Kanye West (feat. Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco & Big Sean) - Don’t Look Down (G.O.O.D. Music, 2010)

The first G.O.O.D. Friday not to feature a dopeboy (Raekwon, Jay, Ross, Banks, or Pusha thus far), this song kinda sounds exactly like what you’d expect from the four names featured on the track: left-field, with flashes of brilliance, but overall a long and far too conceptual of a track to work on multiple listens. Much like he did on all those Curren$y songs earlier in the year, Mos Def is (badly) singing the chorus here, with no verse to be found. Lupe opens up the song, and does what Lupe does; raps in riddles really slow with a increasingly noticable lisp. I’m sure some overly dedicated Lupe stans have already found the hidden message in his verse. Kanye’s verse is similarly slurry, but like most of the G.O.O.D. Friday tracks, he included distortion around his voice so that he sounds like he has strep-throat - still, it’s good for what it is. Big Sean closes out the song, and that’s just a bad omen. Honestly, this song is just too long (like all the G.O.O.D. Friday tracks), with the exception being that there’s hardly anything going on here. There’s about a minute and a half of instrumental in between Kanye’s verse and Big Sean’s verse, and frankly, after I’ve heard Kanye rap I have no desire to finish the song. It’s not bad, but Lupe and Sean are rapping exactly how you’d expect them to (Lupe is trying to be mysterious, and failing, while Big Sean is just being horrible), and Kanye’s distorted verse/Mos’ distorted chorus do little to make this song better than meh. I really wish Kanye would stop trying to make progressive hip-hop sometimes, and just do what he does best.

Kanye West (feat. Mos Def, Swizz Beats, Raekwon & Charlie Wilson) - Lord Lord Lord (Def Jam, 2010)

Mr. West recruits old friend Mos Def, as well as new friends Raekwon and Swizz Beats (along with G.O.O.D. Friday’s resident hook maker, Charlie Wilson) to release this banger that easily makes up for last week’s lack-luster posse cut, the eponymous G.O.O.D. Friday. Despite the fact that this is another Kanye-track that exceeds the 6 minute mark (and really doesn’t need to, hearing Charle Wilson croon those extra fourty or so Lord’s isn’t neccessary), this song ranks alongside Monster and the Power (remix) as the highlights of Kanye’s series so far. Mos Def is actually rapping instead of adlibbing (shame you couldn’t get that on your album, Curren$y), Kanye provides a smooth sixteen, and The Chef closes out the song, making me forgetting the Runaway Love (remix) ever happened. The production reminds me eerily of G. Dep’s Head Over Wheels, but that may just be because I used to play that song for hours on end on a burnt CD that included a bunch of New York rarities that I don’t listen to anymore for some reason. Blaze’, blaze’, blah..

Even if Dark Twisted Fantasy doesn’t drop until 2011, Kanye’s going to release a whole album worth of material between now and Christmas, and I can’t have anything but respect for one of the most popular rappers alive doing that when he could easily be spending his time fucking white models and going to museums and having dinner with Beyonce and Jay-Z instead, although i’m aware he still does that, just less frequently.