baked potato chips tho.

9. “The One ” – Kanye, Big Sean, 2 Chainz & Marsha Ambrosius: This shit also soundin kinda “All Of The Lights”-ish at the start but then it mellows out. It calms down… Ionno what the fuck this song really bout but Marsha singin bout pistols n storms n whatever. Shit sounds confused. Big Sean spittin another “I made it” verse… Do these little niggas rap bout anything else bruh? Im sayin… Apparently this shit needed like 6 producers to put together too…*Kanye shrug*. Anyways yo… Its a cool track. Not like some shit Imma go outta my way to throw on a ipod playlist or nothin but its aight… its aight…

10. “Creepers” – Kid Cudi: So outta all the talented dudes on G.O.O.D Music…includin dudes who aint even appear on this shit at all (Mos Def…Q-Tip..) we gon give Cudi his own joint? Really Ye? The joint soundin like some adult contemporary type shit at the start…like Bruce Springsteen bout to start singin bout Ameurrricuh n cornfields n fixin up cars n drinkin lemonade on his porch or some shit. Then Cudi comes in n starts sirappin his usual made up as he be goin shit…wit the little Oh oh oh wuh ohhhhs sprinkled all over the place n shit. Its whatever nahmean. But son…the “If I only had one wish Itd be to have more wishes” line gotta be the corniest shit on this whole album. Fam is you serious wit that shit? Cmon yo.. Smarten up Scott.

11. “Bliss” – John Legend & Teyana Taylor: Yo who playin on this shit…a New Power Generation cover band? I aint frontin on the singin ass singin on this joint but this comp is only 12 tracks b. We cant have a Cudi solo joint AND this shit on here yo. But its whatever I guess. I fucks wit it.

12. “I Dont Like” Remix – Kanye, Chief Keef, Pusha T, Big Sean & Jadakiss: This shit shoulda been a bonus track par. Jussayin… This shit aint need to be the final track on the official release nahmean. Anyways yo…Keef still sound like he sayin “A fart nigga…” on this shit to me. By the way Kiss…a “jean jacket wit the sleeves cut off” is called a jean vest b. You aint gotta complicate shit son… You aint gon walk into Macys talmbout “ayo do yalls sell jean jackets wit the sleeves cut off” fam…

Anyways yo…I fucks wit this shit. It aint the shit I was HOPIN for…but it aint a failure neither. Shit is mad short…but in a era where niggas be droppin 47 joints on they mixtapes thats kinda a move in the right direction n shit. Had we not heard half these joints before the album leaked…ayo pardon that. I mean had we not heard half these joints before the album dropped….the impact mighta been a little stronger. I also think the shit coulda used more Common n less Medium Sean n Cyhi…but its whatever. Theres some bangers on it. Shit basically seems like the uglier n less interesting little sister to the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy n Watch The Throne joints to me. But even tho its kinda the weakest shit Kanye ever attached to his name (minus 808s & Heartbreak)…the shit aint bad. I fucks wittit.

Aight peace.

Score: 3.5 Zeus Slaps Outta 5

>>>Read more from the Big Ghost Chronicles here.

G.O.O.D. Music – Cruel Summer is in stores now, purchase on iTunes here.