[quote=@SleepingSilence]Do you listen to more happy/positive lyrical music or do you listen to more negative/sad sounding music? And why?[/quote]
I don’t think I’ve ever attempted to quantify [i]mood[/i] in my record collection. There are many things I’ve attempted to quantify, but it has never been that aspect of music as it varies. There are brilliantly written songs about hopeful and optimistic fonts just as much as there are profound works scripted in cynicism and despair. I don’t go out of my way to seek out mood very often, but on that loose point I’d like to say when I am depressed or anxious I often listen to depressed and anxious music such as I listen to the opposite when I am not. When my mood is neutral it ends up a little of column a and column b, as well.

[quote=@SleepingSilence]Though maybe the point of happy music isn't to be thought provoking.[/quote]
I do not agree with this assessment. Many albums have proven that music attempting to inspire “light” emotions can be just as intelligent and profound as any dark record. It just so happens that the tortured artist point-of-view is a well-known perspective and while it is true that much profound music has come from the “dark side”, that does not mean that the opposite cannot or is not.

[quote=@SleepingSilence]Apparently rock sells twice as much as pop music[/quote]
When it comes to albums, most contemporary pop music is a [i]singles[/i] game and not an [i]albums[/i] game. That is why even the most conventional and basic rock music will outsell basic pop music on a median average. You must understand that just because pop art is called pop does not mean it is popular; that is a longstanding musical [u]myth[/u] that anyone with a modicum of education in music understands.

[quote=@Buddha]I can definitely agree that Shakewell had the better verse. I mean that line, 'ey yo Pouya, I been praying a lot, but I don't know who's talking back, is it Satan or God?' is just the nail in the coffin at that point. I guess at that point no matter what Pouya did, he would've sounded off. Perhaps putting scrubs as his track to judge by was a bit unfair, given that it's one of his weaker tracks (but it's so good tho) but perhaps you can see a bit more of why I like him on these respectively. 
[/quote]
Yeah, I liked “Undecided” and “Billy Mays” a bit more than his verse on the aforementioned song. I can really appreciate how the man can [i]spit[/i] yet retain a fluidity that a lot of people would find difficult to do—or at least just as well. I think the lesson learned here with Pouya is he shouldn’t let Shakewell do a guest spot. :lol

[quote=@Buddha]Now something entirely different. Gangsta Gibbs was probably my first experience with real gangsta hiphop that wasn't modern-day 'I'm a banger gratata bang bang 300' stuff. He's kinda like old school gangsta rap (and he's older so I guess that makes sense). He's a real one too. If you see someone smoking crack in his video? That's a guy they hired off the street to smoke real crack. No actor shit. He's real. He cooking crack? Real. He tasting it? Real.[/quote]
Freddie Gibbs is probably my favorite artist that you’ve discussed thus far and I am very familiar with his body of work. His versatility, flow, and storytelling is pretty much up there with the greats and I’d be pretty comfortable calling him one of my favorite rappers of the new generation. He hasn’t had an album as good as [i][b]Piñata[/b][/i] yet, but he’s supposed to have a follow-up collaboration between him and Madlib coming up this year so you can say I’m pretty excited for that. 

[quote=@Buddha]I mostly just enjoy their beats, samples and flows but they have some lyrical shit in there that I do enjoy a lot. But eh, idk, you kinda have to be in the mood for it? It's very uplifting music in a way because it's very spiritual and talks about peace and love and other shit like that.[/quote]
[i]Slick.[/i] I like these guys; best songs you have, in my opinion, dropped so far that I have not heard before. I like their flow a lot, but the production behind it is what instantly got my attention—positively polished mixing of jazz-y samples and a warm timbre to it. What’s not to like about something like this?