I wonder ..
this is a pretty new recording unless they fu***d up.
I think its more of a marketing ploy...

I would believe it if it was Frank Sinatra's recordings which were actually made with inferior equipment at the time.

I haven't picked it up, but that record needed more than a re-master. It was one of the worst mixed albums I've heard recently. Kanye should never be present at his mix sessions, he needs to know when to relax and let someone else's ears work. I'm sure the album wasn't just remastered, the mixes were probably done over as well.

I'll probably pick it up, regardless. Since I'm an engineer I want to see how he "saved" the record.

really? can u give an example of what u mean?

i've heard similar, that he is a perfectionist and doesn't know when to quit. there can be too much of a good thing.

i read somewhere a while ago when this was first mentioned that kanye wasnt present during the final mixdown of the album and he didnt like how it turned out. thats why the remastered version was made.

KMXE, the album overall sounds like a$$. Not one mix matches another, and that's a problem. On some songs the vocals are completely unbalanced; like the one with Jay-Z. You could barely even hear the greatest MC of modern time, but when Kanye's verse comes on, it's loud as hell. Stupid sh!t like that.

Sub, I promise you, Kanye WAS present for his mixes. That's the problem. No engineer would ever let anything like that out the door, much less let them print a credit with their name on it. But when the producer starts taking the mix that the engineer did, and ruin it, there's nothing you can do. Kanye is a great producer, but he should learn from the College Dropout two very important things: 1) trust your mix engineer. The engineer who did most of the mixing has been working with Kanye for a while. Why all of a sudden did this record sound so crazy? Cuz Kanye wanted HIS sh!t to sound a certain way, and that way is ear-bleedingly bad to the normal person, great to the drunk producer. 2) Listen to your mastering reference. When his album was mastered, he was given a reference to listen to before the final master went to production. He probably didn't scrutinize it like he should have. I know Kanye has been blaming the poor album sound quality on mastering, but they can only do so much. You need to listen to the master and ask them to make changes. If it's a change that has to be done in the mix, then recall the mix and get it right.

But I'm sure he had a deadline that had to be made and poor album mixes was the thing that suffered most. I don't think anyone expected "Through the Wire" to really blow like it did. When that happened, he probably had 2 weeks to turn the record in!!!

i feel u on this one..... in all honesty, i havent listened 2 album in a long ass time and the only thing that i remember was jay-hova's vox being real low on that joint..... but other than that i didnt really pay attention 2 the mixdown. ive been listening 2 it lately & i understand what u mean now - its all over the place!

greatest MC of modern time?

One of the best albums of last year... but not the greatest new school MC. No way :)

i can almost feel a massive debate starting about the greatest mc of modern times......... these debates always have 1 problem. there are never any 'measuring sticks' that are agreed upon initially before the debate begins and therefore everyone will always be right, and everyone else will always be wrong!

im not about to state what the measuring stick should be, so if this discussion is to continue, everyone can state what should be considered.

But with all due respect, you cannot front on Jay-Z..... he is untouchable right now. He has the respect from his peeps, praise from the 'old school' mc's, adoration of the various public types (ie the so called 'underground' AND the general public who follow hip-hop), the dream career, record sales, the hits, the 'quotable' lyrics and much more (that i cant think of right now!). And in 1 way or the other, most MCs have been influenced by him either in a positive way (they wanna be like him) or in a negative way (haters can probably even quote a jay-z lyric or 2!)

Greatest MC of modern time? My opinion is yes

G.O.A.T. ???? - if not yes, at least in the top 3!

my $0.02

:)

(oh shit, is this the proverbial can of worms!?!?!?!? HAHA!!!!)

I wouldnt call Jay-Z a MC of the modern time, he has been in the game for a veeery long time, his first record release is how long ago, 12 years? If you still call him a MC of modern time, then I can only say three letters to the question who is the greatest MC:
Enn A As. :)

Lil John !!!

Yeeeeeeeahhhhhhh !!!!

Ooooooookaaaayyy !!!!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat !!!!

His verse on Da Graveyard was so weak, he's definitely come along way since then!

Ok, gotta pop in for a minute. Yes, it's gonna be pretty freakin' hard to determine hands down who is best on the mic. You have cats who can take a party and DESTROY IT, but it just never really translates on record. Then you have the ones who spit a hot sixteen and get airplay, sales, livin' filthy, but the live shows are doodoo. Now Jay-Z's been around for a HOT minute(Anyone remember him on Original Flavor's 'Can I Get Open'). He to a good extent I believe, HAS laid out a blueprint of sorts for the cats who've been rhyming for a minute and haven't 'blown up'.
Yeah Nik39, Nas got some ish. I just think him and AZ need to stop frontin' and make a Raekwon/Ghostface style album together. That joint 'Serious'...FIRE!!!

Oh yeah, a collab album between both, that would be interesting!

Cormega is my fav rapper amongst nas, az etc

Jay's first record release was 19 years ago, in 1986.

That is a hot minute.

bush I like corey too.

Didn't mean to start the war... But, I'm hip hop to the core, and I know my MC's. I'm gonna just say this and leave it at that. Jay-Z is THE benchmark for rappers. He can entertain AND get deep. He has a perfect balance of skill on the mic. No one, I mean NO ONE can deny that.

Nas is almost there. Common is just a bit too far left. Rakim couldn't stay relevant. I'm not counting Big or Pac cuz that's a whole different argument. Mos Def can't dominate the commercial crowd. Kweli is too deep. Lil Wayne is incredible, but limited in content.

All I'm saying is Hova can do it all, and has fans in each niche of hip hop. The backpackers, the thugs, the ladies, the white boys, we all love him.

So he's the king of sitting on the fence?

jokes I feel you on that one...

on the money!

i agree with the rest of you post - all these other rappers are nice on the mic, but overall they falter in 1 area or another.

im surprised, no "S Dot" haters use SSL? :)