#iTunesSounds: “No More Parties in LA” – Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar – January 25, 2016

By: Brandon Clay @PSBPopCulture and Donte’ Grant @DineroJones

After a slight delay, Kanye West was back last week with his “G.O.O.D. Friday” series. Kanye enthusiasts had to wait until Monday morning for the arrival of “No More Parties in L.A.,” featuring none other than lyrical behemoth Kendrick Lamar. Here’s an in-depth look at the output from two of the industry’s A-List stars:

GRANT’S TAKE: The six-minute track was produced by Madlib. West, who is the boss of G.O.O.D. Music, teased his fans with a snippet of this record at the end “Real Friends” when it dropped on January 8th. The Madlib-produced track marks the first time West and K.Dot have appeared together on a song. West uses this record to remind everyone his still has impeccable rap skills. Ye’ mentions “I was uninspired since Lauryn Hill retired” and “I know some fans who thought I wouldn’t rap like this again” in the same way he delivers a hilarious anecdote about an assistant crashing his matted Maybach. Effortless flows with substance, combinations like this one are far and between nowadays in Hip Hop. It’s only fitting Kanye brought it back on a song featuring Lamar. K. Dot dominated hip hop in 2015 garnering 11 Grammy nominations from his critically acclaimed and commercial successful “To Pimp a Butterfly” opus. It’s safe to say with the the February 11 release of West’s highly anticipated album “Swish,” the Louis Vuitton Don is set to have a big year in 2016.

CLAY’S TAKE: I agree with Donte’s outlook on this one. The wordplay and samples give me the feeling that Mr. West is cooking up a similar production to his “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” album released in 2010. That loop of the Ghostface hook off of the G.O.O.D. Music collab “Cruel Summer” was not lost on me. It’s the same song where Kanye first proclaimed “Hold on, I ain’t trying to stuntman but the Yeezy’s jumped over the Jumpman.”

FAVORITE LINE: “Thinkin’ back to how I got here in the first place: second class chicks wouldn’t let me on first base. A backpack brotha with luxury taste buds and the Louis Vuitton store got all of my pay stubs.” — Kanye

Screen Shot 2016-01-25 at 12.29.24 PMDonte’ Grant is a contributor to PSBPopCulture.com. He is a 10-year music industry veteran. Grant is a former A&R at Atlantic Records, Jeezy’s CTE label, and founder of TheOrganizedGrind.com. A former hooper at Augusta State, he is a diehard LA Lakers fan. Grant is also a founding member of the “Luxury Boys Club” designed to stay on top of whatever is next in the world of PopCulture. He has been around the PSBPopCulture.com Team since it’s inception. You can follow him on Twitter @dinerojones.

Brandon Clay serves as the publisher of PSBPopCulture.com. A self-professed entertainment, music and sports junkie, Clay has been on his game since picking up his first Nintendo and Sony Walkman in the early 90’s. Adding in a SLAM (Basketball) Magazine subscription in the late-90’s had him setup up for lifelong success. Clay is also a founding member of the “Luxury Boys Club” designed to stay on top of whatever is next in the world of PopCulture. You can follow him on Twitter @psbpopculture.