In good we trust

Before I do my review I wana say that I am a HUGE fan of the GOOD Music camp and ever sense Ye first announced the collaborative album I was promoting the hell out of it. Now that I have it… Im not the happiest person ever. I will be a bit biased but also will be completely honest.

1. To The World (ft. R. Kelly, Kanye West)– First 10 seconds of the song completely get you happy about hearing this album this is some amazing production (but what else did you expect?) and awesome bass. Its great to hear R. Kelly still has amazing vocals and that Ye collaborate with him instead of someone who is hot right now like Miguel or Breezy. R is hilarious and confident in this song with verses about both Rick James' couch and Throwing Dueces' up. Kanye sounds genuinely happy and up beat in his verses rather then somber or to deep.Kanye is also funny with his Romney and HOLY CRAP line. Amazing vocals, production, and rapping. A great intro track to Cruel Summer. Leaves you wanting more. 10 outta 10.

2. Clique (ft. BIG Sean, Jay-Z, and Kanye West)– The first 10 seconds of the song sound beautiful and its almost sad the that isn’t the production throughout the whole song. Instead we get some GOOD production, but not amazing. Sean sounds cocky like always, nothing amazing but not bad either. Its great to hear GOOD Musics drug dealing cousin on a track and he lays down a better verse then he did in all of Watch The Throne. Clique is a GOOD song but it almost sounds like either a left over Watch The Throne track or even a left over Blueprint 3 track. Kanye is hilarious on the track with a great Spike Lee reference. The beat does get a little annoying BUT is completely saved by solid verses from all 3 rappers. 8.5 outta 10.

3. Mercy (ft. BIG Sean, Pusha-T, Kanye West, 2 Chainz)– And now we hear Mercy, the first single from Cruel Summer. Its a great song but one almost all of us have heard. The verses are all GOOD in there own right but nothing breath taking. Sean does his A$$ rap, Pusha is a drug dealer, Kanye switches the beat up, and 2 Chainz’s enthusiasm is threw the roof. However the true breakout artist on this track is the production. Its truely a great track just because of how hard the beat really goes. This is the track you will be slapping in your car 9 outta 10. Kanye’s verse gets a 6 outta 10.

4. New God Flow (ft. Pusha-T, Kanye West, Ghostface Killah)– The first thing you notice about this song is the production and sampling. It sounds great. Pusha lays down 2 solid verses. With a little add gun shots over an aggressive Pusha verse. Kanye delivers probably his best verse on the whole album he touches on true raw rap with his verse and sounds more confident then Yeezy ever has. But see, the only problem is that… THE WHOLE TRACK GETS RENEGADED By none other then Ghostface. The productuin swutches for a couple seconds and then on this unheard verse Ghostface jumps into the song and proves why he has been in the game so long and that he isnt going anywhere soon. With amazing delivery and a groundbreaking verse. Ghostface finishes his part perfectly allowing Ye to give a 5 second GOOD chant. 10 outta 10

5. The Morning (Raekwon, Pusha-T, Common, 2 Chainz, Cyhi the Prynce, Kid Cudi, D'banj)– D'banj has an accent that sounds GOOD because its different then what we usually hear. It a african accent that sounds cool while he sings. The produciton is GOOD but a little odd. It almost sounds like a sample of Cold (the next track on the album). All of the rappers go in respectively. But a dissapointed the this is Common’s only verse on the whole album and its only maybe 6 bars. However him and Pusha sound great rapping together on a song. This song has samples of Kanye’s previous verse on New God Flow. Kanye’s verse “G.O.O.D. would’ve been God except I added more o’s” got me. It pretty much sums up all of what GOOD Music is doing in the rap game. Becoming the Gods of this rap shit. Despite a couple complaint this is a fantastic song and basically gets the job done. Arguably the best track on this album. 9.5 outta 10.

