Why Ferrari Boyz is (iz?) More Fun than Watch The Throne.

LaGreezy reps Bric Squad. Not to be confused with Brick Squad.

In case you weren't aware, Watch the Throne wasn't the only one-two punch combo project to drop this week. Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane dropped their highly anticipated Ferrari Boyz project the same day as WTT, leading people everywhere to triple up Styrofoam cups, and the inevitable comparison of the projects by bloggers everywhere; enter LaGreezy.
I'm sure as recently as a year or two ago, I would be vehemently disagreeing with the notion of this post, wondering "how could anybody rather listen to a  Gucci-Waka Collab over, you know, the God MC and the Louis Vuitton Don?" Well, younger self, prepared to be schooled, in no particular order, after the jump:



1. The Expectations
Look, despite the fact that Jay and 'Ye accomplished the impossible with this album, no leakage, the fact of the matter is anytime you pair two legends together, especially with one of them coming off My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the bar was going to be set at Detox level. So anything short of an hour and a half eargasm would be considered a shortcoming, no diggity.
Meanwhile, everybody knows what to expect from the Ferrari Boyz, so as long as they stick to the script, and occasionally surpass expectations, this shit is going to be considered a success, at least from a critical standpoint.

2. Humility
Granted, the word immediately above typically isn't synonymous with hip hop in general, but especially not with people who refer to themselves as "Ferrari Boyz". However, when asked about the comparisons (click here) Waka shied away from them saying that they were "disrespectful", but also seemed gracious to be mentioned in the same sentence as rap's (and maybe the world's?) elite.
And I mean, we don't really need to go into the narcissism that is Watch the Throne, or Kanye West in general, do we?

3. Ad-libs
I fucking love ad-libs, and Watch the Throne is pretty much devoid of them, while Ferrari Boyz is laden with them. I'm not sure why I love them, but they are really fucking fun. Go get up and dance around and randomly yell shit like "FLOCKA! FLOCKA! BRIIIIIIIIIIICK SQUAD!" and tell me you're not smiling by the end of it.
Go ahead, I'll wait.
You feel me, though? Wasn't that shit fun? Good, I'm glad you enjoyed it, too.

4. Relates to Listeners
I'm not sure about you, but I've never been on a yacht, hung a Basquiat, or had sex with Beyonce. So while I thoroughly enjoy hearing about those things, a-la Watch the Throne, I can't really appreciate them, though I'm still crossing my fingers on the last of those three. Hey, a guy can have hopes and dreams, albeit unrealistic ones, right?
Granted, I've never been in a Ferrari, either, but in "My Business", Gucci raps "see I ride scrapers, and y'all ride Volvo, but that's my m.o." And I'm like "Holy shit! how did he know that?" because, you know, I ride Volvo! A 1987 240 DL to be exact. I know, shit's hard body right? I can relate to Gucci because he knows what works for him, might not work for me, but he's willing to acknowledge our differences, and I appreciate that.

5. Production Compatibility
By no means am I saying that the production on Ferrari Boyz is better than that on Watch the Throne, nor am I saying that it's a better album than Watch the Throne, it's not either of those two. They are much different animals. I'd imagine that Watch the Throne's longevity in my iTunes rotation will far outlast Ferrari Boyz. However, I do feel as though Kanye's overtures are sometimes too complex for the MCs' flows, Jay's in particular, he sometimes sounds choppy and gassed by the sounds coming through his headphones. Meanwhile, the drum machine/synthesized triumphs of Drumma Boy, Shawty Redd, Lex Luger, et al. are suited perfectly to the general goonery of Ferrari Boyz, and make me want to grow dreads so I can swing them while reciting Waka's ad-libs. This is a feat in and of itself because I hate white people with dreads, talk about a cycle of self-deprecation.

Conclusively, I suppose I just have an affinity for trap rap and southern production, just as I have admiration for opulent decadence and gold designer album covers. I just think the former is a bit more entertaining, though certainly not better than the latter. I suppose that in the era where the free mixtape is king, and people consider the New Music Cartel a form of journalism (starts vomiting), instead of comparing the merits of these two projects, we should be celebrating the fact that they come out. So I guess I'm going to drink a case of Ace of Spades and get an ice cream cone tattooed on my face to commemorate the glory of the week that was.