When D'Angelo first dropped back in '95, dude reminded me of a rapper type dude who just happened to sing. And when The Weekend popped up on the scene a couple of years ago, I had that same feeling again. Now, don't get it twisted. I'm in NO WAY comparing The Weekend to D'Angelo on the music side of things. I'm just saying that dude reminds me of your typical nowaday rapper cause the bulk of what dude sings about is women, drugs, sex and money...and that's about it. So when it comes to The Weekend, it's like Pharoah Monch said, "this is not rocket science, this is easy to learn." Cause if you don't wanna hear about having sex, getting head and doing coke lines (ya'll do remember there was actually a time when cats would NEVER admit to doing coke right?) then The Weekend's probably not for you. Now for some folk, the first time they've heard of The Weekend is with his banger off the "Fifty Shades of Grey" soundtrack, "You Earned It" and think this dude is on some soulful lovey dovey type vibe I'm hear to tell ya'll nothing could be further from the truth. Now, I'm not saying dude won't have a song here and there about something other then drugs, sex and women but if you really wanna know dude's MO, you gotta go back to to his mixtapes "House of Balloons" "Thursday" and "Echo of Silence." But if you don't have time to dig in the crates for those gems (cause all 3 were dope) just grab his newest album on deck "Beauty Behind the Madness" cause it's just as good a place to start to do the knowledge on dude as any.
"Beauty Behind..." sets off with the banger "Real Life" which has Ma Dukes schooling The Weekend on how the was he's living is gonna be his downfall, "mama called me destructive, said it would ruin me one day/cause every woman that loved me, I seemed to push them away." "Losers" featuring Labrinth is bananas and deals with his decision to drop outta school to go after his dreams "only losers go to school, I taught myself how to move/I'm not the type to count on you, because stupid's next to I love you" and the song ends with a ILL 2nd line that will have you thinking you're on Bourbon Street eating a grilled shrimp po boy. "Often" is that classic "low end" Weekend banger that I love and has him schooling us on how he gets down on the norm, "she asked me if I do this everyday I said often, asked how many times she rode the wave not so often/b-tches down to do it either way often, baby I make make that p-ssy rain often", "The Hills" follows that low end steez and has The Weekend speaking on the dirt he's doing with his side chick, " your man on the road he doing promo, you said keep our business on the low low/I'm just trying to get you out the friend zone, cause you look even better then the photos/I can't find your house send me the info, driving through the gated residential/found out I was coming sent your friends home, keep on trying to hide it but your friends know" and "Acquainted" has The Weekend moving away from his regular hit it & quit it steez cause he's actually feeling this shorty that he knows he needs to stay away from, "baby you're no good cause they warned me about your type girl, I've been ducking left and right/baby you're no good, think I fell for you/you got me putting time in time in, nobody got me feeling this way."
"In the Night" and "Can't Feel My Face" are both uptempo bangers with a Michael Jackson feel to 'em and the latter has The Weekend comparing drugs to a beautiful woman, "and I know she'll be the death of me at least we'll both be numb, and she'll always get the best of me the worst is yet to come." "Shameless" deals with a woman dealing with her own personal demons with love & sex "I don't wanna hurt you but you live for the pain, I'm not trying to say it but it's what you became/you want me to fix you but it's never enough, that's why you always call me cause you're scared to be loved" "As You Are" deals with The Weekend & his shorty both doing dirt but neither is ready to call it a day and "Dark Times" featuring Ed Sheeran is dripping with Memphis blues all over it and has The Weekend schooling a shorty that he's the last dude on earth she needs to be falling for, "this ain't the right time for you to fall in love with me, baby I'm just being honest/and I know my lies could not make you believe, we're running in circles that's why/in my dark times I'll be going back to the streets, promising everything I do not mean/in my dark times baby this is all I could be, only my mother could love me for me."
"Prisoners" featuring Lana Del Ray is SO dope and "Angel" ends the album off perfectly but my favorite song on "Beauty Behind..." is the Kanye produced "Tell Your Friends." This jawn has The Weekend talking his ish over the Soul Dog sample "I Can't Stop Loving You" made famous by Common for his banger "Hungry" and when I tell ya'll this jawn bangs...it REALLY bangs! "We are not the same I am too reckless, I'm not tryna go in that direction/these niggas they been doing too much flexing and they're about to call the wrong attention and they're about to call the wrong attention/and I got no patience no more testing, I do sh-t how I want don't need no blessing/XO niggas ain't nothing to mess with, nobody stopping us oh no we're destined/and everybody around you is so basic, I'm never rocking white I'm like a racist/I don't drink my liquor with a chasin and money is the only thing I'm chasin/and some dope dimes on some coke lines, give me head all night, come four times/baby girl just wanna smoke a pound,, do an ounce get some dick, tell her friends about it."
Simply put, The Weekend is like McDonalds. And what I mean by that is either you like him or you don't. There's really no middle ground with dude. I always hear folk saying they can't stand McDonalds, it's trash, it gives you cancer, blah, blah, blah but I swear every time I pass a McDonalds it's PACKED so somebody's sure as hell is eating it. And it's the same with The Weekend. I always hear folk talking about they don't like dude, he can't sing, they don't know what's he talking about, blah, blah, blah but dude's shows are always sold out so again, somebody's sure messes with dude. And I'll tell you this, if you mess with The Weekend then you can bet money that you'll REALLY mess with this album cause it's simply The Weekend doing what he does best.
4 outta 5 mics
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