6. Cold (ft. Kanye West, DJ Khaled)– So theres this song called Cold right? and DJ Khaled is in it (even though its a Hit Boy track) so he yells his name right? Okay so then Ye goes HAM for like 3 minutes about Kanye West, Kim K., and fur coats right? and then its over. Here’s my complaints. This song honestly is GOOD. And Ye does go Hard AS a Motherfucka. But this is suppose to be a COLLABORATIVE ALBUM and the only collaboration on it is another DJ yelling at the end for 40 seconds about nothing. This song could have been great if there was a 2 Chainz or Big Sean verse on it (its there type of beat.) But theres not. So its only GOOD. 5.5 outta 10.

7. Higher (ft. The-Dream, Pusha-T, Mase, Cocaine 80’s)– First off Higher has again, amazing production (probably the highlight of the album) The-Dream, and all the other artist on this track sound great. Pusha takes over the song with great verses. This is one of the songs thats perfect in your car to bump. Or in bed to fuck too. My only real complaint would be (and this is real, just a GOOD Stan complaint) Is that I feel like Mase sounds like 2 Chainz when he yells “Yeah!” I get Mase has a much longer track trecord then Duce. But 2 Chainz is a GOOD Music affiliate. Not Mase. Just saying. The end sounds like a weird sort of techno anthem, it sounds GOOD. But not Great. 7.5 outta 10.

8. Sin City (ft. John Legend, Travis Scott, Teyana Taylor, Cyhi the Prynce, Malik Yusef)– This song has a heavy bass that sounds GOOD. Its more of a poetry style rap then traditional bars. Teyana Taylor has some great vocals. All the lyrics sound GOOD. CyHi has a great verse I feel with his subject matter. This song is not for everyone/ a normal rap fan. But I liked it. The outro of the song is also done well. 8 outta 10.

9. The One (ft. Kanye West, BIG Sean, 2 Chainz, Marsha Ambrosius)– The production sounds similar to the previous track (Sin City) and also To The World. This is where im sad that Cruel Summer didnt drop at the beginning of summer. Because this is a perfect track to play outside in the heat. Its hilarious to hear Kanye shout out his soon to be Brother-In-Law. Other then that its a GOOD verse. Hearing Sean rap about Life is great. He sounds like he use to in his old mixtape days and I couldnty be happiier with his verse. He finishes it off with “I Did It” summing up how the whole gorup feels im sure. 2 Chainz has a solid verse. But I will admit this is a weird beat for him to be on. Im so use to hearing him on TRAP type beats. I love the way the track finishes with a almost Choir like singing. Shit sounds GOOD. A solid 10 outta 10. the problem here is that this track is great. BUT I know theres only 3 songs left. And I know who’s on them. So you get this feeling of disappointment. Like damn its sorta over.

10. Creepers (ft. Kid Cudi) This track with Cudi is different then when Cold only has Ye, This is Kanye giving basically an employee more time to shine rather then just the boss. Also I feel the best time Kid Cudi shines is on his own. Im not saying that he cant collaborate. But just with the fact that Cudi is all over the place with his flow and delivery (In a good way) its best when he gets his own track. Cudi spazzes on this song and his way to go back and forth between rapping and singing is GOOD. Its an upbeat song with really no complaints all in all for GOOD. 9 outta 10.

11. Bliss (ft. John Legend, Teyana Taylor)– The production of the song sounds GOOD. It a nice song and all But with the 2 singers of the GOOD camp together on a song with no rappers its sorta almost to boring. Its a good attempt but unfortunately at the end Bliss is a throwaway track. Also looking at the playlist and knowing I Dont Like is next just sorta fits wrong in the whole playlist for Cruel Summer. 6 outta 10.

12. Dont Like (remix) (ft. Big Sean, Pusha-T, Chief Keef, Kanye West, Jadakiss)– Sigh… I Dont Like honestly is that bad of a song to be honest. Its catchy and the verses are GOOD. But to end what started off as an epic album. Its awful. really annoying. And just plain not gangster. This song is fine if there was a GOOD 4 to 6 more songs after it. But its not. This is the end of the album and it leaves you feeling really dissapointed in this barely accomplished project. All this song does is leave a bad taste in your mouth after and amazing beginning to some GOOD Music. 4.5 outta 10.

