by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — With my constant infatuation with comic book movies, one might come to expect that I have a thing for sequels.  While I promise I don’t like sequels just for sequels’ sake, I must begin this CultureCow with a sequel from last week’s article starring one Mr. Kanye West.

Yeezy is back this week with another album called KIDS SEE GHOSTS with his long-time friend and collaborator Kid Cudi.  Whenever these two are together, it seems like their best traits come forth, which makes for some of the best music in business, and that is on full display in my favorite collab album of the year so far.

Cudi is a better singer than his partner and Ye is the superior lyricist, but where both artists excel is in their producing.  The sonics of this album are hypnotic and keep each second of the album on a dull pulse throughout the work. 

The track list starts with a snare-smashing intensity, where neither the artists even have a full verse, but it doesn’t stay like that for long until we finally get some of that melodic Cudi humming that accents the beat so well.  Like Ye’s previous album Ye (that’s confusing), the album is a short stack, just reaching the 7 track mark, which makes for a quick listen, perfect once again for a commute.

It even features a sequel (promise I don’t have a sequel thing) to Ye’s song Ghost Town, which when played together manage to hold a persistent melody and message across multiple albums, which shows a lot of forethought from the Chi-town genius.  KIDS SEE GHOSTS preaches both artists’ views of the importance of mental healther and delves into each of their own struggles.  Just like last week, I’ll lament that even though Kanye is a lunatic, he still makes some of the best music around.

If you were anywhere near the Twittersphere this week, you no-doubt pictured the Hindenburg-esque crash and burn that was IHOP’s publicity stunt.  The International House of Pancakes decided they were so proud of their burgers they would change their name to IHOB, much to the laughter of fans and critics alike.  This prompted other restaurants to chime in with some absolute spectacular shade-throwing just to add fuel to the fire.  Here are some of my favorites:

Let’s act like Drake during the More Life album and take a trip across the pond to find some musical talent.  We don’t have to look far to find (just like Drake did) Jorja Smith and her debut album called Lost and Found.  If you’re like me, you love to find good new R&B artists when you can because the genre is so seeping with pop these days and Jorja is true as they come.

She’s a 20-year old superstar with a bright future ahead of her, but that journey is on its very first leg with this album and she spends a good deal of the album talking about that.

The album is a collection of her work from the time she was 16 years old, taking public transit into London for studio time and a lot of the album is about that time of personal development and growth.  She knows she’s a young artist and is still trying to find herself and it’s that honesty that gives this album so much depth behind the sheer talent behind her singing.

Lost and Found is a great start and a good indicator of the trajectory of Jorja’s career and if you want to get to know the artist a little more personally check out this story from Complex linked here about a photographer’s experience shooting her twice, once after a “bad” performance at Chochella and then at the height of her tour.  It shows that not only is she honest and talented, but she’s a real person just trying to make it out there.

Speaking of Drake, he took a break from losing rap beef this week to drop a music video for his new single I’m Upset (linked below).  While the song isn’t all that lyraclly stimulating (when you’re the highest paid rapper in the world I guess you can take a lay-up where you can get it), the song is catchy and the video is funny.  It’s a Degrassi reunion with nearly all the main characters making an appearance.  While I wasn’t personally a fan of Drizzy’s show before he turned rapper, I was a huge fan of Jay and Silent Bob who steal the show through the course of the story.  For those more nostalgic than I, however, the video is a call back to simpler times before driverless cars and touch-screen phones (the dark ages in other words).

Meme of the week

I unfortunately can’t look at every meme that dominates the internet every week, so if you see a meme and think it should be the meme of the week please send it to: SumnerCultureCow@gmail.com

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