N.O.R.E Reveals His Biggest Problem W/ Kanye West’s “Cruel Summer” [Video]

Written By S. Samuel

New York rapper N.O.R.E. recently talked about his love for Kanye West's Cruel Summer G.O.O.D Music compilation album and dished out his one issue with the project.

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In N.O.R.E’s opinion, the LP suffers from an absence of humor-filled skits.

“I’m really a student of the game and Kanye West had did an interview and he said, ‘The G.O.O.D. Music compilation’s a dope album. We got no skits, we got no intros, we got no outros.’ And if you look at my Gucci bag right now, the only album I have in my bag is the G.O.O.D. Music compilation. I love that album. I absolutely love it. This is the first time I ever said that. But the one thing that I saw that was missing was that. Like I want to be entertained in between songs.” (Power 99)

Last summer, some critics noted Ye’s team effort fell short of being an elite project.

The strength of “Cruel Summer” (G.O.O.D. Music) — the compilation from Kanye West’s label and his stable of artists — is also its weakness. When set against the flashes of brilliance, usually from West, the rest of the music seems blander than it really is. Take the thrilling “New God Flow,” where West sets up “Picture working so hard and you can’t cut through” before outlining the problems of his beloved Chicago like a political scientist, only in rhyme. The power gets sapped by tacking on a self-promotional, military-styled call-and-response. There’s no doubt that the G.O.O.D. Music crew is good, but “Cruel Summer” too often falls short of great. (Newsday)

Other critics noted how brief the LP is and Ye’s decision to feature artists like Ma$e on the star-studded release.

What sucks: *You’ve already heard half of the album: Out of 12 songs, 5 have already been released as singles/videos. That’s kind of ridiculous and diminishes the excitement. *The G.O.O.D Music B-Team: Singer Teyana Taylor adds nothing to the album, and verses by CyHi Da Prynce and Common get overshadowed. *Ma$e’s verse on the song “Higher”: Let It be known that I love Ma$e. Which is why I can say that his mumbled return verse is beyond disappointing. Sigh. (RedEye Chicago)

Last month, G.O.O.D Music’s Big Sean addressed speculation of a Cruel Winter album going down.

“It’s almost spring now, I don’t know, I thought it was, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, you just gotta wait and see, maybe a surprise for you guys,” Sean said in an interview. “I didn’t know if Cruel Summer was gonna drop. And that b*tch dropped. Whatever we do though, we’re gonna keep doing stuff, people will love it. If y’all like that Cruel Summer, y’all like them albums, we take our time with it, we get it right. You’ll get it in due time. You’ll get it when it’s right.” (Karma Loop)

Check out N.O.R.E’s interview:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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