Record is out and we’ve had a chance to digest it. It’s not going to get massive views, but let’s get on top of the red at least.

1. “Raw (Backwards)” – This is Soulo’s “diss” track. He takes aim at Jay Elec and Troy Ave, among others. The theme is simply Ab-Soul flexing on his competition. Shout to @Dithekgo @TRAisART and @G_LaFlame for their work. 30k views
2. “Braille” feat. Bas – Another braggadocious track, with Soul trying to convince us, and maybe himself, he’s a top tier lyricist. Thank you so far to @4youreyezonly @KidCudiSucks and @Soulodash 24k views
3. “Huey Knew THEN” – The single, been out for a long time, I think the song bio is in good shape. There’s also Soulo verifieds. @BasedGator @HennyDa5-10 @HallelujahWhenIDoYa and @shivB- 60k views
4. “Threatening Nature” – Too much red here. This track is really good, with Soul delving deeply into religious issues. Shout to @goodkidkevcity, @Yeeeerndamean @nickchuks @Lyric-dope and @G_LaFlame 36k views
5. “Womanogomy” – 17k views but an interesting song. During his Breakfast Club interview he expressed a desire to talk to women “as homies,” and I think this exemplifies that. Good work so far from @emiellz @xMikexThexWizardx 17k views
6. “INvocation” appears to be about the 5 Percent Nation. @22savage @danielblakes and @TRAisART have done some work. 16k views
7. “Wifey vs. WiFi /// P.M.S.” the first true concept track on the record, I am not 100% sure what it means yet I need a few more listens @Hot-Beef @Zeniths have both put in some work. 16k views
8. “Beat The Case /// Straight Crooked” Loads of red, 14k views. Shouts to @sharkgantua @A-Placement and @BasedTurman
9. “Portishead in the Morning /// Her World” Yup this is a reference to the band Portishead! It’s also the best track on the album! Soul gets interstellar. Also, peep this annotation and the suggestion from @Samuelito and see if we can incorporate some of it in. I’d also like the help of @genius-editorial-board on this tate. Thanks to @goodkidkevcity for editorial work so far. 11k views
10. “God’s A GIrl?” A main theme of the record, and Soul poses the question on this track. Interesting concept. @jrwill88 and @emiellz working hard on it. 12k views
11. “Now You Know” 10k views and lots of red!
12. “D.R.U.G.S.” has been out a bit longer, and it’s gotten some great editorial love. It’s sitting at 30k views, and @Trakk @EggNogg @sxra @TRAisART have all put in work.
13. “Evil Genius” loads of red again. 11k views. @BrianErwin has been creating some incredible content along with @wolfvision
14. “Lonely Soul /// The Law (Prelude)” 10k views, @Rhino47 and @seegxd dropping knowledge
15. “The Law” so much red, 10k views again. @Hadit777 putting in work
16. “YMF” stands for Young Mind Fuck, and I think this track really nails down the concept of the record. If we can decode this, the rest will fall into place. 17k views, shout to the usual suspects putting in work.

What do you guys think of the record? Is there a narrative to it? Soul was doing the press run too this week, with an appearance on The Breakfast Club incredibly enlightening, especially regarding his attitude towards women. He was also on Sway spitting bars from the album.

I quite like the album. It’s more focused than These Days… but feels like an old fashioned rap record, with a loose concept and a mixture of street tracks and more accessible numbers. I don’t think it’s the opus he keeps threatening to make, but it’s good!

@genius-editorial-board

Move this to RG you’ll get more views

I think it’ll be fine here, if it was moved to RG then there would be more posts about how good the album was rather than who’ll work on what.

I’ll make a few edits on “Braille” later on. I’m pretty informed on a lot of the things discussed in that song.

album is dope and some of the songs that i wasn’t enthusiastic about at first are starting to grow on me

i think the feminist theme is evident and that he should’ve honed in on it.. rather, we get a lot of tracks with two parts cos it’s clear he had two different albums in mind (don’t get me wrong, i love and welcome the extra content)

gonna focus most of my efforts on Evil Genius and YMF, but will also pitch in on other tracks

@HennyDa5-10 @4youreyezonly I might move it and pin it for 24 hours, the album isn’t gettting a huge amount of editorial love.

@BrianErwin I feel the same way, like he wanted to use that as a concept, but didn’t quite commit to it all the way.

There seems to be a bug on the tracklist and artwork page both me and @YABOYNICKY have made annotations that only we can see on our profiles but it doesn’t only not show up but allows us to annotate (I did it twice..so take away 5 iq from) I pinned it for y'all on profile.

Hey all, I’m just giving this my first listen start to finish today – will chip in where i can.

in the meantime, Soulo was interviewed on the Dec. 8th Rap Radar podcast. The full episode is about an hour long (ive only listened to half so far) but he goes into depth talking about the album’s themes (specifically his “the chicken came before the egg” theory and feminism), as well as his writing/creative process, the features, the Jay Elec/Kendrick situation, etc.

This should definitely be a useful reference for editing annotations.

http://rapradar.com/features/rap-radar-podcast-ab-soul/

dope thanks @treflip !