I was sayin to my friend one night that The Cool is better than American Gangster. Said it made it look mediocre. He just laughed said there was no way. He has listned to most of the album he says. So I relistned to American Gangster and rethought my judgement.

Both concept albums. Both very good. The only real albums to consider IMO as top of 07. At least for the quarter. I dont think Finding Forever or T.I. vs. T.I.P. can fuck with either of em. (Haven't heard Face's album)

Some people will blindly say American Gangster because its Hov but then again u guys might say The Cool just cuz its Lu. I just want some real oppinions.

Question:
Which was better?

[Dont vote id you havent listened to both in their entirety and you can include bonus tracks: Blue Magic (American Gangster); Blackout (The Cool)]

Choices:
The Cool
American Gangster

 

I got both albums and i lupe has way deeper shit in his lyrics.I like American gangster, i was surprised it was good cuz kingdom come was just terrible. Buti dont think anything will be better than Finding Forever this year.

Shit u got me checkin Finding Forever. The Game, I Want You, Misunderstood, Black Maybe all classic material. Drivin Me Wild, Break My Heart and Southside (cant get past the beats) havent grown on me yet. Everythin else was fine-good. Maybe it CAN fuck with them. I dunno.

common - finding forever!!!! the best album of 2007. t.i is weak and shouldnt even be brought up on this board!

1.Graduation
2.The Cool
3.American Gangster

i hate comparisons.. but honestly after listening to both albums i will have to go with neither. the track lists are too one-sided to even compare them to. not enough songs on hov"s behalf 2 compare imo. if it was even then the comparisons could have been fairer

but ppl this is just my opinion( be4 you attack me.lol)

TI is not weak, but there are times to liten to TI and there are times where im like i cant listen to this rite now, i can listen to lu all day tho

First off, people be throwin' the word "classic" around too much. <.<
Second of all, I wasn't really impressed with American Gangster, so The Cool gets my vote..hands down.
Although, the production on the remix album: American Godfather made it a really good album.
But still not better than The Cool.

Who said "classic"? oh the shit I said about those tracks? c'mon man. "classic" is fuckin subjective. Wuts classic to one person may not be classic to another person. Get Rich or Die Tryin is considered "classic" by alota people but not by others. Midnight Murader is "classic" to alot of East coast people but as Lu explained not as much to other regions in such majority.

American Gangster is album of the year fo sho,
because hes a better story teller and just put together alot better.
lu has some outstanding tracks but american gangster is the type of album u can play over and pover agian...its is god rap yet u dont have be in listening mode because of jay's flow.
hes brought i good rap to a sterotupical rao topic.

American Gangster get's boring after a while...

the lyrics are just not deep enough...Jay went the easy way.

The Cool is deeper and for sure better than American Gangster

quote:

Originally posted by Rumblfish:
1.Graduation
2.The Cool
3.American Gangster

O_O, how can u say graduation is better then The Cool, I think The Cool wins by a landslide. But When comparing it to American Gangster, i just use this logic, when i listen to the cool i skip 2 songs, Go Go gadget flow and Go baby, where as on American Gangster i skip around 4-5 songs. Both are good albums, think The Cool takes the cake for me though.

Top 3 of '07:
.Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
..Jay-Z - American Gangster
...Kanye West - Graduation

i was really surprised when i listened to AG...its fing great...

quote:

Originally posted by RhythmAndPoetryFiend:
Who said "classic"? oh the shit I said about those tracks? c'mon man. "classic" is fuckin subjective. Wuts classic to one person may not be classic to another person. Get Rich or Die Tryin is considered "classic" by alota people but not by others. Midnight Murader is "classic" to alot of East coast people but as Lu explained not as much to other regions in such majority.

An album or track someone likes and thinks deserves a 5/5 doesn't justify to be "deemed" classic. I'm just sayin' people are quick to call something "classic" if they think something is nice. A "classic" is something that's going to stand the test of time. I know I never liked Finding Forever as much as most people did. But come on now, this shit just came out in spring or whatever.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pinoy,

ugh another person who thinks graduation is better than the cool. my brother thinks that 2. and its all opinions so im not trying to start an argument.

