G.O.O.D. Music

“Cruel Summer”

Rating: 2.5/5

 Producing hip-hop music is one of Kanye West’s fortes – the man simply knows what sounds good. Likewise, the strong point of “Cruel Summer” is the production quality of the album.

Much like “Watch The Throne,” a 2011 release by rappers West and Jay Z, the album tries to be epic. However, unlike “Watch The Throne,” it doesn’t really succeed on any level.

The album features many different voices from G.O.O.D. Music, a record label that Kanye West founded, but refuses to truly unify those voices through the “team effort” that was expected.

“Mercy,” the album’s lead single, is one of the better moments on “Cruel Summer.” It’s interesting and maintains the momentum that it builds.

Honestly, if you want the best experience, you should just listen to the first half of the album. After the first six tracks (four of them being the album’s singles), much of what is good about the album is nowhere to be found.

A perfect example of this is “Creepers,” a very out-of-place track towards the end of the album, which simply features Kid Cudi singing and rapping briefly (just over two minutes of the approximately three-minute song).

“Clique” and “New God Flow” (tracks two and four, respectively) feel like the right direction for the album. However, this is not a direction that is taken.

By the end of the album, you almost forget that “Cruel Summer” is supposed to be a collaborative project.

By: JAKE TAPLEY, Staff writer

“The Words”

Rating: 3/5

Anyone who writes – professionally or for pleasure – should watch “The Words.”

In a nutshell, this movie is about a man (Dennis Quaid) reading a book. The book is about a guy (Bradley Cooper) who writes a book which he actually stole from an old man (Jeremy Irons). It’s “book inception.”

The movie starts off slowly, going into the book that is being read. My first thought was “Morgan Freeman should be reading this book – his voice is 10 times better than Quaid’s.”

Cooper’s character, Rory, is not having any luck publishing his work. The movie fast-forwards to show his supportive wife buying him a briefcase.

This takes about 30 minutes, and I was slightly bored. If I rented the movie, that’s where I would have stopped, but I went to the theatre and had spent good money to go.

The movie carries on with Rory finding an old book transcript, which he types on his laptop in order to experience the book and soak up the feeling.

His wife ends up reading it and tells him that it’s his best work, saying he is finally coming out of his shell.

So he brings it to the publisher to “get his opinion.”

Of course, it’s published and Rory is getting all of the attention.

But the old man finds him and tells him why Rory’s “book” is special, also revealing the background of the story.

After hearing the story, Rory feels awful and wants to remove his name from the work. His publisher won’t let him, though, because that would ruin the publisher’s name and reputation.

The story of the old man truly makes the movie.

And it also shows the viewer what can happen when people plagiarize.