Songs of The Day

No Church in the Wild (ft Frank Ocean):  This is an interesting tune to start on - it's much more subdued than I would have imagined from these two.  The muted guitar adds a grimey feel to the beat that I dig.  I wish the beat was a little more hard-hitting, especially in the chorus - it's all a little too mellow.  Frank is cool, but same with the beat, I think the hook is a little too mellow.  I'm not the biggest fan of the rhyme rhythm Jay and Kanye use -it seems a little too spacey.  That's not to say I don't think their flow is good, I just wish they contrasted the mellowness of the beat a little more.  Interesting that there's a little autotune section in this seeing as Jay wrote a song about the death of autotune...hmmm.  Nothing extraordinary lyrically so far.  Old-timey groove at the end is cool.  Decent tune.

Lift Off (ft Beyonce):  I'm not gonna lie, I am not a big fan of this beat.  It's kind of corny.  I like the drum beat, but the fake horns aren't doing anything for me.  No surprise Mrs. Carter is making an appearance on this album.  She sounds ok, but I think she sounds a little harsh against this beat.  Dear Kanye, STOP SINGING.  You'd think he would have learned his lesson with 808, but nooooo, he had to sing on Dark Twisted, and now he's gotta bring it over here.  YOU'RE NOT A GOOD SINGER!  As a singer, listening to him bugs me.  Autotune does nothing to help him (but autotune sucks anyway).  Jay's ok.  For a song about space, this beat doesn't sound very spacey.  This all seems a little disconnected.

Ni**as in Paris:  Starting a song with a Will Ferrell sample?  I can get down with that.  Funny that they would choose from Blades of Glory.  That may be the best part though.  The beat kind of sounds like a video game, and in a weird way.  I don't think it's bad, but it is kind of annoying.  In my notes, I wrote "this beat sounds like it belongs on the Jersey Shore" - yeah....  I like the breakdown much better, I just wish that they didn't put in that sample that makes it sound like there's something wrong with my speakers.  Also, fake chorus?  For a song talkin about how baller they are, you think they would have hired some real people.  Eh.