G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer has been a much anticipated album release ever since it was announced by Ye himself, especially after the release date was pushed back to September 18th. Well Kanye, this is what happens when you tease the fans too long and ride the hype: Cruel Summer has leaked and we got the download right here! From what we’ve heard this promises to be a great addition to any G.O.O.D. Music fan’s library.
The intro (“To The World”) with R. Kelly is undeniably awesome, and it transitions so well into “Clique” featuring Big Sean and Jay-Z. From there we get that “Mercy” swag everyone’s been on since it dropped this summer. “New God Flow” is too good right after Mercy, and Kanye goes ham on that beat. As if that wasn’t sick enough, “The Morning” flaunts a beat that is just too good; this album is very diverse as far as beats go. “Cold,” featuring DJ Khaled, is a classic from the summer, and when the chill beat for “Higher” starts up your ears gets taken away to a better place. “Sin City” has some amazing vocals by Teyana Taylor, and with the album going so hard, “The One” feels like a nice slow jam compared to everything else. Then “Creepers” by Kid Cudi finally comes on. There’s not nearly enough Cudi on this album in my opinion, but “Creepers” almost makes up for it. Then Teyana Taylor and John Legend come onto the song “Bliss” and start doing this thing where they’re amazing and their voices make you really happy. I honestly can’t get over this song. Finally Ye’s remix of “Don’t Like” featuring Pusha T, Big Sean, Chief Kief and Jadakiss caps off the album.
When I heard this leak got mixed reviews I was very surprised, because it’s an amazing album. Just giving it a once-over impressed me and I can’t wait to listen to this more in-depth for the rest of the week. Overall I think it’s a really well put together album with a lot of different rapping styles coming together on a variety of beats from really great producers.