Music Reviews
Careless World: Rise of the Last King

Tyga Careless World: Rise of the Last King

(Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, Universal Republic) Rating - 6/10

(Transcript taken from meeting between a record label Company Executive, CE, and Tyga, T)*

CE: Hi Tyga, please, take a seat.

T: Yeah, sure cheers. (He sits down)

CE: So how’s the new album coming along? Can I have a listen?

T: Sure, sure.

(They listen to the album in its 1 hour, 19 minutes and 17 seconds entirety)

CE: It’s good, what I really like is the length. I’m glad to see that you’re keeping to the current tradition of really long rap albums, you know this is a major label release so we don‘t want anything too groundbreaking.

T: I’ve tried to make it as typical as possible, I mean, everyone likes really long albums, don’t they?

CE: Well, more is literally more and quantity does actually equal quality, probability wise.

T: I was actually a bit worried that it was a bit short, I’m really close to the 100 minute mark, only 14 minutes away, so I’ve padded it out with some songs that probably should have been left out for disc two of the reissue in about 10 years, like I have actually put some great songs in, Let It Show is an absolute stonewall, back to the wall, full on belter, I’m also quite fond of Rack City and Faded, but there’s a fair few kinda dull songs on there, they’re mainly the songs that I’ve done clearly as commercial megahit singles. Most of the tracks are good; the track with Nicki Minaj has one of the most annoying sounds in it and is a scourge on your ears though... I put some interludes in too, my experience is that the interludes really intrigue the audience, I also like how they can be really funny, like the ones on... erm... they can be really funny or really deep and introspective, they’re definitely not vapid and pathetic efforts to hint at some deeper character that isn’t present in a shallow performer or shallow mainstream industry.

CE: I can really see that you understand the concept of the rap album, I’m glad. Is there anything that we can do to increase the commercial viability of this record? I’d like to get the biggest sales as possible, that way more people will hear the music, that’s the only reason I’m after massive sales, of course.

T: Well I thought of the recent rap hits that crossover to the mainstream and they have this thing when a male singer with a half decent voice sings the chorus and plays the piano while I rap which means it must be an emotional song and the public love a bit of pretended emotion. I did that on two songs, Black Crowns and Far Away and I put them really close together on the album so they’re practically indistinguishable!

CE: This is music to my ears, literally!

T: That’s a great joke! (He laughs a loud, business laugh)

CE: You really know how to please us record execs! Anyway, I realised that the best rap album of the last few years was Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy so I was wondering if you’ve “channelled” any of that style into this album.

T: Yeah, I’ve made my voice sound crackly and robotic which Kanye does and I also heard this lesser known hip hop group called Das Racist the other day so I copied them on Faded, the track with Lil Wayne, it sounds exactly like Irresponsible from Sit Down, Man! But don’t worry, I haven’t shown any knowledge of the influences of those two, it’s clear I have no interest in A Tribe Called Quest; I’ve managed to copy Kanye and Das Racist’s style with none of the passion for hip hop’s history that they have.

CE: Going back to the Lil Wayne guest appearance, I wanted to talk about the album’s realism; I like how you’ve taken mainstream rap back to its shady roots by having two criminals on the record.

T: Yeah! Everyone knows that Straight Outta Compton was funded by crack money so I’ve got Lil Wayne who was in prison a few years ago and Chris Brown who beat up Rihanna, remember?

CE: Good, good, I’m really glad that Chris Brown is on a big album despite his disgusting actions. I really loved hearing Busta Rhymes and Nas making guest appearances as well.

T: Those two were overjoyed to be on the album, it seems like Busta makes a career out of guest appearances now and I’d say the same about Nas if he hadn’t reached rap perfection with Illmatic.

CE: One last question Tyga, it’s really bugging me. What does that thing about birthday suits removed mean? I can’t remember what track it was on but it sounded absolutely horrible, like you and your lover have decided to rip each others’ skin off.

T: I don’t have a clue; it’s completely meaningless is the answer but I really don’t care.

*This is completely made up.