G.O.O.D. Music presents Cruel Summer (Album Review & Stream)

Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label has, hands down, the most stacked team in the Hip-Hop game. Following a year of several group compilation albums (MMG Presents Self Made Vol. 2,  A$AP Mob- Lords Never Worry, The OF Tape Vol 2, etc.), G.O.O.D Music finally presents us their latest effort. Cruel Summer was the most anticipated hip-hop album of the year; how could it not be? With a lineup featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and more, everyone’s expectations for this album were through the roof. The albums first single “Mercy” only raised anticipation and expectations, and is even considered by many to be the best song of the year. The next 2 singles “Cold (Theraflu)” and “New God Flow” kept the streets talking about the album, as Kanye West continued to dominate summer hip-hop radio. Last week,  “Clique” was released and Cruel Summer leaked not very long after.

The album opens up with “To The World”, an R. Kelly/Kanye West collaboration, acting as Cruel Summer‘s version of “Lift Off”. Catchy-as-hell and well-produced, expect to see “To The World” getting heavy radio play soon. Kanye’s verse on the song (his first verse on the album) closes with “R. Kelly and the god of rap, shittin’ on you, holy crap.” It wouldn’t be a Kanye West album without some good ol’ Kanye West arrogance. The album then goes into the singles “Clique”, “Mercy” and “New God Flow”. One of the album highlight tracks is “The Morning”, featuring Pusha T, Common, CyHi Da Prynce, Kid Cudi, D’banj, Raekwon & 2 Chainz and produced by Kanye, !llmind, Jeff Bhasker and Travis Scott; the song confronts the Illuminati rumors surrounding the group.  Next up is Kanye’s single “Cold” that features dope production from G.O.O.D.’s own Hit-Boy. Kanye, 2 Chainz, Big Sean, and Marsha Ambrosius all come together for the album’s ballad, “The One”, which is another one of the albums highlights (except for the 2 Chainz verse, who is totally out of place on that beat). The only other track with only one artist is Kid Cudi’s “Creepers”, which, despite not having every G.O.O.D. Music artist on it at once, turns out to be the one of the best tracks on the project. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard Cudi make music as good as this, and it’s pretty damn exciting. Cruel Summer then transitions into John Legend and Teyana Taylor’s synth-heavy “Bliss”, before closing with the remix of Chief Keef’s street anthem “I Don’t Like”. While not every song and verse on the album is perfect, it can’t be denied that Cruel Summer exhibits some of the highest quality hip-hop music in the game right now. And although it may seem unfocused at times, Cruel Summer made every other collaborative hip-hop album that came out this year look like a joke. Stream the entire album track by track and buy the album below.

G.O.O.D. Music presents Cruel SummeriTunes | Amazon

1. “To The World”-

2. “Clique”-

3. “Mercy”-

4. “New God Flow”

5. “The Morning”-

6. “Cold”-

7. “Higher”-

8. “Sin City”-

9. “The One”-

10. “Creepers”-

11. “Bliss”-

12. “I Don’t Like (Remix)”-

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