Honestly this was a GOOD project by GOOD Music. I do like the album. However my expectations for the album were SOOO much higher then what they gave me. My biggest complaints are only 12 tracks when I know they probably recorded an enormous amount of material. And that the ending was just sad. This defidently is not going to hurt the GOOD camp in anyway what so ever. They still are on the top of this rap shit. But I will admit that Cruel Summer didnt help them hold there throne at all. Whole album gets a 75 outta 100.

Songs that should of been on Cruel Summer

Looking for trouble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDYd0ifaXU4

This is a GOOD song from the GOOD Friday tracks that shows the rappers from GOOD going HAM on a beat. Even though J. Cole renegaded them all. It still woulda been a GOOD edition.

Take One For The Team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAq0BwTB7A

Take One For The Team is a hilarious song that makes you laugh with solid verses and a great concept. Also a left over GOOD Friday track.

Side note
I would of loved to see Mos Def on some tracks. I dont understand why he didnt get any love. The man is signed to GOOD and everything. Also I feel Common got an incredibly unfair amount of love. Finally with the tracks Kanye and Frank Ocean have been on together. Plus how hot Frank Ocean is. I thought he woulda been on a track. OH AND WHERE’S MR. HUDSON?

75 outta 10

75 OUTTA 10

Yo I feel like your math is wrong at the end…

That being said, this is like the fourth Cruel Summer review I’ve seen today. I know that’s not your fault but damn there really needs to be some sort of claim system or something so the forum doesn’t get flooded with these.

On topic, I agree that I Don’t Like was probably one of the worst ways to end an album that I’ve ever heard. Solid review.

7.5 outta 10.

Honestly I was typing this up sense 12:30 I got up and walked away from my lap top so many times that I didnt finish until jsut now, I posted it. then saw like 3 other reviews. Im sad I couldnt get it up sooner and I know ima get a lot of hate right now just because Im like “late to the party”

^thanks though for the feed back.

My review was more critical than yours, but I like yours overall. Even though I think you gave a lot of these songs and the album as a whole too high of ratings to be honest. I thought I was being generous when I gave the album a 6.125 out of 10. The one thing I can definitely agree with you about is that Looking For Trouble and Take One for The Team should have been on the album, especially Looking For Trouble without a doubt. Check out my review and comment with what you think.

http://rapgenius.com/discussions/11494-Cruel-summer-album-by-good-music-review

great review, but I’d give a little more credit too “cold. Kanye really brought out his lyrical ability in that one

Ima check it out @Twisted.

Way overrated, but I expected bias. In all this album reminds me of Cole World in that it isn’t bad but isn’t good either. Really average. I’m most disappointed in Cyhi. I always want to feel like he has potential but he never really gives me anything to believe that. I’m pretty tempted to agree with Pitchfork on him just being a bottom feeder attached to a great crew. Also, you liked Sin City? The verses were too weak for me. And I’m pretty sure thats the song where Cyhi said “she rode the broom on the beach, sandwich”. Idk, disappointment all around.

I think the reason why I did like the album honestly is the production. I felt it was incredible. But after listening to it more i will say the verses all around were a disappointment.

I feel where you’re coming from then, Hit-Boy definitely killed the production on his songs.

^ agreed. Cruel Summer is to Hit Boy. What the Blueprint was to Kanye West.

Bliss was the best song on the whole album IMO. I mean yeah it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the tracks but still. Both John Legend and Teyana Taylor killed it. Plus I love the beat

Great review btw

Damn this review is good (pun intended) and will probably be better than mine

^ thanks for the love guys.

bumpers

I liked the review it was well done. It’s good to see diffrent reviews on this site, it shows diffrent peoples taste in music. The only real issue that i have with the album is that most of the songs were already out, I heard Mercy, Clique, New God Flow and don’t like, way before the album came out.

^ I think thee most collective thought on all the reviews was just a plain lack of enough material.

It was better than i expected, the production is the best part, and i’m a sucker for production.