First Listen: Staff Reactions To Kanye West’s “No More Parties In L.A.” Featuring Kendrick Lamar

Kanye West keeps giving us things. This time, it’s a full version of “No More Parties In L.A.” The track features the most lauded artist in the game right now in Kendrick Lamar, and it features production from the reclusive Madlib, who, it seems, only grants his magic to those he trusts on a personal level. The result is a track that features lyrics as loose as the production is tight. But is it good? Our Managing Editor Trent Clark, Sr. Features Writer Ural Garrett, and myself, Andre Grant, let you know what we think.

Should “No More Parties In L.A.” Help Alleviate Worries Of Ye’s Musical Output?

Trent: The worry over his musical output should have never been put into question. It was the quality of said musical output that had diehard fans either concerned or jumping off the bandwagon altogether. Kanye West has elevated his status way past the feel good net space of G.O.O.D. Friday’s a half of decade ago. Ditto for “No More Parties in L.A.,” which feels more of an appeasement to the aforementioned peanut gallery who he can’t help but to run into whenever he gets the gall to peruse the Internet. It is rather refreshing to “K-to-tha” sub for Lord Yeezus (even if Kendrick Lamar’s appearance was more fleeting than fulfilling) but should this record be considered as an appetizer for the Swish main course? Given Kanye’s penchant for the grandiose (Yeezy Boost 350, anyone?) I wouldn’t bank on it.

Andre: I’m going to leave Kanye West alone. We all want something from Yeezy, but it gets to be too much, this reaching out to artists with our hands out looking like Annie. The begging is becoming so droll and so worn. I just want to wait. I don’t want him to do this G.O.O.D Friday thing at all. I feel guilty.

“No More Parties In L.A.” is good. It feels like Kanye. All the elements are there: the soul sample, the ad-libs, that breezy Kendrick Lamar verse. Whew! I laughed at something that guy said for the first time in a long time. I guess Yeezy will do that too you. It’s entertaining. Kendrick Lamar almost feels classical compared to Ye´’s scattered truth-telling. And the superb Madlib production ensconces you in nostalgia. I get it. Things come full circle. But now that David Bowie has passed, Kanye is, for me, the last shape-shifting artist that moves me. So, while I like it very much, I would have liked some experimentation even more.

Kanye’s been very good at telling the truth through the medium of who he presents himself as at the time. Backpack Kanye West talked about “Family Business” even though, apparently, all that family wasn’t exactly his. Rising Star Kanye made “Gold Digger” the song of 2005 while keeping Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey), Talib Kweli, Common, and Consequence in the mix. And every change after that has allowed us to change our minds with him: grieve with him as he was torn from his roots when his mother died and his long-time relationship ended, celebrate him after he returned to grace on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, root for him as corporate interests sought to box him in. Kanye’s lessons are, when he’s great, lessons for us all.

But let me not get too ahead of myself. “No More Parties In L.A.” is good if not great. And the rest of this G.O.O.D whenever I get the chance to drop this track thing should be fun. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Ural: “I’m too black, too vocal and too flagrant,” is further proof that Mr. West is officially in the lyrical no-chill zone where nothing is off limits. That includes bars connecting the rise of former love interest Amber Rose to the come-up of many women looking for an A-list rapper as a “meal ticket.” For the first time in a while, the Chicago emcee/producer is extremely self-aware of both internal and external perceptions of himself which makes the “Any rumor you heard about me is true and legendary” beyond hilarious. He even takes comical jabs at the same cousin who blackmailed him in “Real Friends.” If last week’s release proved that Ye could deliver more touching and nearly depressing looks into his tortured black man of luxury themes, “No More Parties In L.A.” is the witty, self-conscious outside view in.

Anyone who’s seen the spectacular Stones Throw documentary My Vinyl Weighs A Ton remembers when West compared Madlib’s production style to good vagina.  A collaboration between the two was inevitable. In that same interview, he spat a few bars he was clearly still working on, which eventually became a part of “No More Parties In L.A.” For a track reportedly recorded in 2010, this is the freshest and most stylistic — in a Hip Hop sense — that he’s sounded since My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Having K.Dot open the track serves as almost a novelty. It’s Lamar, West, and Madlib on one track together. Peel back those layers and TDE’s flagship artist feels phoned. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any lyrical highlights himself. Despite K.Dot’s superstar status, he’s still someone who has attempted to stay removed from the self-indulgent Hollywood aesthetic.  Clearly, Ye serves as someone deeply submerged in that lifestyle, hence his marriage to a Kardashian. That dichotomy isn’t nearly as compelling as it could be. It doesn’t matter much, anyway. Because, again, it’s Lamar, West and Madlib on one track together. Ye has always served as a nucleus, connecting disparate angles in of Hip Hop. For the past couple of years, everything from Yeezus to “All Day” felt skewed toward both the radio and experimental lane. Through “No More Parties In L.A.,” he continues to prove his love for the genre’s roots.

Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.

Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.

Trent Clark is the Buckeye-born, Los Angeles-based Managing Editor for HipHopDX. Talk to him on Twitter @ItsMeTC15