Guest Blog: “Why TM103 Takes GFID To School” by @iTalk2Slick

Class is in session. Take your seat, break out a pencil and take notes. I’m about to tell you why TM103 is a better album than God Forgives, Fans Don’t. Actually, I won’t even disrespect Ross like that because the album wasn’t trash at all. God Forgives, I Don’t was a decent album. I give it spins on my iPod so don’t think that this post is me saying why it isn’t a good album. I’m simply explaining why I feel like TM103 is a BETTER album. That disclaimer was for the stupid people who can’t tell the difference. Music is subjective. So you may not agree with me and that’s cool. You want to argue then write your own blog post. Alright. Let’s get to this.

Off rip I’m throwing two tracks off both albums. I hate when artists use old songs on their albums as fillers. I feel it’s lazy. So Ballin’ and Lose My Mind are getting booted from the discussion as are Rich Forever and Triple Beam Dreams. Those were both mixtape tracks so leave em on the mixtapes. That leaves 16 tracks for Jeezy and 14 for Ross (minus the spoken intro) to analyze.

Both albums came in hard on their intros. Jeezy told us that the people have been Waiting on TM103 which they had after a long delay. Ross came with Pirates which had a tough beat and was easy to ride to. They both opened their albums in a way which had you excited for what was still to come. The first tracks with features on them were OJ for Jeezy and 3 Kings for Ross. All three verses on OJ were dope. Each artist held their own. Not so much on 3 Kings. Ross and Dre both dropped forgettable verses. Hov did what he normally does on tracks and dropped a dope verse. Even with his verse the song didn’t just blow me away. It was just alright. OJ had me hype every time I listened to it. Ashamed (GFID) and Nothing (TM103) were both once again solid tracks for both artists. Nothing was one of my favorites on TM103.

Now before I talk about Way Too Gone, I just want to make it clear that I dislike Future just as much as any of the rest of you might but he somehow found a way to be bearable to listen to on that track. If I had my choice though, it probably wouldn’t have made the album but it could have been a much worse track. Supa Freak was fire though with another dope 2 Chainz. (If this song come on in the strip club and you’re able to keep your composure you’re a faggot.) Maybach Music IV left a bit to be desired after the first three. The most memorable line on the track for me was, “Niggas get abused like boys at PennState.” It wasn’t a clever or witty line. It simply had shock value to it and it didn’t impress me. So honestly this track was just alright to me. Ross did get a dope verse out of Andre 3000 on Sixteen. It almost made niggas forget Ross was actually on the track. But off the strength of what Three Stacks did this track is definitely worth a listen. Once again Ross verse wasn’t trash, it just failed to captivate me which is a recurring theme.

Amsterdam was dope. I’ve heard some people argue that this is the best track on the album. I’ll reserve commenting on that. But this is about where the wheels fall off for Ross. Ross tried to recreate the MC Hammer/BMF feel from Teflon Don with Hold Me Back and 911 back to back and fell well short. Hold Me Back was an Actin’ Up 2.0 and 911 was a Hold Me Back 2.0. So does that actually make 911 an Actin’ Up 3.0??? Whatever. You get the point. Ross tried to reuse an old successful formula and it didn’t quite work out the way he intended.

Leave You Alone featuring Ne-Yo was dope until radio stations ran it into the ground. Everythang was dope with no features. Trapped featuring Jill Scott was also dope. It was a different sound but it worked for The Snowman.

Now I actually liked the So Sophisticated track featuring Meek. I don’t think I’ve skipped it once while I was listening to GFID. F.A.M.E. featuring T.I. was another one of my favorite tracks on the album. Jeezy goes off on both verses and T.I. does his thing. Both tracks are good in my book. I can’t say the same for Presidential. The track is trash. I listened to it the first two times I listened to GFID and have skipped it every time since. Ice Cold featuring Maybach O was dope. (Omarion hasn’t released a wack track since he’s been with MMG by the way.) Then we get to Touch N’ You. Yeah. No. Skip. Track does absolutely nothing for me. I Do and Higher Learning for Jeezy were strong tracks for Jeezy. I Do once again had solid verses from each artist. Snoop and Devin the Dude were the perfect artists for a weed smoking song in Higher Learning.

Diced Pineapples was once again alright. This is another case of where the hype was better than the actual product. People saw Ross, Wale and Drake on the track and instantly deemed it a classic. Track is alright. I’ll listen to it. But it ain’t the best track on the album. Ten Jesus Pieces and This One’s For You both featured artists who nowadays aren’t huge artists. But both Trick Daddy and Stalley dropped dope verses for their respective songs. Ten Jesus Pieces is one of my favorite tracks on GFID. That’s how Ross closes his album. Jeezy closes out the album with .38 featuring Freddie Gibbs and Never Be The Same. Both dope tracks.

Both albums were dope. But Jeezy’s album had fewer songs which I would skip (2) as opposed to Ross album (4). No one doubted Ross’ ability to pick dope beats. He’s been doing it for a while. We doubted his ability to say anything on those beats. There were honestly a few songs which had verses I could have swapped with verses from Rich Forever and not noticed. Ross’ verses lack the content to make me want to rewind the track. He never makes me say, “Damn. He really just say that?” Jeezy might not be the most lyrical rapper but his album had several points where I was like, “Damn. Ok.” or had to rewind it back and make sure I heard correctly. Ross hasn’t been saying anything on tracks since he dropped Teflon Don. He’s just been riding the beats. He does it well. The music sounds good. But when I sit there and listen to it, I’m not blown away by the complete product. The beats, the flows and the lyrics combined. Ross has the beats and the flow but GFID falls short because he doesn’t have enough lyrics to elevate the album in my opinion. He was trying to recreate that BMF/MC Hammer feel and recycle that formula at times. Ross started using repetitive rhymes and talking about the same things over and over. Yes. Jeezy is a coke rapper, but even talking about coke his presentation changes and he uses witty metaphors. Ross doesn’t really change the presentation at all. It gets boring. Ross verses just don’t do enough. That’s what separates the two albums.

TM103 isn’t necessarily better because of what Jeezy did do. GFID isn’t better because of what Ross didn’t do. He was rapping better on Deeper Than Rap and Teflon Don. His verses seem to have regressed and gotten simpler. Next thing we know he’s going to rhyme 22 eight times in a row again. Jeezy just put out a better complete product. That’s the answer at the end of the day. Both albums deserve spins but this semester Jeezy gets a better grade than Ross.

Class Dismissed.

So there you have it…That’s Wale’s thoughts which I somewhat agree on, I like a few tracks he didn’t but everyone has their own opinion & own musical preference. What do you think? Chime in below.