Post Album Release Edits

9.28.21

Baby Keem adds 3 songs to The Melodic Blue two weeks post release

Some people call music the universal language. Everyone listens to music, choses their favorite genres and artists. Musicians themselves even have favorite artists, whom they get their inspiration from, vibe with, or even learn from. Music trends happen all the time. Last year, was the year of the Deluxe album. If you dropped the album, you needed to do the Deluxe. Right now, it seems like post-production after an album release is the new trend.

New music has been coming in abundance lately, and artists may at times feel pressured since their fans are waiting on new music and they have yet to drop. Or, perhaps it is just a trend that they want to be a part of, whether it’s to prove they never stop working, or whatever the case may be. In just the past few weeks, plenty of albums have released, and fans are picking up on the post-release production.

Baby Keem was the first to outwardly speak on this notion, with adding to The Melodic Blue. He added three tracks to his album, including a single with Brent Faiyaz, about two weeks after production. Not much of a word on whether the Brent vocals came in late, were cleared late, etc. but Keem tends to do what he wants, and perhaps this was his way of a deluxe, bringing you back to the album to listen some more, but not an entirely new album.

Now, the battle between Drake and Kanye West continue. These two have had their fare share of beef throughout the duration of their album release prep. From Kanye buying billboards in Drake’s city, to Drake calling out Ye on younger artists songs, this one was a feud for the books, and both were itching to out-sell the other. Since the release of each album, both artists have taken some time to rework pieces of their own works.

Drake has made edits to several tracks on Certified Lover Boy, including new mixes on beat and vocals, and even some added adlibs. These edits mostly take place in Knife Talk, IMY2, and You Only Live Twice. I hate to say that Drake was not ready to drop the album, and felt pressured to release because of Donda, but we were supposed to get that project in January. It is interesting that he we go back and make such subtle changes. This may, or may not, be what poked the bear in Kanye to go back to some of his works.

Most notably, Kanye West took Chris Brown off the album, again. Chris played a big role in New Again, but has since been removed. This is most interesting, since Chris Brown did put out a post calling Kanye West a whole hoe, so we certainly expected him to be removed from the start. Did one of these points push Ye to go back edit Breezy off the album? He also updates Keep My Spirit Alive by singing the chorus. Which, does feel like he wanted to prove what he could do. This track, is one of my favorites from the project, mostly because of Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine. I know the Internet does not love Ye singing the chorus, but that will not take the rest from me. We do still see both versions available on iTunes, so at least you can choose which one prefer. Still, no Kid Cudi, which many were waiting on.

Is the post-release-product the newest trend? Should albums be complete once they hit the (digital) shelves? You know what they say - one piece of art, is never truly complete.