1.The Cool
2.Graduation
3.Consequence-Don't Quit Your Day Job
4.The Cool Kids-Totally Flossed Out EP
5.Finding Forever/American Gangster (tie)

I'm a huge Jay-Z fan. He is one of the all time greats, but you have to give credit where credit is due. There is NO ONE on Lupe's level in terms of lyrical, conceptual, metaphoric, and story telling abilities. The Cool is BY FAR the best album of the year. AG was hot. It went along with the movie and all, and the song Ignorant Shit was ground breaking because it was one of the first times you heard an MC admit that everything you hear come out his mouth is entertainment. The album is among his better albums. However, it's not even close to The Cool. Lu is on another level. Just being honest.

haha, I wish people would stop talking like their opinions are the way it absolutely is. With that being said, In my personal opinion you can't really compare these albums like that. You have to do it on so many different levels. First off, everyone is looking for something different out of their hiphop. Second, all these rappers have different styles. Its not fair to say Lupe's album is better than Jays because its deeper and more complex lyrically, because as clever as Jay is, deep and complex has never really been his style. Hes more straightforward, and complexity doesn't always mean better than straightforward as Jay himself quoted "Just cause you don't understand it doesn't mean that hes bright"(note that was a shot at Nas a loong time ago, not lupe of course") I don't think you can judge rappers with different styles with the same criteria. Personally I think Jay proves just as good lyrically with his straightforward style, as Lupe does with his complex one. Lyrically I think Kanye's album is a couple of levels below both Jay and Lu. But the production and creativity in everything including the artwork on his album is crazy. I've heard Common's album, but I don't think I'm familiar with it enough to give it fair judgement. T.I., I really never gave a chance, because I don't really listen to him, or own an album by him. I just dont have an opinion on him because I haven't heard him enough. So, since I personally value lyricism over production, I'd have to put Ye at third. On American Gangster, the only song I skip is "Hello Brooklyn". On Lupe I usually skip "gotta eat" and "go baby" Don't get it twisted, I don't think "gotta eat" is a bad song by any means. Its really intelligent and clever. I just feel like its one of those songs that after a couple of listens, and getting all the metaphors and meanings out of it, I just dont have the desire to listen to it anymore. Personally, I just don't really feel the production or the content of Go Baby. Alot of people say that they liked the happy ending, but I think Lu going out on the last line of fighters would have been perfect. Go Baby sounds a bit cheap and cheesy to me. But maybe it'll grow on me. In fairness, Lupe's album also has alot more tracks than Jay. Personally, I like both albums equally, but I like Lu's for different reasons than I like Jay's, so they can't be compared.

quote:

Originally posted by Maaz:

quote:

Originally posted by Rumblfish:
1.Graduation
2.The Cool
3.American Gangster

O_O, how can u say graduation is better then The Cool, I think The Cool wins by a landslide. But When comparing it to American Gangster, i just use this logic, when i listen to the cool i skip 2 songs, Go Go gadget flow and Go baby, where as on American Gangster i skip around 4-5 songs. Both are good albums, think The Cool takes the cake for me though.

How can I say it? Well, because that is what I think. I've listened to The Cool more than I did Graduation but pound for pound, to me Graduation was better. And in all honesty I feel that American Gangster is a better executed "concept" album than The Cool. Or maybe it was just that The Cool was more HYPED as a concept album than AG was, i'm not sure. And both AG and Graduation to me had the right amount of songs. They both were just enough, not too little, not too much. The Cool had 20 songs on it. I feel if it was trimmed down a bit, it would've been a more solid album to me.

With all that said, The Cool is my favorite album of the year. I recommend it to anyone that will listen. I feel every song on it is high quality. I hardly skip any tracks and I feel happy with what Lu put out in his sophmore effort.

But it's not a flawless album. Graduation, Cool and AG were all amazing high quality albums. But they each weren't perfect(nothing ever is). Grad just wins it out, everything from the beats, the improved lyrics(for Kanye), the presentation, the design, the hype and expectations around this album and how Kanye exceeded them. It was all there for me.

Just my opinion.

Man, this year was an amazing year for Hip Hop as far as I'm concerned.

Im just sayin I dont think anyone should really judge an album track-by-track IMO, I mean thats not how they do it in reviews.

Look at the albums as wholes. So there are more tracks on one album or you skip more tracks, I mean I see some tracks as better by themselves than other rappers albums imo. Ex: Dumb it Down > (whatever the fuck Unks album was called).

As a whole album a track may be outta place on an album (ex: Go Baby in some plp's oppinions) and that one track ruins the flow of the album. Some tracks are increased in value by there placement around other tracks like American Gangster which i thought had great placement.

If you want to get technical, not every track is 48 bars. Gold Watch's 3rd verse was only 8 bars (6 if u dont count that little "yea yea them niggas over there..." bridge) until the hook and Gotta Eat's 2nd and 3rd were each 10. You get what I mean.

Amount of tracks dont mean shit. Illmatic was 11 tracks msut I remind you including intro. Does that mean that it can only be compared to 11 track albums?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RhythmAndPoetryFiend,